Stresses, Warnings, and Safety.

Countless times over the five months leading up to the trip Shannon and I would say “if only we weren’t going to Europe.” It was not that we regretted this going on this trip, it was just things that came up. For Shannon her stress had to do with buying a house. I won’t even begin to go into the monstrosity of a disaster that became. For me the stress was more of a why am I not stressed stress. Yes I know, only I get stressed out about not being stressed. Even with all my planning, lists, timelines, research, I kept thinking what am I missing? I kept waiting for the panic to set it, for the “other shoe to drop.” It never did.

In addition to planning our trip, my boss and his boss would be doing an 8 day, 6 event tour to the pacific northwest, British Columbia, and Alberta – right in the middle of my trip and I was planning that whole trip as well. It also did not help that I was out of town the two weekends prior to leaving. It was kind of crazy to not be home for 6 weekends in row. Even with everything going on the other shoe never did drop and I never did really freak out. I got more accomplished before this trip then any other, even with leaving work 30 minutes later on the day I flew out then I had planned. I didn’t forget anything and my house was clean. I don’t think I have ever left for a trip feeling as good about things as I did for this one.

I found it quite humorous that more than anything else people warned us about the gypsies in Venice and the pick pockets in Rome. Over and over again people would tell us to be careful in Italy. Even Shannon was all concerned about the place we were staying in Venice. I found this all kind of humorous, because when I looked over our itinerary, Italy was not the concern. Shan and I had both traveled quite a bit and have spent time in big cities – we were not these novices who were going to stick out and be targets. I knew I could handle gypsies, beggars, and pickpockets. What I was worried was Egypt.

In the information from the cruise it talked about the safety measures the company takes while in Egypt including the tour buses being escorted by the police. From the Princess website “Motorcoaches are required to travel in a police-escorted convoy and may be subject to security delays.” People on cruise critic also talk about these convoys. Of course with my background, my concept of a police-escorted convoy is that of a motorcade – military, secret service, law enforcement – the whole nine yards. Understanding the implications of why motorcades/convoys are needed I was a bit concerned, thinking motor coaches must be a target. Then add to the fact the recent bombings in the Cairo market and tourist spots being hot spots. Then, of course Iran deciding to throw their weight around in the weeks preceding our trip and launch bombs, and both Turkey and Egypt were with in their range. This is what I was worried about. I can take care of myself in a one on one situation; I cannot defend myself from a suicide bomber or nuclear bomb.

The other thing I was a bit worried about was being taken advantage of. We were two females traveling alone. When we flew from London to Venice it was at night and we did not get into Venice until 11:00 pm. I was a bit concerned about going through immigration in Venice. I had this vision of a bored customs official being entertained by screwing around with a couple of America girls coming from the UK. I also knew that the public transportation stopped at 11:40 pm and that any hold up would keep up from making that last bus. So we would have to take a taxi. I again worried we would be overcharged. I am not sure where these thoughts came from, but those were the things I was concerned about.

The piece of information I received from a friend of mine, which was both very helpful and caused a bit of concern was about the harassment I would receive from the men in Egypt. She explained to me that Egyptian men watch American movies and base their impression of American women on the movies, especially when it comes to sex. They think American women expect men to be aggressive and to actually use the cheesy pick up lines that are part of movie dialogue. She said to expect cat calls are you walk by and just be ready for lots of inappropriate things to be said to you. I was appreciative of this advice – it gave me time to prepare myself before we got there. This trip would be my first time in Muslim countries and I knew I had a lot to learn about this culture.

Being the person I am, I had registered my trip with the state department and carried a list of all the US embassies and consulates with me. But strangely enough the thing that gave me the most comfort was when a friend of mine, who is a congressional staffer, told me he would key an eye out for any warning issued during my trip. He gave me the code that was used while the congressman travels that if something were to come up to get out immediately. He said if he texted or emailed me the code, trouble was brewing and to get to safety. For me that was so reassuring and made me feel a whole lot better about some of my concerns.

All being said, for a trip of this magnitude, I stayed extremely calm and organized and was able to be on my way with out any major issues.