How Max and Kathy Ann Saved Us

Dahab was a wonderful break, but something was still missing when we hopped on the bus for Cairo. It had been a restful 5 days, but it had not been regenerative as we had hoped. It was as if we pushed pause on the stress, but we were just as close to the breaking point when we left Dahab as when we arrived.

After 9 hours in a bus that smelled like the rest stop between Olympia and Tacoma, it was wonderful to meet Max and Kathy Ann in the lobby of the Cairo Marriott! We walked to their apartment and made ourselves at home in their spare bedroom. The whole week we hung out together and explored Cairo in a very relaxed, low-key manner. On Thursday, I really didn't do much of anything at all (This is my personal Thanksgiving tradition). I read about 200 pages of a Michael Crichton book, and watched half a dozen episodes of 30 Rock. It was great! Morgan can fill you in on the Thanksgiving details later...

We met Kathy Ann and Max in Goreme (Cappadocia), Turkey. We arrived at 6am from a night bus and by chance had breakfast with them and another couple from our hostel. They left on a bus that very night, but were living in Istanbul and seemed like cool folk, so we got their info. Two weeks later we were dining out in Istanbul, and they invited us to stay with them in Cairo. Um, yes.

Our new friends have a very different travel philosophy. This fall, their travel consisted of renting an apartment in Istanbul for a month, exploring the city and taking a couple short trips, then going to Cairo and doing the same thing. It is definitely the way to travel. We are already in the process ofminimizing our destinations in SE Asia to try to emulate this laidback method of traveling. "Traveling" is almost the wrong word. "Living abroad" may be more appropriate.

We've since talked about how our trip has changed because of that one chance meeting. If we had stayed at a different hostel, or come to Goreme one day later, we wouldn't have these great new friends. Considering how beat we are, we'd probably be wishing we were home instead of in Egypt!



The apartment in the Zamalek neighborhood of Cairo feels more like a home to us than any place we've been since August. It's a feeling we missed, and needed dearly. It is no exaggeration to say that Max and Kathy Ann have saved this trip for us.

Now we are in Luxor, the hassle capital of Egypt, and we can't wait to get back to Cairo! In a few days we are all traveling to Siwa Oasis together, so we are looking forward to the next couple of weeks. By the time we hop on that plane for Delhi, it will be like leaving home all over again.

So, someday when you meet our new Canadian friends (yep, right there in Vancouver), you can greet them warmly as people who were wonderful to us duirng a tough spot in our year.