Egypt with Lady Egypt for New Year's Holiday
Jan 9th, 2011, 06:03 PM
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Egypt with Lady Egypt for New Year's Holiday
I originally booked this trip through Amanda at Lady Egypt back in June. She was always very responsive to my endless questions about hotels, schedules, cruise boats, and just travel to Egypt in general, prior to booking. I paid 50% with credit card (3% fee) and then paid the rest a couple of weeks prior to departure. I felt a little concerned that I didn't have flight numbers for my Egypt Air internal flights or the name of a cruise ship a month out, so I e-mailed her again, and apparently this had been an oversight. She provided me with all my info, which matched up with what we eventually did/experienced so all was well there!
Day 1: left Tampa Florida for New York on December 25th. Unfortunately had a long 6 hour layover at JFK, but the Massage Express and the Lufthansa lounge made it much more bearable. We give high marks to both! The food and open self-serve bar at the Lufthansa bar were top notch. We then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt - coach class and impeccable service with very tasty food and good drinks. Arrived in Frankfurt on the 26th and then departed for Cairo a couple of hours later.
Day 2: Finally! We arrived in Cairo at about 6pm! Others had reported on being met at the immigration area, but we were not. It was no big deal as it is very easy to navigate the VISA purchase/currency exchange counters, and then go through the passport control agents. Our airport pick-up person was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator, in the baggage claim area. He was very cheerful - we saw him one other time as well, and he was very nice and eager to welcome us warmly to his country. I don't recall his name, since we only saw him briefly. (I concur with another recent review that stated personnel changed FREQUENTLY and it was sometimes confusing to tell who was a "rep" or a "driver" or an "airport handler" or whatever! Oh my. At any rate, our luggage arrived, and we were assisted out to a waiting car, where we met our driver (just for that night apparently), and our "real rep," Mohammed. We did see a lot of Mohammed, and we enjoyed him very much. Mohammed gave us a welcome packet that included history on the kings, the temples, useful phrases in arabic, our e-tickets for the flights to Aswan and to Cairo (from Luxor), and our cruise ship voucher for the Jamila. He explained he would pick us up relatively early (I think it was 7:30?) to go over our itinerary in detail and to transport us to the pyramids and our guide for the day. We were dropped off at the Mena House Oberoi, where we were advised we had been upgraded to a suite in the "new" building! What a spectacular room!!! It had a view of the beautiful pool area. Amazing. I felt so relaxed already (after 25 hours of traveling!). We bid farewell to Mohammed and our driver, and had a lovely dinner at the Moghul Room (Indian themed restaurant) at the hotel. We highly recommend it! We had the local Sherazade red wine, which we also enjoyed and recommend.
Day 3: The Pyramids! Mohammed picked us up and went over tipping with us, briefly (he suggested the following rates per person per day, which we sort of followed: driver 15, rep 20, guide 50. He also suggested a dinner cruise for that evening, which we thought sounded like a nice way to see Cairo at night, so we agreed, and paid him for that with cash (pounds). It was $55 per person, which he converted to pounds. We met our guide, Ahmed, at the hotel entrance, and we were off to see the step pyramid at Sakkara. It was fascinating - a very interesting site, and our first experience with the multitude of Egyptians selling souvenirs at sites. Then we went to the Great Pyramid (and two smaller ones)! Amazing!! I couldn't imagine the size of the pyramids before seeing them in person. just standing in front of them and imagining how much work and how many men it took to assemble each giant stone was mind boggling and awe inspiring. We elected to foray into Menkaure's pyramid (the smaller of the three) - it was challenging for my 6'4" husband, but he thought it was worth it to see the inside of a pyramid tomb. I thought it was great.
Then we went to visit a papyrus institute (our choice - no pressure at all from the guide - we wanted papyrus!). We tried hibiscus juice (delicious!) and bought some lovely papyrus for ourselves and gifts (which have been very well received!). While we were shopping for papyrus, our guide bought us lunch! What a surprise! He bought falafel sandwiches (tameeya) and french fry sandwiches at a stand. I was a bit nervous about eating them (since they hade lettuce and tomato and were just wrapped in some brown piece of paper!), but I didn't want to offend him and I was starved, so I ate both my sandwinches which were DELICIOUS! I loved them! And I might as well take this opportunity to say neither one of us had ANY stomach discomfort at all during the entire trip! (I will admit that we both took probiotic pills sold to us by our physician here in Florida for two weeks prior to leaving, and during the time we were there. I can't be sure that this is what "saved us" - perhaps we would have been fine either way). Ahmed also informed us that Mohammed had arranged a sunset camel ride for us with a stable, and that we would meet at the hotel and Mohammed would take us to our camel ride. If you have the opportunity to do this, you should! It was the highlight of our day, and one of the greatest memories of the trip! We drove to a little area of town behind the pyramids, and parked on a side street. There, two camels were brought out for us from a gate in the wall: Obama and Banana (I am not kidding - these were the camels' names!). We were accompanied on horse by Mohammed, our driver, and the camel guide. A little boy walked the whole way guiding our camels for us. We wound around narrow mud streets, and eventually made our way up a big hill behind the fenced border of the pyramid area. We reached this summit just as the sun was setting and our guide took lots of AMAZING photos of us: we look like we're jumping over the pyramids, touching them with our elbows, with our finger tips, all those kitchy things... but with the sunset light they look surreal and beautiful! Really! And, of course, we got our photos taken with the camels, too. Then we rode back to the meeting place where we paid the camel stable man (175 pounds each), plus tipped our guide who said he got paid only whatever we gave, and the little boy. We went back to the hotel to shower off the dust and change into dinner clothes. We went to dinner on the Nile Maxim floating restaurant. Food was just average - not bad and not great. We sat at a table for two while Mohammed sat with other guides. We heard a live band which was good (latin music was very popular for some reason). Then we saw a Whirling Dervish who was phenomenal! He had lights on his costume - made the spinning that more dramatic at one point in his presentation. I had never seen this before so I was mesmerized. Then they had a belly dancer who was OK. At that point, we went outside to see the city lights by boat (the boat actually takes a 1 hour trip up and back on the Nile). We went home to the Mena House for a good night's sleep to get up hearly for a 5 AM meeting time to catch a 7 AM flight to Aswan.
MORE TO COME!
Day 1: left Tampa Florida for New York on December 25th. Unfortunately had a long 6 hour layover at JFK, but the Massage Express and the Lufthansa lounge made it much more bearable. We give high marks to both! The food and open self-serve bar at the Lufthansa bar were top notch. We then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt - coach class and impeccable service with very tasty food and good drinks. Arrived in Frankfurt on the 26th and then departed for Cairo a couple of hours later.
Day 2: Finally! We arrived in Cairo at about 6pm! Others had reported on being met at the immigration area, but we were not. It was no big deal as it is very easy to navigate the VISA purchase/currency exchange counters, and then go through the passport control agents. Our airport pick-up person was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator, in the baggage claim area. He was very cheerful - we saw him one other time as well, and he was very nice and eager to welcome us warmly to his country. I don't recall his name, since we only saw him briefly. (I concur with another recent review that stated personnel changed FREQUENTLY and it was sometimes confusing to tell who was a "rep" or a "driver" or an "airport handler" or whatever! Oh my. At any rate, our luggage arrived, and we were assisted out to a waiting car, where we met our driver (just for that night apparently), and our "real rep," Mohammed. We did see a lot of Mohammed, and we enjoyed him very much. Mohammed gave us a welcome packet that included history on the kings, the temples, useful phrases in arabic, our e-tickets for the flights to Aswan and to Cairo (from Luxor), and our cruise ship voucher for the Jamila. He explained he would pick us up relatively early (I think it was 7:30?) to go over our itinerary in detail and to transport us to the pyramids and our guide for the day. We were dropped off at the Mena House Oberoi, where we were advised we had been upgraded to a suite in the "new" building! What a spectacular room!!! It had a view of the beautiful pool area. Amazing. I felt so relaxed already (after 25 hours of traveling!). We bid farewell to Mohammed and our driver, and had a lovely dinner at the Moghul Room (Indian themed restaurant) at the hotel. We highly recommend it! We had the local Sherazade red wine, which we also enjoyed and recommend.
Day 3: The Pyramids! Mohammed picked us up and went over tipping with us, briefly (he suggested the following rates per person per day, which we sort of followed: driver 15, rep 20, guide 50. He also suggested a dinner cruise for that evening, which we thought sounded like a nice way to see Cairo at night, so we agreed, and paid him for that with cash (pounds). It was $55 per person, which he converted to pounds. We met our guide, Ahmed, at the hotel entrance, and we were off to see the step pyramid at Sakkara. It was fascinating - a very interesting site, and our first experience with the multitude of Egyptians selling souvenirs at sites. Then we went to the Great Pyramid (and two smaller ones)! Amazing!! I couldn't imagine the size of the pyramids before seeing them in person. just standing in front of them and imagining how much work and how many men it took to assemble each giant stone was mind boggling and awe inspiring. We elected to foray into Menkaure's pyramid (the smaller of the three) - it was challenging for my 6'4" husband, but he thought it was worth it to see the inside of a pyramid tomb. I thought it was great.
Then we went to visit a papyrus institute (our choice - no pressure at all from the guide - we wanted papyrus!). We tried hibiscus juice (delicious!) and bought some lovely papyrus for ourselves and gifts (which have been very well received!). While we were shopping for papyrus, our guide bought us lunch! What a surprise! He bought falafel sandwiches (tameeya) and french fry sandwiches at a stand. I was a bit nervous about eating them (since they hade lettuce and tomato and were just wrapped in some brown piece of paper!), but I didn't want to offend him and I was starved, so I ate both my sandwinches which were DELICIOUS! I loved them! And I might as well take this opportunity to say neither one of us had ANY stomach discomfort at all during the entire trip! (I will admit that we both took probiotic pills sold to us by our physician here in Florida for two weeks prior to leaving, and during the time we were there. I can't be sure that this is what "saved us" - perhaps we would have been fine either way). Ahmed also informed us that Mohammed had arranged a sunset camel ride for us with a stable, and that we would meet at the hotel and Mohammed would take us to our camel ride. If you have the opportunity to do this, you should! It was the highlight of our day, and one of the greatest memories of the trip! We drove to a little area of town behind the pyramids, and parked on a side street. There, two camels were brought out for us from a gate in the wall: Obama and Banana (I am not kidding - these were the camels' names!). We were accompanied on horse by Mohammed, our driver, and the camel guide. A little boy walked the whole way guiding our camels for us. We wound around narrow mud streets, and eventually made our way up a big hill behind the fenced border of the pyramid area. We reached this summit just as the sun was setting and our guide took lots of AMAZING photos of us: we look like we're jumping over the pyramids, touching them with our elbows, with our finger tips, all those kitchy things... but with the sunset light they look surreal and beautiful! Really! And, of course, we got our photos taken with the camels, too. Then we rode back to the meeting place where we paid the camel stable man (175 pounds each), plus tipped our guide who said he got paid only whatever we gave, and the little boy. We went back to the hotel to shower off the dust and change into dinner clothes. We went to dinner on the Nile Maxim floating restaurant. Food was just average - not bad and not great. We sat at a table for two while Mohammed sat with other guides. We heard a live band which was good (latin music was very popular for some reason). Then we saw a Whirling Dervish who was phenomenal! He had lights on his costume - made the spinning that more dramatic at one point in his presentation. I had never seen this before so I was mesmerized. Then they had a belly dancer who was OK. At that point, we went outside to see the city lights by boat (the boat actually takes a 1 hour trip up and back on the Nile). We went home to the Mena House for a good night's sleep to get up hearly for a 5 AM meeting time to catch a 7 AM flight to Aswan.
MORE TO COME!
Jan 10th, 2011, 08:21 AM
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Great report, thanks for sharing. How's the construction at the Mena House? We debated about staying there but decided on Cairo Marriott for its central city location. Still not sure, though, 'cuz having a view of the Pyramids from my room would be awesome! Love the idea of an evening camel ride. Looking forward to more!
Jan 10th, 2011, 09:11 AM
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Hi all! Thanks for reading!
Elizabeth, the tip amounts suggested by Mohammed were in Egyptian Pounds.
Nola, we noticed no construction at all. Then again, we weren't there much during daytime hours - but during the evening it was very quiet (by that I mean to praise the sound insulating quality of our sliding glass doors which totally blocked the noisy streets outside). And you really should have Lady Egypt book a camel ride for you. It wasn't a short ride up in front of the pyramids with those annoying camel guys that hang out there and try to take your photos (and your money!) - it was about 1.5 hours to 2 hours worth of time by the time we went on the ride, had time to watch the sunset and take photos, and came back. It was well worth the price.
After I posted the report I also forgot to mention my other "brave native food" experience that first day. After we went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner, when we were picked up by Mohammed he said he had a surprise for us - he wanted to treat us to one of his favorite Egyptian beverages before dinner (obviously non-alcoholic!). So we stopped at a juice bar on some busy Cairo street (kind of double parked! scary!), and had sugar cane juice! I was hesitant (again), but drank it not wanting to offend, and it was very delicious. And, as I said before, no ill effects!!
More soon (tonight I hope!)
Elizabeth, the tip amounts suggested by Mohammed were in Egyptian Pounds.
Nola, we noticed no construction at all. Then again, we weren't there much during daytime hours - but during the evening it was very quiet (by that I mean to praise the sound insulating quality of our sliding glass doors which totally blocked the noisy streets outside). And you really should have Lady Egypt book a camel ride for you. It wasn't a short ride up in front of the pyramids with those annoying camel guys that hang out there and try to take your photos (and your money!) - it was about 1.5 hours to 2 hours worth of time by the time we went on the ride, had time to watch the sunset and take photos, and came back. It was well worth the price.
After I posted the report I also forgot to mention my other "brave native food" experience that first day. After we went back to the hotel to clean up for dinner, when we were picked up by Mohammed he said he had a surprise for us - he wanted to treat us to one of his favorite Egyptian beverages before dinner (obviously non-alcoholic!). So we stopped at a juice bar on some busy Cairo street (kind of double parked! scary!), and had sugar cane juice! I was hesitant (again), but drank it not wanting to offend, and it was very delicious. And, as I said before, no ill effects!!
More soon (tonight I hope!)
Jan 10th, 2011, 12:05 PM
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Looking forward to reading more! We are planning a trip to Egypt and Jordan at the end of 2011. What was the weather like? Trying to get an idea of how cool it will be. Also, my guidebooks say December / January is peak season. Did you find it overly busy - eg. time queuing to see things? Thanks.
Jan 10th, 2011, 12:13 PM
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>>So we stopped at a juice bar on some busy Cairo street (kind of double parked! scary!), and had sugar cane juice! I was hesitant (again), but drank it not wanting to offend, and it was very delicious. And, as I said before, no ill effects!! <<
Did you drink it right out of the glass? I was afraid to try the juice bars unless there were disposable plastic cups available.
Did you drink it right out of the glass? I was afraid to try the juice bars unless there were disposable plastic cups available.
Jan 10th, 2011, 02:12 PM
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I've been trying for 1 1/2 weeks to get someone from LE to respond to booking daily tours in Cairo and flights from Aswan to Abu Simbal. Ugh! My Flights from the US and hotels and Nile Cruise were booked with miles and hotel points so I'm not booking a package through them. Maybe this is the problem. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? From what I've been reading everyone says LG responds promptly and are most happy with their excursions. Also, has anyone tried to take the taxi from Cairo Airport to their hotel on their own? Would you advise this or should I try and make other arrangements? Do you think LE would do this, if I ever make contact? I'm a bit concerned about the bartering with taxi rates especially after an long international flight.
Jan 10th, 2011, 02:32 PM
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PRLCH - YES, I found it HORRIBLY busy. I actually left a couple of temples (can't recall which right off hand) without seing in the inner sanctuary areas because I just couldn't stand being pressed in upon by the masses of sweaty humanity! Ick! There really wasn't a problem cueing for much (other than getting glimpses of things) inside the temples. Oh my.
AXEL2DP - Yes!! I drank it from the glass! So did my husband. Neither of us had stomach problems. But maybe we were just lucky.
Day4: We were promptly met at the Mena House at 5AM for transport to the airport for our 7something flight. So many early mornings! Mohammed met us again with a new driver. We were assisted with security and check in at the airport by the same man who had met us at the airport the first night. We said goodbye to Mohammed (and tipped him of course!), and were promptly seated in the Egypt Air lounge waiting for our flight to Aswan. We still had about an hour and a half to kill! These Lady Egypt people really want you to get to airports early we found! But we enjoyed an hour at the lounge (got some snacks for breakfast since we had missed it at the hotel), and made our way to the gate, where we discovered the "real" security check at this airport happens. At any rate, we rode buses out to our airplane which awaited on the tarmac. Very nice flight.
We were met in Aswan by our new rep Ahmed, and a driver, and we were soon introduced to our new guide, Hossam, who would be with us for five days (poor Hossam!).
Since it was so early in the morning, it was not possible to check in to the hotel first, so we visited the Aswan High Dam (a fascinating feat of engineering!), and then we went to the Philae Temple. That temple was personally one of my favorites. I loved riding in the little boats driven by Nubians in and around the islands to the beautiful setting of this temple! I loved learning about Isis searching for the 42 pieces of her husband Osiris (after he was killed by his brother Set), and this is where Hossam also tought us how to differentiate between the goddesses Isis and Hathor in temple depictions. (I'm not telling! Go to Egypt, use Lady Egypt and let Hossam explain it to you!). It was amazing to me to see the little numbered markers on the pieces and to try to ponder how much work went into moving the temple (which was partiall flooded in its original location with the cration of the high dam), piece by piece to this lovely location. Wow.
We then went to check in to the Movenpick Aswan. Very cool hotel on an island! Fun! The room was OK, nothing to write home about. I didn't think it was the cleanest. We decided to have lunch by the pool - bad idea - it took about 1 hour to get the attention of a waiter, then it took an hour or so to get our food. Oh well! Dinner, however, which we had relatively early in the rooftop restaurant, and was a prix fixe affair, was LOVELY! Every course was very delicious and prepared very well. I highly recommend this dining experience! Then it was time to go to bed early, because our meeting time on the landing was 3AM to start our drive to Abu Simbel! Oh my!!
Stay tuned...
AXEL2DP - Yes!! I drank it from the glass! So did my husband. Neither of us had stomach problems. But maybe we were just lucky.
Day4: We were promptly met at the Mena House at 5AM for transport to the airport for our 7something flight. So many early mornings! Mohammed met us again with a new driver. We were assisted with security and check in at the airport by the same man who had met us at the airport the first night. We said goodbye to Mohammed (and tipped him of course!), and were promptly seated in the Egypt Air lounge waiting for our flight to Aswan. We still had about an hour and a half to kill! These Lady Egypt people really want you to get to airports early we found! But we enjoyed an hour at the lounge (got some snacks for breakfast since we had missed it at the hotel), and made our way to the gate, where we discovered the "real" security check at this airport happens. At any rate, we rode buses out to our airplane which awaited on the tarmac. Very nice flight.
We were met in Aswan by our new rep Ahmed, and a driver, and we were soon introduced to our new guide, Hossam, who would be with us for five days (poor Hossam!).
Since it was so early in the morning, it was not possible to check in to the hotel first, so we visited the Aswan High Dam (a fascinating feat of engineering!), and then we went to the Philae Temple. That temple was personally one of my favorites. I loved riding in the little boats driven by Nubians in and around the islands to the beautiful setting of this temple! I loved learning about Isis searching for the 42 pieces of her husband Osiris (after he was killed by his brother Set), and this is where Hossam also tought us how to differentiate between the goddesses Isis and Hathor in temple depictions. (I'm not telling! Go to Egypt, use Lady Egypt and let Hossam explain it to you!). It was amazing to me to see the little numbered markers on the pieces and to try to ponder how much work went into moving the temple (which was partiall flooded in its original location with the cration of the high dam), piece by piece to this lovely location. Wow. We then went to check in to the Movenpick Aswan. Very cool hotel on an island! Fun! The room was OK, nothing to write home about. I didn't think it was the cleanest. We decided to have lunch by the pool - bad idea - it took about 1 hour to get the attention of a waiter, then it took an hour or so to get our food. Oh well! Dinner, however, which we had relatively early in the rooftop restaurant, and was a prix fixe affair, was LOVELY! Every course was very delicious and prepared very well. I highly recommend this dining experience! Then it was time to go to bed early, because our meeting time on the landing was 3AM to start our drive to Abu Simbel! Oh my!!
Stay tuned...
Jan 11th, 2011, 06:18 AM
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Day 5: We woke up at 2AM to check out and collect our breakfast boxes (something I had never heard of before, but which I greatly appreciated that morning!), and catch the ferry to the dock by 3AM. We were met there by our guide, and then the little van that would transport us to Abu Simbel showed up to pick us all up. If I had it to do all over again, I would probably elect to fly to Abu Simbel. However, I did think it was fascinating to see the government organized early morning convoy of tour buses of all shapes and sizes queued up and getting signed in by the armed guards, and then seeing the long line of red tail lights in the dark driving through the desert. Seeing the sun come up over the desert was very nice as well. I enjoyed my breakfast box of ham and cheese sandwich, assorted rolls, jam, orange juice and water (the water came in very handy at the site!). We arrived at Abu Simbel with masses of other people. The time allowed before the convoy was to leave again to return to Aswan was not a lot, so we had to check the temples very quickly, which was actually not that easy to do with the massive amounts of people in them. This was one of those occasions where I left a temple without seeing the entire thing because I got suffocated from the number of people pressing in against me (at Nefertiti's temple). But they are a wonder to behold, and it's definitely worth seeing them if you are in the area. I napped on the way back to Aswan, on and off, but was awake to see the wreck of the bus which had crashed two days earlier. As one of my friends back here in the US asked me "Why didn't the government remove the wreck so nobody else would see it?!" - Good question. I don't know. It was horrible - gaping hole in the side of the bus.
Thankfully, we made it back all in one piece, and were delivered by our little van to our new home for the next few days, the Jamila cruise ship! It is very modern, in a tasteful, marble, minimalist beige sort of way. I liked it immensely. Our rep met us there to check us in, and we were advised we had been given a suite! Amazing! I LOVED this room! I have no idea why we were upgraded, but I was thrilled. The Jamila staff were very friendly and courteous, although I can't say that there is anyone that stood out to me as memorable. Before dinner, our guide, Hossam, suggested we walk around Aswan a bit and see the city on foot. They were preparing for the coming of President Mubarack the following day, so there were many signs with his photo being put up everywhere, streets being cleaned and new road paint applied, etc. We walked through the touristy market, just to look (our guide advised against purchasing anything here), and then we sat at an outdoor cafe, where my husband and Hossam shared a sheesha pipe (apple flavored, I was told), while I had a diet pepsi. It was a very enjoyable evening of people watching and getting to know more about Egyptian culture. We then walked back to our ship, and had a very nice buffet dinner. The only thing we were a little saddened about was that the dining room was divided up into tables by tour company. My husband and I were the only Lady Egypt customers on board, so we had a table to ourselves. We would have enjoyed meeting some other guests at dinner, and comparing notes on the day's activities every night. This is one thing we really enjoyed about a Mediterranean cruise we took last year on an ocean liner. We did eventually engage another group of four Americans, three of whom (Mom, Dad and Daughter) had attended Iowa State as I had!), on the last evening while waiting to be permitted entrance to the "Gala Dinner." But some nights it was nice to just have quiet time after the time spent with teeming throngs of people. That night we set sail for Edfu!
Day 6 coming soon!
Thankfully, we made it back all in one piece, and were delivered by our little van to our new home for the next few days, the Jamila cruise ship! It is very modern, in a tasteful, marble, minimalist beige sort of way. I liked it immensely. Our rep met us there to check us in, and we were advised we had been given a suite! Amazing! I LOVED this room! I have no idea why we were upgraded, but I was thrilled. The Jamila staff were very friendly and courteous, although I can't say that there is anyone that stood out to me as memorable. Before dinner, our guide, Hossam, suggested we walk around Aswan a bit and see the city on foot. They were preparing for the coming of President Mubarack the following day, so there were many signs with his photo being put up everywhere, streets being cleaned and new road paint applied, etc. We walked through the touristy market, just to look (our guide advised against purchasing anything here), and then we sat at an outdoor cafe, where my husband and Hossam shared a sheesha pipe (apple flavored, I was told), while I had a diet pepsi. It was a very enjoyable evening of people watching and getting to know more about Egyptian culture. We then walked back to our ship, and had a very nice buffet dinner. The only thing we were a little saddened about was that the dining room was divided up into tables by tour company. My husband and I were the only Lady Egypt customers on board, so we had a table to ourselves. We would have enjoyed meeting some other guests at dinner, and comparing notes on the day's activities every night. This is one thing we really enjoyed about a Mediterranean cruise we took last year on an ocean liner. We did eventually engage another group of four Americans, three of whom (Mom, Dad and Daughter) had attended Iowa State as I had!), on the last evening while waiting to be permitted entrance to the "Gala Dinner." But some nights it was nice to just have quiet time after the time spent with teeming throngs of people. That night we set sail for Edfu!
Day 6 coming soon!
Jan 11th, 2011, 06:48 AM
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<<Also, has anyone tried to take the taxi from Cairo Airport to their hotel on their own? Would you advise this or should I try and make other arrangements?>>
It is certainly possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. All the major hotels should be able to provide transportation for you if LE can't. There will no doubt be a fee for this - but it will be well worth it.
It is certainly possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. All the major hotels should be able to provide transportation for you if LE can't. There will no doubt be a fee for this - but it will be well worth it.
Jan 11th, 2011, 07:46 AM
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Great report!!!! We are heading to Egypt on the 27 of Jan.. Have read about the stomach problems too. Was wondering the name of the probiotics that you were given by your Doctor.
Can't wait for more of your trip.
Thanks stevew
Can't wait for more of your trip.
Thanks stevew
Jan 11th, 2011, 10:48 AM
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Jam asked:
>>Also, has anyone tried to take the taxi from Cairo Airport to their hotel on their own? Would you advise this or should I try and make other arrangements? <<
If you decide to take the cab make sure that it's a metered cab (the yellow cabs are metered) and verify with the driver that the meter is working before he takes off.
If you get into a non-metered cab like the black-n-white ones then only get into it if you already have a good idea of how much it should cost to get from the airport to the hotel and clearly negotiate an acceptable price with the driver before getting into the cab.
With either case, make sure you have an exact change or close to the exact change as possible. A common ploy in Egypt is for the cabbie to not be able to make change and you'll end up just giving him whatever you have. I had a bad experience in Cairo where a yellow cabbie driver refused to give me back any sort of changes whatsover - the fare was like 15 LE and all I had was a 50 LE!. I was so p.o. that day and at Cairo in general, lol.
Personally I think it's much stress free to pre-arrange the ride with the hotel or your tour rep.
>>Also, has anyone tried to take the taxi from Cairo Airport to their hotel on their own? Would you advise this or should I try and make other arrangements? <<
If you decide to take the cab make sure that it's a metered cab (the yellow cabs are metered) and verify with the driver that the meter is working before he takes off.
If you get into a non-metered cab like the black-n-white ones then only get into it if you already have a good idea of how much it should cost to get from the airport to the hotel and clearly negotiate an acceptable price with the driver before getting into the cab.
With either case, make sure you have an exact change or close to the exact change as possible. A common ploy in Egypt is for the cabbie to not be able to make change and you'll end up just giving him whatever you have. I had a bad experience in Cairo where a yellow cabbie driver refused to give me back any sort of changes whatsover - the fare was like 15 LE and all I had was a 50 LE!. I was so p.o. that day and at Cairo in general, lol.
Personally I think it's much stress free to pre-arrange the ride with the hotel or your tour rep.
Jan 11th, 2011, 11:41 AM
#17
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Stevew: The probiotic I purchased from my doctor is called "Physicians Formula" and is apparently available online, without a prescription, from the manufacturer, Vitamins On Demand. Like I said, I don't know if that is what really made the difference for us, but it was only about $20 for a 30 days' supply of pills that had no side effects, so I figured, why not?! I'm personally happy I took them, and will take them again when traveling to other areas where water, etc. are not equal to ours.
Jan 11th, 2011, 12:02 PM
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My hubbie drank a couple of juices at our guide Hamdy's favourite store, which was near Ibin Tulin mosque (I think). He drank freely from a glass and had no ill effects. Me, I wasn't taking the chance! lol Love the additional trip... more please!!!!
Jan 11th, 2011, 12:11 PM
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A note for JAM re Lady Egypt.
We asked for a tour quote late December and got a very comprehensive reply within 24 hours! Very prompt and efficient service. We asked for some changes about 8 days ago, and no reply. I am assuming it is a very busy time for them over in Egypt now, so will leave it another few days before following up again. Good luck with your dealings with LE.
We asked for a tour quote late December and got a very comprehensive reply within 24 hours! Very prompt and efficient service. We asked for some changes about 8 days ago, and no reply. I am assuming it is a very busy time for them over in Egypt now, so will leave it another few days before following up again. Good luck with your dealings with LE.
