19 hours in Cairo
After finishing up my last final of MS1, Darcy, Maxine, and I sat on our couches and shared our “summer wish”. Mine — to rediscover a sense of independence through exploration and curiosity, and I think my 19 hours (originally, 17 hours) layover in Cairo encapsulated that wish.
pro-tip: buy the cheaper plane ticket with the 17 hour layover and make a solo trip out of it!
- Visited the Pyramid of Giza (one of the 7 wonders) + the Great Sphinx, saw real mummies + old artifacts, and transformed my 5th grade Egyptian civilization education into reality!
- Met locals and gained some perspective of their daily life in Cairo.
- Made sweet friends on my tour — Hanna, who had quit her job and discovered a home in India (a new friend I’d like to visit in the future) and Kevin, who I learned to be a physician and also married to a Vietnamese physician. We related on the struggles of navigating traditional Vietnamese culture in American society, while also connected over a love for writing. He sent me a PDF of his published book in exchange for my blog website, and kindly offered any mentorship in the future :)
- I had no access to internet or phone service for 36 hours and felt stressed about not updating my family that I was safe in Cairo. While eating alone and people watching at the airport cafeteria with 5 hours to kill, a Turkish man named Omer asked to sit next to me. We started chatting and learned about his first solo trip to Egypt and his upbringings in Turkey with its rich culture and history — a new friend to meet again in Istanbul, one day. He also provided me a hotspot, where I finally updated Gordon and my family that I was alive. lol
- I later discovered my flight was delayed by 2 hours. So, I went to my gate, slightly delirious and exhausted, when a family sat beside me as I overheard them speaking German. Alone and with nothing to lose, I remembered my survival German and asked them in German, if they spoke English. I discovered that they were also traveling to Nairobi, and I met Anja, a German woman, and Clayton, her Liberian husband — a physician and dentist, respectfully, who fell in love when they met doing medical work in Ghana and now, have 3 boys. It was one of those beautiful moments of connecting over shared values, experiences, curiosities — and they both welcomed me in as if I was part of their family. We exchanged contact numbers, and I encouraged them to reach out if they chose to visit Naivasha so we could share a meal.
“Who would’ve thought 36 hours of traveling could have been so eventful and chaotic — I am reminded of my love for traveling and finding commonalities with those unlike myself, and celebrating those differences. Here’s to a summer of uncertainty and rediscovered independence.”
