Egypt

It was the best of times and the worst of times in Egypt during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Egypt treated our family well.

Sami, my father, was one of the youngest people called to the bar in Egypt and went on to become a very successful lawyer. His office was in central Cairo. His father, before him, was a lawyer and then a judge. My mother, Lucy, was the chief executive of the household, in charge of organizing all the invitations, parties and extracurricular events.

We enjoyed a good life in an apartment with my Maternal Grandmother, “Teta Marie”. As a family, we were members of the prestigious Sporting Club. The good times, however, didn’t last, and it became clear that we would need to move along with the rest of the family. Lucy, my mother, had two brothers in New York City. Sami’s brother, Mounir, was in Montreal.

In June 1964, my father, Sami; my mother, Lucy; my grandmother, Teta Marie; my brother, Kamal; and I boarded an EgyptAir flight to Rome, en route to London. After a few days, we travelled from London to Liverpool by train. In Liverpool, we boarded Cunard Line’s Corinthian.

I have not returned to Egypt in sixty-one years for several reasons. The time has come to revisit my motherland. I am both nervous and excited. Will our schedule be too much or not enough?

Joining me on the trip are my wife, Donna, and our son, Chris. Chris is coming along ostensibly to carry my extra camera equipment. He does know my intentions and designs on his services. My cousin Monique is joining us with her husband, Larry. Donna and I have travelled with Monique and Larry to Barcelona and France before, and we all still keep in touch. It was amazing how we would connect at any time of day or night to discuss the trip's minutiae; we were always on the same page.

To clarify, Monique is not just joining us; she is the architect of ninety percent of the research, organization, booking, and negotiation of the trip. I was unable to do my share as I was finishing my book, selling my business and transitioning the clients of a thirty-three-year career to another advisor. It was all good, but highly demanding of me and my time.

It was not all smooth sailing. As I put together the trip itinerary, assembled the day’s activities, and sequenced who was doing what for us, it became painfully clear that we had reached a point of contention. She wanted to include naps on the itinerary - I took umbrage, we were going to Egypt for only three weeks. I was never going to put ‘nap’ on my schedule. It must be noted here, it wasn’t the actual nap that bothered me, it was the word “nap” that I was not committing to paper - I called it “free time” on the itinerary ;-)

I intend to diaryize the trip and keep sharing our adventures as we have done in the past. We will attempt as frequent a series of entries as possible. That will totally depend on our schedule.

Thank you for joining us on our “Kerba’s Egyptian Kaper”