Is it safe to visit

A few days later I had decided that I should sell my car to assist with my saving plan. I had my car for two years and still had one more year of repayments but I saw that as dead money that I could be putting into my savings for travel. Once my car was up for sale a lot of people started to believe that I was actually going ahead with my plan. My car was sold a week later. I guess I didn't expect it to sell so quickly and once it was gone I was a little lost I was back to catching public transport which meant a bus and train to and from work every day but I was saving money and that’s all that matter to me at the time.

Each morning on the bus I would call Marwuan and he would talk to me most the way to work, we would talk about everything, sometime though we would run out of things to say and just sit on the phone in silence just knowing that he was on the other side of the phone would make my heart race fast. My phone bill rocketed through the roof the money that I was supposed to be saving was going to my phone company my highest bill was $500 for the month and I could not continue paying that if I wanted to have enough money to pack up and leave Australia. I had to tell Marwuan that I could not continue calling him each day and that we would have to email or text while he was on tour because he did not have skype available during this time. It made it hard for both of us as we were not having the regular contact like before.

Little things started to trigger fights because we were interpreting things the wrong way via text and emails, because we could not hear the tone of the voice we would jump at the wrong conclusions. The distance was starting to affect us and we still had four more months until we were due to meet up again. We were both started to question whether we were making the right decision we were basing a lot on a holiday romance and a relationship that was only long distance, if we continued like this we would not be together by the time it came for me to leave Australia. That’s when Marwuan came up with a plan. Valentines day was three weeks away and he asked if I could come to Egypt for valentine's day, It sounded like an awesome plan but it would cut into my savings with the flight alone being $2000 and I would not get paid holiday pay as I had just returned from Christmas holidays I said I would think about it and talk to my boss if I could take the leave.

That night I could not sleep all I could think about was being in Egypt for Valentines day. It would be our first valentines day of hopefully many more to come how awesome would it be if we could spend it together. The next morning at work I asked my boss for the leave. He said he would think about it but it was very unlikely because he needed me at work due to it being a busy time for recruiting and it was my portfolio to do all this for the centre. My heart sank but held on to hope that he would say yes. I told Marwuan that night I had asked for the leave and I will know tomorrow the answer however I was still concerned about the money it would cost to come at such short notice. Maruwan told me not to worry about any money he would have it covered, it would be his gift to me. All I had to do was get the leave and find the flight and he would do everything else as well as reimburse me for the flight once I got there.

Again I had a sleepless night anxious to find out what my boss would say about the leave. Once I got to work the next day I approached my boss for his answer. He declined my leave he needed me there during this time. Back at my desk I could not hold back my tears I was devastated I was not only looking forward to going to Egypt to see Marwuan I was sure that if I didn't go this time our relationship would not make it the next 4 months. I took some time to myself in a meeting room to calm down. It was then I decided that I would resign then and there. Something told me that I needed to go to Egypt and that was the most important thing to me right now. I regrouped and went into my managers office I sat down and told him that if the leave was not available I am sorry but I would have to resign. I did not want to put him in a tough position but this trip was very important to me and I needed to go. He had no choice he really didn't want me to leave before the end of May like planned so he approved the leave. A part of me felt terrible and guilty that I put my manager in this position but I was happy that I didn't have to resign because I really needed to have this job until I was due to leave.

That night I booked my tickets online I was due to leave to Egypt in 2 weeks for 12 days. The plan was to spend two days in Cairo meeting his family then we would fly to Dahab and spend the remaining time alone getting to know each other without other people around. It would all be great.

It was now a week until I was due to fly to Egypt and a massive protest happened in Cairo, Egyptians wanted their president Hosni Mubarak to step down. The protest turned into riots Cairo and other Egyptian cities were on fire, people were losing their lives. Western countries were sending planes to take their citizens out of the country. What was I going to do? I could not go to Egypt when it was in this state. It was unsafe I would wait and see if things would calm down I still had a week until I was due to depart.