Crucian's adventures...: Be a true...tourist for a change! Egypt recap 2010

Do you promise yourself each year - this time I will spend my holidays somewhere amazing and different? Thailand? Borneo? Tanzania? Anywhere, as far as it is original and cool. All the media we watch, all the blogs we read and our more less good friends from work define what "cool" should mean to you.

"Go to X, it's the end of the world, but the views are great, hotels are cheap and there are millions of tourist attractions out there" - they say.

But do you really want to end up like gazillions of tourists in the world - lying by the hotel's swimming pool, sunbathing and drinking beer most of the day just to go back to your home and tell your friends "I've been to this cool and fancy X-city/country"....?

If, like I, you are a true traveler and you'd rather stay home than be just one of those tourist, try to.....well, BE ONE for a change, even if it's just once in a lifetime!

I believe, that a true traveler is eager to discover the world as it is. And, like it or not, it is a tourist-dominated place.

Together with Mario, we have decided to try and be those tourists, lying by a swimming pool all day long :) We went to Egypt with a tour agency to find out how it is to be a tourist not a traveler.

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Don't get me wrong - I love Egypt - it blew my mind since I was little. At that time I was dreaming about Pharaon, his pyramids, crossing the Sahara Desert on a camel's back.

But nowadays, Egypt became this all-tourist, 5-star hotel, one big resort for people from all over the world who have enough money to come and visit it and buy some "golden" souvenirs on a market, but not enough zest to leave their beautiful hotels and explore the unknown life of true Egypt.

It may sound bitter, but that's just how the life works, where business and money rule.

Anyway, with Mario, we discovered the Egypt a little bit differently. OK, we did stay in 5-star hotel with All-inclusive, but also there were some surprises on the way....

1. Polish President's plane crush - that news has reached us just as we landed in Hurghada and it shadowed are trip since then
2. Volcano's explosion in Iceland - that made us stay in Hurghada a whole week longer than we planned
3. Making friends with Hotel Receptionist - Wayer - took care of us and showed a non-tourist side of Hurghada

Looking at this now, I think it really was an amazing trip and I need to admit it, there even where some moments I felt like the Pharaon is close, watching us when we enter his ancient, mysterious world...