This is crazy, but I have to ask...Will you go to Egypt with me?

So began the email from my friend and fellow dancer, Aurel.

She wanted to study with world-famous dancer Randa Kamel and possibly add a day or two for sightseeing. My instinct...YES!! Traveling to Egypt had always been a dream, but kind of a faraway dream that I'd really never acted on. Here came opportunity knocking at my door in the form of Aurel and within a week we enrolled in 'Randa Kamel of Course,' six-days of workshops with the dancer herself.

I'm especially excited to work with one dancer. During my trip to the Turkish Delight Festival in 2010 I took classes with many dancers considered tops in their field. The prosepect of learning from one teacher really appeals to me, and my reaearch tells me that she is an exacting teacher at that.

Our trip goes in fits and starts. The day we plan to book our flights Egypt erupts in mass demonstrations against the Egyptian Government, which is currently run by the milatary. We don't know what is in store for Cairo, so we wait. The worst, we'll lose our $500 deposits. Later we begin to hear amazing things from people who currently live in or have recently travelled to Cairo. All is safe, the people are warm and welcoming. So, 18 days before our trip we make the commitment and book our flights, round-trips from JFK directly to Cairo. Knight-in-shining-armor, Bill Hague has offered to drive Aurel and I to JFK. An eight-hour round-trip for him means that he'll arrive back in RI two hours before we arrive in Cairo!