He who dares: Egypt holiday

[Dave85]

My parents have been going to egypt nearly every year and have made friends with many locals. They are going back this year again and each and every time I tell them to just chill with going to random places tourists shouldn't but they always feel safe they say. So guess it's like anywhere really and it's all down to luck if you end up red mist or in a video.

 

[Rroff]

My parents have been going to egypt nearly every year and have made friends with many locals. They are going back this year again and each and every time I tell them to just chill with going to random places tourists shouldn't but they always feel safe they say. So guess it's like anywhere really and it's all down to luck if you end up red mist or in a video.

Generally if you stick with an organised tour (though that does make you more of a terrorist target but keeps you out of the way of most of the other potential negatives) or know good locals you'll stay out of any real trouble. The thing that makes me wary is though if for some reason you end up detained or in their prison system it is literal hell and people have ended up experiencing that just for sticking out when protests, etc. are going on when they tend to round up any and anyone that can't easily account for themselves - so wandering around without really knowing what you are doing I highly don't recommend.

 

[Diddums]

Going by the responses in this thread, we need to summon @MickeyFinns .

 

[Quartz]

I can’t see a passenger airline out manoeuvring a decent gunner regardless of fuel load

I think you underestimate the power of jet engines. Plus the gunner only has a short time - the jet will be accelerating - and it's dark. How is the gunner going to see the plane if the pilot cuts all lights?

 

[Efour]

I am gutted Egypt has gone the way it has.
I'd be too paranoid to go just now, especially now 2020...

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I’d love to see the pyramids, but it may have to wait a few decades. It’s a real shame.

 

[Yas786]

I went last summer for a week, visited the pyramids and whatnot. Missus wasn’t too keen but off we went and had a great time.

Never once did I feel me or the missus were in any sort of trouble, the kind that was life threatening etc.

Would I go again?? No I’ve seen the pyramids and other famous sites so other than that, I found it to be mundane tbqh.

So yeh OP you will be fine, just be cautious and don’t wander off to places you aren’t familiar with or look a bit dodgy.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

I feel so lucky that I've been in the Great Pyramid 3 times, been on a Nile cruise (10/10), been to the Valley of the Kings twice, Karnak 3 times, Luxor Temple twice, Valley of the Queens, Abu Simbel etc etc but you wouldn't get me back there.

 

[moon man]

This is on my not to do list just below Chernobyl and India

 

[shifty_uk]

Regardless of the constant threats in country, Ive heard nothing but negative / over rated comments regarding Cairo and the surrounding historical sights. Dirty, harassment, staring, underwhelming tours.

The sights would be amazing to even stand and witness but really not worth the rest of the nonsense that comes with it.

If you're going purely for a particular resort and have no intentions of leaving said resort, Im sure its lovely

 

[secretspy]

If you're looking to see some history there's the Tutankhamun exhibit in London over the next few months (ok it doesn't involve pyramids but still cool to see)

I'm actually sat on the train now heading to it

 

[SexyGreyFox]

If you're looking to see some history there's the Tutankhamun exhibit in London over the next few months (ok it doesn't involve pyramids but still cool to see)

I'm actually sat on the train now heading to it

For me it was quite disappointing compared to the Cairo Museum (I've been 3 times).
There is hardly anything on show and even the Cairo Museum is only showing about 1/10th of the stuff.

 

[Bear]

Regardless of the constant threats in country, Ive heard nothing but negative / over rated comments regarding Cairo and the surrounding historical sights. Dirty, harassment, staring, underwhelming tours.

The sights would be amazing to even stand and witness but really not worth the rest of the nonsense that comes with it.

If you're going purely for a particular resort and have no intentions of leaving said resort, Im sure its lovely

We’ve been and didn’t have any hassle, if you go to the markets sure you will be as they are trying to sell you stuff but we wandered round Cairo, Cairo museum is fascinating, the pyramids around the sites in Luxor and had no issues at all.

 

[Bear]

For me it was quite disappointing compared to the Cairo Museum (I've been 3 times).
There is hardly anything on show and even the Cairo Museum is only showing about 1/10th of the stuff.

They might have moved the Cairo museum to the new building now. I saw a programme about the building of the new site and it looked pretty amazing

 

[Uther]

So many beautiful places to see in the world, why risk going to somewhere like that when you don't have to.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

They might have moved the Cairo museum to the new building now. I saw a programme about the building of the new site and it looked pretty amazing

I haven't been to the new one but I watched a documentary about a month ago and there is a massive room of Tut that the public haven't seen.

It might have been this - https://www.channel5.com/show/tutankhamun-with-dan-snow/

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

I will never visit Egypt ever again.

I had the runs from the day after I got there for the whole week, including the airport and flight home.
The airport toilets were full of Brits crapping themselves.
In addition everywhere you look is someone asking for 'tips', and the culture is backwards.

 

[Tealc]

We went to Hurghada last April. We only went out on organised trips apart or close to the hotel complex but saw plenty of non-egyptians wandering around the town.

The over friendly and persistent shop keepers were a bit annoying and constsnt tipping grew tiresome but overall we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

We chose Luxor as the major trip as heard Cairo was a bit mucky and dodgy and while the pryamids are something I've always wanted to see I wasn't keen on the 5 hour bus ride.

I read that Sharm el Sheik is now flyable from the UK, it wasn't last year. I thoroughly researched before we booked and saw these scarey articles but decided that London/Paris was probably a higher risk.

When we landed we spoke with a couple who'd been going to Hurghada for the last 27 years.

 

[ROSSInHD]

I have been to El Gouna and Sharm el Sheikh. El Gouna was nice enough, lovely hotel and the snorkelling was brilliant. We felt safe the whole trip but apart from the hotel and beach we rarely ventured out.

We went to Sharm, found out after we went that we stayed at the hotel that got bombed 2 years prior to our trip. The hotel was lovely but stepping foot outside was a different world. We got locked in one shop and told we had to buy something to be released, the guy unlocked the door after I threatened to throw his chair through the glass front. We had issues at the water park where my wife was constantly harrassed by the lifegaurds. We asked a policeman for directions to the nearest telephone and he wanted a tip and what we gave wasnt enough so we had more issues. Issues in almost every shop we went to. I did not feel safe at all once outside the hotel, taking a taxi one night remains one of the most scariest things I have done and the airport was an experience. I felt very relieved on arriving back in the UK.

Not enough money in the world to get me to go back to Egypt.

 

[Diddums]

I stayed in the Luxor in Vegas. That's as close as I intend to get to an Egyptian holiday.