stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Its a day trip to the pyramids from sharm so I think it would be fine, the flight from sharm to Cairo is a bit manic in the airport so keep an eye on the kids as it would be easy to be separated as there is no seating plan on the planes and no order on how they get you thru the door for the flights

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I'm all booked and paid for a family holiday there over the Christmas, here is hoping this coup is over just as quickly as the last one

tony de wonderful

Maybe your kids would appreciate the pyramids more when they are a bit older?

mart360

We did Luxor & Cairo back in 2000

Remember this was a few years after the massacre at Hapshetsut's (sp) temple.

Two things to be aware of which once you know will help you no end

IT'S NOT THE UK!

Begging/ haggling is a way of life.

Its a culture shock, from the moment we got off the plane and the 40c+ heat hits you to the drive though the streets to the boat, you realise "its not kansas toto!"

Initial thoughts of "what have we done, and were here for 2 weeks!" aint far from the truth lol

Next morning with a 6am start looking out over the Nile, All the worrys from the night before tended to be forgotten.

Get used to being asked for "Backsheesh", its a way of life , a polite no justr walk away works,

Haggle its fun, Offer 2 thirds less than they start and work down. if you dont like it walk away

The sites are amazing, we did

Nile cruise week 1

Trips to Karnak, Dendra, Aswan,l, Vally of the kings, Valley of the queens, Hapshsut's temple, + more

Week 2 in Luxor, Abu Simbel, & Cairo as day trips

If your doing Cairo, you have to do the Pyramids and the Museum, the city of the dead is an eyeopener, (dont go alone)

I'd go again

.. be prepared for armed escorts on certain parts of trip's

Don't try and do a "go native" experience, that's when you get into trouble.



Mart

Fat Boy

Re the safety aspect which is pretty much all DD wanted to know - it would be fine IMHO. I'd take my kids - I've been there recently (3 weeks ago) and have been many times over the years and it's not much different to the usual madness.

Mind you I have just spent the last 4 days in Nairobi and Johannesburg so I might be less sensitive than most. Everyone in Nairobi was far more concerned about me going to Jo'burg than any local Kenyan worries.

Dirk Diggler 75

If you like 5hitty nappies flying through the air,you'll love it ........

Dingdongler

Took me at least thirty seconds to figure out what that meant, I must be getting slow

Dingdongler

As I mentioned before the chaos of these kind of countries doesn't bother me. It was the safety issue given the recent political unrest that was worrying me.

I'll need to have a think as having two small kids does change ones approach to even small risks.

Thanks for all the constructive comments.

Jamie

I would not go sod that,but many still do.

tony de wonderful

Having spend a lot of time working in ****ty Arab countries it's the last place I'd go to unwind.

Having said that, visiting Leptis Magna in Libya was amazing, but I think mainly because it is/was inaccessible/undiscovered for the tourist masses. I basically just walked about this ruined Roman city on my own at my leisure.

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

I went in 2008 as i wanted to see the Pyramids as a once in a lifetime kinda holiday...

Got food poisoning and had the wild sh!tes,missed my prebooked tour...

All in all,the place was pretty awful...Aggressive begging and poor hygiene make for a miserable place,i wouldnt go again...

Jamie

So what are you saying about it and what do you want my opinons for


belle tentative

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I went 2010 with my family and throughly enjoyed it. We did 3 days in Cairo to see the pyramids, museum and other places.... 3 day luxury cruise on the River Nile with various sight seeing... then 3 days in Luxor where we did Abu Simbel, lots of tombs, and various other trips throughout the length of the holiday such as Valley of Kings and Queens, various temples etc etc. It was amazing. None of us were ill and my Dad even did a hot air balloon ride and is still here today I guess it depends where you stay. Our hotel in Cairo and Luxor were both 5 star and the cruise boat for the Nile was a 4 star. All the trips were planned and pre booked all in advanced too.

Out of the places we went, Cairo was the most dirty but other than that it was no worse than Tunisia which is where I went in 2009. Egypt was very bad for begging though, worse than Tunisia in that area too. We went in July where the temperature didn't drop below 45 degrees not once....

...and I can say that I've stood on the great pyramid

Turbohot

Come on TDW. Answer this.

tony de wonderful

Replied to him by mistake. Post was 'stand alone'.

tony de wonderful

That's the whole problem with mass tourism and everything I loathe about it; reducing all to a commodified 'universal' experience so people can tick a box.

Turbohot

But it carried similar view as his on visiting Cairo, which makes you quoting him quite relevant. Also, you didn't ask for his already expressed opinion, nor did you want him to do anything about it. That's what I found amusing.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

90% of the time it's not food poisoning, it's de-hydration, westerners tend not to drink enough water and live close to the edge of de-hydration, then they go to a hot country and have a few bevies because they're on holiday be picky about the food finally eat something get the raving ***** and blame what ever they last ate because it seems logical. A few dioralyte sachets or a large bottle of flat coke usually sees them right in a day or two when they are re-hydrated, then all one needs to do is drink about 3 litres of water a day and go easy on the shandy.

Not saying this is what happened to you, but having a wife who was a tour guide in these kind of places for over 15yrs teaches one a thing or two about people who have this happen to them.

I also make sure everything I eat is hot so avoid salads, cold pasta and rice dishes. Also I prefer to eat off the street from those scruffy looking vendors who cook everything before your eyes, you'll notice the locals all eat from them too.

I don't like hotel buffets in such places as you have no idea how old the food is and what it's be re-hashed from.

Traveled to a fair few third world countries in my time and haven't been ill once.

P.S; Food poisoning is usually puking your guts up, banging headache and cold sweats, all thought when de-hydrated you can have the headache and cold sweats which means you got a touch of sun stroke too.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

When I want it was a fully chaperoned holiday....part of a Nile cruise.

"Mo" basically organised everything, organised buses, tours, kept security in check (some geezer with a WWI bolt action rifle ) and most important...kept the beggers at bay. He also had supplies of high strength immodium at hand too for free (everyone needed it).

OK some may say that you don't get the "full experience" by doing the holiday like this. But I'd say you get the experience of the best bits and have the bad bits censored. Obviously its still a third world country, so if you aren't used to that, well, its something you need to deal with; If you can't don't go to a third world country! (or down and out cities in the US like Detroit or New Orleans )...as Alabama 3 once sung "there aint nothin' worse than some fool lyin' on some third world beach in spandex psychadelic trousers".


Also the internal flight on Egypt air to Abu Simbel on a clapped out 737-200 on short runways was a experience I'd rather forget. However you'll be happy to know Egypt air no longer fly 737-200s and their fleet is alot newer now (not sure on the pilot traning and maintanence on internal flights though ).

tony de wonderful

When I worked in Libya we used an old DC-9 which was built in 1967.

I never really enjoyed those flights.

Turbohot

The worst plane I travelled in was this one>




I had to travel hundreds of miles from Georgetown to a village in remote on the other side of Essequibo River. After the flight I had to travel by water in the river full of dangerous creatures to a village full of mosquitoes and lovely people who slept in their amazing hammocks. Oxfam boat was extremely wobbly, and it had no lights to float in the dark.

I am so thankful I'm still alive. I now own one of those hammocks for my garden.

pacenote

You should be ok by then ! Just ignore media scaremongering.

I'm in Thailand at the moment and no probs what so ever apart from a curfew at 10 pm and some of the Thai TV channels shutting down. Mind I am staying just down the road from the King's des res so prob the safest place to be

I was out here in 2010 when it kicked off too and that was way more serious.

Dingdongler

Ditchy I hear what you say but there are 'bugs' in these countries though due to hygiene issues. I'm careful but out of the five times I've been to Egypt I got a proper case of the ***** twice. This was not dehydration or sunstroke, take my word for it.

I always get something if I travel to India as well. Don't get me wrong it doesn't stop me travelling anywhere, I've just got back from Sri Lanka a few weeks ago.(surprisingly clean actually)

The issue is some countries have poor levels of sanitation and that will always increase the chances of a significant tummy bug no matter how careful you are.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

That's not food poisoning though, is the point I was making, sorry if i'm being a little pedantic.

Keep your gob shut in the shower and don't use the tap water to brush your teeth.

john banks

It is most commonly due to enterotoxigenic E. coli. A bit more than dehydration or sunstroke.

dpb

Why is it mainly westerners get the karcachi crouch / dehli belly! ....

I'd guess could be we are too used to a clean diet

Turbohot

I'm not a born Westerner, but even I get issues in India. after a week or so, pollution gives me ENT infections, my sinuses get inflamed and I suffer like hell.

About tummy troubles, some people start to puke (often children under 10) on the very first day in such country. Not always the after-effects of flying, but the unfamiliar climate may have some answers to why that happens. Air that you breathe in there also contains foreign germs and foreign bodies, that could be suspected for such crimes on your foreign body. So, it's not always the food and water.

dpb

Nice plane Swati, diid they let you drive at all.?

Dingdongler

I agree that it may not be food poisoning but it is a sanitation/hygiene issue. The pathogens can be spread by many ways other than the ingestion of food/water.

Turbohot

Did he hell. Not that I would have liked that, anyway. On the way back the weather turned nasty in no time, and all 8 passengers including me were quacking in our boots as the paper plane was in 'boing-boing' mode all the way through! I so wish instead of this boing-boing it were a Boeing aircraft. Nothing was visible out there, and we knew we were flying not very high over the vast rivers full of crocs and over the dense jungles full of creepy crawlies. The hangsome and arrogant one-man-band Indian Pilot remained unflinched while one of my colleagues called Richard pathetically prayed to the Almighty- "God, thanks for a good life I've had. If I die in the crash now, I'm still grateful to You" and the rest of us were all crying. No seatbelts, no life jackets, no rope; not even a whistle for H&S and emergency inside the plane. Christ!

Never again.