Egyptian museum, Cairo
Abdeen Palace Museum
Giza Pyramids
Egyptian museum [1st of our 3 visits thanks to the Cairo pass]
Dahshur, Memphis and Saqqara
Memphis museum
Saqqara
Funerary complex of Unas
EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
LOGISTICS: 'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
We scrambled and got our Egypt logistics done in a hurry.
To our dismay/consternation, official eligibility rules re visa on arrival were hard to come by.
There were other niggles to face when we read tourist stories of unclear/unadhered to opening/closing times, dicey Uber/Careem drivers, demanding tomb guardians/docents, aggressive vendors etc.
We packed a big dose of positive attitude and our best smiley faces. Our mantra when something did not work to plan was 'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'And everything worked out great despite the small hurdles!
LISTING SOME OF THOSE HURDLES:
1. CAIRO PASS
On the day we landed at 2.20 am, Nov 24th, we checked in, slept for a while, bought some provisions from local shops, ate food. Around noon, we walked to the Egyptian museum [750m from our downtown apt] and requested to buy the Cairo pass. Ticket kiosk guy said pass will not be sold as it's a holiday [Friday]!! The museum was open and ordinary tickets were being sold... go figure.
We were in Cairo for 6 nights, wanted to buy the Cairo pass[valid for 5 consecutive days] for 130 usd each and visit all the lovely museums, palaces in Cairo.
We wanted to be at Giza at 8am the next day with our pass to gain fast access... but no, the guy told us we can buy the pass there at 10 or 11 am!!
We were next in Luxor for 6 nights, wanted to buy the Luxor premium pass [valid for 5 consecutive days] at half price 125 usd instead of 250 usd as we had used the cairo pass. So even further plans in Luxor were tied to Cairo pass.
Anyway who cares about our plans and needs?!
'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
I had read a lady reporting the same, so decided we'll take Uber to Abdeen palace museum, just pay for the ticket.
2. The Uber guy stopped at a parallel road saying it's our destination. Our map said otherwise. He was adamant. We had to get down and walk while other cars were zipping by our destination.
'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
3. Abdeen palace museum guys opened our bag, said we can't take in our 2 phones and camera. We had bought the entrance tickets and an additional 10egp for phone pictures. We had to leave our bag in their open locker and take in just one phone.
'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
4.we went to the arms section, thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits, then looked at the map and tried to go to the international gifts section which gets great reviews. They said it's closed, anyway the museum is also closing , a good 30 minutes before the official time! 'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
5. next day we called an Uber to Giza pyramids, put in the north entrance opp Marriot hotel as destination. Cairo pass is only available there, not at the sphinx entrance. Our driver was an older guy, talked in Arabic, we showed our translation app re where we wanted to be dropped. He started arguing, said we are changing our destination, he'll put us at the hotel entrance. Now he was speaking fluent English and he stopped for camel/ horse touts. We patiently said No to them, insisted he should drop us near the ticket counter opp Marriot. He was aggressive and demanded another 100 egp... our Uber commitment 185 egp was through credit card as originally programmed. We said OK, gave him the cash and at least got dropped at the correct entrance. 'CHILL, IT'S EGYPT!!'
6. we went to the kiosks, asked for the Cairo pass. We had a folder with the original passports, copies, passport pics, crisp USDs. The counter guy pointed at some one and asked us to go with him... we had previously declined that guy's offer of 'help'. We had to go with him, he took us to an adjacent counter, with 3 people in line. I stood behind them. Our tout went to the side cutting the line, beckoned me to come near him for doing the procedures. I cringed but had to comply. He passed the money, got the pass stubs, filled it with our name, passport number, stapled our pics. Me and son were thinking we'll offer him 20egp for the service and add another 10 if he's belligerent. Son kept the money ready. The guy handed over our passes and the originals, nodded at us and walked off!!!
WOW!! EGYPT IS AWESOME!
7. We went in to the grounds, bracing ourselves for an onslaught from the guides, touts, camel, horse carriage guys. Just a few made an offer, easily fended off with a smiley shake of the head.
The iconic pyramids towered in silent majesty in front of us and we were awestruck. A bunch of school kids approached, said 'Photho?' extending their phone. I initially thought they wanted me to take their photo but no, they wanted a pic with me. I was a mini celebrity, taking several selfies where ever I walked. It had happened in China and this repeat was fun and flattering. Son had some offers too, we were all smiles!
WOW!! EGYPT IS AWESOME!
I'll put in rest of the hiccups and fun stuff in the daily reports. Currently continuing with the intro ..
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS:
We flew UNITED Airlines/Lufthansa from Houston to Cairo with a long stop over at Munich on the way in and Frankfurt on the way out. Bought the tickets on Oct 8 for Nov 22 flight, quite late by our standards. The airlines site said they need a guarantee letter from a tour agency and eligible US visa [INDIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS] for getting VISA ON ARRIVAL.
VISA ON ARRIVAL
Agent Hedra's message: need copy of your passports and return tickets and nothing else....I will meet you at Cairo airport before passport control when you arrives and I will finish everything for you with guarantee Letter and take your baggage and going to outside of the arrival hall ....these are my services with you (50$per person)
....if you need transfer to the hotel in Cairo this services cost about 25 $ for both of you
9/26/23, 2:29 PM - Egypt Travel Agent: Send to me the details 5 days before departure
He sent us the letter in Arabic on agency letterhead and with stamp well ahead of our flight and met us at the airport with the visa stickers and took us through the passport control in 2 minutes after we landed at 2.20 am. Paid him 50 usd /pp ... it was probably unnecessary in hindsight but no big regrets as we did not want some overzealous staff hassling us either before boarding or after landing.
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS:
We booked EGYPTAIR flights online on their site, Cairo-Luxor on Nov 29, 12 noon. 3400egp/pp
Separately booked return flight Luxor-Cairo 8.30 pm Dec 8: 3700egp/pp
Both were 1 hour flights.
There was no flight from Abu Simbel to Cairo on Dec 8 when we checked, only next day. So we had to drive back to Luxor to board flight to Cairo.
Of course our international flight back to Houston from Cairo was on Dec 10, 4.30 pm, leaving a comfortable gap in case of domestic flight cancelations.
We faced no changes, had comfy uneventful flights
NO CHECKED BAGS:
We had read the checked bags get xrayed and there may be a delay to claim them. We traveled with cabin bags and personal item for the whole trip. Walked off the flight, and straight out of airport... that was a breeze.
Cabin bag was weighed in Luxor, not in Cairo. Our heavy stuff like chargers, power bank, camera were in the personal item, so no worries.
AIRPORT Security CHECKS
In Egypt, there is a security check to enter the airport.
There was another before boarding the flight.
Cairo security was a breeze , both domestic and international. The bags sailed through with my 1-inch scissors; on the way back, Luxor security took it away and the guy picked up and eyed my raisins, cashew packets, rummaged through my sunscreen, moisturizer tubes, dropped and cracked my fav kohl/eyeliner case!!
Guess some people are handsy, c'est la vie !
both airports were startlingly empty. In Luxor airport, they stopped a dozen of us at the entrance for some 15 minutes when we arrived at 4 for our 8.30 flight before letting us into the main halls which were empty.
LOCAL SIM CARD, VODAFONE:
Picked up vodafone sim at Cairo airport basic package 440 egp for 38GB data after we exited passport control [we had no checked bag to claim]. He scanned passport. Put in the sim to our unlocked phone and said it'll be active in 30 min.
Worked great for Uber, Careem, texting hotels, drivers on whatsapp and making voice calls.
We had done extensive reserch and had printed texts for all our sight seeing , as well as all places pinned on offline google maps. So data usage was not too heavy for us ... just 2 GB consumed for the entire vacation
AIRPORT TRANSFERS:
We booked with our downtown apt [ 13 usd paid in cash to them] to pick us up when our flight landed at 2.20 am. Mohamed was not at the exit when we came out. Airport wifi was not working. We crossed over, looked at all boards, crossed back again. Touts were trailing us, we said No with a smile. In a couple of minutes, a guy walked to us, showed us our US number on his phone and took us down the ramp to the car park where his car was waiting. Mohamed has only Arabic, he communicated talking into the google translate app on his phone. We did the same and fixed him for Saqqara, Dahshur trip a couple days later for 1000egp
Nov 29, 9am Uber to Cairo airport from our downtown hotel on 31, Champollion Road was 185 egp [much less than the 390 egp we had paid our apt for the transfer, albeit that was early morning ]
Dec 8, when we landed back in Cairo at 9.30 pm, Uber from parking lot of domestic terminal to 31, Champollion Road was 210 egp [after some 5 drivers canceled on us cos we were using credit card, even this guy came in at 175 egp quote , asked for cash payment, so we agreed, he canceled the ride, asked us to book again, the price jumped to 210. No worries, still very cheap]
Dec 10, 12 noon 31, Champollion Road to Cairo international airport for our flight home, Uber 153 egp.
We felt great doing these transfers independently.
ARABIC NUMBERS for reading car license plate
OUR OFFLINE MAP
I'll continue rest in the next post Part 2 of the Intro
ACCOMMODATIONS:
CAIRO, 6 Nights Nov 23-29:
LUXOR Farida apt, 2 bedroom apt, 5 nights. Nov 29-Dec 4
MAMA AFRICA, LUXOR: 2 bedroom apt, 1 NIGHT, Dec 4-5
Basmatic Nubian Guesthouse, ELEPHANTINE ISLAND, ASWAN, 2 Nights, Dec 5-7
ABU SIMBEL: Duplex apt, 1 Night, Dec 7-8
CAIRO downtown AGAIN, 8th floor, 2 Nights Dec 8-10
FOOD
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