Travel Hints on Traveling to Egypt

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Here are some travel hints from my wife and I for people travelling to Egypt:

1.  If you book a tour, check alternative airlines to the one offered in the tour package. With tours you often arrive at night and begin the next day early, while you are still jetlagged. Find a flight with reasonable arrival and departure times. Do not go through Paris if you can avoid it, Charles DeGaulle Airport is the transfer airport from hell. If you can't avoid it, make sure your flight arrangements leave enough time to transfer,  because you will probably have to  transfer terminals. The airport is huge and chaotic, with few to no signs to help you. You will have horror stories to tell your grandchildren. You may be a   grandparent by the time you get out, if you weren't before.

Travel hints

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2. Take almonds or a nutritional snack from home in your bag in case dinner is late, or you need a snack to keep up your strength .

3. Take walking shoes, sunglasses, extra batteries for the camera (the ones you buy in Egypt don't always work, nor do battery rechargers), toilet tissue folded to carry every day (washroom attendants charge for handing you toilet tissue in  the  washrooms), hand sanitizer and lip balm, wash cloth and a small alarm clock for early morning starts.

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4. Get  American $1.00  bills for tips, and get them before you leave.

5. When you change your money to Egyptian pounds, get some small currency -- one pound bills -- as  hotels usually only have larger bills. If you are on a guided tour, the guide may have some.

6. If you buy a cartouche, ask the jeweler to tell you the meaning of each hieroglyphic in your name, for you will want your name in hieroglyphics. Sheets are availalble showing  this information. You will want it correct.

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7. Stella beer is good.

8. Avoid having your picture taken with the tourist  police, they will want baksheesh (a tip). Unless of course, as our guide said, you want to.

9. Use caution crossing streets as red lights and traffic lights are there "for decoration only."

10. Go into a pyramid,if  you are able. It's an unforgettable  experience. Be careful, watch your step, and your head. This place was meant to bury people, not for pedestrian traffic. Claustrophobia is a problem, and people do turn back. Hang in there.

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11. If  you are on a cruise, choose your dinner table companions wisely, for you  will be at that table for the duration. We were lucky.

12. Men should wear a shirt with a pocket for easy access for tickets.

13. Guard your money. Goes without saying.  Money belt, secure pockets, you know the drill. Losing money spoils your time. You can trust yourself and those  you care for. No one else.

14. At the Old Cataract Hotel, ride the old elevator, just down the hall from the  desk. The elevator operator is part of the experience. Have a drink on the terrace and look down on the Nile.

15. Always carry an extra bottle of water as water is not always available to  purchase. Remember, Egypt is in the middle of a desert.

16. Take a plane to Abu Simbel. If you take a bus, you will have a police escort and they stop frequently for refreshment. It can take hours to go by bus the same  distance for a flight that takes 45 minutes. All that wasted time you can spend at Abu Simbel. And don't miss Abu Simbel, it is one of the highlights of your trip, second only to the pyramids.

17. At the outdoor cafe at the Marriott in downtown Cairo (NOT the Marriott near the airport), there's an area where women and men smoke water pipes each evening. The area is under the colored lights as you come out the door into the garden at the  back of the hotel. Sit under  the tree shaped like a half globe right beside the smoking area. We are both sensitive to cigarette smoke, but the water pipes are quite pleasant. Enjoy the ambience and smell the different flavours.