Earlier this year{June}, I visited Egypt for the first time- in this lifetime.
It was a trip I’d been planning to take for a long time. At some point, I was in despair cause I felt I was never going to visit Egypt, just as I was planning it, something would always happen to ruin it for me. But thank God, this year it did happen.
I had some very interesting, though not thoroughly pleasant, experiences in Alexandria. Cairo was much friendlier to me. For some reason, before going, I thought it ‘d be the other way around.
One such experience involved my driver stealing my brand new camera. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to prove it even though a few people believed me and urged me to report it to the police. I knew nothing would come out of it but I did so cause I felt it might get the message out to my driver and tour guide. And naturally, I immediately called my travel agent and arranged for another driver & guide.
Irony #1: I hadn’t taken any photos on this new camera yet, I was planning to do so the following day. Until then, I ‘d been using my Blackberry.
Irony #2: As soon as I got back home, I realized all the photos on my Blackberry had disappeared. I was so upset! But then I saw it as a sign, I felt that could only mean I was meant to return to Egypt real soon. In fact, in August I got an invitation to attend a special archaelogical event in Alexandria in October. But in the end I decided against it for several reasons.
Irony #3: Before all this happened on my second day in Cairo,{I went first there, then to Alexandria and then back to Cairo & Memphis} my tour guide{a different one from the one in Alex} suggested we visited certain places for souvenirs: a renowned perfume store, a jewellery shop and this place where they sold made-to-order papyri. She said if I was gonna have some special souvenirs from Egypt, I needed to get myself a papyrus, a cartouche and some Egyptian perfume oils. I tried to avoid it politely because I felt I wanted something else, something other than the standard sounenirs. But she was so persistent and I didn’t want to appear difficult & aloof… so I allowed her to convince me. In the end, I got all three. Plus some gifts for my family & a couple of friends. In retrospect, I ‘m glad I did cause if it weren’t for those, given all my pics were gone, I ‘d have nothing tangible to remind me of my trip. And you know, sometimes you just need that bit of tangibility…
