Egypt, a mystical place
Egypt, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Would you ever travel there? My mom and I did it right at the beginning of January 2022. Egypt is a land so far from us, in the northeastern tip of Africa, a land that borders Israel and forms a part of the Middle East. Egypt has meant much to many people, both ancient and modern. If you’re like me, you found out about Egypt growing up through the bible. For me, I specifically remember it from Exodus, the adventures of the great Moses and, of course, the Son of god, Jesus Christ, in his own epic journey. Someone once said to me, the bible is a love story to humanity. I never romanticized the bible, but maybe he has a point.
How did we get to Egypt? Did any of you travel between 2020 and 2023? By the end of 2023, COVID had all but faded from people’s minds. Not so much, especially at the beginning of 2022. I will tell you how my mom and I traveled to Egypt.
Heavy fight to endure
My mom, she is a warrior, though a sweet and very kindhearted one. You, my friend, you are one too, for it is the brave who come to this planet with all its sickness. I won’t spend much time telling you about all the nastiness there is, but rather how one’s journey, my journey, has shown me much, good, bad, and ugly. My mom was worried because we had to get covid tests, which we had never done, to fly to London, then from London to Cairo. We took some free tests at CVS, which, by the way, did not arrive in time, so what did we have to do?
The international terminal in the Philadelphia airport is the first terminal (Terminal A). We had to walk all the way to Terminal F, the last terminal in the airport! Spend $250 a test, so $500 between my mom and me, all the while, dragging our luggage from one end of the airport to another in the middle of winter! We had only an hour to spare after this nonsense. We get to the reception, where a British gentleman attends to us as he reviews our flight information and our carry-on luggage. The gentleman, very politely, says, “I’m sorry, but you two cannot go on this plane because you are not vaccinated.” My mom felt defeated and threw in the towel right there and then. This shocked me because my momma is no damn quitter!
We sat down, and I looked around for a bit; something in me felt strong. I felt a wave of energy like no other, and it was spirit. I did my research. Dear citizen! Please study our constitution and laws. Our U.S. Embassies and diplomats ensure that our rights are properly accommodated, including in travel. What do I mean by that? To fly to the U.K., the U.S. embassy website stated that citizens do not need to be vaccinated. The same was true of Egypt. Egypt required no tests, by the way. They couldn’t care less because they actually have serious problems to deal with, unlike us first-worlders, but anyway, I digress, reader, I digress!
With confidence, I very politely but sternly went up to the tall British man and said, “Excuse me, according to the U.S. Embassy website, the U.K. Covid policies, U.S. citizens are not required to be vaccinated to travel. All we need is a test to show we are negative for Covid, and our tests say negative!”
The British man, confounded, started stumbling over his words and going on his computer. I was fed up with this bullshit! Why do humans let our fear govern us so easily? I looked at the screen, and he pulled up the same screen I had on my phone. I said to him, “Show me, show me, where does it say you have to be vaccinated?”
After a short argument, the man folded. He told us, “You are allowed to go, but expect to have this same conversation when you arrive at Heathrow airport in London.”
I could tell he was annoyed, but an educated man is a powerful man. Don’t ever underestimate what knowledge can do to save you. I suddenly saw the lights come back on, I guess for not only me but also my mom. We spent so much, physically and monetarily, to get to this. We were going alright! We get through TSA with no problem. My mom and I are still a bit tense, but the way everyone was handling it didn’t make it any easier. Everyone was still wearing masks. Remember those days?
At the gate, we saw people arguing and fussing with the airplane crew. Same shit we just went through downstairs. Oh, the British man from earlier was on our plane. My mom and I, we can be a little oblivious at times. She is blonde. Sorry, Mom, I love you! We weren’t really sure what was going on, and I remember complaining to Mayk about the situation, to which he said in Spanish, “Don’t worry, stay calm, we’ll see you in Egypt soon, okay?’ Yes Mayk. Mayk is a very calm person, often, I would say.
We got to the line, and there were two lines. A “vaccinated” line and a “not vaccinated” line. The British man saw us in line and said, “What are you two doing? We went over this. Come on, give me your tickets and get on board.” I have to give it to the man, I respect him for honoring our conversation and letting us through with no issues after the convincing we had to do to let us on board the plane. Geez! Are you having fun reading this? Because I sure am!
Don’t worry, once we were on the plane, it was time to play the “drink in mouth” game! Simply, grab a drink, preferably, get a straw, and sip it ever so slightly. Drink about a milliliter of water if you can per sip, and do this throughout the entire ride, and congratulations, my friend, you have completely avoided having to wear a mask. Okay, really, but no, in all seriousness, they were worse about this when we flew to San Francisco from what I remember. If you read the last blog, remember I mentioned the British pilots? Yeah, they love their queen, alright. Right right. All right, I actually do enjoy the British and what they have to offer, so let’s talk about the lovely Heathrow Airport!
