Safety Dance

We have been safely back at home for about 3 days. Long enough to unpack, do some laundry, reunite with the cats, and have enough things happen that we wish we were still on vacation (eg. today's activity: buying a new freezer to replace the one that suddenly stopped freezing last night. Defrosted bag of strawberries = really messy).

As we went to bed last night, there was a headline that an American had been killed in Egypt...in Alexandria, to be specific...as part of the protests that are building up for the planned revolution on June 30. More headlines this morning that things are tensing up all over the country. The US State Department is warning Americans to defer "nonessential" travel to Egypt. I'm going to guess "tour bus to see the pyramids" falls into that category.

A dear friend said a few days ago that Rob and I were very brave to vacation in some of the places we went to. I am not sure I agree that we were brave. We were on a cruise and stayed very close to all the other little ducklings sporting "Orange 5" group stickers. We relied on the cruise company and its careful protection of its reputation and cash flow to keep us safe. Now my friends who traveled around the Middle East with backpacks a few years ago, THEY were brave. For instance, Rob and I never got terrifyingly detained for long hours at a check point for carrying both a Koran and a Bible in our gear. (Based on that story, the little Gideon Bible I brought as reference stayed in our cabin the entire cruise.)

But I will admit that this trip had a lot of security issues, things that made it apparent that we weren't going to Disneyland. I have been on several cruises and never before have I had so many notes and reassurances delivered to my cabin, missives that were meant to be comforting but also forced the light of reality on where we were.

Just a week before we left, one of our Egyptian ports was cancelled. We were supposed to spend one day in Port Said and then the next day in Alexandria. From Port Said, we were booked to travel to see the pyramids. From Alexandria, we had plans for a city tour and a visit to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities (mysteriously cancelled later). But suddenly, without any explanation, things got all wonky on the Princess website. I was double-checking dress code requirements for some of the tours (no shorts, cover knees and shoulders) and suddenly an entire day -- THE day, the entire reason for going to Egypt -- was missing.

Princess reps weren't really sure what was going on. Some small print eventually revealed the cancellation of Port Said was due to security concerns. An online news story confirmed some people had been killed inside a church in Port Said a few days earlier. Looking on a map, I saw that our now two day stay in Alexandria would still allow travel to the pyramids. I was mostly relieved but still a little edgy. Our pyramid tour guide's later assurance that the only reason that Port Said would have been cancelled was due to port renovations seemed suspect. Renovate the port during the busy tourist season? Yeah, maybe from bullet holes.

Once we got on the ship, we headed to the Shore Excursions desk and got our pyramid tour rescheduled. The nice man at the desk didn't seem the least bit concerned about safety risks; he assured us everything would be just fine. "Welcome aboard and enjoy your cruise!!"

So everything was terrific in the Land of Travel Elegance and Denial. We were greeted formally and warmly by staff all around the ship, we attended a wine tasting, we made a daily visit to the library on Deck 10 to pick up each day's new Sudoku puzzles, we got fresh towels and chocolates every day. Security concerns? Ha!

The first on-board sign that we were not on a typical cruise came a couple of days in when an "IMPORTANT IMMIGRATION INFORMATION" sheet was delivered to our room. It described the passport rules for entering Israel.

"Upon arrival in Ashdod there is a mandatory face to face Immigration inspection for ALL passengers, regardless of whether you plan to go ashore or stay onboard."

We had to hand over our passports and then carry them with us at all times. We also had to go through a metal detector and bag inspection at the foot of the ship's gangway, both departing and arriving. Both days I held my breath as the Israeli Immigration officers carefully inspected Piglet for signs of him being a mule of some sort. I resisted the intense urge to explain that that role would make a lot more sense for Eeyore.

As I described in my post about Jerusalem, we were surrounded by security measures all day. We went through several metal detectors and check-points and had armed guards board our bus a few times. I gotta admit, that never happened on Prince Edward Island.

All the security in Israel actually made me feel safe and secure, so I wasn't worried anymore about Egypt. Until June 14 when we got a letter from the captain:

"As you may be aware, there continue to be political protests in various parts of Egypt including, in particular, the Tahrir Square area of Cairo. As the safety and security of our passengers and crew is our priority, our security department remains in close contact with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and continues to monitor the situation in all our Egyptian ports of call."

First crack in the Wall of Denial: the ship had a security department and it was buddies with the US Embassy.

"It is important to understand that incidents have not been directed at tourists and relate to political and/or internal Egyptian sectarian differences."

Second crack: the use of the word "sectarian."

"As a safety precaution, it may be necessary to alter tour itineraries to avoid areas of potential problems including venues in and adjacent to Tahrir Square. For all of our passengers going ashore, we encourage you to exercise the same caution you would when visiting any new city. In particular, we recommend that you keep well clear of any gathering crowds or demonstrations as the situation can deteriorate rapidly and there have been instances of violence associated with these large gatherings."

Third crack: In Portland, a gathering crowd or demonstration near Pioneer Courthouse Square typically involves antique bicycles, Vitamin Water, and people dressed as zombies. This sounded somehow different.

The night before we arrived in Alexandria, we received this Important Notice:

"Egypt is not always held to the same standards of food hygiene as many other Princess destinations, and certainly not to the meticulous standards on our ships. Whilst ashore, take extra care to wash your hands with running water and soap for at least 20 seconds before eating or drinking anything, and use hand sanitizer where possible. Think very carefully before consuming any foodstuffs from informal vendors, as cases of gastrointestinal upset often result. If you suffer any diarrhea or vomiting please contact us immediately - you may require antibiotics before symptoms will resolve. Dial 911 and we shall gladly assist you."

Fourth crack: Apparently my stash of Imodium was woefully inadequate for what Egypt had to offer.

So it was with a whole lot of apprehension that we left the ship those two days in Egypt. Obviously, everything went just fine...even though we ended up loathing the place... since I am here to write about it.

We were definitely under the cover of protection, though. Both days, our tour bus was in a caravan. The first day in Alexandria we were one of four large buses winding our way through the trash heaps. The second day to Cairo and the pyramids, we were one of at least ten busses. In both cases, we had marked Tourist Police riding in our caravan, as well as some unmarked cars carrying men who looked like the mob. I think the Tourist Police were sort of like TSA -- mostly there for the psychological benefit of the travelers a la "Security Theater" but really not all that equipped or inclined to handle a real emergency.

The Tourism Police were all rather young and I often saw them sleeping as we were caravanning.

Protection while we shopped at a Princess Approved store.

I wasn't really sure what the mob guys were actually doing, as I typically saw them smoking when we stopped. They certainly weren't doing anything to keep us from being attacked by the pyramid vendors.

But then we got stuck in some incredible traffic between Cairo and Alexandria. Traffic that lasted about 4 hours and made us more than an hour late getting to our ship. Our bus driver decided to be sneaky and take a side road. Several other busses in our caravan followed. We smugly roared past about a mile of stalled traffic when all of a sudden, the road we were on ended. No warning, no signs, just no more road.

A quick turn to the right and we were going to head over a small creek in a field in search of more road. Well, that small creek had a small, crumbly bridge and there was no way our bus was going over it. During what turned out to be about a fifteen-point turn to turn around, our mobsters appeared with great urgency and agitation. Cigarettes abandoned (this was serious!), they quickly went to work on their cell phones and literally standing guard around the bus as we lumbered around. With all the traffic, I had lost track of them and figured surely they were miles away from us. Nope. Apparently we and our tourist dollars were precious cargo.

So all in all, we were rather protected in both Israel and Egypt, all us little camera-toting, capri-pant wearing ducklings dutifully following our Mama Guides while scary wolves stood guard. Were we brave? I still don't think so. Naive perhaps. Coddled maybe. In denial at times for certain. And grateful definitely -- likely even more so as the Egyptian news unfolds in the next few days.