To say it all started with a mango is an over simplification, sure, but it didn’t not start with a mango.
Ahmed and I met on a beach in a hippie beach town on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. For those of you who don’t know Dahab, you should. It’s a diving Mecca for free divers and scuba divers alike. There’s even a Netflix movie out about it (The Deepest Breath).
Why Dahab Was Special Before We Met
What’s great about our love story though, is that Dahab had been a special place for each of us, separately, before it brought us together. We met at a time when each of us needed a break – break from COVID, break from stress – and a chance to reconnect with nature and ourselves. In different ways, we both felt called back to Dahab.
The Setting: A Small Hippie Town on Egypt’s Red Sea Coast
It’s a small coastal town, the kind you walk around barefoot and forget what day of the week it is. There’s approximately one bar (false, but it feels like it): Coral Coast. Waterfront, tables in the sand, a dance floor when needed, and a very simple bar set the scene.
A few nights in a row, we had caught each other’s eye at this Red Sea hangout, but later admittedly were both too shy to say hello.
Enter Zaki: The Matchmaker We Didn’t Know We Needed
Enter Zaki. The night of Zaki’s birthday, I had organized a party. Because Zaki has big main-character energy and his wifey was out of town, I stepped up to the task. Mido ended up at Coral Coast, and when he realized the reason for the party, he found the birthday boy.
Seeing this was my in, I jumped over for a “Zaki, who’s your friend?!”
The First Date Request
“Hi, I’m Ahmed, but my friends call me Mido. Can I take you on a date tomorrow night?” That was our introduction. I giddily accepted, but from that first minute, we talked until the bar closed, sat in the sand, munched a mango and watched the sunrise over the Red Sea.
And it’s been Mido and Tolo ever since.
From Dahab to AlUla: Our Love Story Continues
What started as a chance meeting in Egypt’s most magical diving town has taken us on adventures from the Red Sea the skyscrapers of Dubai to Saudi Arabia’s historic AlUla. Our origin story in Dahab will always be special – it’s where two people found each other in a place that had already captured both our hearts separately.
Want to know more about the place where our love story began? Check out our guides to diving in Dahab and experiencing Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
