Pakey
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2007
- Messages
- 20,226
I just returned from a guided tour in Egypt with Lindblad/National Geographic. The itinerary is very similar to the upcoming tours offered by AbD so I wanted to provide those of you going with a few pieces of advice.
1. Money. Everywhere we went accepted US Dollars, even the little street vendors. There was not much opportunity to get to ATM's and many people were out of money. I suggest taking US Dollars with you, definitely small bills. Every place accepted US Dollars but they would not make change so it's helpful to have a lot of dollar bills. The exchange rate is close to 5 to 1 which made it easy.
2. Restrooms. All restrooms, even in hotel lobbies and airports, had bathroom attendants to hand out toilet paper and paper towels. It is expected that you will pay them. I just tipped in $1 US because I didn't have small bills of Egyptian pounds. If you want to tip less than $1 US, you need to get smaller bills of Egyptian pounds (the smallest we had was 20).
3. Heat. Be prepared for it. I'm from an area where summer temps are over 100 every day and we went to Egypt in late November and still, the heat was staggering. Cairo was fine but Luxor, Aswan, etc were very hot. There is no shade and inside the temples and tombs was very uncomfortable. I saw a lot of very sunburned tourists. I would recommend a good hat along with sunscreen and lip protection. I wish I had taken a small folded fan to use inside some of those tombs.
4. Water. You will be given bottles of water all of the time. You will need to carry them. I was glad I had a small backpack so that I didn't have to walk with my bottle of water in my hand.
5. Shopping. Not a lot of opportunity as American tourists, we were not allowed to venture off on our own. I suggest if you see something you want, you buy it then as you might not get another opportunity. We were taken to certain places for shopping, but time was limited. The street vendors outside of all of the temples are very aggressive and we were encouraged not to engage them. Our guides were very good about arranging for the purchase of postcards so that we didn't have to deal with the street vendors ourselves.
6. Moist towelettes. Oh how I wish I had taken some. I used a lot of hand sanitizer but it's very dusty/dirty there. I wish I had taken something to actually wash grime off of me, especially on the day of the camel ride.
7. Air quality. There is a lot of pollution there and the air quality is bad, especially in Cairo. Many people, including me, suffered from terrible sinus congestion. I recommend packing a decongestant.
Egypt was an amazing place. I hope the AbD tours there are as great as the Lindblad/National Geo was.
1. Money. Everywhere we went accepted US Dollars, even the little street vendors. There was not much opportunity to get to ATM's and many people were out of money. I suggest taking US Dollars with you, definitely small bills. Every place accepted US Dollars but they would not make change so it's helpful to have a lot of dollar bills. The exchange rate is close to 5 to 1 which made it easy.
2. Restrooms. All restrooms, even in hotel lobbies and airports, had bathroom attendants to hand out toilet paper and paper towels. It is expected that you will pay them. I just tipped in $1 US because I didn't have small bills of Egyptian pounds. If you want to tip less than $1 US, you need to get smaller bills of Egyptian pounds (the smallest we had was 20).
3. Heat. Be prepared for it. I'm from an area where summer temps are over 100 every day and we went to Egypt in late November and still, the heat was staggering. Cairo was fine but Luxor, Aswan, etc were very hot. There is no shade and inside the temples and tombs was very uncomfortable. I saw a lot of very sunburned tourists. I would recommend a good hat along with sunscreen and lip protection. I wish I had taken a small folded fan to use inside some of those tombs.
4. Water. You will be given bottles of water all of the time. You will need to carry them. I was glad I had a small backpack so that I didn't have to walk with my bottle of water in my hand.
5. Shopping. Not a lot of opportunity as American tourists, we were not allowed to venture off on our own. I suggest if you see something you want, you buy it then as you might not get another opportunity. We were taken to certain places for shopping, but time was limited. The street vendors outside of all of the temples are very aggressive and we were encouraged not to engage them. Our guides were very good about arranging for the purchase of postcards so that we didn't have to deal with the street vendors ourselves.
6. Moist towelettes. Oh how I wish I had taken some. I used a lot of hand sanitizer but it's very dusty/dirty there. I wish I had taken something to actually wash grime off of me, especially on the day of the camel ride.
7. Air quality. There is a lot of pollution there and the air quality is bad, especially in Cairo. Many people, including me, suffered from terrible sinus congestion. I recommend packing a decongestant.
Egypt was an amazing place. I hope the AbD tours there are as great as the Lindblad/National Geo was.
) & I up and see your pics of Egypt!
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)
