Travelling is in itself one of the greatest gifts you could ever give yourself, but it makes for an even greater gift because it’s essentially the gift that never stops giving. It opens you up to an entire world of gifts, some of which you only truly discover have actually been waiting for you right there in your regular living environment. Like it just took travelling someplace far to get a different perspective on what it is you have to be grateful for in your everyday life.

Yes, this is a post about visiting Cairo, Egypt – the Land of the Pharaohs, but it’s not merely going to be a typical tour-guide. Rather it’s going to explore the true essence of what travelling is all about and what travelling does to the soul of a human being.

Firstly, if you were to try and Google some information right now about travelling to Egypt, the most glaring bit of information which will jump out at you (you’d have to be blind to miss it) is that of how it’s supposedly not safe to travel there right now. In fact, it’s been declared unsafe for a good few years now, depicted to resemble something of a civil war zone fuelled by religious differences.

I mean sure, there have been some bombings and no amount of sugar-coating that fact will make it go away, but these were isolated incidents which actually follow a very distinctive pattern if you take a closer look at them. It’s nothing like what the newsmakers are making it out to be. Yes there is somewhat of a civil unrest in which tensions are high, manifesting through incidents such as these bombings. Churches in particular are being targeted for explosions and I really don’t want to come across as being insensitive, but you’d do well to stay away from churches then if you wanted to visit what is otherwise a country with a rich, rich history that dates back to some of the pivotal moments in the development of humanity as we know it today.

Visit Cairo if the instinct takes you to that part of the world. Keep an open mind about things like infrastructure and the pace at which things are done, so too the availability of certain amenities. It’s not a matter of all of these things not being available, but more a matter of them not being readily available because the demand for them is so low.

Locals understand that a big part of what is going to help them through the economic difficulty they’re going through rests in the hands of the tourists who come by to visit and the foreign currency they bring into the country, so you’ll have yourself a good time if you decide to fly to the Land of the Pharaohs.

As far as the gifts that keep on giving go, lifelong friendships with people from all over the world can be formed in an instant, but the memories you’ll have alone are worth the trip.