Although most people cannot wrap their heads around it, I am an introvert.

I love my alone time; I need it to recoup and refill my battery. And the same holds true when I travel. Whether I adventure with someone or take off for a month ‘by myself’, I still crave that time.

Smack in the middle of a month long ‘solo’ trip in Egypt, I had yet to spend a single day or night by myself – without ‘hassle’. And I found my most precious alone time on a day trek with two fellow travellers, two guides and three camels.

After a short mountain hike, I board a camel loaded with my dive gear and day bag and we begin our four hour journey to Abu Galloom.

I am balanced upon the camel and the camel is balanced upon – at some points – a two foot ledge between the Red Sea and the mountains.

It is early morning. The sun is shining. The waves are crashing up over the pathway. The wind is so loud in my ears.

Speaking to your fellow travellers is not possible even if desired…I am in heaven.

I take the morning to reflect on my trip, the life that led me to take it, the existential questions about who I am and what I want, the blessings the universe has bestowed on me and how I have chosen to turn those blessings into adventures.

I took the morning to appreciate. I took the morning to meditate and just be – without schedules and requirements, expectations and worries.

I was completely and utterly content in the moment. Happy.

I sometimes long to relive those hours; to transport myself back to that morning, when I was completely at peace with myself and the world.