Ma'salama El Gouna

7 am. The alarm clock goes off. It reminds me of a song that a school mate wrote at high school, about how each morning his alarm would go off at 7 am, about how his boring daily routine was getting on his nerves and how he was dreaming off cocktails on sandy white beaches... Well, absolutely nothing wrong with my current daily routine, but sandy white beaches, here I come!!!

I can’t remember when I referred to it for the last time, but those of you who’ve been reading my blogs since I was in Singapore might recall I was dreaming of a finding a sexy diving instructor who would travel the world with me... Well, Stefano and I have been “formally” together for just over a year now and so far our passport stamps include: Egypt, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy and now we are about to add the Maldives to our collection. I think this classifies as “travelling around the world”, don’t you?

We are ready to leave. One big bag with 26 kg of diving equipment, one suitcase of 17 kg with clothes and other necessities and two pieces of hand luggage of 12 kg each with computers, external hard drives, camera’s, etc... Clearly, we’re moving to a warm country... :-)

In 40 mins, Ivan is picking us up to bring us to the airport. Hurghada-Cairo-Doha-Male. Tomorrow at 7 am we will be in what is to be our home country for the next five months. I’m thrilled!

But I will miss El Gouna. Over the past week, we have been saying a lot of good byes, to the same people over and over again, it’s a small village after all so you keep on running into each other. I said good bye to my dear TGI colleagues, to my yoga girls, to the Italian compound residents, to the Clubhouse gang and to many others. “So, when are you coming back to El Gouna?” was the inevitable question each time. “We don’t know! Maybe in summer... but maybe later! Anyhow, we will be back in El Gouna sometime!”

And that’s exactly how it is. We don’t know when, but we’ll be back. I still love not knowing what will come next...

Now it’s time to wrap up the Mac, always that last piece of equipment to go into the luggage. This time together with a 1 TB external hard drive with over 50 movies and 200 GB of music. Just in case we get bored on the Maldives. Ha!

We will have satellite/internet connection on the boat (it is after all, one of the most luxurious liveaboards sailing around the Maldives), but I have no idea when I will be able to write my next blog and upload pictures.

So I hereby wish you all a fabulous Christmas, a grand New Year, a swinging birthday, a romantic anniversary, a smooth and painless delivery of your first, second or third kid, an amazing first date, a fantastic first day at your new job, a great start of the sabbatical of your life, lots of snow during your skiing holiday, good luck with your exams and most of all, I wish you a smile on your face each morning your alarm clock goes off. Even if it’s earlier than 7 am.

Last dives in the Red Sea:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167169&id=523210814&l=21af5ddeda

Ma’salama El Gouna
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167185&id=523210814&l=4ed13400c6

xYx