Monday 10th January 2011

After long goodbyes to those in the residence who were awake, the taxi arrived at 1.30am to convey me (and my caravan of luggage) to the airport. The drive was uneventful, until about two miles from the airport when, rounding a particularly sharp corner at speed, a blowout occurred, sending the taxi lurching across the (thankfully) deserted road. I was a little too tired to react properly to this near-death experience, so just stood wearily by the car as the driver changed the wheel. Time was ticking by and I became worried that the flight would be missed. But I needn’t have worried as the 4am flight was delayed by an hour-and-a-half. This meant that, instead of boarding the plane and falling asleep, one eye was kept on the gate (no announcements were made) and one ear on podcasts of The Archers, episodes of which had been building up on my mobile for some weeks. No seating was provided between customs and the gate, other than in cafeterias, so a chair was liberated from an unstaffed cosmetics kiosk. Security was somewhat less reassuring than at European airports, but eventually we boarded the plane and left Egyptian soil. I was too tired to be sad at my departure, despite having had two weeks of the most exciting exploration, but, annoyingly, was unable to sleep due to the imminent arrival of breakfast.

Fortunately the delay caused no problems at Amsterdam (other than the lack of sleep) and, a few hours later, I was picked up from Newcastle airport and crashed into bed. The end of an incredible adventure, and hopefully the beginning of a long friendship with a country and people who do everything they can to make you welcome.

On returning home, I learned of events in Tunisia over the past month. It dawned on me that the protests we had observed on Coptic Christmas Day would perhaps turn out to be rather significant after all…

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Tuesday 11th January 2011