A Dose of Dev

Welcome to my blog! I’ve taken so many trips and my most current is Egypt so that’s kind of where I’m going to start… I wrote a journal and I’m going to post that however it was very very lengthy so I might break it down a little bit later.

Egypt trip

Preface 

We planned this in November… The trip of a lifetime. The Pyramids, The Sphinx, the motherland… The Culture. Our flights were booked, our hotels were selected, our ship was prepped to sail, Egypt here we come!

Akeem and I really wanted to go somewhere interesting, somewhere fun, somewhere big… Because we never do anything small. So I found a really good deal for Egypt and we decided let’s do this. 

We knew the trip would be a few months away and we would go on smaller trips in between our waiting period. I also had to save up time From work. Akeem had ample time saved to take off from work, so that wasn’t an issue. We would be leaving from New York which is perfect. We can visit his family for just a bit before we take off.

Packing and COVID procedures 

We weren’t quite sure what to pack on this trip because well neither of us have ever been to Egypt. So we looked up different things to wear and it said it’s a very conservative culture. So we needed to order a few outfits because the US is far from conservative. I ordered outfits from Shein and so did Akeem. We decided to bring two carry-ons, two personal items and one medium-sized checked bag so it wasn’t too much but just enough so we have a little extra space and we could bring plenty back if we see things that we like. Women have to cover so I needed to pack relatively three pieces of clothing per day, to try to blend in. And we didn’t pack any shorts lol, although we thought it’s hot, but it wasn’t (we went in February). 

A lot of Covid preparation and planning had to go into thought… Egypt is one of the countries that requires a digital QR code and digital Covid card so we had to locate a site for that. Thank you New Discovery Labs in Baltimore everything worked out 🙂 we have a result of negative yippee! And I downloaded VeriFLY (because we flew through London) and everything was set. 

*I’ll add a packing list to the end, but you’ll see the outfits in the photos*

Heading to the airport we had a nice quick ride from a trusted friend and driver, Pirate and left from Akeem’s mothers house in Brooklyn… We came to JFK international airport and through security and we are waiting at the gate. We left with 3 1/2 hours and arrived in 30 minutes so we have about two hours left to board. So we are grabbing some food from Le Gran Comptoir food and Wine bar… I had an elderflower cocktail and Akeem had an old fashion and are splitting a tuna melt . Bathroom and then getting ready for this seven hour flight to London Heathrow! 

This truly is the trip of a lifetime… And I’m so happy to be doing this with Akeem. This is our first big trip together and so it begins…

London

On the flight we had so much food it started with beverages, and then we had a chicken dinner with couscous and green beans followed with chocolate mousse for dessert. And then another round of beverages I got wine this time. Then we had breakfast which consisted of a ham and cheese croissant which was actually pretty good prepackaged, strawberry yogurt and we had a little cookie with a beverage of course. The flight was very comfortable with a lot of space and legroom and movies and music and TV shows. Akeem watched shows on his iPad… The show Ozark and I watched a movie called witches lol something creepy but funny. And then I took a long long nap.

So after we arrived in London we waited for them to post our gate, made our way to it and practiced Duolingo in the meantime because we connected to Wi-Fi pretty easy. Not long after we snacked on one of the sandwiches from the previous flight, and boarded our flight. They made us check our carry-on bag at the gate although the flight wasn’t completely full. We were towards the back of the plane but a chill gentleman sat next to us so we were OK. On the previous flight we had a whole row to ourselves which was awesome. On this flight we left in the morning from London and arrived in Egypt around 4 PM dinner time… They only offered water as a beverage and a Nutri-Grain bar on this flight. It was interesting to say the least however I slept almost the entire time except for filling out the declaration and custom form. 

Egypt (Day 1)

Once we arrived we met up with our tour guide for Indus travels. His name is Remon. He said we can call him Rey for short. He was standing at the bottom of the escalator holding a sign for us. We met up with him and he kind of walked us through the procedure which made it very simple to get through customs with no trouble. There is another group in our party so currently we’re waiting for them and Remon (pronounced Raymond) bought us some coffee while we wait… We are excited to head to the hotel to see what this Egyptian traffic is about. 

Rey said we were considered Nubian because in the beginning there was only Egypt and Nubia, so we are Nubian because blacks were from Nubia; which is a good thing and considered a term of endearment. Nubian kings and queens. We would come to find out later that people would identify with us this way. 

There’s a gorgeous statue in the airport, and we’re gonna try to get a picture once things get situated and then off to the hotel. He said there’s about nine people total in our group and will meet everybody tomorrow and they’ll go with us on a cruise and some excursions!

We met Ricky, Rhett, and Cindy… some people from our group and we came to find out that Ricky lost his bag which is why we were waiting quite a while for them. However, Coffee was on Remon because we were waiting. 

Apparently someone took Ricky‘s bag mistaking it for theirs… The person didn’t realize it until they made it to their final destination which was Iraq. 

So Ricky went the entire Egypt trip with only the clothes he had on, he borrowed clothes from Rhett and finally bought a shirt the last day that was made of 100% Egyptian cotton. So if this ever happens to you don’t give up hope and press on because there was not a day or moment that went by where Ricky and his family didn’t smile and enjoy the moment in front of them.

Another thing to note is thank goodness we booked our visas even though it was a back-and-forth for three days prior to coming to Egypt, because two people that we would later meet in our group (D and JoJo) did not have visas and they had to wait to get their visas which took quite a while and they didn’t arrive to the hotel until about 1130pm- 12am Egyptian time and our turnaround flight time to wake up the next day was 3:30 AM. 

The Hotel in Cairo

The traffic in Egypt is very unique !! Apparently the signs and signals are just for decoration… You drive how you want and good luck! Honk honk is all you hear day and night. The city is very beautiful and quite lively at night with a lot of golden designs and all the Arabic words are so cool to look at. After about 45 minutes we made it to the hotel where we gave Ramon our passports and he checked us and the Williams party in. That was when the Williams explained that they had a very trying time trying to get here. Luckily for me and Akeem it was smooth sailing!

So we went up to our room which was very beautiful and got spruced up for dinner at the restaurant and we ordered seafood and chicken along with a beautifully crafted cocktail that consisted of fresh mango and guava purée with Gin. As an appetizer or dish that you receive while waiting for your food they serve an assortment of bread with three unique sauces, a white a red and a green. I liked the red and white sauce and didn’t really care much for the green. So delicious, I can’t wait for the main course. Akeem ordered a mushroom soup and said it was very delicious! Hotel is very beautifully decorated with unique designs, lights colors and paintings. Everyone’s been very friendly so far. And for dessert we had compliments from the chef… It was like an Apple streusel.. very delicious!