Geezers in Giza
Post Umrah and straight to Cairo - time to get swindled, cannot wait.
First interaction was with an Egyptian taxi driver, attempting to charge us $20 for a 5 minute trip to our hotel.
My mum and I looking bewildered - my dad shamelessly accepting the fare. Coming straight from Makkah to Cairo we were trying to keep to our good deeds up and that meant getting in the taxi without any arguments.
This was our second time visiting Cairo, the first in 2008 when I was rocking my orange nike mercurials and 3/4 trousers. Whilst this time it was wearing sliders and an embracing an incredibly bald head (post pilgrimage look) - which required applying SPF 50 every 30 minutes.
We had only 3 days in Cairo, and typically when travelling with my parents it is more go with the flow and booking excursions on the day.
I knew due to the finite time we had that booking something in advance was the best solution, both in terms of saving time and also to avoid getting swindled. My go-to platform for booking excursions is ‘GetYourGuide’ whenever I travel, they always have attractive tours, good prices and reviews are always strong.
Booking ahead of time is usually a good idea. This time it was not.
When we were in Makkah, before flying to Cairo, one by one we all developed a nasty bug. My mum first, shortly followed by me and then my father.
It was unsurprising, yet definitely not ideal. Being in close proximity to that many people from different countries, it was inevitable. Whilst we tried not to let it prevent our trip to Cairo from being exciting it definitely had a more dull feeling to it.
GetYourGuide are great when it comes to amending bookings and with 24 hours notice we were able to change the date of our private tour to the Pyramids of Giza. So the day after we end up visiting the The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities - which housed some impressive historic pieces amongst other things (open coffins of mummies) - yeah that was creepy.
Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable around the era of the Pharaohs, Egyptian calligraphy and general history in terms of importance of the Pyramids, their constructions and even demystifying some myths around the mummies. All is all and despite the sickness bug spreading through our bodies making us feel like mummies, it was worth booking.
We also did a River Nile boat cruise - which was fun to say the least. A lot of ‘Egyptian entertainment’ to keep Pops happy. Mum side eyeing like crazy.
Being in Cairo for just 3 days, with a sickness bug didn’t prevent us from doing the main things and ultimately without planning in advance and having the tour booked likely would have resulted in us not doing anything at all.
My motto on holiday, is always to do as much as you can, as you never know when you will return.
Anyway, see some cool pictures of our trip below!
A Statue of Ramesses II
Geezers in Giza - our tour guide showed us a cool spot for pictures
