When my mother first told me many years ago she was going to spend a few weeks in Egypt traveling by herself, I want to think that the news gave me pause. The truth is, however, I don't recall batting an eye. My mother is one of the most intrepid travelers I know, and she routinely makes me feel as if our roles are reversed, me telling her to be careful as she makes plans to go skydiving for her birthday or hitch a motorcycle ride with a stranger into the African desert.
My mother's penchant for adventure draws her to Africa repeatedly, and though there's plenty of unnecessary fear about a continent most people in the U.S. know little about, there are also more recent reasons why traveling safely in Egypt isn't as much of a given as it was the last time my mother was there. Outside the region, many are cheering on the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East as positive signs for the future, but however soft those revolutions might be in some places there's still reason to pause before venturing in as a foreigner.
More confident travelers will no doubt jump at the chance to get back into places like Egypt as soon as things even start to look like they're calming a bit. There's no doubt that there will be deals galore, with airfare to Cairo at bargain prices and even high-end rooms offering rates like the budget hotels in Cairo. While she isn't likely to be among the first holidaymakers to jet back to Egypt, I have little doubt that my mother will be chomping at the bit to return as soon as she hears about others doing so.
Will I worry about her? I wouldn't be a very good daughter if I didn't. But beyond her ability to think on her feet and her strength of character, there's something else that makes me more confident than I might otherwise be every time she announces where she's off to next - her age. In some ways, the fact that she's nearly 70 is the very reason that I'd be worried about her traveling alone, but because she chooses to travel in places where old people are revered rather than reviled I know she'll be well taken care of.
Now, to reply to her latest email asking for information on Madagascar...
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