Travelogue...

I found these ticket stubs while cleaning out my office today. We've been to Egypt twice, once in November 2001 and the second in October 2003. The first time we went, everyone told us we were crazy to go to a Middle Eastern country so soon after September 11th, but we had been planning the trip for months and weren't going to cancel. We left the US on Thanksgiving Day and returned nine days later. It is the only time we've had an airport to ourselves. I think the combination of the holiday and the events in September made it more like a ghost town than an urban transportation hub. It was nice!

The entire time we were traveling in Egypt in 2001, we had no problems or difficulties with the locals. They were courteously interested and did not talk with us about September 11th at all. We visted lot of locations in Cairo, then flew to Luxor and stayed for a couple of days. Save for a few incidents where persistent merchants attempted to separate us from our money, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

The second time we went in 2003 we only stayed for two days in Cairo, then flew to Aswan to take a cruise down the Nile. I say "down the Nile" because according to the flow of the river it's true. The Nile flows from Central Africa to the Mediterranean, from south to north. If you were to sail from Luxor to Abu Simbel and the Sudan border, you would be sailing up the Nile. Anyway, the cruise was really cool even though our room was right under the bar. We were the only Americans on the boat which was a surprise.

Traveling internationally has definitely changed the way I look at my own little corner of the world. It's given me more of a sense of place and of home and family. I travel not only to get away from my life "as-is", but also to have experiences that are different from my own so far. I love seeing new things, trying new foods, meeting new people. Everyone should step outside their comfort zone at least once in their life and do something completely out of the ordinary.