fun travel times with my dad :)
In the summer of 2014, I traveled to Egypt for the first time without my mom. My dad needed to go to Egypt as soon as possible because of my aunt's wedding and my grandpa wasn't feeling well. We were all supposed to go as a family, but then our tickets got cancelled. So my dad wanted me to go with him since I was the oldest and he didn't want to go alone.
I was really scared to go for a number reasons. First, when it comes to traveling, my dad gets really nervous and anxious and only focuses on making sure the we get the the right gate as early as possible so we don't miss our flight. Second, both my dad and I are the only two people in or family that always sleeps at the airport, so even if we do get the gate, when we wait, we always end up sleeping, so I was afraid that we would still miss our flight. The last thing that I was worried about was that my dad always loses something when we travel, and most of the time its his boarding pass. I really wanted my mom to come with us because she was more responsible and attentive when we travel, but she had to stay with my other siblings.
The trip itinerary was Chicago to Germany, then Germany to Egypt. The plane ride from Chicago to Frankfurt was fine: my dad and I got to sit next to each other and I got a window seat. The only thing that sort of uncomfortable was the old guy sitting next to my dad fell asleep and his head was on my dad's shoulder for half of the plane ride. That meant when my dad went to sleep, he rested his head on my shoulder, which kind of hurt.
When we landed in Germany, we rushed out because we had a really short layover. My dad stopped for coffee, and at the coffee shop I was looking at the menu because it had these really weird emojis plastered all over it and I was trying to figure out what they were. Also, my dad was arguing with the cashier about the price of their medium coffee, (which looked like a small), because it was 12 euros, and so I stood on the other side of the store observing the menu, because I didn't want my dad to get me involved in the argument. My dad then looked at his boarding pass and realized our layover was an hour shorter than we expected so then he just bolted out of the shop without looking back to see if I was following him. In Germany, we had to pick up our baggage, so I was pulling a suitcase and my carry on on the top of it. The suitcase was really heavy so when my dad bolted out, it took me awhile to adjust it and tilt so I could pull it. I hurried as fast as I could because I didn't have a phone and I did not want to get lost. My dad kept walking faster and I kept trying to call his name, but he didn't hear me. In front of me were these two women who were walking really slow and were also blocking my view of my dad. So, I walked past them and then swerved my suitcase around so I was in front of them. The thing was because the suitcase was heavy, I didn't do as clean of a swerve as I thought I did, and I actually hit both of their ankles with the wheels of my suitcase and hurt their feet. I didn't realize I did that until I heard them like yelling and cursing in a foreign language and so I turned around and then they started pointing at their feet. I sheepishly shrugged my shoulders and said sorry. I was so embarrassed at the time, but now I think it's the funniest thing ever.
I was really scared to go for a number reasons. First, when it comes to traveling, my dad gets really nervous and anxious and only focuses on making sure the we get the the right gate as early as possible so we don't miss our flight. Second, both my dad and I are the only two people in or family that always sleeps at the airport, so even if we do get the gate, when we wait, we always end up sleeping, so I was afraid that we would still miss our flight. The last thing that I was worried about was that my dad always loses something when we travel, and most of the time its his boarding pass. I really wanted my mom to come with us because she was more responsible and attentive when we travel, but she had to stay with my other siblings.
The trip itinerary was Chicago to Germany, then Germany to Egypt. The plane ride from Chicago to Frankfurt was fine: my dad and I got to sit next to each other and I got a window seat. The only thing that sort of uncomfortable was the old guy sitting next to my dad fell asleep and his head was on my dad's shoulder for half of the plane ride. That meant when my dad went to sleep, he rested his head on my shoulder, which kind of hurt.
When we landed in Germany, we rushed out because we had a really short layover. My dad stopped for coffee, and at the coffee shop I was looking at the menu because it had these really weird emojis plastered all over it and I was trying to figure out what they were. Also, my dad was arguing with the cashier about the price of their medium coffee, (which looked like a small), because it was 12 euros, and so I stood on the other side of the store observing the menu, because I didn't want my dad to get me involved in the argument. My dad then looked at his boarding pass and realized our layover was an hour shorter than we expected so then he just bolted out of the shop without looking back to see if I was following him. In Germany, we had to pick up our baggage, so I was pulling a suitcase and my carry on on the top of it. The suitcase was really heavy so when my dad bolted out, it took me awhile to adjust it and tilt so I could pull it. I hurried as fast as I could because I didn't have a phone and I did not want to get lost. My dad kept walking faster and I kept trying to call his name, but he didn't hear me. In front of me were these two women who were walking really slow and were also blocking my view of my dad. So, I walked past them and then swerved my suitcase around so I was in front of them. The thing was because the suitcase was heavy, I didn't do as clean of a swerve as I thought I did, and I actually hit both of their ankles with the wheels of my suitcase and hurt their feet. I didn't realize I did that until I heard them like yelling and cursing in a foreign language and so I turned around and then they started pointing at their feet. I sheepishly shrugged my shoulders and said sorry. I was so embarrassed at the time, but now I think it's the funniest thing ever.
Oh my gosh Salma your dad does not sound very fun to travel with. I hope your visit to Egypt was worth all the trouble to get there though!
ReplyDeleteMy mom also gets super anxious when she travels. It’s not super fun to travel with parents like that, but usually the trip ends up being fun once all of the plane logistics and things are out of the way. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Egypt!
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