Once a Bedouin fishing village, the small town of Dahab is now firm in the grip of tourism. The main bay’s waterfront is lined with restaurant after restaurant, with the occasional café thrown in. The other side of the road is just as densely packed with shops and tour agents. With Egypt’s tourism crippled anyway and low season on top of that, most of the places are deserted. A restaurant that could seat 100 is now serving a guest or two.

After more than two years of dive-break, I went for a refresher dive yesterday morning. Just repeating how to assemble the gear and the basic skills like mask clearing and regulator retrieval. Following that, I added a nitrox course to my dive education, which now allows me to use different gas mixes for diving (e.g. 32% oxygen instead of the 20.9% in the atmosphere). The main purpose of that is to lower the nitrogen concentration in the body, which allows for longer bottom times and is also said to decrease “post dive fatigue”.

Just a few days ago, I gave to a friend my definition of what the difference between a tourist and a traveller is. A traveller has a lot of time but only little money - while with the tourist it’s the other way around. I pride myself on being a traveller. Moving at a slow pace, using local infrastructure and eating whatever it is they eat in the country I’m visiting.

The US’ recent efforts to pour more oil into the Middle East conflict were met by a worldwide outcry. Berlin’s Palestinian community too raised its voice. By the looks of it, very few Germans were among the protesters. I guess most of them don’t care much. Or automatically hate everything with a headscarf anyway.

Berlin police recently demonstrated at their Hamburg visit, that the capital knows how to party. Today it was the LGBT(etc.) community’s turn. Warm temperatures went along well with everybody’s desire to wear as little as possible. Somehow… animals were quite the thing this year. I don’t think it was that prevalent in 2016. And of course, lots of costumes and paint. What’s the church’s current stance on gay marriage?

Despite having been a frequent traveller, I never had any insurance covering things like cancelled flights, etc. The main reason for that was that policies commonly only cover ridiculously short travel times of 1-2 months. Plus, these insurances only cover if one gets seriously ill, and having that certified by a doctor could be an adventure in itself, depending on where on earth one finds oneself. Thus early this year, when I wanted to cancel a return flight Berlin - Bangkok for personal reasons, I saw myself confronted with a rather hefty cancellation charge by the airline (Turkish).

Nakba is an Arabic word, translating to “Catastrophe”. It refers to the begin of the occupation of Palestine in 1948 and “Nakba Day” commemorates that event every year. Earlier today I joined a demonstration that had been organised by the local Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) chapter and a couple of other groups. The participants gathered on Richardplatz, surrounded by heavy police presence. A handful of counter-protesters showed their blue-white apartheid colours, but stayed behind when the march started.

Poles don’t eat Polish, or hardly at all. Restaurants that specialise in traditional local cuisine are far in between (except in the tourist areas) and it’s much easier to find Italian or Middle-Eastern food. In that regard, Varsovians and Berliners are pretty much alike. In other regards they are not. One city has clean streets and friendly, considerate people… and the other city is Berlin. It really is amazing how Berlin looks much more like what I expected Warsaw to look.

Berlin is pleasantly well connected to the capitals of Germany’s eastern neighbours. The direct train to Warsaw takes under 5.5 hours and runs a couple of times a day. Except for the failing air-con during the final two hours, it was a nice trip. Upon arrival in Warsaw, police presence seemed a bit on the heavy side. Nothing to worry about though, soccer was on. Accommodation is an airbnb apartment in the Praga district, close to the eastern train station.

Bit of an overcast day, but still loads of people out because of the public holiday.