So….I'm going through Tauck withdrawal at the moment….had to make my own bed and coffee this morning.
Egypt has been a bucket list trip for me for years and years and it lived up to my dreams! Loved almost every aspect. Just a few logistic issues first - take lots of crisp, not folded or torn $1's for tips and the bathrooms, if you run out of 20 Egyptian pound notes (about 33 cents USD). You have to pay to use the bathrooms in many places (not Tauck hotels), but some restaurants, airports and tourist sites. Its 20 Egyptian pounds and they will give you toilet paper - which you do not flush because the system won't handle it - you put in trash receptacle. Sorry if this is TMI - but for women - I found that them handing me toilet paper to use after they touched all over it to be kind of gross - I packed my own toilet paper from home and used the paper they handed me to wipe off the toilet seat and my own for myself. Our TD gave us money and a packet of toilet paper for the bathrooms but once you used that all up you were on your own. Demands for tips were everywhere - it seemed rude but you just had to learn to ignore the people - they would offer to take pictures of you and then want a tip; they would point and say pyramid and then want a tip…
Street vendors could be very aggressive - seemed moreso for women than men - our security guard had to "rescue" me a few times when I couldn't get away from them. I had to learn very quickly to completely ignore -pretend I didn't hear them or couldn't understand them - if you engage at all or make eye contact they will follow you and continue to harass. Learn how to say no thank you in Egyptian before you go - la shukran - not entirely sure of spelling - but use and use often. We had a guard with us for all excursions and tourist sites and it was a comforting feeling - they were extremely polite, helping you on difficult stairs it you needed it, rescuing you from vendors and shooing people off when necessary.
Ok - now to the trip itself…I arrived one day early and traveled with a female friend. Long travel for us and we were pretty exhausted when we arrived. The drive to the Marriott Mena House was hair-raising and about an hour from the airport. Three lanes on the road but about 5 lanes of cars - half in one lane or another driving all over, crossing in front of you with one inch to spare, no (or very few) turn signals but honking all the time, which is apparently how they signal and every one there knows what it means but looked like total chaos to me.
Marriott Mena House was beautiful and an oasis of calm after that drive. Lots of security - you have to go through airport-like magnetometers and metal detectors to enter the hotel property. Rooms were beautifully appointed and all had views of the pyramids - breakfast in the shadows of the pyramids was really just a dream come true for me. We spent our free day before the tour just getting over jet lag and time change - slept as long as we could, had a lazy breakfast just marveling that we were in Egypt and the pyramids were right there…wandered around the hotel property and just relaxed. It was delightful. Tour started with a "typical" Tauck welcome reception with drinks, hors doeuvres, and typical Egyptian foods. One person on our trip had a little bit of an upset stomach but otherwise people were fine with the foods - but drank only bottled water and NO street food, altho some smelled amazing! The food was quite good - very aromatic, but not spicy hot - I enjoyed it but was cautious and didn't try what I couldn't identify or understand.
First full day was spent in Giza - very near the Mena House - short bus trips. Very warm, and very dry, so you noticed you were sweating and drank lots and lots of water. Linen clothes were the perfect attire. We spent time around the pyramids and Sphinx, which were just awe inspiring - the size and magnitude are honestly indescribable, you just can't quite fathom until you are standing right there next to them. We did not go into the pyramids, but there was one area where you could take stairs up on one for basically a photo op. It was a fair amount of walking around that morning. After that we went to the Grand Egyptian museum, which was absolutely fabulous! Had lunch at the museum before our guided tour. Beautiful statues of Ramesses and so many artifacts it was quite overwhelming…the Tut exhibit is amazing and surprisingly, we could take photos of everything - on line beforehand I researched and they said no photos - but they allowed photos of everything and all of the Tut artifacts. We had a guided tour for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours and then free time. The organized part of the day ended at about 3:30, including our free time, and before the trip we thought we would stay at the museum by ourselves until it closed at 5:00, but we were soooooooo tired from jet lag and all the walking around in the heat (I had 18,000 steps that day - which is a lot for me) that we could hardly manage to get back on the bus! We had honestly seen as much as we wanted, altho there was much more to be seen, and just went back to the hotel after that, had dinner and collapsed into bed.
I have to go rescue my pups from the doggie resort…I will continue later today.
Edited to add part about money and toilet paper from TD.
