Walking in the footsteps of the Pharos

As a child the idea of going to the Great Pyramids one day kind of captured my imagination to the point that I would dream about living in those times, daydream that is, while sat in Math or Science. I never truly expected to actually go there myself, I just dreamed that I would.

As with most childish dreams, this was tucked away in the back of my mind, to resurface from time to time while I was feeling contemplative or nostalgic for the simpler times of childhood. Even when I moved to Europe I didn’t really give this much more thought… not even when I went to an Egyptian resort on the Red Sea for a vacation with my European wife.

We arrived in Egypt during a strange time in their history. Although the youth had revolted against the strongman presidency of the past several decades, the country was left with with a a gaping security hole that became apparent more or less as soon as you left the vicinity of the airport. Our driver explained that uniformed police officers were being attacked on the streets so had abandoned their posts.

But, according to him, the local community understood the importance of tourism to their economy, to the continued existence of the local area, and were providing their own security. Sure enough, at thee gates to the resort were several heavily armed guards carrying out security checks on all vehicles entering the area and that was followed by a two kilometre drive to the actual resort area.

Although this resort was an imitation designed to engender that authentic feeling, it couldn’t. What it did do was re-ignite my childhood fantasy of walking on the Great Pyramids and exploring their hidden and imposing secrets within. The more time I spent in Hurghada, surrounded by the ‘authentic’ tourist tat and faux artefacts the stronger the pull to actually plan for and make the trip to Cairo.

We were able to have some incredible experiences on our first trip that inspired us to return.

Our first experience to Egypt was amazing. As a result a year later I finally got a chance to live out my childhood dream.

One year later we retuned to Egypt, but this time with a plan to go to the Pyramids and the Sphinx.

Many things had changed in Egypt during that time. The (first) uprising was pretty much finished and security was returning to some semblance of normalcy. You could actually see police on the streets again.

I got to see the Pyramids of Giza

Walk on the Pyramids

Explore the internal mysteries of one of the smaller Pyramids

Admire the Sphinx

And generally have a great time.

As a result of this trip I realised that my childhood dreams didn’t have to disappear along with my childhood. I have since started to plan for a number of other adventures that will allow me to actualise more of my fantasies. Life is for dreaming, life is for living, life is for living the dream while exploring and having adventures.

If you are interested in hearing about more of my adventures please let me know in the comments. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Now go out and live your own childhood fantasy adventures.

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