There are a few cities that are called black holes for long-term backpackers.
It is a place where once you go, you will fall for its charm and temptation and will not be able to easily escape, so you will stay for a long time.
These include Varanasi and Goa Beach in India, Pai in Thailand, Ubud in Bali in Indonesia, Hunza in Pakistan, Moldova in the Balkans, and San Cristobal in Mexico.
The best of them is Dahab, located at the very tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, northeastern Africa.
This is a place that all the foreigners I met while traveling around the world a few years ago, the so-called "Najangbae" (long-term solo backpackers), unanimously recommended to me as a must-visit.
So, teahouses were always first on my travel list.
I was happy just to come.
As soon as I arrived, I had a feeling that I would probably spend the winter here.
--- p.24

It was a fantastic treble dream team.
It was so amazing and fun to see a seventy-year-old analog nomad and two thirty-one-year-old digital nomads meet and work so well together.
I enjoyed it more than the movie "The Bucket List."
It was my good fortune to meet these two young people.
I learned a lot.
I realized anew that traveling is something you do without your rank.
Age is not a rank or an armband.
It's just a shackle.
--- p.151

Traveling is about leaving with the determination to get lost even if you don't know the way.
Traveling is about joyfully encountering unfamiliar landscapes and people.
Travel is about embracing the stars pouring down in the pitch-black darkness.
Travel is about enjoying adventure and challenges without avoiding discomfort and difficulties.
Traveling is bravely navigating a dark alleyway while looking around with frightened eyes.

--- p.187

I chose Kilimanjaro because I was in a good mood.
I wanted to come across a mysterious mountain and spend a long time walking and thinking.
But that didn't work out the way I wanted.
The thoughts were not deep and were fragmented.
Moreover, it was funny to see myself doing such nonsense to rationalize my loss of romance.
My body is tired and I am begging to leave.
That's why I had to leave when I was young, when my emotions were alive, when my body was full of energy.
By the way, if you want to see the eternal snows of Kilimanjaro, you better hurry and don't put it off.
Global warming is accelerating melting.
It is predicted that it will all melt away by 2026.
--- p.206~207

I ran towards the boarding gate, my eyebrows fluttering.
"Wow, why is it so far?" I arrived at the boarding gate panting, and the staff member coldly told me that boarding was over.
I explained the security checkpoint and immigration situation, panting heavily.
“Please! Please!!” He called and told me to run quickly as the boarding gate was about to close.
I took my ticket and passport and ran with my feet on fire.
I managed to slide to the touch just in the nick of time! Anyway, I boarded the plane.
That's it! I'm suddenly hungry.
I'm tired, but my eyes are wide open.

--- p.283~284

Camel rides, quad bike racing, sand boarding, roller coaster rides on 4x4 off-road vehicles down the desert dunes, a wonderful lunch in the desert, observing desert creatures, and more.
And I've done everything I wanted to do, from skydiving 12,000 feet into the desert.
I enjoyed it excitedly and happily because today is the youngest day of my life.
The present is a gift.
Let's live happily and be thankful today. Let's put this into practice not just with words but with actions.
Through desert activities, I gained the confidence that I could live with a youthful spirit until the moment I die.
--- p.292~293

This trip made me realize how many misconceptions, misunderstandings, and prejudices there are about Africa.
The image of Africa created through the media was no different from a blind man feeling an elephant's leg.
I was a frog in a well.
I thought that if I lived in the world with the knowledge I saw, heard, experienced, and learned decades ago, I would never be able to escape the old ways.
I think it's fitting that traveling is like reading while standing and studying while walking.
In the desert, I realized why I must continue my journey.
I am grateful for enjoying the desert 100 times more.
I am grateful for my recklessness and wit.
I am also grateful to my body for holding up well.

--- p.304