I remember when I was in Kenya, I had a train from Nairobi to Mombasa and I was impressed by how in an African country everything was organized and the train’s arrival and departure were on time. And I wondered, would I witness that in Egypt one day? I did witness it and still can’t believe it.

As we live close to the Luxor railway station, taking a train is the practical way to travel to Aswan for us. Two days before the end of Ramadan, my brother and I went to visit my mother in Aswan. The train was at 4:50 am. We arrived at the platform on time, and a train was already there. We couldn’t believe it was our train since (I'm really ashamed to say) almost nothing arrives on time in Egypt. We got on the train. In a couple of minutes, it departed. In three hours, we were in Aswan.

Wow! I was happily stunned. Arriving on time, departing on time, taking just three hours from Luxor to Aswan! That was unbelievable to us. Later on, I learned that the minister of transportation announced a reward for train drivers who would follow their time schedules. It worked.

Maybe they should apply the same regarding trash; to pay rewards, or at least to charge fees from those who throw away trash on streets. It will work as well.

Aswan is the last station in the south of Egypt where passengers get off. When the train arrived there, a couple of men were still sleeping. My brother went to wake them up. The first one woke up easily while the second one was a heavy sleeper. When he finally woke up, my brother told him, “We arrived in Aswan.” As soon as the man shockingly said, “What? Aswan! I was supposed to get down in Esna”, I burst into laughter.

Esna is almost two hours before Aswan. It’s part of the Luxor governorate now. I felt bad later for laughing. I still can’t keep a straight face while writing about it now. Usually, ticket clerks wake people up to check their tickets. I have no idea why no one did so with that man.

This is one of the disadvantages of traveling alone; you shouldn’t sleep on your journey because when you do, you might end up missing your destination, as it happened to this poor, sleepy man.

On our way back to Luxor, the experience was quite similar. The train departed and arrived on time. That was quite uplifting. It might be going on for a short time and everything will be messed up again afterward. But now, I know it’s possible. Change is possible and we can change our attitude. I’m pretty sure that our nation will get there one day; we will be one of these developed countries. We had a great civilization in the past, and we can make it again in the future.