I’d also like to be clear since you seem to have made other assumptions about our reasons for going to Egypt. The real reason we went was to get away from the cold Istanbul winter that was setting in. We found a good deal on a flight to Hurghada and went for it. We didn’t go there to paint a mural and I certainly didn’t go there to blog about it. In reality we were super excited to learn about a new culture. Seeing the sights is always second to that. We organized the mural painting once we touched down after I emailed numerous places to see if they wanted to utilize our volunteer services. Which is what we do each time we get to a new place. You also mentioned that our trip was poorly planned. We don’t plan in advance with this lifestyle, we take each day as it comes and see what it offers us. It allows us to truly live in the moment and we are very grateful for that.

As for writing, I only joined Medium this year and rarely blogged or wrote about our travels before that. I never anticipated making money from my writing and I surely didn’t write this article just to make money. I wrote it to let others know what to expect because I feel that if had of been better prepared then we wouldn’t have been so jarred by the experience. I also didn’t expect people to resonate with it the way that they have. It has clearly struck a chord with many, both good and bad.

I hope this clears up all of your concerns and possible assumptions. Probably not, but I’m okay with that. Thanks for partaking in this open dialogue. I’m sure others will learn a lot from this also.