Hello all from Cairo, Egypt!
It’s been a strange few days. On Saturday morning I got up and was leisurely eating my breakfast when my phone dinged. I checked it, and it was an email advising of an explosion in Cairo.
I’m not ashamed to say that the next 2-3 days were spent feeling nervous, sick to the point I didn’t eat for long periods of time and teary. My very supportive family and friends reassured me, and with their help and the help of a few uplifting quotes (for example Newt Scamander’s “my philosophy is if you worry, you suffer twice”) I started to feel a little better.
If there is one thing I am apart from a worrier (I try my best but it just seems to be ingrained in my personality!), it is resourceful. In a crazy coincidence I found a girl on a Collingwood Facebook page I am a part of who was travelling with her family on the exact same two flights I was to Cairo. Kearra and her grandparents were really kind to me. They let me sit with them at Abu Dhabi airport and then let me have priority boarding with them.
After closely following the news, I also looked up the Australian Embassy in Cairo Facebook page. Here I found a lady who said she is Australian and living in Egypt, so I messaged her hoping for some advice. She was lovely and then put me in touch with her friend Ildi, who is from Melbourne and has been in between Cairo and Melbourne for a couple of years. Just last week she moved here permanently to live with her Egyptian fiancée. Straight away, Ildi was absolutely lovely, offering me a lift from the airport and to meet me at my hostel to show me around so I wouldn’t be alone. The kindness of strangers really can be incredible. Immediately I felt soooo much better!
Mum, Dad and Rob drove me to the airport on Monday afternoon and once we arrived we also met up with my friend Milena, who had just flown in from visiting her family in Sydney. I went through the gate, and once that part was done it was like part of the weight was lifted off my shoulders. I still felt a bit nervous, but I think the anticipation was making me feel pretty awful.
At the gate I ate the sandwich Rob had kindly packed me, because, due to nerves all I had eaten all day was an apple. It made me feel better too.
My flight boarded on time and up we went, headed for Abu Dhabi. I spent the first two hours reading the Egypt Lonely Planet Guide Adam had given me for Christmas, and then rewatched ‘The Greatest Showman’ and ‘Mamma Mia 2’. I even ate my whole dinner which was the most I’ve eaten for a few days! I slept a little but overall it was a pretty uncomfortable flight.
My second flight was only four hours long. I slept a little bit and passed some of the time talking to an Egyptian man, Zehr, sitting next to me. He was really nice. We both felt really bad for the man on the aisle when the hostess accidentally smacked the drinks trolley into his knee while he was sleeping. Ouch! He wasn’t very happy. We did, however, enjoy some lovely starry skies as we flew over Saudi Arabia and then Egypt.
Kearra and her family let me stay with them until I met my transfer successfully. He then drove me to my hostel. It's currently 10 degrees, everything here is very dusty haha!
Now I’m sitting waiting in my hostel’s lobby having some tea and resting while I wait for Ildi to come and pick me up. She’s going to help me get a SIM card so I have internet access all throughout Egypt, and then accompany me to the Egyptian Museum. Tonight I have a small group tour of the downtown area booked in that includes dinner. I think I’ll be tired out by the end - good, it might keep the jet lag at bay and allow me to sleep! I’m still not feeling very well and am hoping that feeling goes away soon.
Happy belated new year to you all. I hope everyone had a safe and happy night celebrating. For me personally it’s been another fantastic year. In terms of travel, I started the year off in south east Africa with Rob, then we went to New Zealand together (and I bungy jumped!), then I went to Europe with Mum in July and had a terrific time. I’m still making the trips work despite now having a mortgage... just! Speaking of which, we’ve done lots to our house and have really settled in now and are enjoying living there. In terms of friends and family I am still surrounded by some truly fantastic people and for them I’m very grateful, especially Rob, we become closer every day. Workwise it was another really great year too. And then there was the footy. One more goal and we would have won an incredibly unexpected premiership. But as frustrating as the grand final loss was, I’m so proud and grateful for the footy journey we had this year. Mum and I even flew to Perth for a day to watch us in the semi final, because we feel so strongly about the team culture we have going at the moment.
I’m looking forward to getting 2019 off to a fantastic start in Egypt and Jordan, I hope you’ll keep reading in the coming weeks to learn about these two very interesting countries, and that my photos can help bring them to life for you!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
