Marlene had already had a few too many by the time I sat down with my friend at the bar at the Four Seasons Cairo At Nile Plaza. But that did not stop her from ordering another and scooting her chair over to speak to us. Ah yes, the friendly drunk woman from Alabama…all the way on the other side of the world in Egypt.
From Alabama To Egypt: A Drunk Conversation At The Four Seasons Cairo
Marlene began by lighting a cigarette and then telling us about her trip. She was sick of dealing with her (32-year-old) son who lives with her, his “floozy” girlfriend, and his three-year-old daughter from another relationship, so she decided to leave them behind and treat herself to two weeks in Egypt.
As one does…
I admired her tenacity.
She recounted how she booked an all-inclusive package through some sketchy online travel agency but the only thing it did not include was alcohol, hence she walked from her nearby hotel (“it aint no Four Seasons”) to the posh bar here.
Extinguishing her cigarette, she immediately pulled another one out and lit it.
“I’ve been smoking since I was 10.”
I’m sorry.
The conversation tragically turned to politics and a debate ensued. Was the election really stolen? (just ask Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson). Was COVID-19 real or a hoax? You know, those light topics…
She was a friendly drunk, but a loud one. As she spoke, she kept raising her voice. She had forgotten about her cigarette while speaking and the built-up ashes fell all over her floral dress.
Another glass of wine, please.
Meanwhile, I shifted to water…
I tried to steer the conversation back to travel and credit cards. I do not mind a political discussion, but I am so sick of the toxic partisanship and have no desire to talk 2020. That was then, this is now. Don’t. Bring. It. Up.
I do have a picture of Marlene yelling at us, which I am not going to post. I don’t think she meant any harm and I’ve done enough just to describe our interaction. But I do wish Americans, of all people since I’m one of them, would be more well-behaved in public, especially in Muslim countries.
Reputation is an important thing: it is gained slowly over time but quickly lost. We all have our individual reputations, but we as Americans have a collective reputation that we must work together in order to elevate.
Here it was in the middle of Ramadan and you had an obnoxious drunk person in conservative Egypt making a fool out of herself. See, it’s not about pacifying others or telling people what they want to hear, but showing respect because we reasonably expect the same in return.
Anyway, it was quite an experience. In fact, we decided to avoid the bar the following evening after she said, “See you tomorrow!” as we were leaving. Um, no thanks.
But you do meet some interesting people when you travel, that’s for sure.
This is where having a second language is useful. Pretend you don’t speak English.
Thank GOD I’m Deaf traveler so I don’t have to deal with all of bullsh*t small talks!
If you really want to represent Americans well, please, wear different socks to the gym.
Thanks for noticing.
Ugh. Why do people Americans gravitate to fellow citizens? Do they really think you travel halfway around the world to want to hear the same poop? For these folks I suggest a cruise so they can hang with another five thousand of like idiots!
And so disrespectful during Ramadan!
But who else is sitting at the bar of the Four Seasons in Cairo during Ramadan?
True that.
It’s not Ramadan yet
2022.
شكر
Oddly enough, one of the best conversations I ever had was with a fellow American in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan.
He was an older fellow, lived in Tashkent and was visiting friends in Bishek.
The stories he recounted of his travels and experiences living as an American in Communist times was absolutely fascinating.
We must have talked collectively for 4 to 5 hours each night for two nights.
One of the highlights of my life to this very day.
I totally agree with you. Please be aware that Ramadan first starts in April this year – better keep your facts straight – otherwise you risk being accused of over-dramatization….
This was in 2022. Thanks.
Clearly a new reader
I wouldn’t expect anything less from someone from Alabama. It’s no wonder the stereotype of the ugly America continues to persist.
To be honest, Bob. I see hooligans, harlots, hell bent idiots, and obnoxious people from every country. Lack of decorum is not a solely American trait. It is a human trait amongst a great deal of the world population. So, please, Americans are already their own worst critics, we don’t need you to permeate the myth that we are the only idiots out there and that the rest of the world is prim, proper and polite. Welcome to 2023.
+1
I’m from Sweden and have lived in the EU all my life, but also travelled very frequently to all US states including Alabama (where I’ve visited at least 20 times). I find Alabama to be a wonderful state filled with mostly wonderful people, certainly not worse than your average Swede, German or ”Californian”. Speaking of, I’m really sad that I’ve yet to enjoy Mardi Gras in Mobile, and I hope that I’ll be able to go next year 🙂
True, one of my former coworkers has a farm in Alabama. Gorgeous AF
Thank you, for this refreshing reply. Being born and raised in Mobile, Alabana, I often find myself rolling my eyes at the targeted attacks on my state/region (not particularly saying this is one, other than the unnecessary mention of Alabama, which has no other effect re: advancing the narrative). We have much more to offer than the typical outsider ever hears about. And Mardi Gras is next week! If you ever do make it down here for Fat Tuesday, look for the guy riding the horse with blue feathers on his hat (albeit, there’s a bunch of us). I’ll throw you a moonpie!
I wouldon’t have categorized all people from Alabama the same. I have been to 4 Seasons in Cario on the Nile and I live in Alabama. I have also been to about every country in Europe and have seen idiots ugly Americans from all over the USA
Bob seems like a real open-minded guy.
Bob likely has not set foot in Alabama nor does he actually know anyone from the state.
Same could be said of all cultures. In the plaza premium lounge Singapore at 3.30am couple days ago. Was quiet, people were trying to rest at the early hour, Then came in 3 ‘Donks’ from Oz that made absolutely sure that everyone in the lounge knew that they were there for the next 2 hours.
Can’t classify everyone from every locale the same way, but the Donks and the Ugly Americans definitely stand out as the worst!
Maybe it’s just me, but why is this a story? We’ve all run into drunks all around the world.
No value here. Keep moving.
Exactly. Just another smear piece on conservatives. As many times as they can print them, they do.
I’m trying to figure whether your comments are satire or ignorance. Hint: Mathew is a conservative. He worked for the W administration as a lawyer. Making weird comments about someone with well established bona fides makes you look fringe.
I’m in Japan, a conservative, well-mannered country. Japan just opened up to tourism so I thought I’d enjoy a ski vacation by way of Tokyo.
It’s the same thing over here. Douchebag Murikans who cannot respect the local culture enough to wear a GD mask. Loud, fat, stupid, and poorly dressed is the mantra.
Admittedly, there are jerks everywhere. However, the ugly murikan loves to stand out. Coming out of COVID lockdown, the last place these hicks need to be is Japan.
Out of respect for your wishes I won’t go into a 2020 discussion. Seeing it’s not 2020, I will say Hillary is still talking 2016. But I do agree on the toxicity. I do have to be fair though, as the partisanship and toxicity that I have experienced was primarily people demonizing me for speaking the truth through the years. I guess I come off as partisan, despite that not being my intent. I’ll look at ways to appear less so. Overall, all I can hope and pray for is that is perhaps in the future someday your viewpoint will change and we will be able to talk about any and all topics then. Until then.
You lost me at “Alabama”. Maybe I’m one of those “elitists” that Ted Cruz rambles on about, but my condolences.
Interesting, I live and travel on a boat and have been to over 50 countries, currently in India. In my experience it is the “elitists” from the big city who look down on the ugly ‘Mericans (not to be confused with merkins) while not realizing that the ugly ones are them. Those of us from the southern US, especially my friends in Alabama, tend to be the most caring and compassionate of all and try to be friendly and polite wherever they go. Big city types are used to pushing their way through a crowd and expect perfection from a country where people struggle to eat daily.
I also have not been to a single place where anyone has mentioned the “ugly American” or disliking our country or people. I hear that we are loud but gregarious, generous, kind and pleasant. Everyone wants to be us. So please, if you’re talking about how much we are hated around the globe, take a look in the mirror. It isn’t us, it’s probably you.
While I agree with many of your sentiments and do think we should focus on the positive, it is also fair to say that many hate Americans around the globe. We are terrorists to many, and rightfully so in some ways.
..”rightfully so in some ways” means many of those views are valid, seeing our country has caused terror to many untold souls.
This is a fishy story because during Ramadan, it is not allowed to sell alcohol in Egypt. One has to wonder whether you made part or all of the story up.
Well then someone should talk to the FS because yes, it was during Ramadan. Thanks for reading.
Hotels and bars with hotel liquor licenses may sell it during Ramadan. I live in Egypt, and have done so since 2013. I would expect the Four Seasons to be selling during this time. Duty Free sells as well, but now at a 13 dollar tax on every liter purchased.
I grew up in India. Before we left as a family to go there, my mother made us all read The Ugly American. We were scrupulously schooled in all proper diplomatic behavior, specific cultural and religious mores, and how to be deferential and polite at all times. To this day 50 years later, I can walk into any cultural situation, be it Egyptian Muslim or backwater Alabama, read the room, and behave perfectly! If only…
Matthew seems unhinged. Today he said he is planning on visiting Kiev Ukraine, a literal war zone, in the near future and now we have this unnecessary piece that does nothing but promote false stereotypes and seems like hate speech. We never hear about the Indian or Chinese tourists who flood Germany and Austria and don’t conform to the local culture.
But it wasn’t a Chinese or German or Austrian I encountered.
Understood but singling out a random drunk woman is a bit harsh when tourists from many different parts of the world act less than ideally. I understand the hair dresser because it pertained to a service offered by the hotel but an older woman being drunk isn’t anything special. It’s a little too much nitpicking.
As for Chinese and Indian tourists, I single them out because they come in big groups to Europe and other countries. Other groups really don’t come in large numbers because they don’t have the money.
“Ugly American” archetype. Thoughtful reminder. Beautifully written.
This encounter was worth writing an article? Are you out of ideas? What does it matter that she’s from Alabama?
I write about what I find interesting. The great thing is that you don’t have to read it. There are close to 10K articles in archive and it is impossible to please everyone every time. So just skip these stories and hopefully you will find others that better suit you.
What is this drivel, Perez Hilton goes around the world in 80 days or the let’s fly blog?! This commentary is total trash.
Thanks for the click.
Inappropriate. Agree to disagree. No one is perfect. Effort is strong.
I agree this has turned into a hate speech blog mocking the mentality I’ll in crisis. As a HCP I am apalled.
..then you would know that everyone experiences the world through their own lens, past, bias, and all of the other million brain circuits that influence our conscious and subconscious..right?
This a complex topic and I get what you are saying to a degree, but who has not judged others? We all do it daily, knowingly or unknowingly, correctly or incorrectly. For those who are spiritually inclined, we generally realize our errors and ego and try to atone and/or learn the lesson to correct the character defect. Some defects take a long time to work through though, as you might know.
Thinking vs. Feeling on Myers Briggs explains why people think and react differently to things that others may have a different response to:
Do you put more weight on objective principles and impersonal facts (Thinking) or do you put more weight on personal concerns and the people involved (Feeling)?
I’m generally an ESFJ.
Middle Class Fancy Americans abroad are the worst.
The moderators apparently allow hate speech. I am a Helath care provider and am shocked at the authors castigation of someone based on geographic locale.
Says a person who calls themself, “LadyOlives.”
I’m confused as to why you think that social class has anything to do with drunkenness, rudeness, loudness or disrespect of the cultures of the countries one visits. Middle class people, as you put it, aren’t any more or less considerate than upper or lower class, whether financial or cultural.
I’ve had personal experience of people I’d consider wealthy (meaning 8 figure worth or more) who I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Alternately, I’ve met charming, polite, considerate and intelligent people who have little but their dignity.
I’ve been to Egypt (Alexandria and Cairo) briefly, and though I’m what one could consider “middle class” my financial status had nothing to do with my effort to learn Standard Arabic (read and written, though I didn’t grasp the Egyptian dialects very well), my hesitation to disregard the customs of the country, or my efforts to absolutely NOT be that “ugly American.”
Stereotyping a people by their social class tells me you might be better off not traveling beyond the boarders delineating your own prejudices.
No, Ramadan is around 23rd of March this year depending on when the Ministry astronomical team observes the crescent moon over Cairo. I’ve been living in Egypt since 2013, and spent more than 6 years in Cairo. Hotel bars are the only place serving alcohol during Ramadan, and don’t smoke in public during Ramadan either.
People love to hate Americans, just like some people without influence and means hate the ones who have but secretly want to be. Unfortunately envy is part of the human nature, whether one admits it or not. I do not condone bad behavior, but bad behavior is not unique to any particular country, group, or race. As the author wrote, the woman was going through some family issues, good for her to treat herself with an adventure, why pick on her, and who are you to judge? Why project your own superiority? Very pointless article in my view…
Sitting in a Four Seasons bar anywhere isn’t really traveling.
It’s always good to get the facts first. During Ramadan it is illegal to sell alcohol to Egyptian nationals, regardless of their religion. This is why, bars in the likes of the Four Seasons, Kempinski, Semiramis, etc are often full of expats and tourists during that time.
And for all the critics out there, Matthew is a travel writer, writing about a personal anecdote which was memorable to him. If you want Proust or Camus you’re in the wrong place.
When you bitter and broken hearted , you try to do everything to help your children and it fails . You are right it looks bad for our country. What you should have done was to recognize this lady needed help. I’m sure ladies from our country understand it also I’m sure the ladies from that country understands it.
Don’t forget RACIST! I live in Northport, Alabama and I have experienced it greatly! I have the receipts to prove it! Let’s start with the Alabama Army National Guard where I served for 19 years as a Commissioned Officer. I was involuntarily separated at 19 years because I file a Congressional Inquiry based on racism and discrimination. My inquiry forced Alabama National Guard to remove a white male Will less education and experience from being Commander of a Company and replaced with me a black female with more education and experience. When I took command, leadership tried to sabotage my command so I would fail. God had different plans. My tenure as Commander was extremely successful. Leadership did a lot of awful shit to me while I was Commander. I have suffered greatly and I have been diagnosed with PTSD/Depression. I receive Veterans Compensation because of my service connection disability. I can tell you more about my civilian job as an educator too.
True. Just Mercy was a difficult to watch, but a powerful true story. In August 1988, a black man named Walter McMillian, known as Johnny D, was sentenced to death for the murder of a white teenage girl in Monroeville, Alabama.
Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson star in the powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan), who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian (Foxx), a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence.
Also, very sorry to hear that you had to go through all of that. Thank you for your service.
Being a native Alabamian, I find you “classification” and blanket-statement about the people from said state… disturbing. Thank you for making the misguided stereotype about Alabamians an excuse to berate a person who had too much to drink. Also, thank you for taking out your irritation on we readers. I’m almost certain you’ve never had a crappy day and unloaded on someone, eh? Nevertheless, I get the point.. don’t dare to approach you, anywhere…you may end up on the wrong end of condescension.. on a blog…in Murika.
Most people are stressed these days, in ways known and unknown.
Excellent lesson, thank you Matthew. Lot of partially/poorly concealed unobvious alcoholics in the world. Almost 40 years ago when I did 2 weeks of Alcohol Rehabilitation training upon my commissioning entry to the Navy we were told that at any given time, even 8am on a Tuesday morning, 10% of drivers on the road were drunk. The prevalence of alcohol dependence, and thus alcohol related problems, was confirmed in the early days of COVID when Liquor Stores were designated “essential businesses” by almost every state in the US while other stores were forced to shut down, primarily so millions of Americans wouldn’t go into alcohol withdrawal (a potentially fatal medical emergency) at the same time hospital emergency rooms were already being overwhelmed. Sad commentary about the US.
Not if you travel on Seabourn, Silversea or other 6-star lines – ships of 300-750 passengers, lots of separation space for privacy when wanted, and a higher degree of decorum, even in (brief) exchanges on current events. We are Independent progressives that are often outnumbered 5-1 on-board ships of much wealthier, and usually much more conservative, guests. We’ve yet to encounter “the loud woman from Alabama.”
The ugly American moniker is somewhat valid I guess (ditto ugly Australian). I do think however that there is some virtue in being bold traveling and worrying less about what other people think of you. I lived in chicago for ten years and I think I’ve enjoyed travel more now being a bit louder and not being afraid to talk to people and have a go at activities that I previously wouldn’t have tried.
I hate when Republicans get drunk.
Alcohol is a destructive bane in our world. How much unnecessary arguing and violent behavior can be attributed to people who lose control due to overindulging with this drink?
It has a nasty habit of removing inhibitions, which includes diarrhea of the mouth. I have tried to keep my distance from drunks my entire life, and do find more happiness the farther away I am from them.
It never matters from which country they might be from.
Spot on–the spirits in spirits are more evil than not.
Things can get awkward. About 10-15 years ago I stopped at the Red Robin on my way home knowing it wouldn’t be very crowded at that time and was sitting by myself in the bar. An older lady (60ish) came in and ordered a double and asked the bartender for more and she said no. Then the bartender went into the kitchen and this lady tried to hit on me and when I tried to ignore her she went with the “Oh, you must be gay” comment. She was no catch at that age and I was in my 40s. Alcohol messes up people.
There is not a single travel writer in the world that would disagree with Matthew’s use of the person’s home as to the narrative of what he was writing about. It’s not like he just said, “Some drunk person from, of course, Alabama.” There was context within the narrative and it was simply just a fact within the story.
Interestingly, I would say that most of you took it as a slant towards her home state, thus showing your own bias. In fact, if Matthew had said she was from California (Which I imagine he would have if she was) not a single person here would have said anything to criticize it as insensitive. It would have just been part of the story.
Only Neil Young ever insulted Alabama.
Lived in the Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee border during an internship. I loved it but I could never say the feeling was mutual .(Yankee) It was a tough crowd and (generally) I’m an easy person. And remember I am (technically) a southerner. It was rough.
But I suspect we all have “types” . Accent alone is a dead giveaway. Ugh
No matter the location of the bar, nor the time of year, nor the religion of the country, the bar should not continue to serve someone who is drunk. Do that drunk guest a favor and tell the bartender to cut them off. It could save their life. A drunk woman in Cairo who was a several block walk away from her hotel. What could possibly go wrong?
Imagine you sit down at a bar. Get pretty drunk. You’re in a country by yourself, one where you pretty much can’t leave the hotel. You meet someone else who speaks decent english and are just bsing with them.
They refuse to end the conversation, seem interested and talkative, but really they are jotting down notes about you to write an article about how upsetting you are to them. I mean it’s just totally lame. But I get it Matthew, you’re some kinda genius article head, so I wonder how many of these types of things you have jotted down in your notepads — seriously strange, contemptuous behavior. This ain’t journalism this is just clickbait garbo.
We serve to serve again.
My first rule of travel in a foreign country is “Don’t Be The Ugly American”!!!
In Paris at a middle grade hotel, we inquired about getting a taxi early in the AM the next morning to catch a bus to Versailles. The manager was kind enough to open the breakfast bar earlier than usual to accommodate our early departure. The grill may may have not been warmed up yet, but there was plenty of coffee, danish, and juice to get started for the day. I couldn’t thank the front desk enough for their assistance.
The world doesn’t need yet another orientalist, classist male and his useless commentary on how a woman should conduct herself at a bar.
Marlene, if you’re reading this I hope you had the best time in Cairo – sorry you had lame company on this particular night.
Matthew, buy a bottle next time you’re here and take it up to your room. That way you won’t have to deal with people trying to make conversation with you – and you won’t offend the local conservative population who would be so profoundly shocked to know that people are drinking alcohol inside a bar.
LOL. I call out obnoxious folks when I see them. That includes you too, Dee.
So do I, that’s why I’m here Matthew.