Egypt

I've been dreaming of an Egyptian vacation for years. I've planned and researched extensively. The armed guards are everywhere. Most tours follow a caravan to sites for added protection. I don't see that as a negative. Tourism is a huge industry in Egypt.
 
Apparently the old disclaimer that your trip won't be cancelled within 85 days of departure is gone.
 
It's so funny-DBF and I were just talking last night about places in the world we want to see, and Egypt was one of HUGE discussion, but we both agreed that it would be a very scary place to go..

20 mins later I log onto facebook and see Pete posting about ABD doing Egypt!!!

I think being there with Disney may make me feel a little safer about the trip overall.....

Not that it matters-I'll never be able to afford it anyway!!! Anyone looking to buy a left arm? Slightly used. Good condition. :thumbsup2
 
I have been to Egypt. Many many years ago they didn't want to allow us to leave the airport and get back on the plane. We stayed at the Nile Hilton. My dream trip would be to go back to Africa where we lived.
 

Due to Egyptian law, each and every guided tour in Egypt will have a 24 hour armed security guard traveling with them.

This information will be shared with each and every person booking the Adventure.

Just what i always wanted. Sadly necessary, though, given that tour group massacre awhile back.

Since they now own Marvel, perhaps Disney could call in Iron Man for ABD protection.
 
I have visited Israel a few times and would go back in a heartbeat. Egypt? I don't think so.

:thumbsup2

Yeah, if you think a day at the market in Tunisia was inappropriate, beware. For me, personally? Any place where the government controlled press consistently tells its people to hate a certain group of people or glorifies violence is not a tourism destination I'll be hitting.
 
Nice blog, Dave.

I think a lot of the political climate is going to change in 2011. With Mubarak so ill, and his son set up to succeed him, there's the possibility for a lot of different outcomes.
 
I've always wanted to see Egypt - in the 5th grade I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist until I realized it was basically digging in the dirt under the hot sun. :cutie:

Hey, I already DO that for a living...
 
Due to Egyptian law, each and every guided tour in Egypt will have a 24 hour armed security guard traveling with them.

This information will be shared with each and every person booking the Adventure.

:eek:
I think I like my vacations without armed guards, thank you very much!

Would love to see it someday, but not like that.
I think it's cool that they are offering it for those braver than me.
 
shall post here what I posted on the other thread as I want people to be fully informed....

OK - i dont want to scare monger, but I am going to post up exactly what my experince was and what happened on my 3 day cruise over to Cairo from Cyprus quite a few years ago.

I speak about Cairo and NOT Sharm El Sheik or other places to clarify!

Firstly the minute you step off your ship you will be harrassed by sellers. The ports allow sellers to get to those coming off and take a % of what they earn from you.

The Harbour: its a shanty town - as you drive towards the exit on your coach the houses you see are made of tin and whats so rediculous is each one has a massive satellite dish attached - so their tv system is worth more than their house. Its not nice to look at.

You will also get a policy escort from the port to anywhere that you go! Not exactly a happy holiday feeling!

Be aware that every time you get off your coach there will be sellers trying to sell you things. At the spinx I had a terrible experience that will stay with me. A young child that was filthy and couldnt even wipe her own nose was harrassing m eto buy a leather camel - i bought it for far too much money because I just wanted to get rid of her ..... when other sellers see this, it gives them a green light to harrass you too, many of which are very young children!

Then when we went to look at the Giza pyramids I stood next to a camel for an innocent picture, when the owner saw this he harrassed us for money which we gave when he started shouting loudly at us and our tour guide had to deal with it. He did nothing and I didnt even touch the camel, ride it or anything. Just the picture of his camel he see's and an income!

Now the most scariest part of the trip for me was at the main museum in Cairo. Walking round was fine, no harrassment (apart from the guy doing the talk who wouldnt let us stop to get a good look at most of it - he practically ran through! Hopefully thats a one off)

When we exited they had armed policy at the gates - fair enough. There was a family in front of us who had a teenage daughter. She was lagging behind her parents and as she got to the gate a policeman put his arm out to stop her (her parents didnt notice) and started learing down at her and mumbling under his breath, she looked VERY SCARED and quickly ducked down under his arm and ran to her parents. Se never left their side for the rest of the stay! They also did the same to me, I wasnt a kid, I was chubby .... but was told its because I had long bright blonde hair!! It scared the c**p out of me, so i cant imagine how she felt!

And dont expect brilliant things from your nile cruise. If any of you are ready this from the UK - its EXACTLY like going on a short cruise up the Thames. The food was good and entertainment was excellent dont get me wrong. the service from these guys was great - no harrassement. (i expect Disney will charter a boat just for disney people? Whereas we had all sorts of customers). All you will see are concrete buildings - and they arent shiney nice looking either. Our boat almost got slammed by another as ours turned around!

Its nothing like i expected - i expected the cruise to be along sandy dunes and grassy verges - I didnt spot 1 blade of grass!

I wouldnt go even if someone gave me a free cruise!

When you go, dont expect a wonderful place, take plenty of small bills for tips and try not to stand out in the crowd.

Apart from the bad bits, I did enjoy seeing the artifacts, enjoyed the experience of walking down into the pyramid (even if it was just a concrete room with NOTHING in it), and enjoyed staying at the hotel just outside the pyramids which are lite up at night - they look stunning!

If anyone can give an update to this kind of enviroment whos been recently then go ahead and correct me, for the sake of these DCL'ers I hope its changed
 
It was probably me that NikkiBell mentioned in an earlier post. Let me just say that I'm well traveled, I've been to many countries including developing nations but Disney going to Egypt...? read on...

I travelled to Egypt about 10 years ago and I doubt its changed much at all.

Fabulous place with amazing history. Would I go again... I'd have to consider it very hard but possibly not. Looking back on the photos, I'm stunned by what we saw but it was the most difficult holiday I've ever had and I can't say I enjoyed it much at the time.

I travelled with my Mum and we did a small group tour (12 travelers plus guide) with a well known UK based tour group. It was a 15 night trip from Alexandria (El Alamein down to Luxor). Knowing its a muslim country we dressed modestly - long pants and long sleeve shirt with collar and did not intend on attracting attention.

I was groped, kissed and generally sleezed over by any man over the age of about 14. Its not the first muslim country I've travelled to but its the only one where I have felt extremely uncomfortable and felt physically (and sexually) threatened. We got to the point where we wouldn't leave our hotel without the rest of the group. One of the men in the group was approached as someone wanted to "buy" me - I don't even want to know what that meant. :confused3

Admittedly we weren't traveling in the same "style" or "class" as Disney but we did have a proper boat to cruise the nile where many tour company use more "raft" style boats. Our hotels were basic but in tourist areas so it wasn't like we were well off the beaten path.

Another consideration is the amount of vaccinations you need and anti-malarial medications - I believe its fairly high risk and you need some fairly good travel health advise before you go. Anyone considering it should be looking into vaccinations at least 6 months before going. Some of these have considerable costs associated also.

We had armed guards that were supposed to escort us, well they did, until you left the city limits and then it was not longer their problem if you got shot or blown up - it happens.

Also beware that hygiene is limited - at Abu Simbel there were literally hundreds of tour buses in the car park - there were 4 toilets - 1 was broken and they hand you a square of toilet paper. We found this wasn't for using, it was for covering your nose while you were queuing due to the stench of the facilities.

Also many tourists were suffering with very bad stomach upsets - they didn't make it to the toilet...

Beggars and hawkers are everywhere and they are incredibly persistent - I've been to many asian countries and no where has been as bad as Egypt. People are actively trying to scam, rob and rip you off everywhere you look.
I had people demanding I give them my belongings - I didn't need them as I was obviously filthy rich in their view.

If you have any liking for animals, be very prepared to see some very poorly treated animals. You may well see donkey's being whipped and beaten, having saddle sores and similar. Other animals are no better treated.

There also seemed to be little respect for the amazing history and architecture. I was told, and I don't know if its true that they don't consider it "their" history as the Arabic culture came later.

I think Disney are going to regret this unless they can severely limit what their guests see and experience.

Happy to answer any questions.
 
After reading posts like there, I honestly cannot imagine why anyone would want to go on this tour. I'm not so sure it is going to do well especially amongst families. It really seems like more of a risk than anything else to me.
 
After reading posts like there, I honestly cannot imagine why anyone would want to go on this tour. I'm not so sure it is going to do well especially amongst families. It really seems like more of a risk than anything else to me.

I'm sure if Disney is willing to put their name on a trip, there's not going to be a lot of waiting for subpar bathroom facilities with one square of toilet paper.

Right?
 
I doubt Disney will have special Disney areas to tour, they will be the same places as the other tour groups so yes they will be visiting the places some of us are desribing here!

Very shocked they are going to Cairo of all places
 
I doubt Disney will have special Disney areas to tour, they will be the same places as the other tour groups so yes they will be visiting the places some of us are desribing here!

Very shocked they are going to Cairo of all places

I just think there's no way Disney is going to have their guests vacation in unsanitary conditions. No way.
 
I just think there's no way Disney is going to have their guests vacation in unsanitary conditions. No way.

They better be bringing their own facilities then. :rotfl2:

One thing I forgot to mention too was at the start of the holiday, when asked, I had a boyfriend, by the end of the trip, I was married with children - that still didn't stop the pestering. :rotfl:

I can understand Disney sheltering the groups somewhat but there are so many things people are going to see and experience in Egypt that is just going to be so far out of peoples comfort zones that its not funny...
 
They better be bringing their own facilities then. :rotfl2:

One thing I forgot to mention too was at the start of the holiday, when asked, I had a boyfriend, by the end of the trip, I was married with children - that still didn't stop the pestering. :rotfl:

I can understand Disney sheltering the groups somewhat but there are so many things people are going to see and experience in Egypt that is just going to be so far out of peoples comfort zones that its not funny...

I don't think leaving your comfort zone is a bad thing.
 
I doubt Disney will have special Disney areas to tour, they will be the same places as the other tour groups so yes they will be visiting the places some of us are desribing here!

Very shocked they are going to Cairo of all places

Our trip started in Cairo, went north to Alexandria (the to El Alamein) and then went south down to Luxor. By the time we got back to Cairo - it seemed like a very reasonable in comparision - far more moderate in terms of dress too - less fully covered women etc.
 

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