An American's Travel Report of Egypt!

Hard to say where to begin!! Egypt was absolutely wonderful!! A little
pricy to fly there (I recommend Egypt Air for non-stop), but EXTREMELY
inexpensive once you hit the ground!! you will be amazed! We had the
luck of hiring Debbie Senters from Casual Cairo Detours (an American
living in Egypt for many years), she was very well connected and known
and had us celebrating Iftar (the breaking of the Ramadan fast) on our
first night in Cairo with Egyptians in the street!! WOW! By relying on
her for travel, we were able to see sites and have experiences in Egypt
that we would have never found ourselves!! I remember watching the
poor souls trapped on the big tour busses being hurried from one site
to then next...usually missing the best (what we called "Indiana
Jones") experiences!! We traveled to parts of Coptic (Christian) Cairo
and the Citedel (a historic center for Muslim religion) that the tour
busses ignore entirely!! And ALL ON OUR OWN SCHEDULE!! The people of
Egypt were soo friendly (pick up a few key phrases in Arabic as a
friendly gesture, they will appreciate it), and we felt safe the entire
time we were there! Debbie hooked us up with a taxi driver (Moustaffa)
in Luxor that we hired as our personal driver the entire time we were
in Luxor (For something like $40 a day!!! for the whole day!! and that
was after our very generous tip!!!). He was very knowledgable and
friendly (we ate dinner with his family 2 nights!!!), and really knew
what we wanted to see better then we did!! He even found our Hot Air
Balloon (around $120 per person, kinda pricey but well worth it) after
we landed in the middle of a sugar cane field because he thought it
would be quicker then just picking us up at the hotel after the ride
was over! We didn't ask him to, he just did!
This may seem like a lot of jumbled thoughts...but there is so much to
say...so here is some organization
Things to remember!!
-Go to the Khan el-Khalili (a shopping bazaar) and BARGAIN LIKE HECK
and have fun with it!!
-Keep 10s and 20s ( egyptian pounds...6.2 equal $1) for tips, and give
them out generously...you will be amazed at the service you get for
such a small tip!
-SUNSCREEN!!
-Be ready to take more pictures then you ever have in your life!
-Ride a camel!
-CONTACT DEBBIE SENTERS!!!! her rate is about the same that a burger
flipper gets at McDonald's and the service is PRICELESS!!
-Try the Karkade (hibiscus tea) and a sheesha pipe (tobacco) even if
youdont smoke!
-Did I mention that buying EVERYTHING is negotiable in Egypt? But
sometimes also remember that that last 5 pounds in the Haggle doesnt
mean all that much to you financially, but it really does to an
Egyptian!
-Have fun and dont fool yourself into thinking you will see
everything!! dont even try! (we stayed for one week, saw a lot, but not
near everything!!)
-It is very safe there....but if the conversation turns to
politics..just redirect the conversation with "Wow, but i really love
Egypt...the people here are wonderful and and so kind" or something
like that.(Egyptians seperate the actions of our government from the
citezens very well, they have issues with thier own gov't policy as
well)
-Stop thinking about it and go!

Ok, thats all for now...I plan to post pictures on the web eventually,
and will try to respond if anyone has ANY questions at all.


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ratfink90210
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