There was that time I made a really good friend while doing volunteer work in Namibia. This new "twin sis" of mine lived in Norway, and as soon as we got home from Namibia we were online chatting away on Messenger (this was 2009, people, that´s what you did back then). I recall our conversation went something along the lines of:

Me: It's kinda cold in this country compared to Namibia, isn't it?

Her: it totally is, in Norway too!

Me: Wanna go somewhere warmer?

Her: For sure!

Me: Where to? How about Egypt, I have never been there.

Her: Me neither, I've always wanted to go!

Me: Wanna book a ticket?

Her: YES!

And that's how it's done, folks! That same evening, just a day after we had come home from Namibia, we had our tickets for Egypt, departure date two weeks later.

There was that time my friend and I went to Hurghada wanting to go diving (because you can just do that, right? No? You need to be certified? Oh, I guess we'll do that then). Neighter of us had really given it much thought when we arrived in Hurghada. We knew nothing about diving, and we really just though it would be cool to go underwater long enough to get a close look at all the colourful fish. Hurghada was crowded with dive centers and we eventually ended up picking one at random (but my, was that a good choice!). But then the people at the dive center knocked some sense into our heads, and told us that in order to go diving you need a cirtificate. Because, y'know, you can drown and all that if you don't know what you're doing. This apparently took three whole days (getting the cirtificate - not the drowning part). This wasn't really in our semi-specific plans for the trip at all, but we decided to just roll with it and get certified!

We went back to our hotel with our text books and started studying for the test we had to take the next day (Study? Test? I thought we were on holiday!). The next day we passed our test, and then it was time to go to the beach to try out gear and do a few exercises under water! We goofed around a bit, taking pictures of each other in wetsuits, feeling like real divers (or at least looking the part). We finally got in all the gear (damn, this stuff is heavy!), and our dive master took us out a few metres from the shore, telling us to put the regulators in our mouths and start the descent. And this is precisely the moment when we both realised what we had gotten ourselves into! In my head, the scene played out something like this:

(putting regulartor in mouth, trying to breath through it)...This feels weird, really unnatural...(head just below the surface)...I'm not sure I like this...(head 10 cm under the surface)...this isn't good...(head 20 cm below the surface)....oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...(head 30 cm under suface)...I can't do this!...(head 50 cm below surface)...GET ME OUT OF HERE, I WANNA GO UP NOW, UP UP UP!!!

We followed this scenario a few times, both my friend and I, contemplating if we should just give up on the idea of becoming certified. My vanity forced me to go all the way down to the bottom and stay there without panicking (not sure what my friend's motivation was). Once down there I honestly just wanted to go back up - but oh no, more terror was to come! The three of us stood on our knees at the bottom of the sea forming a mini circle. Then we were to watch our dive master perform a few exercises that we had to copy as part of our training. One of them was clearing our mask for water, which was fairly simple, really just tilt your head back, lift the bottom of the glasses slightly and blow air through your nose. But then we had to let go of the regulator, let it slide away behind our back, and then recover it again, all within the little time it takes to exhale (because sure, you can't hold your breath while diving, because apparently that can kill you - and also, it's difficult to move with all the gear - and the regulator is attached to your tank on your back, so it will fall out of your sight - and oh yeah, if you do it wrong and don't recover your regular within the time you exhale, guess what, you have no air to breathe in! - yes yes, I know you have a spear regulator attached to your chest, but that one is difficult to see too when you can hardly move!). We both managed to complete the exercise though, and from my point of view, this was the experience:

Me on the outside: giving sign that all is okay

Me on the inside: OH MY GOD, I'M SO GONNA DIE!

Me on the outside: Hesitating. Then performing exercise.

Me on the inside: I CAN'T BREATHE, I CAN'T BREATHE, I CAN'T BREATHE!!!

Me on the outside: Finishing exercise, signalling that all is okay.

But of course, all went fine and we both survived. I wasn't going to get easier the next day though...

The next day was the final one of our little education. This was the time we went out to sea on a boat with a couple of other divers. This meant jumping straight into the ocean with all the heavy gear on (mind you, it feels as if you have an anvil strapped to your body!) But of course, once again we had to start off with a few exercises (really?!). My real nemesis was taking off the mask and putting it back on while at the bottom of the ocean. But that was mostly because I couldn't help my nostrils filling up with water and breathing in at the same time! For some reason I hadn't thought about it, but yes, of course my nostrils were going to fill up with water once I removed the mask - but not having thought about it, it took me by surprise and I almost felt like drowning. Fortunately for us, we managed to complete the exercises and got our certificate. We finished off the dive finally really enjoying it, swimming around the colourful Red Sea, pretending to be mermaids and eagerly stalking every fish we found!

There was that time our failure to plan ahead deprived us of the priviledge of having a bed for the night. Oh, the disaster! No seriously, this stuff happens all the time when you're on the road. When we first arrived in Egypt, we had no specific plans or reservations safe for the first night's accommodation in Cairo. That's how we liked it. But this also meant that, coming back to Cairo on the night bus from Luxor, we had nowhere to go at 2 am, so we figured we'd go back to the hostel where we spent the first night in Cairo. Now, that made good sense, right? Only problem was that when we showed up at this 8th floor hostel in an anonymous building in the city center at approximately 2.30 am without reservations, they were fully booked - and we didn't know the address on any other hostel. After checking the rest of the building, and only locating one other hotel where the prices were a lot highter (which we didn't go for, of course - we were backpackers after all, and the night was halfway over), our tired brains eventually decided that, hey, why don't we just sit down to sleep on the stairs in the hallway! And so we did, for a few hours, before we gave up on the idea, left our backpacks at the hostel and started to venture out into the deserted streets of Cairo, looking for a cafe or restaurant to be open so we could get something to eat.

Although that was really impossible at 4.30 am, seeing the city in this deserted state was quite a lovely peaceful experience (mind you, this was before all the political turmoil Egypt has seen in recent years). We ended up wandering around for a little while until we found a little place that opened at around 5 am. Then we sat down with a little food, a cup of hibiscus tea and watched the sun rise over the city. Magical!