See Mi An' Come Live Wid Mi...

"See mi an' come live wid mi a two different t'ing."

Literal translation: "To see me and to live with me are two different things."

Meaning: You can only learn a person's true nature by living with them; even if you spend lots of time together, some elements of their personality will still be a mystery.

They must've created that saying specifically for my trip with Mr. Anonymous. Great guy. Phenomenal person. I still think he's hotter than a set of snow tires...but I don't think we're compatible romantically.

Let me interject with a few nifty facts about me:

1. I have this thing with time; I can't deal with people who are chronically not on it. I feel like if you can be on time for work but you're always late when it comes to your friends, then what you're basically saying is that your friends aren't as important as your job. If you're always late, it's an indication that you have no regard for my time, so you have no problems wasting it. Funny enough, I explained this to Mr. Anonymous on our trip while I was discussing another situation.

2. When I'm on vacation - especially to a new place - I like to take it all in. I don't want to sleep in the hotel until 1 p.m. then "go where the day takes me". It might be great for some people, but I want to make sure I get the most of what the country has to offer, including mixing with the locals. It may also sound a little anal, but what can I say, I like structure.

Add 1 and 2 together and you have the exact opposite of Mr. Anonymous' personality.

Day 1: We go sightseeing straight from the airport and spend the entire day out. Mr. Anonymous is sleeping almost everytime we sit down. Did I mention he slept all 12 hours to Egypt and I didn't get a wink? We check into the hotel, do some more sightseeing (he sleeps to and from the places) and then head off to bed. He leaves and goes exploring by himself at midnight without waking me or telling me he's going out.

Day 2: I'm up at 10, ready to hit the streets. I wake him; he doesn't move. I get dressed and wake him again; he doesn't move. I leave him a note and go walking around a little bit to check out what exploring I can do that day. I go back, and he's up but still in bed, but is ready to go exploring.
"I'll be back in a half hour." I tell him, which I think should be enough time for him to get showered and dressed.
"It won't take that long; all I have to do is jump in the shower," he says.
"I'll give you a half hour just in case." I say
"It's not going to be that long," he says again, a little more peeved.

I leave for 45 minutes fully expecting him to be dressed and ready to go. He's still in the shower when I get upstairs. Meanwhile, it's nearly midday. He takes another half hour to get dressed, and only leaves the room after I tell him I can't sit around any longer and I'm going downstairs. So in all, it takes him an hour and a half to get dressed after insisting it wouldn't take a half hour.

That was just the beginning. We connect with another couple of friends who are travelling on the same tour, and agree to meet up for drinks at around 11. He makes them wait 15 minutes just lollygagging around the room.

Needless to say, we (me and the other couple) spent the majority of the vacation waiting for Mr. Anonymous who was always late. We had set up a tour with an outside company, and everyone else had to wait for him an extra 20 minutes, although he knew what time we were leaving. It was to the point where the tour manager told me to tell him that he was going to get left if he wasn't in the lobby when it was time to go to the airport. How does someone you barely know already know about your propensity to be late?

By Day 5, I was so thoroughly annoyed that I went off with the other girl we'd met and spent the day with her. That night, I had planned to treat him to dinner for his birthday at the vegetarian restaurant. I'd been telling him about it since Day 1 - actually since before we left for Egypt. I even went through the trouble of getting directions, making reservations and the whole nine. We usually meet up for dinner with the other couple at 7:30; He left the room around 7:15, didn't say where he was going or when he'd be back. I assumed he was going to be back in time for dinner. I waited until 8:30 and didn't hear from him, so I went to dinner by myself and had the most fantastic meal ever. I decided to just stay in after my meal and watch some TV. He tried to get me to go do stuff, but by that point, I was mellow from my fantastic dinner, and was in relax mode, so I declined. He seemed a bit annoyed that I didn't want to go out (especially since it was the last night there) and kept harassing me, but I stood my ground.

Don't get me wrong; I still had a fantastic time in Egypt, and this isn't a gripe session. I'm sure I did a lot of stuff that annoyed him as well, so I guess it was a learning experience for the both of us.

I'll go on another trip with him, but I'll make sure I make my own plans instead of trying to do stuff together like we'd planned this trip.

Some people are just better off as friends...