Today is our last day in Egypt. It seems like just yesterday we arrived. I thought for sure I would be ready to leave. All the sounds, the smells, the crowds that made me ready to leave on day 2, no longer had that effect on me. Mind you, Hurghada is a resort town and nothing like the rest of Egypt. In fact, for a few moments, I forgot we were still in Egypt. The air is clear. The roads aren’t crowded. People still don’t stay in the lanes while driving but it’s much less dangerous here. Most of the vehicles are resort vans/limousines, and some taxis. In our resort, it seems like most of the guests are German. The resort next door is predominately Peninsula Arabs. I wonder if special marketing tactics cause certain groups to choose one resort over another.

We ate breakfast with the gang in the main restaurant. The kids left us a little early to go take a dip in the pool. Eventually we got up and strolled through the market before catching a ride back to our rooms. Diaa, Matt, and I had a 6 pm flight back to Cairo so we got our bags ready early before our final Egyptian excursion. Just after noon, we headed to Hurghada Grand Aquarium, the best aquarium in all of the middle east, allegedly. This aquarium had one of the highest ticket prices of everything we’ve visited since we’ve been here, which makes sense because of all the animals that need to be fed. However, apparently there was some rule about having to pay to bring in large cameras, but still not being allowed to use them. I’m not super sure of the specifics but I was told that Diaa took care of it. I started to get on a soap box about all the scams in Egypt, but Matt gave me the “pipe down” look so I dropped it, temporarily.

The Aquarium ended up being really cool; it even had a zoo segment too!













We returned to the resort a little bit ahead of schedule and I finally did our check out. I made a comment about how much we paid for the Jacuzzi Suite and how the jacuzzi never got hot. The employee at reception responded with the equivalent of “cool story bro.” Diaa suggested to speak with a manager, who just offered us future discounts. I told him I come to Egypt about once every 15 years or so. He recommended that I file a complaint on the website that I used to make the booking. Interesting. It sounded like I was just SOL on this one. No store credit at the gift shop or anything. Well, at least I tried.

We spent our last few minutes in Maro and Diaa’s rooms, catching the breeze and saying goodbye to the kiddos. Then our butler advised us that our airport transportation was ready for us. Since Matt and I were part of the “Posh Club,” the ride was included in our price. However, the day before, they advised us that Diaa would have to pay 20 euros to join us… in the same vehicle. We went to the taxi counter to try to pay his fee but were advised that our taxi was already in the front waiting for us. So, we just hopped in and made our way to the airport. This is when Diaa and I got the vibe they were less interested in his money, and more interested in us getting out of there.

At the airport, I evaded my first “frisk” thanks to a lovely TSA agent who waved me through saying, “enter, beautiful,” in Arabic of course. She caught me off guard because I wasn’t wearing any make up and my hyperpigmentation around my right eye was in full force, making it look like I was punched in the face somewhat recently. While waiting at the gate, Diaa opened up the subject about all the scams in Egypt, and people charging different prices based on accents. Finally, someone who was on the same page as me. We started talking about all the beautiful parts of Egypt and where it could improve. Nothing here is straightforward, or black and white. The class system here is real. The guy selling tickets at the aquarium had an accounting degree and said that was the best job he could land. The economy is so poor that people feel stuck, and hopeless. Many of the taxi drivers here had big dreams and degrees to match them but no where to go. Out here, you have to know somebody to progress. Otherwise, you are stuck. Almost everyone everywhere, including police, will accept a bribe. There are beggars everywhere. To get any type of benefits, or paperwork, or anything of that nature done, you have to know somebody, or expect to wait many moons. Marian came here last year to settle some things after her mother’s passing in 2020. People were amazed that it only took 9 days to get accomplished. However, her father had many connections that knew him from when he was an executive at a well-known company. I consider myself very lucky to have been born in the United States. Marian was raised in Egypt but moved to the U.S. in her early twenties when she got married. She feels that God was truly looking out for her by choosing Diaa as her husband as she can’t imagine living in Egypt right now.

Throughout the week we had asked our driver Mina if he had ever left Egypt. He said he had never but also didn’t want to. He said in the future he might try to visit somewhere outside of Egypt to make his wife happy. We learned from Mina that getting a visa just to visit the U.S. was nearly impossible. I wonder if the people that say they never want to leave Egypt truly mean it or are afraid to dream and then get denied. I remember years ago when I lived in Florida we were visited by a distant Egyptian relative, Natalie, in Florida. She came with Fifi, and we took her everywhere. Apparently, Natalie was the only one out of her whole family that was approved for a visa to visit the U.S.; so rather than not going at all, her family just sent her with Fifi to take advantage of the opportunity.

Now, I say all of this about Egypt as someone born and raised in the states. I have no solutions to offer, only empathy for those that are stuck there that do not want to be. Egypt is the motherland for my family but none of us U.S. citizens would ever elect to go back to live there.

We landed in Cairo around 7 pm, picked up our bags and met up with Mina, who took us to my Uncle Albert’s apartment. My parents and other family members were waiting there to see us for one last farewell. My mom and aunts had brought me a bunch of souvenirs to take with me. We said our last goodbyes to family and to Egypt.