There is a reason if I travel. Or, I should say, there is a reason if we travel. Once I arrived in Egypt, I found I was not the only one who wanted to see things before I would die.
— What do you want?
— I wanna see beautiful places in Egypt before leaving it… I mean, I’m on a round-the-world trip. I can’t stay for too long in Sharm. I need to move.
— Yeah… Me too.
And so it was decided. Yes, it is the curse of the traveler to part from people they love, to put an end to beautiful things they just built up, to leave when everything in the world tell them to stay. Maybe not everything, actually.
Our passion for discovering the world and its wonders, our passion to jump into the unknown so that we can live our life to the fullest. Perhaps our fear of getting trapped in constraining bonds too. But, most of all, our dream of expressing both our freedom and our joy of living in this so, so beautiful world.
These are the reasons why we kept moving. And why I keep moving. Moving forward, without ever forgetting, but moving forward still.
Always forward, and never stopping, Inshallah.
There was no plan, at the beginning. Or more exactly, the plan we had, to take the bus directly from Sharm to Luxor, was a total failure three minutes after it started. There is no such direct bus. We hence booked a bus from Sharm to Cairo, and decided to wait to get there and then ask for the bus times.
We got there in the little morning. Asked for the bus times. The next bus from Cairo to Luxor was leaving in the evening. Crap. Too bad, I guess. We lost one day, took our second overnight bus, and got to Luxor for only two nights. But at least we were moving.
After a fruit brunch sitting down along the Nile river, in front of the gorgeous West Bank of Luxor, we took a relaxing felucca (that’s the name of the boats) ride to Banana Island (seriously how awesome is that name?). We spent that slow afternoon alternatively gazing at our sublime surroundings, having a tea with the captain and his friend, taking naps or simply chatting together.
Banana Island was quite good; we made a little tour in a banana plantation and then chilled out in the island’s coffee shop. And had lots of delicious bananas offered to us. As the sun set, we headed back to Luxor’s centre and took a walk around the impressively immense Luxor Temple, right in the middle of the city.
We were having an overdose of temples and ruins, though, so we did not visit it – and for the same reason, we gave up the idea of visiting the tombs and temples of Luxor’s West Bank the following day. Instead, we took a hot air balloon ride to admire the Valley of the Kings from a few kilometers above the ground.
It is true, we had the whole day after that to visit the West Bank – but honestly, now I feel like I have seen enough Egyptian ruins for the rest of my life. Another relaxing day, then, which allowed me to write a few postcards (at last, after a month of travel). And to admire the streets of Luxor again. Living in new and always surprising cities is one of the biggest pleasures in traveling.
That was our last destination in Egypt. The last episode of our trip, our adventure through the Middle East, before going back to Cairo and joining the rest of our group. So that we could say goodbye to each other, as Matt and Kirsten would fly back to Canada, and Bailey back to Australia the same night.
However, I am sure it won’t be the last adventure we will have together. Inshallah.
P.S.: I am writing this on the rooftop of a café, in front of the breathtaking Taj Mahal lit by the sunset light. And yes, this is a shameless teaser for India.