Egyptian Family Adventure - March 2010 - Wow! What an Amazing Trip!!

Our family (my husband and I and our 10 year old twins) recently returned from the Egyptian Family Adventure Tour. For those of you out there wondering whether you should book a trip with Egypt Uncovered - DO IT!! Anthony, our Egypt Uncovered contact in the UK was absolutely wonderful – friendly, efficient and able to answer all of our questions prior to leaving Canada. Thank-you Anthony for your knowledge and patience!

Upon arriving in Cairo, our Egypt Uncovered rep Mena was there to greet us at the airport. One slight change from what we’d previously read – because of the new terminal, tour reps now meet you at the bottom of the escalator near the luggage carousels outside the secure area. So get your VISAs yourselves (one recommendation if you are travelling with someone else – have one get in line for Immigration while the other goes and gets the VISAs located in the same area – it will save you lots of time).

The drive from the airport to Giza was hilarious! Cairo has 24 hour traffic jams – but the locals are smart and have converted four lane freeways into 6 lanes!! It all seems to work somehow…

The first morning we met our guide Mohammed. If any of you are lucky enough to get Mohammed you are in for an absolute treat!! Mohammed taught us tons about ancient Egypt (our daughter Rachel became the expert on Egyptian Gods) as well as modern Egypt – he’s a wealth of knowledge, speaks amazingly good English, is wonderful with children (because I think he is still one himself!) but be prepared to get beaten at UNO!! (a card game). Mohammed made our trip stress-free and so very memorable for all of us.

The Egyptian Family Adventure is beautifully laid out. It’s an action packed trip but has enough down time that the kids can somehow take in all that they are learning. All the hotels we stayed in were great and had lovely pools for the kids.

Although I thought the pyramids were going to be touristy – I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe because we had Mohammed with us, but we really weren’t harassed. They are amazing! Pay the extra money to go inside one of the pyramids – you have to stoop down as you walk and it’s hot (claustrophobics stay outside!) but if you are lucky like us – you may get to experience the walk down all by yourselves. It really felt as though we were early explorers! And the camel ride was a riot! We picked a good time to go because in all of our photos, you see us on the camels with the pyramids in the background and NO tourists! Wow!

The sleeper train down to Aswan was noisy (bring earplugs) but the food wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be….but the best part is in the morning you awake to beautiful rural landscapes, the Nile and no traffic!!

Abu Simbel was well worth the effort. Although a 2:15 am wakeup call and a 3 hour drive each way from Aswan, in these huge tourist convoys was not my idea of a vacation – what you get to experience once you arrive, is well worth it. It truly is amazing.

One of the highlights of our trip was the overnight felucca trip down the Nile. Imagine floating down the Nile on a 25’x17’ bed!! It was unbelievably peaceful watching the rural sights along the Nile, having amazingly delicious food prepared by our captain (one of my favourite meals of the whole trip was served on board the felucca!) and spending true quality time with our kids. We heard great things about the cruise ships but there was something very special about being so close to the water and having such a peaceful adventure.

One recommendation – the captain provides blankets (which are clean!) but we’d advise bringing some sheets because the night starts off very warm (ok hot) and like any desert becomes really cool by early morning. We’d also recommend plastering yourselves with mosquito repellent because although they aren’t around when it’s really hot, the mosquitoes certainly come out when the temperature cools down (and they are silent…so watch out!).

Luxor is a very pretty city although more touristy than Aswan. The visit to the Valley of the Kings will remind you that there are tons of tourists in Egypt, so when Egypt Uncovered recommends going early, you’ll understand why! In early March the temperatures were really hot (low to mid 30’s by mid morning) – I can’t quite imagine what it would be like in July… But the visit is definitely worth it – what amazing tombs you’ll see! You aren’t allowed to take your cameras inside the tombs but you can buy some books that vendors are selling (but negotiate so you don’t get ripped off!).

The one temple that most tour companies don’t seem to visit is the Habu Temple in Thebes – absolutely amazing!! Thank-you Egypt Uncovered for including this in the tour!

One morning while in Luxor, we started our day with a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings and Queens! Wow!! It was so peaceful and beautiful. The company we went with (Horus Balloons) was extremely safety conscious – and it is definitely the best way to see Queen Hatshepsut’s tomb, instead of amongst swarming tourists (which we did the day before). The kids loved the ride.

The Egyptian people are warm and kind and I felt very safe the whole time we were there (…even though I’m tall and blonde so don’t exactly fit in…). There are tourist police checkpoints as you travel from place to place which simply means you have to slow your vehicle down for a moment. No big deal. The Egypt Uncovered drivers were all professional as we travelled throughout Egypt in air-conditioned and very comfy vans.

But I guess because we look so different – our kids were treated like rock stars everywhere we went! We had several occasions where Egyptian kids wanted their photos taken with our kids. On the days our son wore a Man-U football jersey, he was greeted with enthusiastic applause and greetings!

The Egyptian kids are wonderful! We brought some things from Canada to the children in the Nubian school we visited outside of Aswan. Their faces were absolutely priceless.

We made our way to Hurghada on the Red Sea for 4 days. The water is beautiful and we spent a day snorkelling off Griftin Island. People who want to decompress will really enjoy this, but it was actually my least favourite part of the trip simply because it was the most “un-Egyptian”. It is filled with 5 star resorts and European tourists but we had fun playing volleyball with some Russian tourists (none of whom spoke English!).

There are so many other stories about our amazing adventure, but the bottom-line is… a huge thank-you to Egypt Uncovered for giving our family a vacation that we will remember for years to come!!