Sure, there’s been a couple of explosions to perhaps highlight what generally seems like some activities in the country which would put tourists off from visiting, but if you take it from me then you’ll have it on good authority that you’ll be absolutely fine if you decide to visit Cairo, Egypt. The land of the Pharaohs has so much to offer and you should know better than to believe everything you hear about such history-filled destinations in the media.
So what can you expect if you decide to make the trip to this ancient land?
Chances are you’ll be flying in via a stopover in the United Arab Emirates, so it’ll be a comfortable flight even if you fly Economy on Etihad Airways. Either way, it’ll probably be a long flight, whether the flight time itself is long or both the flight time and the layover(s). This means that you should probably have your transport sorted out before you actually arrive as sorting it out when you get there might just make for an additional source of the agitation induced by the long flight.
Okay, so maybe it won’t be that bad after all, but you’ll have to be a bit firm in your attempts to fend off the advances of the sales people who are waiting around at International Arrivals.
You won’t miss the guy selling SIM cards and you should probably get yourself one from Orange (not that I know of any other option). Talk credit and data are very cheap comparatively speaking, so you can connect to the internet with your mobile in case there’s a problem with what would likely be the free Wi-Fi offered at your hotel, or just when you’re out and about.
Use Uber – it’s very cheap, but beware the other taxi drivers who have a bit of beef with the Uber drivers.
The local tourism industry has suffered quite a lot following the Arab Spring along with the unfolding events, but I really wouldn’t be leading you into the lion’s den here. You should probably stay away from religious buildings if you want to be extra careful (paranoid) as it’s really only been churches where explosions have occurred, otherwise be prepared to put your negotiation skills to the test or to develop them from scratch if you don’t have any.
They will try to sell you pretty much everything at a very high dummy price, so just play hardball and tell them you don’t have any money to spend at all and you’ll eventually go right down to around a fifth of what was initially offered.
Notice how I didn’t mention anything about the actual tourist attractions to get lost in. This is because I’m pretty sure you know all about all the clichés such as the Great Pyramids of Giza. I specifically didn’t mention any of these because I want you to experience them all for yourself as a brand new experience each time, without any skewed expectations from someone who has already experienced them. No spoilers here!
