I left my Cairo hotel around 1:30 p.m. and attempted to hail a taxi to take me to Khan el Khalili. I was told it should cost me about 10-15 Egyptian pounds, but I soon realized that whatever I am told, it’s really about 10 more. The taxi driver absolutely refused to take me for …
I survived my first overnight train in Egypt without a hitch. The ride from Cairo to Aswan was long but uneventful and the toilet at the end of our car was nowhere near as bad as I expected. So I was feeling cautiously optimistic as we boarded a second overnight train, this time in Luxor, …
After spending my first few days in Cairo on my own, I finally met up with my tour group from Gecko’s Adventures on the fourth day. The tour, called Nile & Sinai Revealed, would cover Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Dahab over about two weeks. Unlike th Contiki tours from my younger days, my Gecko’s group …
After a dreary, cloudy, drizzle-filled first day in Cairo, I was not thrilled to wake up my third morning to the sound of pouring rain and crazy wind outside. I had heard Cairo typically only got four or five days of rain each year and somehow I had already been there for two of them. …
I was exhausted by the time I arrived in Cairo. First, an overnight flight from Chicago to Paris. Then, a long layover in Paris during which I spent most of the time snoozing on some uncomfortable chairs in the transit area, using my shoulder bag as a pillow. Finally, my bleary-eyed self walked off the …
Day 5 of the 30 Days of Indie Travel Project focuses on kindness. One of the greatest joys of travel can be the random acts of kindness you’ll receive from total strangers. Have you ever found kindness from strangers in unexpected places? If travel has taught me anything, it is that people all over the …
“The stuff on the news is nothing, Egypt the way we know it is over…it is a full scale revolution and the people will wake up to a different country tomorrow…if they ever go to sleep.” I read this statement on Facebook a few days ago, on the second day of protests in Cairo and …