Writing for Fun
May 2015
The First Time - Sue Barker
The planning began the year before my husband's 40th birthday. I wanted to do something extra special. Mike loves to travel so I put my thinking cap on, where could we go. I wanted to make it a surprise; this is usually impossible for me as I get so excited I usually blurt out the surprise well before the event.
Surreptitiously I looked through travel brochures, which were hidden away. Then I saw it; advertised in a newspaper a cruise on the Nile with Voyages Jules Verne. Egypt it would be, I really didn't want to go, it was just not my thing, heat and I aren't good chums, but this holiday was for Mike and he would love it.
I almost hugged myself with joy, what a surprise it would be. I was so pleased with myself; I knew this present was way beyond anything I'd done before. We had been married five years and I thought I knew him inside out. So imagine the scene, all gathered excitedly round a cake, and I urged Mike to open his card (the holiday details were inside). As he started to open the envelope the sheer excitement got to me and I heard myself say in a rather smug, confident voice, 'If you could go on any holiday what would you choose?' I just knew he'd say Egypt, I'd heard him saying how much he'd like to go. Well, pop went that bubble as he replied, 'I've always wanted to go on a safari.' A Safari? he'd never flaming mentioned that before!
I almost felt sorry for him then, because as he opened the envelope he saw he was going to Egypt and I know that at that moment he wished he'd never said a safari, well that made two of us. And instead of cart-wheeling round the room which I felt was the suitable response he said, 'Egypt, oh that's very nice.' I have since learned my husband doesn't really like surprises, unlike me, who reacts like a five year old when surprised, often including tears.
Anyway once I'd got over my disappointment and he'd mustered up suitable enthusiasm we started looking forward to the holiday.
We went in November which is the coolest time we could go. The flight was only four and a half hours, and we arrived at Luxor airport. The first time I had been anywhere so exotic. The heat seemed to burn the hairs in my nostrils; I had never smelt anything like it before. Mike loved it al; I took awhile to acclimatise. It was so different, the men holding hands in friendship with other men, strolling along in their white galabayas with their white trainers hiding beneath. The little boys calling out, 'See you later, alligator,' from the dock; every sight and smell so alien.
There were so many adventures to be had and many fantastic sights to see. The Temple of Karnak was breathtaking; the hieroglyphics were explained to a group of us red faced, sweaty Brits, all trying to take it in while wishing we could find a cool spot. We visited the Valley of the Kings, where I managed to cause bedlam – Mike was looking at some relics and I was with an elderly lady. We were being pestered mercilessly when I said 'Imshee!' to a particularly insistent seller. This was the response my AA guide book advised me to use as it meant 'Go away'. Maybe it was my estuary English accent but it was apparent immediately that it wasn't the appropriate response as he looked like he might hit me and was shouting in my face 'Imshee. I no dog!' Fortunately the tour rep came running and intervened. I've never been brave enough to trust a phrase book since.
Later we on Mike and I managed to get thrown out of a bazaar by angry salesmen when we refused to buy their spices, mainly because they kept changing the price and weight until in the end we decided we would rather not buy any. These adventures didn't detract in any way from our holiday, we lapped it all up. We sat drinking cocktails at the Old Cataract hotel; even before we had a drink the whole atmosphere was intoxicating. Mike's non alcoholic cocktail was a beautiful sight, many different coloured layers; my alcoholic cocktail looked like it had just been taken from the Nile, tasted ok but looked awful. We felt sitting there overlooking the Nile as if we had indeed stepped into an Agatha Christie novel.
We got up at some ungodly hour and drove for four hours to see the temple of Abu Simbel, this monument had been moved from its original site buried under the sand. It was huge and so impressive. We had seen it on Death on the Nile and now we were there, another first for us.
The cruise was pure luxury and we spent hours relaxing and the view of the Nile was just mesmerising. Watching people washing their clothes and pots, men fishing, we'd never seen anything like it before. The Nile is a living and breathing river, the livelihood of its people and essential for their day to day tasks. We sat observing everything, soaking the heat and beauty into our very souls. It even rained one day, it hadn't rained for eight years before we went and I'm not too sure it has rained since. The Nile was turned into something resembling drinking chocolate, and it turned out that we showered in the Nile water, so I actually came out dirtier than I went in.
I fell in love that week with travelling, until then I hadn't been bothered by holidays. Mike had always been the one who travelled – all his holidays from university included exploring strange countries – but I had never been outside of Europe and so it was a new experience for me. I have discovered that travel's highly contagious; these days I'm the one pouring over the brochures, pointing out exciting places to go and see.
I have never experienced anything quite like it since then; it was definitely a 'first' to remember. The first real taste of the difference the world can show you.