Leaving a place is always weird. I was ready to leave Egypt...I feel like I saw most of what I wanted to see...but it is still bittersweet.
The other thing that is so interesting about travel is all that you learn and how you would do things differently. There are so many things about Egypt that I would have changed if I had known more. Not that the trip was bad cause it was not in the least, just things to make it better, easier. But it just adds to knowledge of how to do things the next time around in another country.
I want to give you an impression of what it was like to walk around the streets of Egypt (in a market or not) as a Westerner...image these things being said to you every few feet...
"Where you from?" "America! Obama!!"
"Welcome to Alaska"
"I give you good price"
"Its ok, really"
"No hassle, no hassle"
"Hello Hello Hello"
"Spice Girls!"
"Only look, no problem!"
It was overwhelming to say the least. And then if you do want something you have to haggle your way to a reasonable price. I saw them drop from 150 Egyptian pounds to 30 on some things. It was insane.
Traveling in a 3rd world country is amazing but also very stressful (as you might be able to tell from above) and flying into Berlin felt so nice. Just to be somewhere that is familiar to the way I know things to work.
These are the things I am most grateful for as I return to the Western world...
Drinkable tap water
Grocery Stores
The Roman alphabet
Straight answers that get you to the right place
Showers with consistent temperatures and good pressure
Paved streets which lead to being able to go outside and return with clean feet
Wearing a tank top without feeling like a slut
Cereal
and mostly...Haribo gummy candies (that's right...they are made in Germany...woot)
Danke Schon Berlin!
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