There's
something to be said for feeling safer in countries that have seen
their share of security breaches and terrorist attacks. Looking around
the streets of Egypt, in any city, there are regular police, undercover
police and tourist police all over, all carrying big guns. There are
security checkpoints at an annoyingly frequent rate along highways, and
traveling with tourist groups overland requires a security escort with
special guard vehicles. To enter hotels and other establishments
frequented by tourists, we must go through the same "airport security"
metal detector and in some cases bag scan. Awareness is certainly at
heightened levels here, it's like being at an airport in the US just
after there's been a terror alert or bomb threat... Heavy surveillance
and security checks make us feel safe - as if the security measures
will actually work and protect us.
Our
experience, however, at the airports in Egypt, cause us to question
whether airport security exists just for optics. They don't even ask
us for ID as we check in for our internal Egypt flights. In fact, no
one even confirms our identity and we board the plane, no hassles, no
questions, no second looks. We can take all the liquids we want in our
carryon bags. So our question remains... Are the security measures
more "optic," to create a sense of safety, or are they really effective
and truly keeping us safe? So far we've run into no problems and feel
very safe and welcome here in Egypt... So whether they're just for
looks or not, they're doing the trick for us.
