Instead of backpacking solo, I decided to join a 9-day tour in Egypt to travel along the Nile River. I am very fortunate to be in a group led by Samer Salib (Sem Sem), an Egyptologist who won the 2016 Wanderlust Tour Guide of the Year award – An award given to the best tour guide in the world out of 2,500 international nominees (http://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/middle-east/85966916/awardwinning-tour-guide-samer-salib-shares-his-secrets-of-the-trade).
I wasn’t planning to join the tour at first: My original plan was to fly into Cairo from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), then backpack solo down south along Nile River to Luxor and Aswan, and finally travel by bus to the Senai Peninsula to get open-water diver certified at the Red Sea before traveling overland into Israel through its southern city of Eilat. That plan later got hindered when I was advised not to travel to the Senai Peninsula due to uncertainty in that region. That was when I started looking into joining a group tour to explore Egypt.
It’s not like backpacking solo in Egypt is impossible. It’s doable: There are buses, trains, and flights to get you around major cities. The main problem of solo backpacking in Egypt is people challenge: Wherever you go there are people hovering over wanting a piece of you (mainly your wallet). You ignore one and there will be ten more waiting. You want them to leave you alone so that you can enjoy their country but they won’t let you. You will get ripped off throughout the day: From buying bus tickets, getting camel ride, or as simple as buying soda on the street. You have to bargain for everything or else expect to pay 5-10x more. Backpacking solo in Egypt without a tour is a constant uphill battle and an emotionally draining activity (my friend from Hong Kong is doing exactly that and she can definitely relate).
Here is the beauty of joining a tour: All the logistics are taken care of so that you don’t have to worry about a thing. The tour guide will tell you what you are supposed to pay so you don’t get ripped off and are less likely to be harassed. You know what you are looking at since everything is explained by the tour guide in an interesting manner – Egypt is a country where joining a tour makes more sense; traveling to Egypt is currently a bargain, especially if you are holding US Dollars: Currently $1 USD = $17 Egyptian Pound ($1 USD = $5 EGP back in 2008). In other words, you have 3x the purchasing power in Egypt compared to 10 years ago – An incredibly affordable country with the best tour guide in the world? I don’t think it can get any better than this.
#Egypt
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Aswan
@Aswan
@Aswan
@Giza
@Giza
Advanced open-water diver with 30+ dives under her belt, I am doing my very first dive in Egypt because of her influence.
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
My job all day is to find the next shade (and stay there).
@Giza
@Giza
@Giza
Because of some logistics complications, they upgraded me from a 12-hour sleeper train (Cairo-Aswan) to a 1-hour flight, plus 3 nights of cruise ship on Nile River.
@Aswan
Because of some logistics complications, they upgraded me from a 12-hour sleeper train (Cairo-Aswan) to a 1-hour flight, plus 3 nights of cruise ship on Nile River.
@Aswan
Because of some logistics complications, they upgraded me from a 12-hour sleeper train (Cairo-Aswan) to a 1-hour flight, plus 3 nights of cruise ship on Nile River.
@Aswan
@Aswan
@Aswan
We did two dives: One in the morning and a deeper dive in the afternoon. Like the first time of anything, the first 5 minutes of my first dive was terrifying! I was supposed to breathe “slowly and deeply” through my mouthpiece – Of course I did the exact opposite. I had all these questions in my head and started getting anxious: “What if I lose my mouthpiece?”, “What if I don’t have enough oxygen in my tank?”, “What if I choke / need to cough in the water?”, “What if my eye mask is fogged up (which it did) and I cannot see?”, “What if I need to go back up to the surface and my buoyancy controller fails while 20-meter deep?” – All these questions are actually covered in the open-water certification course, which I have not yet taken.
My 2nd dive was even more fun: My instructor challenged me by letting go of me (while 15-20 meters deep) and let me swim on my own for a bit – I didn’t see that coming, so that was exciting.
@Hurghada
We did two dives: One in the morning and a deeper dive in the afternoon. Like the first time of anything, the first 5 minutes of my first dive was terrifying! I was supposed to breathe “slowly and deeply” through my mouthpiece – Of course I did the exact opposite. I had all these questions in my head and started getting anxious: “What if I lose my mouthpiece?”, “What if I don’t have enough oxygen in my tank?”, “What if I choke / need to cough in the water?”, “What if my eye mask is fogged up (which it did) and I cannot see?”, “What if I need to go back up to the surface and my buoyancy controller fails while 20-meter deep?” – All these questions are actually covered in the open-water certification course, which I have not yet taken.
My 2nd dive was even more fun: My instructor challenged me by letting go of me (while 15-20 meters deep) and let me swim on my own for a bit – I didn’t see that coming, so that was exciting.
@Hurghada
We did two dives: One in the morning and a deeper dive in the afternoon. Like the first time of anything, the first 5 minutes of my first dive was terrifying! I was supposed to breathe “slowly and deeply” through my mouthpiece – Of course I did the exact opposite. I had all these questions in my head and started getting anxious: “What if I lose my mouthpiece?”, “What if I don’t have enough oxygen in my tank?”, “What if I choke / need to cough in the water?”, “What if my eye mask is fogged up (which it did) and I cannot see?”, “What if I need to go back up to the surface and my buoyancy controller fails while 20-meter deep?” – All these questions are actually covered in the open-water certification course, which I have not yet taken.
My 2nd dive was even more fun: My instructor challenged me by letting go of me (while 15-20 meters deep) and let me swim on my own for a bit – I didn’t see that coming, so that was exciting.
@Hurghada
@Luxor
@Edfu
@Luxor
@Aswan
@Aswan
@Aswan
@Edfu
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Cairo
@Luxor
@Luxor