My first 10 days in Egypt

Having spent the past 10 days getting to grip with the Egyptian way, I have come realise a few things.  Egypt is hot, when I say hot I mean constantly roasting with no relent.  You wake up, it’s hot.  You got to sleep, it’s still hot.  Make up, ditch it, you’ll sweat it off as soon as you step outside.  Hair, get it tied up, it will only add to the sweat situation.  Basically, the sooner you accept that you will be a sweaty mess for the whole day the better, there is no other option. Yes, of course you could sit in a freezing air conditioned room all day but that would become mind-numbing within minutes.

When walking anywhere the shade will become your best friend.  I shade hop wherever I go, even if it means dodging the crazy road traffic (I’ll come on to that in just a sec).  Being strawberry blonde with freckly skin I’m not one suited to the strong rays of the Egyptian sun so I quickly learnt that I can’t spend too long in it without feeling like I’m burning up. I’ve used a full bottle of factor 30 in just a week, should probably have bought it in bulk!

When walking anywhere through the tourist district be prepared to get drawn into shops.  Make eye contact with a shop owner and 10 minutes later you’ll walk out of said shop owning something you’ll never need or use.  Dark sunglasses and a purposeful walk should help this.

The aforementioned crazy road traffic, that’s it in a nutshell really, it’s crazy.  Local drivers are very vocal and love to toot their horns, it is incessant.  Taxi drivers will slow down and toot until you shout no thanks.  However, if you ever need a taxi there is always one near by.

I have spent a lot of time on my own whilst walking around, getting to know the area, shopping and getting taxis to meet people. Being a solo female this has been absolutely fine, I believe it’s very safe here and like you would in any country just have your wits about you.  Two words to sum up Egyptians, friendly and helpful.  I feel super welcome here and have settled in really quickly.

Solo Travel

When I tell people that I’m taking a trip or going on a dive holiday, the first thing they ask me is who I’m going with.  When my reply is myself, I’m usually greeted with a look of confusion followed by at least one of the following questions; Why on your own? Will you not be lonely? Is it safe? Is it not scary? Is it safe for a girl?

Following one of these questions my response is generally that of convincing people that solo travel is a great experience that everyone should try.  Solo travelling encourages you to step out of your comfort zone, provides you with that feeling of total freedom and allows you to learn about yourself.  There’s no requirement for compromise, you get to go and do things exactly how you want.  You are forced to immerse yourself in your surroundings and delve into the local culture. Exactly what travelling is all about!

We’ve all travelled in a group, generally you remain within that group and don’t socialise out of that circle.  Solo travelling requires you to talk to strangers and inevitably you will make new friends which you would otherwise never have met.  Travelling is a big commitment, relying on someone to travel with you and adhere to a time schedule is hard to plan.  Going solo totally removes this issue, there’s no chance of someone cancelling or having to adapt your plans to fit someone else.  Travelling costs money, you might have found someone to travel with but chances are you both have a different budget or a different idea of how you want to spend money on your travels. Here’s your answer…

Go solo, do it your way, leap out of your comfort zone and I can guarantee that you will experience a new sense of freedom and grow as an individual.

Chasing what?

I’ve resigned from my job, a job which I once thought would be my main career.  I’ve gone out on a limb to try to chase something.  At this point I don’t really know what that something is.  Maybe it’s success, maybe it’s self-achievement, maybe even a search to find my niche in life or maybe it’s just a big ole adventure.

In doing so, I will probably earn less money, I might not have that desired job title but by removing myself from set expectations and ignoring pre-conceived ideas of how success is measured, I believe that I will experience my own unique feeling of success and self-achievement.

Success is so many things.  It is also very different for each and every one of us.  We must remember that our success should not just be measured by money or by material possessions but rather we should measure success by job satisfaction, enjoyment in our day to day lives and overall happiness.  After all, we spend so much of our lives earning a living we should strive to enjoy what we do on a daily basis.  Be passionate about it, share your passion with others and go and do something that sets your soul on fire.  Just go, with no doubts and give it your everything, you’re not going to get another shot at this.

Stop questioning the unknown, instead, just jump right into the deep end.  There’s no turning back from there.

In Depth Diving beginnings…

Six months ago, I realised that a secure income and career weren’t what I wanted my life to evolve around.  I realised that throughout my life I have continually been doing the done thing. Doing what I believed what was the right thing. We go to school, university, get the job, commit to the mortgage, commit to marriage, have children… you get where I going with this. But, what about what we really want? Never mind what everyone else is doing, this is our only shot at life. Why follow the path of so many others when we can travel along our own unique path? This is not to say that the ‘normal’ lifestyle is not rewarding or adventurous but what I’m getting at is that we should probably lead our lives the way we want to rather than the way we think we should.

For each day to have an ever-changing horizon.

So, having thought about it. I’ve decided to pursue one of my greatest passions… Scuba diving. We’ve all heard the saying, get a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Now, I know this isn’t entirely true but surely a job which you love will sure help you get out of bed with a spring in your step.

Here’s to going out and and giving your dreams a chance to become a reality.