‘You are very beautiful!’

‘Thanks…’ I wasn’t comfortable with where the conversation was going. I concentrated on shuffling my feet from side to side. He plastered a leering smile on his face, to gesture some approval toward my uninterested, vacant body language.

‘Will you marry me please?’ I couldn’t judge him. It might have been an Egyptian form of speed dating. At the immigration checks in Sharm-el-Sheikh Airport no less. Of course, it’s so obvious a choice of location. Spoilt for choice on a daily basis with worldly women to smile drunkenly at. The never ending hopeless pursuits seemed satisfying enough to them. The conversation was much a similar experience.

‘You know, I just don’t think we know each other very well. Or ever will.’ From his salivating smile I could guess he’d heard that response before. I made it sound like a no, didn’t I? I misjudged the man and shouldn’t have responded at all. I could have used a more harsh tone. More like a “Hell-no-you-scary-motherfucker” tone. But that moment painfully passed, so I decided to give him a “Hell-no-you-scary-motherfucker,” glare instead.

“I was not amused! Not at all.” Tim had wonderful timing, as he barged his camp-self into my thoughts. He huffed and puffed irritably and folded his airline ticket into one of the pages in his passport.

‘Do we need these anymore? Should I keep them?’ He asked me, waving his airline boarding passes in my face.

‘What, you never travelled before?’

‘Just answer, like you know, how a human would,’ he snapped back at me in a bored tone. I told him no and he rolled his eyes then ripped his ticket in half.

‘Let’s go,’ he exhaled strongly.

The arrivals hall was bustling with travellers. Tim and I wormed our way through the crowds. Not-so-strangely enough headed back to where we started.

‘JO!’ Tim hollered over the sea of heads. Jo was one of the staff members at college who looked out for all the students on the trip. I knew she was important, but had no idea what she did exactly. I pointed to my left.

‘There.’ I spotted her waving exaggeratedly, but that was who she was. Exaggeration personified. As if on command, Tim rolled his eyes dramatically at the sight of her.

‘How does that woman sleep with so much speed in her?’ he said sarcastically through gritted teeth. We tip-toed over to her and balanced our hand luggage above our heads.