"Are you sure?"

Uja nodded. "Kinda. We've got no other choice, babe."

I sighed slowly. "It's gonna be more than fourteen hours." 

Uja nodded again. "Fine by me."

Uja bought our tickets using her HSBC debit card for night express trains at Egyptian National Railways website. By using this website, travellers need to book the seats at least two weeks before departure.

This particular train is not as time-effective as the overnight sleeper but the trains are perfectly safe and quite comfortable. The night-trains costs us LE170 per person for one-way. 

We arrived safely in Luxor at noon after a tiring fifteen-hours journey from Ramses Station, Cairo. 

We met Mia, an Australian who are married to a Nubian man- she has spent ten years living in Luxor like the locals and spoke fluent Arabic.

"Well guys, I can give you this room for 100le per night as the dorms are full for now."

"How much for a bed at the dorm?"

"45le."

I normally preferred dorm over any room but it was ideal if I was alone. 

Uja and I stared at each other.

"Let's just check out the room first. Then, we'll decide."

Determined to not be persuade by that tempting offer, we expected the room to be dull and dusty like any other hostel room I encountered in Egypt but as soon as Mia opened the door, the room was not as I thought.

To be honest, it was okay. The king-sized bed was comfy, the wall was clean and the floor was perfectly clean. There's a medium-sized tv with two armoires and a large bathroom at the corner. A small verandah stood on the left side of the room while we basked in cool air of perfectly working air-conditioner.

"Cool. Mia, we'll take it."

Fist-bumped, she said, "I know you would."

"We will definitely tell our friends about your place, Mia. It's quite stylish, for sure."

Mia snickered. "Yeah, thanks to these rascals over here." She gestured towards her little family behind the reception counter. 

We paid the price and camped at the room for a quite some time. I may have not gotten much sleep the night before, but my stomach was rumbling, begging to be fed. Uja and I went for dinner near the hostel and strolled around.

Looking over the Nile, I was quite sure that those fifteen-hours journey are something that I will talk about for years to come. I witnessed a number of occasions while on the train and it was refreshing from my perspective.

I kinda needed that release.

I needed to be stripped of distraction and just sit for hours on the train. I needed to be surrounded by the unfamiliar to see the common, the untouched and the beautiful by taking this adventure with a friend.

And I know I made the right decision.