The slow crawl home: Egypt: Never a dull moment.

This story does have a beginning, a middle but not an end.

It's been awhile since I've told you a tale. In fact it's been over a whole week. I'm sure you've enjoyed the break from feeling obliged to read what I have to say.

Egypt's always been the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae for me, as a destination I want visit. 40+ temperatures, shisha, haggling, camel or even better Lamborghini marriage proposals, pyramids and lest not forget The Nile. But then there's also the other sister Jordan offering fantastic diving, The Dead Sea and Petra. I guess my ice cream sundae has two cherries.

Giving plenty of opportunities for us to kick up some sand we decided to book ourselves on a 16-day tour. Knowing that we'd be able to get around the country with ease and most likely be in a group with only Aussie's and Kiwis. Which isn't a bad thing.

So far, this slow crawl home has been easy. No carpet burn on the thighs or any stresses. Touching down into the desert of Cairo airport, we joked about how well everything had fallen into place so far. Contemplating on how it would be horrible if something bad happened now. Like luggage not showing up.

I think most of you agree that waiting at the baggage carousel often comes with increased levels of anxiety that your bag may not appear. You curse yourself for sticking to a black suitcase and wish you'd tie that bright coloured ribbon to the handle or write your name clearly in the luggage tag next time.

Filing a missing luggage report with EgyptAir was smooth. That's because I had an Arabic translator with me. Trying to ascertain where on earth my luggage was in the world proved tricky. 5 days later my backpack turned up in Aswan Airport. It only took two trips to the airport to try claim it. Second time lucky it was there. EgyptAir does like to create false starts and promises. The most memorable part was talking to the 'Head of Cargo' at Aswan Airport about where on earth my backpack was and watching him right-clicking on his desktop attempting to look busy and replying to me if he could smoke a cigarette? My response wasn't any words that Mum ever taught me.

But the beginning of our Egypt trip wasn't all about trying to buy new clothes and instead ending up with a lousy fake Burberry T-shirt. Instead, we became local celebrities thanks to a wedding taking place at the hotel we were staying in. The hotel lobby became a temporary home for the camera crew that evening filming the bride in her bright pink dress covered from head to toe and a nervous groom clinging to her arm. Normally it's us staring at the bride but instead we became the attraction for our 30 minutes of fame as the entire bridal party decided to sit on the same couch with us and ask if we wanted to be on film. We politely moved to the next room.

The middle of this story is everything a tourist would recall in a travel journal. What they saw, ate and experienced. It would normally be a checklist of what you should/shouldn't do. I find reading these slightly boring sometimes as that is what a Lonely Planet is for (even if the areas reviewed are so outdated).

Egypt itself is a raw, ragged country. It's a gem of quantifiable history. Providing a local with any opportunity to reaffirm that the Egyptians 'invented everything' and after several arguments with our tour guide I'd have to agree that this is true to some extent.

Seeing the Sphinx for the first time set against the backdrop of the Great Pyramid was a image I remember seeing once upon a time in the cartoon Aladdin. One minute your admiring the Abu Simbel temples, doing your best to listen to what our fantastic guide Sam had to say over the dogs barking. The next your taking another note on the poverty in this country with the mile long queues of bikes and cars demanding petrol. The resort town of Hurghanda enabled a chance for dunking our heads in the Red Sea and listening to terrible Egyptian styled rave music on a boat. It also reminded me of why an 'all-inclusive' are like 'feeding time at the zoo' when the lunch bell rings. Getting haggled comes second-hand, and I have to admire the locals for their perseverance. They're a determined bunch. Even before the bus stopped at the Valley of Kings they were waving scarves outside the window in anticipation for a quick sale. I don't think Tutankhamun was wanting us to visit him on this particular day after the lights went out in his tomb as we stood by his body. I won't lie that we were slightly spooked.

Part of any tour in Egypt is a trip down The Nile. We chose the more authentic way of cruising in a Felucca. It was the best 'team-bonding' opportunity for the 11 of us plus our tour guide Sam. One minute your complete strangers the next a group who are more than comfortable to discuss any topic. I won't delve any further.

For those not familiar with this traditional sailboat, it doesn't consist of much. A shaded main deck, rudder and ridiculously long, tall sails. Our shade came in the form of a faded Disney cartoon tarpaulin. Pictures of Mickey and Minnie Mouse decorated it with the messages, 'Good Night' and 'Good Day.'

You sleep outside at night watching the stars. Our sleeping area doubled as the dining space, entertainment area and contemplation zone. Over the 3 days spent we even managed to sneak in a few haircuts on board. At night we'd park up next to a sandy spot or close to a village. I was shocked to see donkey's tied up on a half metre length of rope lead secured into the sand but not close enough to the waters edge. They looked underfed and after feeding them stale bread and a few apple cores, washed down with a pail of water I hope this brought them some respite. I did get the impression from the locals that I needed a kick of reality check as not every animal in the world can be given adequate food and water.

A distraction from this was a group of 3 skinny kids who were desperate for a football. Our captain, threw one over the side to them. I thought I'd better make some new friends so joined the game. It wasn't much of a game to be honest. But thank god for that as I'm no David Beckham. I attempted a introduction to the 3 musketeers. They kept pointing at themselves each time I said Cath. Fail. Finally we had a breakthrough when they realised what I was trying to say. Aside from this small development the only other English that was said was, Hello. This became the call during the game each time someone passed the ball onto the other. I still have no idea what the score was or if we were actually playing a game but those kids and I were laughing so hard it didn't matter.

Leaving 9 days into a 16 day tour means that this story has no end. I'm not going to sound like a broken record here but we were guttered to depart early and not have the chance to visit Jordan. Everyone has a perspective on what is going on in Egypt at the moment. After not seeing the news for the past week and not physically witnessing anything dangerous just a few travel disruptions it was hard to decide whether to stay or go.

Last Friday was the worst evening in Cairo with protesting occurring throughout the city, forcing a close to the Giza Train Station. We were on an overnight train from Luxor to Cairo. Only making it 2 hours out of Luxor before the train was held up by police who wouldn't let us go any further. I've never had a better sleep that evening. That's because the train didn't go anywhere.

I do think that the media has over sensationalised what is happening at the moment. Yes, you can't ignore the violence and reports of rape. But now I'm catching-up on the news I'm struggling to read anything about the mass celebrations of Morsi's fall from grace. The fireworks, music and huge street parties. A testament to this was hearing the noise of laughter, music and singing coming from both sides of The Nile when we were aboard the Felucca.

But, when your Mum gets worried you listen. When Barbara from the New Zealand Embassy in Cairo personally calls the group with a warning to get out. You listen. Some of our group have stayed on the tour but I guess I'm more cautious these days. Plus I'm on a slow crawl home and I have a few more countries to visit before I return to New Zealand.

Egypt is somewhere you can keep returning and find something different each time. Even more so now as I haven't seen Jordan. Someone on the tour commented that they'd love to have a broom and 'Spray and Wipe' on hand to go around and clean it up. That did make me laugh. But this is what gives this country such charm and reality. Amidst the rubbish lining some streets and dust clouds there is real beauty about the place. Once you spot something that stands out you can't turn your eyes away from it. Just like the locals staring at us Western woman, we too are staring something, camera in hand to capture it.

Toodle pip x