Gorgeous ‘Cairo Time’ makes me want to pack my bags for Egypt

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I can't rave enough about this gorgeous film (or its gorgeous co-star Alexander Siddig, my new foreign-man crush). Ladies, this film is a MUST-SEE!
I can't rave enough about this gorgeous film (or its gorgeous co-star Alexander Siddig, my new foreign-man crush). Ladies, this film is a MUST-SEE!
Imagine hanging out in Cairo with THIS beautiful man (Sudanese-born actor Alexander Siddig, who plays Tareq) at your side. I'd never want to go home!
Imagine hanging out in Cairo with THIS beautiful man (Sudanese-born actor Alexander Siddig, who plays Tareq) at your side. I'd never want to go home!

After spending almost NO time at the cinema this summer, I’m on another film kick. Forget “Eat Pray Love”  as the so-called thoughtful “chick flick” of the season. For me, the UrbanTravelGirl must-see movie is “Cairo Time,” an absolutely breathtaking film that places the ancient-yet-modern and chaotic Egyptian city of Cairo in a starring role.

I recently raved about “Cairo Time” in “TCW Travel Connection,” the blog I write for the monthly Today’s Chicago Woman magazine. (I hope you’ll check it out!) But beyond making me think long and hard about the movie’s central premise—that “sometimes you need to forget the rules and follow your heart”—and inspiring me to see it twice, this travelogue of a film has me SERIOUSLY thinking about booking a trip to Cairo.

As I’ve said before, even I think it’s a shame that I’ve traveled countless times to Europe but have yet to set foot on the African continent. And while South Africa and Senegal also are on my visit-Africa “wish list,” Egypt’s always been at the top.

I’ve already started checking out flights between Chicago and Cairo, trying to figure out which of American Airlines’ partner airlines fly there so I can trade in some hard-won frequent-flyer miles. I haven’t yet checked out places to stay, but when on the road in foreign countries, I try to avoid large American-branded hotels. Perhaps a small locally owned boutique place, a seaside resort, or even a last-minute all-inclusive might work. But the point is to GET THERE!! My mom has always talked of wanting to visit Egypt, but has frequently deferred the dream because of fears of terrorism. I’m hoping to talk her into going, as we’re far safer on the streets of Cairo than on the South Side of Chicago!

So here’s the deal: you guys know I love traveling alone. But tell me—if you’ve been to Egypt (or even LIVED there!), is it a bad idea for a single woman to go strolling the streets of Cairo by herself, or does the city just get bad PR for that? (If you watch “Cairo Time,” you’ll see leading lady Patricia Clarkson frequently harassed—but she’s blonde and doesn’t cover her hair. At least I’d blend in much better with my Egyptian brothers and sisters!) Is it a place you’d wholeheartedly recommend?

Let me know what you think!

(This post is supported by Luxury Villas Maui.)

Want to travel the ‘world’ without leaving the United States? Visit Las Vegas

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Times are tough, and even us diehard globetrotters are finding ourselves grounded these days. But there ARE ways to travel the world without leaving the borders of the United States. In a recent post for my “TCW Travel Connection” blog, which I write for a great local monthly magazine called Today’s Chicago Woman, I’ve written about “going global” by sampling fare at ethnic cafes and restaurants, checking out foreign films, soaking up the sounds from other lands, etc.

But surprisingly, you can ALSO take a trip around much of the world by visiting Vegas. YES, Las Vegas. Even this most American of cities offers something for the global traveler in you.

I remember some years ago my sister—a brilliant young entrepreneur who has traveled to Europe several times, but never quite as eagerly as me—once made this remark (and I’m paraphrasing here): Why bother getting a passport and traveling overseas when you can visit Egypt, Italy, and France just by going to Las Vegas?

Of course, I was HORRIFIED, and hope she said it in jest. But the truth is, if money is tight and you can’t go abroad, Las Vegas offers some pretty cool glimpses into foreign cultures, if only by way of some of its star hotels and their restaurants and attractions.

So go with me here. Say you want to experience a bit of the magic found in my favorite city in the world, Paris. The Paris Las Vegas Hotel really is a gem, even for someone like me who’s visited the real thing countless times and loves the city as much as life itself. Not only is there an amazingly life-like replica of the Eiffel Tower facing “The Strip”—half the size of the original one in Paris—but you can soar 460 feet to the top via elevator, giving you an incredible view of the Vegas skyline.  A few years ago, I remember going with my mom to the 11th floor Eiffel Tower Restaurant, not for a meal but for an amazing flute of champagne. I hadn’t taken a flight, but the elegant, classy feel made me forget I was in the States and transported me for a few minutes to La France.

And then there’s bella Italia, experienced by way of two truly neat hotels, The Bellagio and The Venetian Las Vegas. I stayed with my family at the Bellagio a few years ago, and not only were the rooms plush and comfy, but many of its restaurants and cafes—not to mention its gelateria—give hotel guests and visitors alike a literal taste of Italian cuisine. And while I haven’t stayed at The Venetian, I must admit I’m a sucker for its Venice replicas. I’ve been to the REAL Venice, Italy, three times—on journalist press trips and to visit a friend who lives in the city—and I must say, this hotel’s reproduction of the city’s Grand Canal and its gondola rides, complete with black-and-white-striped shirt-wearing gondoliers, trip me out every time I see them. And with 19 restaurants on the property—including the very authentic Canaletto, where I insisted my family dine with me on the faux “outdoor” terrazza—you really can pretend you’re somewhere in Italy.

Then there’s the Luxor Las Vegas, with its pyramid-shaped hotel complex and a large, looming Sphinx outside. Of course, you’re not in Egypt—and sadly, you won’t find any cuisine from this amazing country inside the hotel. But a visit to the luxurious Luxor spa some years ago is as close as this UrbanTravelGirl has gotten so far. Travel Intelligence provide a good range of luxury spa hotels for anyone wanting to give luxury spas a try. Still, it inspires me to get to the real Nile River in Africa sometime soon.

And isn’t that the point of any trip, to encourage you to take another?

This is a TravelingMom dedicated post.

Have black Americans REALLY traveled until they’ve visited Africa?

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Over the years, I’ve visited nearly 30 countries in North America, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe (where I’ve traveled so many times I’ve completely lost count).

But I’ve never been to Africa. And as an African-American, that sounds pretty pathetic.

Places on the continent are always on my mental “to-do” list, West African countries like Senegal and North African ones like Egypt and Morocco. But I haven’t made it there yet.

I started thinking about this during President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Ghana. Sure, he was there to send a message to the African world about the United States’ ongoing support—albeit with conditions that included self-responsibility—but what impressed me most about this native son’s return to his father’s home continent was the fact he took his wife Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia, and First Mom-in-Law Marian along on the trip.

While we know the Obamas have visited Africa before—going to Kenya to meet the president’s relatives—this trip had to have especially important significance for First Lady Michelle, her mom and even the girls, as all are the descendants of both African-American slaves and white slaveowners. Visiting the “Door of No Return,” where mothers, fathers and children were violently and permanently separated from their homeland and shipped across the Atlantic as chattel, must have been mind-blowing. It’s a horribly painful part of American history, but as black folks, it’s ours. And it’s important for us to own it—and in the process, make that reconnection to the continent that often feels far away and foreign to many of us.

Which brings me back to my original point: Can we black Americans really feel well-traveled if we’ve never set foot on African soil? I’m starting to think “NO.”

While unlike President Obama, who knows his ancestral country and village, most of us don’t know specifically from where our foreparents hailed. We generally assume it was someplace in West Africa since that’s where most slaves sent to the New World lived, but can’t claim that direct connection to Senegal or Guinea or The Gambia. Still, many black folks who have traveled to these places describe a sense of feeling “at home” once they arrived, as if those centuries-old mystical links broken during the Middle Passage somehow felt restored.

But I’m curious what you guys think. For those of you who HAVE visited Africa—and I’m talking anywhere on the continent—how did it change you and your outlook on who you are? Did you feel like you had “come home?” And how important was it for you to make that reverse trip across the ocean?

As for me, I think I’m going to start planning that African journey now.

Does ‘traveling while black’ (or brown) help in the nonwhite world?

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"Traveling while black" (or brown) can be a lovely thing in many places in the world. Here, my friends Carol and Karen and I rest on a bench inside the Vatican Museums during a late 2007 trip to Italy.
"Traveling while black" (or brown) can be a lovely thing in many places in the world. Here, my friends (from left) Carol and Karen and I rest on a bench inside the Vatican Museums during a late 2007 trip to Italy.

 

When in Riyadh... here I am, garbed in an "abaya" during a business trip to Saudi Arabia's capital city in late 2007.
When in Riyadh... here I am, garbed in an "abaya" during a business trip to Saudi Arabia's capital city in late 2007.

I’ve had this theory for a long time: While we African-Americans sometimes feel our color can be a pseudo-“liability” here in the States, it certainly can be an asset once we leave our native shores and travel abroad. I was reminded of this last week when President Barack Obama gave his potentially game-changing speech in Egypt.

It was a striking sight to see TV cameras pan across the crowd gathered inside Cairo University to hear him. Most of the faces were some shade of brown, from café au lait to cinnamon to chocolate. From just looking at them, any of ‘em could have been a cousin, aunt or uncle of Obama’s. And while few mainstream news outlets have called it as such, one HUGE reason for our president’s broad worldwide appeal is the fact that he looks like so much of the world.

And since people of color make up a majority of the globe’s population, it makes sense. We know Obama’s also beloved in many parts of Europe, but when Latin Americans and Africans and people in the Middle East see this man, in many ways, they see themselves.

Retired South African Archbishop and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu articulated a similar thought in an Associated Press article published yesterday. Referring to Obama’s upcoming trip to sub-Saharan Africa next month, he said that Obama’s Kenyan roots and ethnicity will automatically give him a level of credibility with African leaders. (Obama will reportedly visit Ghana, his first stop to this region since being elected U.S. president.)

“They can’t accuse him of being a neocolonialist,” Tutu’s quoted saying during a visit to London. “Complexion helps.” (emphasis mine)

It most certainly does—and often, in very tangible ways.

I remember friend Ricki Stevenson, African-American expatriate and founder of the fabulous Black Paris Tours in France, telling me about this phenomenon years ago. Decades earlier, she and her family had lived in the Middle East, and when traveling through airports there, she’d be greeted, “Hello, my sister,” by local employees.

And as comfortable as I have always felt traveling through Europe, the first time I visited a non-Caribbean overseas country and found myself in a place where more of the folks looked like me than NOT was Saudi Arabia. I traveled there in late 2007 during a business trip for my company, decked out throughout the trip in an abaya borrowed from a former Chicago Sun-Times colleague and later in a more opulent one given as a gift from my company’s country executive.

While in Saudi Arabia, I met a businessman who was a dead ringer for my uncle Ras down in Pine Bluff, Ark. I was greeted as “sister” by a traditionally dressed businessman during one of my escorted office-building stops in the big port city of Jeddah. And if I didn’t open my non-Arabic-speaking mouth—except, of course, to utter general courtesies such as “shukran” (thank you) or “Aasalaamu Aleikum” (hello)—I could do a decent job of “blending in.”

While I’ve NEVER been one to suggest African-Americans limit their travel to places where there are other people of color, it’s nice to visit countries where the folks look like they’d be at home at one of your family reunions.

I’ll bet President Obama would agree.