With a population of 21 million, Cairo makes Manhattan look like a ghost town. Whirring and humming with falafel vendors, camel owners, and shouts of Arabic, this capital city breathes with a tenacious energy. You also may breathe in a bit of hot desert dust while you’re there, but just blow your nose and keep inhaling the exotic culture around you. It’s not every day you get to watch real life bumper car battles unfold before your eyes.

Yes. Bumper cars. That’s how they roll in Egypt. No lane markers, no cross walks, no traffic lights. Nothing. Just automobiles of every shape and size with a survival-of-the-fittest attitude, giving “love taps” to those who get in their way. It’s incredible.

So when dinner time rolls around, you’re craving some shawarma, and the only places to eat are across the street, what do you do?

Well let me let you in on a little secret. Looking both ways won’t cut it in Egypt. Trust me, Kathryn and I tried that for about 15 minutes.

In an ideal situation, a local Egyptian angel will appear out of nowhere, grab your hand, show you when to sprint, and tell you to never walk backwards because the cars will drive around you, and you’re dead if you hesitate. At least that is how Team Nat Kat made it to dinner. Bless that kind man’s soul.

However, if the angels don’t grace you with their presence, I highly recommend the strategy of lingering behind an Egyptian woman and children who are about to dodge the traffic and stay right in sync with them. You are guaranteed a safe crossing. And when you get to the other side, you’ll feel like you have just beaten the hardest obstacle course from Legends of the Hidden Temple. Congratulations.

Thankfully, this is where Travel Insurance comes in. A wee little sinus infection I had in Turkey turned into quite the nightmare by the time I reached Egypt. Lots of pain, an eye swollen shut and a slew of other unpleasantries that were, well, not fun, put me out of commission fast. It’s easy to take good health for granted anytime— not just while traveling— and getting sick is a painful reminder that life isn’t always sunshine and lollipops.

Fortunately with the help of my Egyptian angel Rafik (or maybe you might call him a tour guide) and some phone counseling with CSA Insurance I was able to navigate my way through three different hospitals and some serious antibiotic injections. Not bad for a one-eyed girl who can’t speak a word of Arabic. And definitely not the type of thing I’d want done without my insurance backing the hospital and the treatment.

I’d pat myself on the back, but the fact that CSA put me in touch with an English speaking doctor, looked up the closest hospital, covered the cost of my medicine, and called to make sure I was fine probably helped more than me screaming at Natalie to google “sinus infection” faster.

Though not everyone can have Rafik with them to translate and hold their hand (did I mention how much I love Rafik?) everyone can take the pre-trip precautions needed to stay safe abroad.  And now instead of an eye patch I have a pretty sweet travel story to tell my friends. Remember that time I went one-eyed in Egypt? Yeah, I’m hard like that.