At first it seemed like a funny joke, when I invited my bother to come over to Pakistan for vacation. We kept on joking about it for a while until I realized, that he has actually gotten a visa and is booking his ticket. I was really happy about his coming, since I didn’t see him for 6 months, but on the other hand, I didn’t know what to expect, since we never went for a vacation together.

My brother arrived on the 23rd of April at night. The same day, we had booked tickets to fly to Lahore. The trip that I have decided to take with him was Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. We were to only go to safe places, since the security situation is not very good in Pakistan. I would never want to bring him into danger.
When talking to the AIESEC members before, they agreed to take us around and give us accommodation. The accommodation we got in both places was arranged, which was great,  because otherwise it would’ve been quite a hassle.

In Lahore, we ended up going around mostly by ourselves, because the guys had exams next week, so they had to study. Nevertheless , we managed to visit the Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque, Sikh Gurudwara (with a tour done by the main priest there). We also wanted to visit Papusai, but unfortunately when we got there, we found out that it was cancelled, because the people were smoking up too much. On the last day in Lahore, we managed to go to Wagha border, which is the border of India and Pakistan and we enjoyed the show of changing guards.

The next day, we went to Islamabad early morning. We met up with Alishan, who took us to his home, where we stayed for one night. He was nice enough to take us to all the main places in Islamabad, like the Pakistan Monument, Lok Virsa and the Faisal Mosque. The next day we met up with my friend Nida, who took us to the Jinnah supermarket area and we had a good chat and great sheesha at Hangout. Before leaving Islamabad, we even managed to visit the Czech Embassy, where I had a contact from Rahab since a long while.

By Monday, I was already looking forward to coming back to Karachi, where at least I know quite easily how to get around by now. So on Tuesday, I took my bro to visit the Mazar-e-Quaid, Abdulah-Shah-Gazi shrine, Masjid-e-Tooba and some shopping places. Going around in the boiling heat was sometimes quite hard, so this sightseeing was just about enough. At the end of the day we enjoyed a good evening on our rooftop with friends. :)

On the last day of his visit, I had to go back to work, so Junaid from the LC took him around a bit after we met for lunch with my boss. It was quite a slow day, which we finished in the American Club over a couple of beers. And of course, Karachi being Karachi, something had to happen the day he was supposed to leave. He was supposed to be at the airport by 2 am that night, but unfortunately riots broke out in the city and people were advised not to go anywhere. Talking to some people, we found out, that no one will be willing to take the risk of taking him there, so I had to call my boss for a favor and he dropped him at the airport.

All in all this trip was quite good, even though we met at a quite difficult time for both of us. After spending a week with my brother, I realized, that even though I really like Pakistan, I cannot imagine myself living here permanently. I know I could be living here for a while, but not move here for good. So let’s see what the next 6 months bring and where will I end up after that.