Marking our traveler’s issue, we decided to embark on a journey of our own and reach out to some of the country’s trendiest globe trotters. Although it was hard to track down these world wanderers, eniGma’s Farida El Sayed and Mohamed Hesham managed to chat with them about their travels, their inspiration, and their different travelling styles. You will definitely find yourself in one of these styles!
Omar Samra
Omar Samra was the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, and became, at the time, the youngest Arab to do so at just 28-years-old. And just last year he, along with fellow adventurer Omar Nour, decided to take the opportunity to row across the Atlantic Ocean. “I had this romanticised idea of how great it would be to cross this body of water on your own steam, without the use of an engine or a sail. So, the only way to get it out of my system was to do it,” Samra reveals.
Samra’s adventurous travels are an integral part of his life as they contribute greatly to his personal satisfaction. “Being immersed in nature for an extended period of time, you experience feelings of peace making you feel reenergised. It’s that deeper connection that I have with nature that brings me back all the time,” states Samra, who made it his livelihood by opening his own travel adventure company, Wild Guanabana in 2009.
“I believe that everybody needs to experience nature and spend time in it. As human beings we were born into nature, so if you just live in the city and you don’t take time to disconnect you’re going to end up running into all kinds of psychological and health problems, that’s why people like myself who live in the city are over stressed and are really high strung,” he explains.
While he isn’t on a global escapade, Samra is at home being a father to his baby girl, Teela. “I want her to have a connection with nature at an early age. Her interaction with mountains, with bees, with ants, with animals… I want the things that she’s growing up with to be things she’s comfortable with so she doesn’t look at them with fear,” Samra says.
Currently, Samra is part of a competition where the finalists are sent to outer space in Mars. “I’ve had this desire of wanting to go out in space since I was a little kid. Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut, it’s just something you dream of. We live on this planet for all of our lives but we never actually look at it; we never actually see it. We see it on satellite images, or we see it in telescope images. I just think it would be an amazing opportunity to go far enough or away from earth to be able to actually look at the place where we spend all our lives,” Samra states. As a result, a life of predictability or stability is not in the cards for this globetrotter.
Questionnaire
What place is at the top of your bucket list?
Colombia.
What has been your favourite place so far?
Peru and Nepal.
Who is the person at home that you miss the most when travelling?
My daughter, Teela.
Lara Scandar
Known for her prominence as a talented singer, Lara Scandar has been turning heads with her worldly lush-life Instagram posts, which triggers the wanderlust in every one of us. The star has been roaming the world and seeing new cultures with her friends and family and we cannot help but fall in love with her love for getting acquainted with new cultures.
Scanadar’s parents instilled the love of travel in her since childhood. “My parents made it important to always travel, so we could see so many things and understand so many different parts of the world. Now, I think I sort of have this phobia of just being in one place for too long,” says Scandar. Something that attracts Scandar to a place is the food, and two countries that are known for their food are Italy and Japan. “The beautiful thing about Italy is that there are so many places that are not yet popular. It could take me years to actually finish Italy, and I’ve been going there ever since I was a kid, and I still haven’t seen all of it. It also has the nicest people, especially in Southern Italy, where my dad is from, people are like Egyptians. They’re the friendliest; they’re super nice. But I also have to say that Japanese people are the most polite and the most helpful,” Scandar recalls.
Scandar loves to travel with her loved ones. “I don’t travel alone unless I travel for work. Most of my trips are with my family, and couple of trips I’ve done with my friends. My idea of a perfect trip includes my husband, my best friend and my parents, and I love tropical spots with a beach, but all in all, I believe travel shows you a different side to life and I think that that’s really crucial, especially when you’re in a phase of taking important life decisions,” Scandar declares.
Questionnaire
What place is at the top of your bucket list?
Vienna, Austria.
What has been your favourite place so far?
Japan, I’m obsessed with it.
Who is the person at home that you miss the most when travelling?
My husband.
Mazen Yassen
After more than a decade working his way up the corporate ladder, Mazen Yassen became a Distribution Partner Manager for North Africa at Red Bull. Despite his success, in 2016 he took the brave plunge to leave it all behind and follow his calling, founding a content creation company, Just a GoProer, and collaborating with big brands. On his personal channel, his content ranges from amusing home videos to chronicles of his latest travels.
“When I went on my Euro trip a couple of years ago, I just planned to go with my family to Poland and decided I was going to split after five days and rent a car and travel all over Europe, where am I going? I had no clue,” Yassen admits, adding, “On a trip to Bali, I went a couple of days before my friends were to arrive and I stayed in a hostel. And it was one of the most exciting trips I’ve ever been to, the exciting part is that you get to meet all kinds of travelers in the hostel and everyone is so friendly.”
As one can see the arm tattoo he has of the world symbolises just how dedicated he is to global adventures. Although Yassen yearns to “pioneer content creation in Egypt,” the lasting impact of his videos has undoubtedly been inspiring us to face the adventure, we call life with a smile on our face.
Questionnaire
What place is at the top of your bucket list?
The Americas, Philippines, Australia and India.
What has been your favourite place so far?
Bali, definitely.
Who is the person at home that you miss the most when travelling?
That doesn’t happen to be honest. I know that when I’m travelling I’m not going forever.
Habiba Basiony
Television presenter Habiba Basiony might travel the world for her job as a red carpet guru, but more recently, she has caught eyes with her videos around the world that she posts online. “I’ve been all over, ever since I was a child, exposed to different cultures and different worlds from a very young age and it made me realise there’s so much to see out there. When I grew up, subconsciously, I pursued jobs that wouldn’t have me stay in one place and kind of do one thing; I’ve never had this feeling that I belonged in one place. I don’t ever really feel like I have a home. I just want to see as much as I can in this world before I die,” says Habiba.
“I love to walk the streets of any city that I go to, be it rain, sun or snow. I remember Hamburg, which I went to last year. It was freezing, but still I put on my coat, I put on my jacket, I got my umbrella out, and I walked the streets of that city for like a day, because that’s the only way you know where you really are and meet the people. You have to experience the city itself,” Habiba declares.
Most recently, Habiba has found an online following with her new diary/vlog, under the name ‘Biba Does it Better,’ showing people her adventures abroad, and especially in South America. “I love Latin American countries. I feel like the culture, the vibe and the natural beauty of these places really just strike a chord with me,” says Habiba.
Habiba has a bigger purpose behind her travels than wanderlust. “I feel we need more role models that make Arab women feel they’re powerful and that they can do anything on their own. My vlogs aren’t meant to just inspire people to travel by themselves as much as to give them the confidence to do whatever they want to do,” Habiba declares.
Questionnaire
What place is at the top of your bucket list?
Chile, Fiji and Norway.
What has been your favourite place so far?
Cartagena in Columbia, Bali in Indonesia, and I love Portugal.
Who is the person at home that you miss the most when travelling?
My mom and dad, and my nephew Noah.
Taimour Othman
Praised by the international community for its ingenuity and authenticity, Egypt’s latest promotional campaign, “This Is Egypt,” is one of the country’s latest global achievements. The creative genius behind the campaign, Taimour Othman, innocently formed the hashtag #ThisIsEgypt out of his genuine eagerness to showcase to the world all that Egypt has to offer. His inventiveness, coupled with his stunning visuals, has greatly inspired more Egyptians to travel domestically, and has encouraged an onslaught of interest from international tourists.
“It all started with the first smartphone I got in 2002, which had this camera that I used to snap everything with it. And upon seeing this my father decide to get me a camera,” Othman recalls. Whether at the bottom of the Red Sea or at the top of the mountains of St. Catherine, his breathtaking photography has received widespread attention. His skills have surprisingly come as a result of a self-taught journey, from watching how-to videos on YouTube to reaching out to photographers; Othman was able to build himself a signature artistic style.
Furthermore, his ability in knowing to capitalise on transient opportunities isn’t only advantageous to his travel photography but is a valuable asset with his wanderlust appetite. Case in point, he drove for six hours along with fellow traveller Mazen Yassen to St. Catherine just to see snow in the valleys, “I had just come back from Minnesota, where the average temperature was -20 degrees Celsius, however when my guide in St. Catherine told me there was snow, I went the next day. I didn’t know when it would happen again, so I needed to enjoy that,” Othman explains.
Although Othman currently lives and works in the city as the Creative Leader at the Brand Bees, he yearns to be living seaside one day. “In five to ten years, I want to crack the formula of living between Cairo and El Gouna, because I feel my output over there will be a lot better,” he reveals. With remarkable sunsets, world-renowned diving sites and an overall easy breezy lifestyle it is no wonder why El Gouna would be calling out for Othman!
Questionnaire
What place is at the top of your bucket list?
Japan.
What has been your favorite place so far?
Marsa Alam.
Who is the person at home that you miss the most when travelling?
My sister who lives abroad I always miss her.
