This is the first trip I’ve taken that I really don’t know what to expect. I’ve read a shitload of guidebooks and travel blogs and I’m still ready to be surprised and awed by the culture. I’m not all that concerned about my personal safety, maybe naively. I’m more worried about fundamentalist conservative reactions to the amount I drink and swear. I’m also pretty wary of gender equality type things. I’ve read multiple times that if a woman sits in the front seat of a taxi it is considered a sexual invitation. Shit be whack.
For the most part, we’re going the wealthy westerner route. 5 star hotels and cruise, flights instead of trains, private guides and such. Our hotel in Cairo has armed guards, bomb sniffing dogs, and metal detectors before you get to the front desk. I mentioned it to my mom, thinking the precautions would assure her. They didn’t. To compound matters, the AP released this warning the same day.
Chad reacted by sending me an email with the subject “We need to make ourselves less jewish looking” with a bunch of pictures of the cast of Jersey Shore attached. Then he went out and jokingly(?) bought a pair of white pants. Perfect travel buddy.
He was less upbeat about the 3 a.m. military desert convoy I suggested we take to Abu Simbel in lieu of our difficulty booking a flight. His email response simply had this link. Point taken.
In the five minutes I watched the news for last night, I learned that there's been 113 murders in Chicago so far this year, 2 girls got beat to shit with a baseball bat on damen in bucktown, and city representatives are legitimately asking for the national guard to patrol the south side to curb gang violence. It’s scary out there dudes. At this rate, it sounds like I'd be better off if I get the hell out of here.
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