As you travel you learn the manners and courtesies of the road. I'll never forget the first time I became homesick, I felt so lonely. One of the pilgrims saw I was feeling down, and treated me with a kindness and hospitality I never, ever would have expected to come out of anyone besides my own family. I hoped on a camel caravan, headed for Alexandria. Meanwhile I had a dream, almost like a reflection on what I just went through, and it was then I realized my passion for travel, I would voyage just for the sake of voyaging. In Cairo, it was then I experienced the epic proportions of a "big" Muslim civilization. A great bureaucracy and economy encouraged peace and prosperity in trade with Asia. Cairo was such a wonderful place, I had such a hard time leaving, but my final and ultimate goal was Mecca.
I pressed on, I crossed the Sinai peninsula and through the cities of Palestine and Syria, enjoying and savoring each moment I traveled, each one unique as I felt each step brought me closer to a new great experience the road to anywhere had to offer. I eventually arrived in Damascus. It was there that I joined up with the annual wave of pilgrims on their way to Mecca. The mosques in Damascus were INSANE. The Umayyad's mosque was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen up until that point in my life. Tomorrow held Medina in store, and eventually I would arrive in the holy city of Mecca.
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