“Egypt? That’s a bit of a random/strange/out-there/dangerous place to be going!” – said numerous people before (and after) my trip.
You see, when I was 11 years old my parents took me and my brother on a family holiday to the USA. One of the cities we visited was Las Vegas, and along the strip we stayed in the Luxor – which is of course the pyramid-shaped and Egyptian-themed hotel. This is what piqued my interest in Egypt, and from then on, it was always a place I wanted travel to someday.
Fast forward about 13 years, and here I am, having just arrived back home after experiencing the Egypt and The Nile Contiki.
(Yes, another Contiki tour, I know 😉 )
And boy was it fascinating, amazing… and little bit crazy!
…Although some people thought I was a little bit crazy for venturing over there in the first place.
You see, after the events of 2011 when there was a mass uprising and political revolution, tourism in Egypt took a plunge. Egypt garnered a reputation for being unsafe and high-risk. And while things have certainly improved since then and the tourism industry is starting to pick back up (our tour group had 52 people – the largest number Contiki have had in Egypt since 2011), it’s still considered a ”travel at your own risk” sort of destination.
…Hey, no place is perfect! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Consequently, security measures were pretty high when I was there. Our Cairo hotel had airport-level security at the entrance (bag and body scanners), with a guard dog on a leash at the gate sniffing out each vehicle as it came through. On a couple of days, we had a security guard / policeman in a suit accompanying us on the bus and on our excursions. And of course, all the big tourist sites had security measures in place too (as many do around the world, so nothing too out of the usual).
But it was because of this that I felt safe the whole duration of the trip.
That, along with the welcoming Egyptian people, a healthy dose of adrenaline, and a bit of a “yolo“ attitude that I’ve developed over the past couple of years of travelling. 😉
In fact, the most unsafe I felt was driving on the motorways of Cairo in the insanely chaotic traffic!! (There are road rules and speed limits, but no one seems to follow them). Thank goodness that most of the time we were in a coach. Ya don’t mess with the big coach 😉
All “risk and danger” aside (oh and not to mention I got a few vaccinations before I went too), it was an incredible trip. It was the biggest eye-opener and culture-shock yet, but totally worth the intrepid journey to see the famous sights that we all associate with Egypt.
Book Your Egypt & The Nile Tour HERE
So, where did we begin..?
Alexandria
Not officially part of the Contiki tour, we had the option of signing up for a day tour to Alexandria before the tour started that evening. Being the keen bean that I am (and having arrived a couple of days early), I put my hand right up for this. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great and we visited 5 main points of interests: The Qaitbay Citadel by the sea, Pompey’s Pillar, The Catacombs of Kom Al Shoqafa, Kom l-Deeka (kinda like the Roman Forum), and the Alexandria Museum.
Cairo
After the day trip to Alexandria, the whole group met up in our Cairo hotel (this was also my first Contiki with a friend – Kat and I met on my UK trip last year and she flew in from Melbourne to join me!). Here at the meeting I found out that, once again, I was the “token kiwi” of the group. Churr.
Onwards to the main attractions: The main sites in Cairo are of course The Great Pyramids of Giza (well, technically they’re in Giza) and the Great Sphinx. We spent a good 3 hours here with some of the group choosing to do a camel ride and some of us went inside one of the pyramids to see the tomb.
In Cairo we also visited the Egyptian museum – incredible artifacts on display here, you can’t miss it when you come to Cairo. We saw King Tutankhamun’s famous golden mask (weren’t allowed to take photos) and various golden items found in his tomb (which is in Valley of the Kings – we’ll get to that soon…)
Aswan
That night, we took an overnight sleeper train to Aswan. It was an experience, to say the least!
The rooms were tiny, it was a little bit dirty and it kinda smelled (I know- I sound pretty high maintenance right now #sorrynotsorry). And the toilets did not have water or flushing capabilities… instead, they literally had a hole that went straight down to the train tracks.
Not even kidding. Sorry, Planet Earth 🙁
Thankfully, we were only on there for one night before heading to…
Our Cruise ship on the Nile river. Much more luxurious than the train! 😉 Not to mention the buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners were fantastic.
Once we were settled in and freshly showered (the train didn’t have showers, funnily enough) we took a traditional felucca boat out onto the Nile river. We enjoyed some history, beautiful scenery of the Sahara and Arabian Deserts, a bit of a dune climbing sesh, and some relaxation on top of the felucca.
Livin’ our best lives
That night we visited a perfumery and glass-blowing shop, and the night markets where our tour manager Sheriff taught us a few tips and tricks on how to haggle and bargain with the relentless street vendors. Although my bargaining skills improved throughout the duration of the trip, I’m pretty sure I still got ripped off at least a couple of times…Oops. Ah well, ya live and ya learn!
The next morning, we had to be on the bus at 4am (earliest Contiki call time ever!) to start the 3-hour journey to Abu Simbel and beat the worst of the crowds. Totally worth it though – Abu Simbel was breath-taking. It features temples of Rameses II and his wife Queen Nefertari. A definite highlight of the tour.
Edfu
That evening back on board the cruise ship, we arrived at Edfu and made a quick stop at Kom Ombo – the temple of the crocodile god Sobek. If you’ve never seen mummified crocodiles before, this is the place to see them!
That night we had an Egyptian party on-board the cruise ship. We were encouraged to buy costumes from the night markets, and even though I inwardly questioned whether this was cultural appropriation, we did all look very snazzy! Such a good night.
Luxor
A rarity on Contiki, we were given a full half-day-or-so to do nothing but chill the day after the big par-tay. Some reserved energy for visiting a local Egyptian village later that afternoon, while all of us visited the insta-famous Luxor temple that night. Like Kom Ombo, it was beautiful to see it all lit up!
In the photo on the left, you can see a tall “obelisk” to the left of the entrance. Its twin (that should be on the right hand side of the entrance) can be found at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. A long way from home!
The next day was another huge day full of more well-known and insta-famous sights.
First thing in the morning we were at The Valley of The Kings, which was another highlight of the tour.
The Valley was where numerous pharaohs and members of royal families were laid to rest. In total there are 62 tombs that have been discovered so far, and to this day they are still excavating!
Inside various tombs 
As part of our entrance ticket we went inside 3 tombs, and could choose to pay extra for a 4th (I chose King Tut – I just had to go for the most famous one!). But again, no photos allowed in here, sorry.
Inside was King Tut’s mummy which was pretty mind-blowing to see. He looked a bit dark and shrivelled, but on the whole you’re lookin’ pretty good there ol’ Tut. Need to keep up that moisturizing regime though, buddy! 😉
Next up was the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was the 2nd female pharaoh and is considered one of the most successful pharaohs of all ancient Egypt. #badass! Her epic temple matches her epic legacy. It’s crazy to think this building is approx. 3500 years old.
We stopped at another well-known tourist site: the Colossi of Memnon: two stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. These pharaohs really liked building statues of themselves, didn’t they? I guess they couldn’t take selfies back then!
Next we popped in to the Papyrus Museum where we were given a demonstration on how they make papyrus paper. This places was full of the most beautiful original papyrus artwork (so many of us bought our souvenirs from here).
Sheriff (our tour manager) with the papyrus plant 
Turning the papyrus plant into papyrus paper
Our last big sight for the day was Karnak Temple and this was the biggest temple yet! (Another temple, I know, but they’re all pretty amazing in their own right).
Hurghada
That night, we were off to the beachside city of Hurghada. We arrived late that evening but the hotel was really lovely – the tropical setting sort of reminded me of Fiji! It’s a shame we couldn’t have had more time here. We had an included dinner and then it was our last big party night of the tour.
The best way to spend our last day of the tour was out sailing in the Red Sea. Some chose to swim and snorkel, some chose to feed the brightly coloured fishes and drink Egyptian wine (as you can guess, I was the latter) 😉 . I’ve never been the biggest fan of going out on boats, but this was bloody beautiful.
We ended up back in Cairo late that night to officially end the tour and say goodbye to our tour managers and newfound Contiki family. It’s always sad when it comes to an end, but I was also looking forward to some familiar NZ food and drinkable tap water 😉
In all seriousness though, in my short less-than-2-weeks in Egypt, this has been one of the challenging yet rewarding trips I have done to date.
The history, the people, the culture, the food and drink, the environment and everything in between has been an incredible experience (whether it was fascinating, or just plain frustrating – cough cough, relentless street vendors ripping me off 😉 ). But mostly… it’s been fascinating.
It’s a trip I will never forget.
If you’re interested in going to Egypt but have reservations about it, just do it! You won’t regret it.
Book your Egypt & The Nile Contiki here!
Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below, or by hitting me up on Instagram, or emailing me at freerangekiwichick@gmail.com
