(no subject)
I wish people would stop telling me "now's not a good time to go to Egypt."
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been reading every single article about how things are there now, but I keep an eye out for headlines and get some idea of the situation from my friends there, Egyptian and otherwise. And as far as I can tell, I think now is actually a fantastic time to go to Egypt.
I'd love to see the changes and the enthusiasm. There was a lot of news about how Egyptians have a new pride in their country and are trying to clean things up - I'd like to see this cleaner Cairo. When I was there a year ago, there was certainly a lot of discontentment, and I'd like to see how much that has decreased. Of course, the military isn't always doing the best job ruling the country, but I think people are still excited about the opportunities ahead of them now that they've broken free of the dictatorship.
The religious violence is heartbreaking, but I don't tend to spend much time in places of worship and, as a foreigner with no vested interest in the outcome, have no reason to get swept up in anything - except in getting the hell out of any escalating situations.
And Egypt needs tourism. It needs tourists to return. A friend of mine there is an unemployed tour guide - a really great guy who cares about Egypt and its history and sharing it with people from other countries but is having difficulty finding a new job because there's just not the same market for tour guides. And the revolution's aftermath can't be successful if the economy ends up crashing and burning.
So don't tell me now's not a good time. It's the perfect time to go to and support a country I care about deeply.
[I don't actually have immediate plans to go, but that's because my whole life is up in the air and I have no idea what the next few months are going to look like - otherwise, I would probably have a plane ticket in my grubby little hands!]
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been reading every single article about how things are there now, but I keep an eye out for headlines and get some idea of the situation from my friends there, Egyptian and otherwise. And as far as I can tell, I think now is actually a fantastic time to go to Egypt.
I'd love to see the changes and the enthusiasm. There was a lot of news about how Egyptians have a new pride in their country and are trying to clean things up - I'd like to see this cleaner Cairo. When I was there a year ago, there was certainly a lot of discontentment, and I'd like to see how much that has decreased. Of course, the military isn't always doing the best job ruling the country, but I think people are still excited about the opportunities ahead of them now that they've broken free of the dictatorship.
The religious violence is heartbreaking, but I don't tend to spend much time in places of worship and, as a foreigner with no vested interest in the outcome, have no reason to get swept up in anything - except in getting the hell out of any escalating situations.
And Egypt needs tourism. It needs tourists to return. A friend of mine there is an unemployed tour guide - a really great guy who cares about Egypt and its history and sharing it with people from other countries but is having difficulty finding a new job because there's just not the same market for tour guides. And the revolution's aftermath can't be successful if the economy ends up crashing and burning.
So don't tell me now's not a good time. It's the perfect time to go to and support a country I care about deeply.
[I don't actually have immediate plans to go, but that's because my whole life is up in the air and I have no idea what the next few months are going to look like - otherwise, I would probably have a plane ticket in my grubby little hands!]