Medicine is probably the safest career there is. That was exactly my problem with it.
It started with other people’s trips
At Mansoura University I joined IFMSA, the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. It connects medical students worldwide, and one of the things it runs is an exchange program: students spend a few weeks at a university in another country for clinical or research training.
I worked on the exchange program at my university. When foreign students arrived, I organised their social program and logistics, and every weekend I went with them on the trips we planned. Seeing my own country through their eyes felt very different, and very good. I also saw how different the experience was for them when they explored it with a local.
One group stays with me more than any other: the students who came in August 2023. I think they were the best group I ever had. They were kind, very funny, and we had the best month together. Saying goodbye was hard. Since then I have met many of them again, in their own countries and in others.
Then I went myself
Hosting made me want to be on the other side, so I applied for exchanges of my own. I went to Palermo in Sicily, to Spain, and to Bulgaria.
In Palermo we camped by the sea on Ferragosto, the big Italian summer holiday in mid-August. It was one of the best nights of the whole exchange.
Not a sudden decision
Leaving medicine didn’t happen overnight. I started thinking about it once I was in that international environment, meeting students from everywhere at home and then going abroad myself. I loved it, and I wanted to keep doing it.
In my final year I started working part-time with a travel agency, because I really liked the work. I finished my degree and showed my family I had done it. Then I decided it was time to do what I wanted: start a business, and travel. I chose not to practise medicine.
Building Crossroads
That business became Crossroads Travel. We bring travellers from abroad to Egypt, and we are now expanding to Morocco, Jordan and more destinations.
The hardest part at the start was the uncertainty. I didn’t know whether it would work. I had help from a dear friend who had been in the travel business for a long time, and together we made it happen.
Where it led me
The exchange years shaped more than my career. My wife is Bulgarian, and today I live in Sofia and travel back to Egypt often for the business.
Why I left the safe path
My problem with medicine was never the work itself. It was that the path was laid down long ago, with little room for creativity and no real way off the track. That is what makes it safe, and I didn’t want to be stuck in it. I wanted to build something of my own, not be an employee all my life.
I didn’t know it would work. I still can’t promise anyone it will work for them. But I wanted to do what I love, and hopefully make a living from it.
