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See how my first international trip to Egypt, Africa went!
I've always wanted to see live and in person, the extraordinary pyramids i've read about in school.
Let me first start off by saying this trip was paid for with my own personal money and no parts of this trip was sponsored by anyone. I simply had a great time during my visit in Egypt with Real Egypt Tours and want to share my experience with others who are considering a trip to egypt.
How I ended up in egypt
I had the fortunate opportunity to travel to Egypt after meeting Carol and Keith from ShedLight Properties on one of my food tours in Jacksonville, FL. It was actually their second tour with me and afterwards we were discussing food (of course) and there was a mention of african food. From there the conversation went into, "hey! we're going to Egypt in two years, want to go?" Of course i said, "Yes!" And the rest is history!
Here's a peak into our 10-Day itinerary
Carol contacted Samir Abbas of Real Egypt Tours and coordinated all of our tour details. during this 10-Day Itinerary, we traveled from new York with a layover in Doha, Qatar before finally reaching Cairo, Egypt. From cairo, We Flew to Aswan, then traveled to Luxor, and finally to hurghada.
Samir joined us on the first half of our tour to the great pyramids, the Grand Egyptian museum, and a historic market before handing off the rest of the trip to other Real Egypt Tour guides. Tour guides remained with us throughout the entire trip and were helpful with communicating with the locals, helping us barter for better prices and making sure we had fun while learning and experiencing the real egypt. Real egypt tours coordinated all of our trip, including flights, helping us secure visas, entry into attractions and more. We had three different tour guides and each one of them meshed very well with our group.
Here are a few attractions we experienced:
Great Pyramids & The Sphinx (Check my social media for the real Name)
Nubian Museum & Tea at a young nubian mother's home
Dahabiya Nile Cruise 3-day Stay
Temple of Ramses & Nefertiti
Kom Ombo Temple
Went Fishing in the nile with local fishermen
Edfu temple
hatshepsut Temple
Grand karnak Temple
Luxor Temple
Valley of the Kings
The most fascinating parts of the trip
I would say The most fascinating parts of the trip was being able to witness up close the extraordinary work of the Egyptians. photos really do no justice to how large the structures are in person. to see that after thousands of years, some of the structures still maintained their details and original coloring was just mind blowing.
Sailing down the nile in the dahabiya was a delight! breakfast lunch and dinner was fresh, delicious and varied every day we were on the boat. The staff were friendly and it was nice to periodically get off the boat and explore some of the villages along the nile as we sailed. our shipmates were young couples from Mexico and Italy who were backpacking their way through egypt. Their next stop was Jordan.
Luxor was beautiful. The sunset was memorable. it was something about being in a mostly desert area and seeing the lushness of luxor that was really nice.
The sunrise in the desert was unforgettable. The cool air and looking across the horizon where the sky meets the earth was something you can't forget. Simply beautiful.
The food! How was it?
We ate a variety of food while in egypt. We of course ate food that was familiar to us like french fries, etc. however, we were provided food that was native to egypt. Things like meats and chicken seasoned with fresh herbs and spices. We felt like almost every dish had an offering of chicken. We were offered beef a lot. Meat was prepared several different ways, from grilled varieties to stews. Vegetable dishes were also available and very delicious. You could get falalfel almost anywhere! The best Falafel was from the street vendors.
Breakfast was good everywhere and especially on the dahabiya where we were told we were eating eggs that were freshly laid. Breakfast was fresh local fruit, some type of sweet porridge and light pastries or toast. The best scrambled egg i had was served to me on the rooftop of the pyramid hotel. if anyone knows what the chef cooked that egg in, let me know!
Feeling Safe
our group was mindful to keep with local customs, which is why you see the women in our group covering our heads and not wearing shorts or having our shoulders out. our Tour guides also joined us for every activity. Of course, there were times, especially in the village markets where due to our clothing, backpacks, etc. it was obvious we weren't from the area, where we stood out. As we traveled through Egypt, most people simply asked or guessed where we were from and moved on. The children were the most curious, asking us our names, where we're from and for money at times. local vendors could get aggressive with selling to you and i can only think of two times where a beggar continued to follow our group. our Tour guides politely handled the situation without making a scene. Even then, we never felt that we were unsafe or in danger.
Egypt was my first international trip and i must say, this experience set the standard for the next one!
Questions?
have questions to ask me? Drop them in the comment section below or check out the YouTube Channel!