Two Egyptian YouTubers vlogged their trip to Lebanon over the summer in a 6 video series. Their trip, however, wasn’t a normal one; they had 1,000 LL each and relied solely on Lebanese people’s hospitality.
It was a week full of ‘EH, AKID’, ‘TFADDALO’, ‘WALA YHEMKOUN’, ‘YALA TLA3’, ‘KHOD LBADAk YEH’, etc.
Seif Tamer is an Egyptian med student and YouTuber. He has been to over 67 countries. Seif was invited to Lebanon along with his friend, travel-buddy and fellow YouTuber Abdullah Elshamy.
Since Seif is an immigrant student, he decided to travel to Egypt around 7 months ago and attempt to survive there with no money on him. The series was a hit to the growing YouTuber, and it reached BBC.
Accordingly, the channel invited Seif and Abdullah to Lebanon for an interview and to encourage them to do the same in Lebanon as they did in Egypt. The pair had a luxurious first couple of days in Lebanon.
BBC booked them rooms at Ramada hotel in downtown Beirut and provided them three meals a day.
They got around riding taxis, checked the rooftop of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beirut, had lunch at Zeituna Bay, you know, normal touristic stuff in the Lebanese capital.
The pair were taken aback by the cleanness of downtown’s streets, the friendly and lively locals, the generosity of the restaurants that kept offering them desserts and fruits, and the delicious food.
On the third day, Seif and Abdullah had one last taste of normal tourism around Lebanon. A Lebanese acquaintance heard that the guys were in the country and hit them up.
They went to Jounieh, saw the amazing view from atop Our Lady of Lebanon, and had a nice meal.
Then, they handed everything they had over to their Lebanese friend who left them with only 1,000 LL each (less than $1), the clothes they have on, their camera, and hope that Lebanese people will be up to their expectations.
Their goal now was to go from Jounieh to Byblos. A bus stopped for them on the highway, they tried to wave the driver off, informing him that they have no money, and they received a pleasant response: “Just come!”
The bus dropped them off at Byblos, where a restaurant staff offered the travelers a piece of the place’s decoration: a Lebanese flag. They checked out Souk Jbeil and then went down to the beach to catch the sunset.
There, they met three Lebanese girls, raised sky lanterns with them, and danced together by the sea; it’s something straight out of a movie, isn’t it? They met a lot of people along the way, one of whom is a hotel receptionist.
They met him while trying to go up the hotel’s rooftop, and it quickly built up into a friendship.
The receptionist asked the YouTubers to join him and his friends for dinner. They showed Seif and Abdullah where they can get a shower, do some laundry, and set up their tents.
On their way, the pair joined some Lebanese-Armenian kids in a football game, and then met an Italian-Spanish group of tourists, who also invited them for dinner.
Seif and Abdullah set up their tent on the beach and, in the morning, someone woke them up for coffee.
This, someone, turned out to be a girl from Holland who has spent the last 25 years in Lebanon without returning home.
She speaks fluent Arabic and has acquired the Lebanese mindset, like inviting strangers for coffee. They spent half the day swimming in the ocean together.
The fourth day in Lebanon was the first day for the Egyptian YouTubers in Batroun, and it’s really the most beautiful and heartwarming video to watch.
They left Byblos with bags full of fruit and reached Batroun with another Lebanese who has agreed to give them a ride and offered to show them around the city.
Seif and Abdullah met three other Lebanese girls at Starbucks. These girls, as the travelers admitted, broke the Egyptian stereotype of Lebanese women.
They invited the YouTubers to have the iconic Batroun lemonade and even bought them water and snacks for the road.
The next day, the pair discovered the place and went into Bistr’eau Batroun to get some internet connection, and ended up having a full meal there for free!
On the third day in Batroun, the young men didn’t get any offers to eat and were forced to ask after getting severely hungry.
They asked at a local shop if they can have some expired fruit and vegetable, but the owner didn’t accept, insisting they have their pick and take whatever they want of the shop’s goods.
They also met a local group who didn’t only offer them a new camera lens and a place to stay for the night but also invited them to dinner at one of the guys’ diner, Midnight Munchies.
Also hitchhiking, off they went to Tripoli, which they felt to be separate from the rest of Lebanon they got to know. They also compared some of its streets to Egypt’s.
A member of the Lebanese army bought them coffee, and other citizens offered them water and lots of free food and rides. They also rested at a local charity house that is always open for those in need.
They absolutely fell in love with the city and its awesome landscapes.
At the end of the series, Seif and Abdullah gave a special thanks from the heart to all the people who went out of their way to help them. They came to the country to prove the Lebanese hospitality and spirit, and they proved them indeed.
We are very proud of our people! Thank you, Seif Tamer and Abdullah Elshamy for stopping by and showing the world the outstanding generosity of the Lebanese people: The real awesome Lebanon! Watch the series down below: