There is a love-hate relationship that always accompanies city life; you fall into a busy routine, and eventually you’re stuck. People cope in different ways; some dance and let loose on the weekends, some become certified couch potatoes after a long day of work, some travel whenever they can, and the heroes do it all.
Of all these fixes, traveling is the one experience that yanks you out of your routine and truly pushes your boundaries. Whether it is a weekend at the outskirts of Cairo, a hiking trip through Mongolia’s breathtaking landscapes or a shopping spree in Paris, travel is a transformation.
With no rest for the restless, travel apps, travel blogs and websites have rapidly grown to encompass the needs of travelers from all over the world. In Egypt there is an already existing large number of passionate travelers, solo travelers, travel groups who need information and companions and find these apps and websites somewhat foreign or detached. Often times your holiday does not coincide with friends, or your kind of travel is very different to them…but then how to venture out and find others who are just like you when it comes to travel. An online community on Facebook titled Nomads has been rapidly attracting Egyptian travelers, travelers to be and none Egyptian travelers who are looking for a like-minded community.
Nomads Founder Islam Sherif has been a keen traveler for ten years both inside and outside Egypt. A combination of different genres of travel helped him realize what was missing and what was needed. Many would approach him with questions specific to owning an Egyptian passport, while others on the exchange rate, where to stay and what to do and then he himself on travels would find it tedious searching for specific answers to his own specific questions.
From this, Nomads was born where a community of passionate travelers could help each other with tips and tricks of the trade, from sending travel itineraries to sharing their own travel experience.
“What can I say I called on all the travel geeks I knew and a ripple happened and soon enough we found ourselves with over 3000 users and growing, I guess most users like the relationship it builds, the swiftness of the answers and that it’s simply a more personal experience”, a laid back tanned Islam explained.
Young and ambitious Islam has high hopes for the travel group, “I am keeping the group closed because I want to try and preserve its identity and I want the users on the group to feel comfortable amongst a like-minded community…a controlled ecosystem encouraging one another and even helping Nomads meet up on trips which has happened already in Kenya and Switzerland, that being said this is only the beginning we plan to build a proper website and application soon enough.”
The group currently contains a wealth of travel information and has not only aided domestic travelers but also reached out to travelers outside of Egypt who are interested but want a local take on where to go and what to do in Egypt.
“We have people from the group who have managed to encourage reluctant travelers from abroad wanting to come to Egypt, we also have people from the group who have offered to be travel companions and again keeping it under control is what encouraged this sense of trust amongst users, on average we select 400 new users a month”.
For those who complain about the tediousness of routine and the hustle and bustle of Cairo; travel! Find the time and the cash to get out there — whether it’s Sohag or Spain.
WE SAID THIS: A community that cultivates travelers through encouragement, support and sharing experience is the exact type of thing Egypt needs right now.