By: Youssef Tawfik

Hello guys! Today I am very excited to be talking to you about places in Egypt for a quick weekend getaway with a twist. Don’t worry I won’t talk to you about sa7el, and the beach the whole time. I am going to make you discover the beautiful places in Egypt to go relax for the weekend.

1) Ras Sudr

2) Dahab

3) Fayoum

4) Ain el Sokhna

5) Alexandria

Each place has its unique features, and you will love it in every way! Let’s Start!

1) Ras Sudr

When? It’s great both in the summer and winter, but ideal in the summer as you go there for the swim!
Why? During the day it’s perfect to have a tan and sit on the beach with family and friends, and don’t forget to swim in the beautiful beach! At night you can party or sit gazing under the stars. My personal opinion would be to go in the summer for a longer time, and if you want to go in the winter go for a few days!

Where? Sinaway Lagoon Aquapark Hotel and Spa. Rated: pleasant on booking.com Time: 2.5 hours – 3 hours driving (Rome2rio great source)

Extra Notes: For all kitesurfing lovers you can go do that there, but people do it more in Dahab.

2) Dahab

When? Anytime, people go for the kitesurfing they do. But preferably in the summer.
Why? Dahab is a stunning place to visit, I am one of the many people who didn’t visit it. Most of Egypt has been to it, and I advice you if you didn’t go to go and have the time of your lives. Everyone goes especially for the kite surfing, and surely to swim in the eye dropping sea!
Where? Le Méridien Dahab Resort. Rated: very good on booking.com
Time: 7 – 8 hours driving, but 5 hours by plane.
Extra Notes: Dahab means gold in Arabic, proving that it’s something considered to be precious, beautiful, or of the most superior quality (meaning from google).

3) Fayoum

When? W inter
Why? Perfect in the winter, which might surprise you. Good time to fish, watch birds migrate, and you can do new activites. It’s very quiet and peaceful, a place where you can chill.
Where? Helnan Auberge Fayoum. Rated: pleasant on booking.com
Time: 1 .5-2 hours
Extra Notes: Bored of kite surfing, trying something new and go sand boarding. It’s super fun especially with some company.

4) Ain el Sokhna

When? Good both in summer and winter.
Why? There’s just something in Sokhna, it makes you want to go. It’s beautiful there with their beautiful corals, where people dive to see. It’s also great fun with family and friends, to sit and chill for some time.
Where? There are many expensive hotels in Ain el Sokhna, if you don’t have a chalet to stay in then I recommend you look for a good hotel with a good price. Airbnb is a great way to find a place to stay, and is much less expensive than other sites.
Time: About 2 hours
Extra Notes: AirBnB is an amazing app, especially for travel outside of Egypt!

5) Alexandria

When? Perfect in the summer and winter.
Why? Alexandria has an amazing winter both in the summer and winter. It has delicious sea food for all you seafood lovers! You can go visit the library of Alexandria and see all the knowledge that it possess.
Where? Paradise Inn Windsor Palace Hotel, it is currently SOLDOUT onbooking.com Time: 2 -3 hours depending on the traffic (roadwork).
Extra Notes: When you go get fish for me! LOL

Everybody has this need to lose weight and become healthier, but sometimes we are too lazy to work on our health and fitness. Today I will be telling you small things that you can change to your simple daily routine that can actually kickstart a healthier lifestyle! No matter your weight, it’s going to start you on a path to a healthier mental, emotional, and physical life! An overall healthier lifestyle, a 360 experience! So let’s start:

By: Youssef Tawfik

 

1) Exercise (walking, running, going to the gym, you name it!)

If you walk for at least 20 minutes per day, especially in green environments, is very beneficial. Firstly, it provides you with fresh air, sunlight (AKA vitamin D), it also eases brain fatigue and boosts happiness. The more surprising effect is that it helps you study efficiently! Forget about long nights, with eyelids drooping over pages and pages of text. Scientific research has expressed quite clearly that that isn’t the case and not the best way to study. It turns out that smart studying is a lot more fun than anyone would have thought. An unlikely helper is exercise, the effect of exercise on the brain:

Delivers vital nutrients:

– Increases performance

-Longer attention span

-Smoother information processing

-More fluid problem solving

Exercise releases an important blend of mood altering hormones including dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. This neural cocktail greatly enhances brain performance required for study and information retention. So in between study sessions, we should seriously consider hitting the gym, swimming some laps, playing a sport, to even dancing while in your house cleaning or something. As any kind of exercise greatly improves brain power. This helps in avoiding cramming, which is a scientifically disproven method. The problem with cramming is that overloaded information does not have a chance to enter the long term memory. The transformation from short term information into long term knowledge occurs through repeated exposure to that information, retelling of that information, and reflection of that information.

A 2010 study from Washington University compared the effectiveness of repeated testing over repeated studying and found that testing is far more effective than simply re-reading. So in between short exercise and study sessions why not test yourself now and again?!Better still is to find a study partner who is tackling the same subject and test one another. Compare your results, talk about them, and continue your study program, in between exercising. Scientific research has shown that it can take up to 4 days for our brains to return back to normal after we’ve been awake for an entire night.

2) Focus on your mental diet

According to Buddha, “we are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.” What you do throughout your day shapes your mental state. From watching the news to reading books, to watching horror movies. The first thing you can do to achieve a stable mental state, you should be aware of what you put in your mind. Your main goal is to spend less time with pessimistic people and sit with the positives one, watch funny shows rather than watching horror movies you’re scared of. NO need for DRAMA! A friend of mine used to read about history all the time and was affected by it greatly, she now actually stopped reading it for a while because of how it’s affecting her mental health. She simply said “History is full of horrible people and massacres and killing and backstabbing and lies and barbaric characters.” Which still occurs today too and will happen in the future unfortunately, it’s happening now! Choose wisely what you want to enter your brain.

3) Sleep Consistently EVERYDAY

All of us want to wake up feeling energized, but it’s very challenging to go to bed early when you have tons of things you must do. Excuses such as, one more video to watch, 5 more minutes on instagram, let me just learn this song for tomorrow until you stay up so late staring at your screen. People can sometimes sleep for long hours but still wake up tired, 2 hours before you sleep you should not use any electronic devices which is impossible for us as teenagers! At least, just choose a time that you will sleep at everyday, 10? 11? This will help you get synced with your body’s sleep-wake cycle.

4) Meditate

There are millions of apps on the app store/play store for meditation download any of them, I recommend ‘Headspace: Mindful Meditation’. Meditation has many benefits for you it reduces stress and makes you calmer. The following image sums it all up for you! One last note, in these times we need meditation to de-stress from all our studying and feel calmer. Watch this youtube video for different ways to help you de-stress from studying. 

5) Drink a glass of water before you do anything in the morning

It’s simple just drink a glass or more of water before you wake up, even before you open your phone! It fires up your metabolism, hydrates you, flushes out the toxins, and it fuels your brain.

6) Don’t drink fizzy drinks

Fizzy drinks are very bad for your health and creates many problems for people through time. They have a high amount of fructose and glucose which when the liver becomes overloaded with, turns them into fat right away, it doesn’t digest them.

7) Focus on your oral health

When you focus on your oral health, you’re preventing yourself from tooth decay and gum disease, also surprisingly helps clear away harmful bacteria linked to heart disease. Simple ways to take care of your oral health:

– Brush your teeth twice per day, the more the better!

– Floss daily!

– Replace your toothbrush every 3 months

– Visit your dentist every once and in a while

8) Follow a balanced diet

The best thing to do is go on a balanced diet, it doesn’t make you feel that you’re on a diet! It can protect you from diseases like, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some types of cancer. It can also help you shed a few kilos!