Is Egypt Safe for Travel? | What to expect when you go

[Music] so the biggest question that everyone had for me when I planned this trip to Egypt was is it safe let me show you so why do people think Egypt isn't safe to understand this you have to go back to 2011 when Egypt went through considerable turmoil and things reached a boiling point which eventually led to the ousting of President Mubarak chaos centered around to here Square in Cairo and these are those lasting images that we still remember today but having been to Egypt a few times now what you see in the country is totally different [Music] ultimately this question is a complex one but as a traveler I can give you a glimpse into what I saw and what I experienced I think it's safe and I go into full detail of this on our blog post but are there things that annoy me yes is there a better way to travel to make sure you increase your safety yes part of it for sure is the increased security that you see the checkpoints x-ray scanning and overall police presence but there's so much more to this so again let me show you let's start off simple and let's talk about the driving I definitely don't recommend renting a car because it's a whole different set of rules out here if we're talking about Cairo the traffic is pretty intense during the working days especially we need to get from Giza to the downtown core or vice versa a lot of times its bumper-to-bumper traffic and what I remember most about the driving is just how there are literally no lines on the road because there are no rules for lanes you make your own lanes and squeeze in where you can it's definitely not the kind of place where I want to take the wheel when it comes to just getting around having someone take care of the driving is key because they know their way around it'll be way less stressful for you and they can drop you off when you need to get to let's say at the Egyptian Museum it's a no-brainer decision to work with a local tour operator because of this the only exception to the turtle pace of driving was on the weekends which in Egypt's case is Friday and Saturday here you can see that the roads are pretty empty by cairo standards when you get to the countryside the driving is definitely less chaotic of course but there are checkpoints along the way and your driver and guide take care of all those things we learned that those are put into place by the government to make sure that they can confirm that these tourists are supposed to be with this particular guiding company on a very particular itinerary now Giza is an interesting place it's in Greater Cairo but is its own City and most famous for of course the pyramids it's truthfully a little rundown because you realize that this is a neighborhood that literally borders on the ruins of the pyramids and is likely sitting on top of more ruins to be discovered so we learned that there's just this standstill between locals and government because they don't want to move and give up their land we stayed in Giza but we found our own place on booking.com called comfort pyramids in which ended up being really good value that said we did notice that it wasn't fully complete but work in progress you could say and not quite Marriott hotel standard but honestly it's hard to complain when they have rooftop views like this and you can watch the sound and light show for free it our hotel was located in a very local alleyway that seemed a little sketchy and was difficult to find at first but you know during the day and the night when we were walking around we never really got hassled or approached and certainly it helped that we always traveled in a pack of four whether going out for dinner in the area withdrawing money from the ATM going to the convenience stores or waiting for our van pickup we honestly had no issues now it's easier to think that walking around at night is going to be the most sketchy but the truth is on the number of occasions we did it in Cairo luxor and aswan we actually felt incredibly safe in Cairo and Luxor we were with a local Jed Egypt Travel Guide and in us 1 we just walked around on our own I think if anything yes some of the streets are a bit chaotic because of the driving and sometimes because of a lack of sidewalk crossing the road also requires a bit more attention and speed what surprised me the most was that when walking through the streets of Cairo it was really less crazy than I thought our Jed city guide showed us one of the best ice-cream shops in town and we even got to hang out at an outdoor bar in Luxor and Aswan I can say we felt more or less the same once you get out of the larger cities safety is even less of a factor whether day or night from places like Etna and their market to the smaller villages along the Nile it felt like everyone just kind of minded their own business and at most I say maybe the kids were probably more curious about us but really all the adults were just busy running their stores and stands and getting from A to B throughout all of us we never felt like there were pickpockets and thieves surrounding us okay so what about the not-so-great things about in Egypt most of actually comes from the tourist sites and not so much the general streets one of the most iconic things they can think about when it comes to Egypt is one the great pyramids and - well camels at the great pyramids right it's the thing to do we were warned ahead of time by our true company Jed each of travel to have low expectations which we appreciated for their honesty but we figured Yolo right the big problem with camels everywhere in Giza is that they're basically out there to prey on tourists especially ones that aren't with guides they're pretty aggressive when we found out though entice you by telling you it only costs something like ten dollars to get on and you get on you go through the ride and when it's over they pull the rug from underneath you and tell you that oh it's actually a hundred dollars to get off of the camel it's a pretty bad experience and even our guide admitted that it's something that's not policed and really should be because it gives Egyptians a bad reputation this is particularly the case when it comes to camels by the great pyramids okay so rate we were given the warnings at a time and they offered the book us 20 minutes at a place called panorama they said it would be much better because we would know exactly how much the prices and it'd be with a reputable quote-unquote operator so we converge on panorama and yes the views of the pyramids are pretty here but you also see a massive caravan of camels clustered by the perking circle and viewpoint we were told that it would cost us 30 US dollars for the both of us as a fixed price so we get there and our guide calls this person and this promise they literally have a camels ready and waiting for us you know we have a dream and you've played it through in your mind over and over like watching movie well this wasn't one of those moments frantically getting on you're all of a sudden on the camel and for me as a kind of Crater you're in this frenzy of trying to handle all the gear while taking photos while getting your photos taken of and try not to fall off the camel at the same time to call this a ride would be an exaggeration because you realize that everyone gets funneled through this valley in the desert and all of the groups stop at varying parts of the path to take these lovely horny photos you turn back and before you know it it's all over it barely felt like it was even 15 minutes then of course is the awkward asking of tips where are we totally got pressure to pay more but more on tipping later so I let you be the judge I wouldn't recommend that you take the camels at panorama but perhaps you can ask you to accompany to book you about something that's a bit more exclusive and further away from the crowds so this again isn't really a safety thing but more just things in Egypt that might annoy you to be honest this wasn't that bad as I've seen worse pressure tactics but just know that during your trip to Egypt there are two standard stops you'll do the first is a papyrus store and the other is for alabaster the good thing is though is that our tour company did give us advance warning that we'd be going on these and did ask us if we wanted to do it or not so at least we had the choice what I like about how Egypt does it is that at least there's some sort of educational component to these stops with the papyrus you get a full demonstration of what papyrus looks like in plant form before it's processed and dried into paper with the alabaster you see it in stone form and they walk you through the process of how its shaped and holiday now if you're expecting the prices to be cheap here I wouldn't say that you're really getting Factory Outlet prices but honestly it's up to you as to what these are worth another bonus is that you usually get a welcome drink here which you can joy without any guilt for us we didn't buy anything in on our way out we never got any negative attitude so like I said it's really not that bad now this started off as something that was kind of comedic most archaeological sites are lined with souvenir shops and you basically had to play this game of trying to dodge and ignore their calls you know what it's probably just better for you to watch these sequences of events from throughout our trip my god number two okay okay most of our number two yes yes it's okay cheap price here anything on the Laguna Beach is $1 [Music] I know I know 800 bucks in some places as you've seen here it was a non-stop it really made you want to not shop actually and avoid all eye contact because you knew the bras you were gonna get oh gosh where do I even start here don't get me wrong I understand the value of tipping and where it sits in the tourism ecosystem but what really gets to you while you're in Egypt is how aggressive they are about it and how it feels like everyone's in on it let me explain almost every single ancient Egyptian site you go to whether a temple to more pyramid has security guards they're there to check your ticket make sure you a baked ham rules don't do anything disruptive or illegal and they're in traditional clothing they're also guards and police looking uniforms with guns what you'll learn really quickly is that each of them has a side hustle which is to help you take photos guide you through the site and worse they break their own rules they're enforcing by allowing you to go to restricted areas and take photos in areas that you're not supposed to just like the hassling at souvenir shops it's exactly the same tactics where they won't take no for an answer they'll follow you down into a tomb they'll ask you where you're from and you'll get the exact same response that you get everywhere else they'll start pointing and talking about things even when it's clear you're not listening and they'll ask to take your photo as what seems to be like a nice gesture but you know it's coming whether they've provided any legitimate service to you or not the end result is them asking for tips they'll rub their thumb with their index finger or tell you outright like our camel guy did when you said you happy make me happy he went as far as telling us how much he wanted and that threw us out on a loop because we second-guessed how much we needed to give to him as tips we ultimately gave him 200 Egyptian pounds for the two of us like the hassling you'll get to the point where you're actively evading these guys and trying to shut them down with no thank you before they even speak the worst was when we were leaving Cairo for home at the airport there were airport baggage porter standing outside of the x-ray machines and directing traffic we got there a little bit confused because there weren't that many lanes open and in a flurry they told us that they could get us through you know the grab air bags bypass the queue of people and straight on to the x-ray belt the guy immediately turned around and straight up asked for money for him and the partner that was standing around doing nothing all that said I'll say that I never felt unsafe this aggressive tipping nature was incredibly annoying but we learned to go with the flow and now that you've watched this video you kind of know what to expect and how to deflect it if it happens to you I had a chance to talk to her Egyptologists and guides from our trip to get their perspectives best part about travelling Egypt really Egypt is an amazing country full of history or talk about ancient Egyptian history seven thousand years before or talk about Greek or Roman time special in Alexandria we're talking about Islamic monument Islamic time or talk about Coptic monument Egypt and total amazing wonderful country about traveling Egypt in Egypt is meeting people learning about the Egyptian culture meeting interesting people who lived in very simple life very friendly learning about the hospital hospitality of the Egyptian besides seeing more of the historical parts of Egypt my favorite tourist place touristic place is Java Leicester Silla the quarry of Java Lucilla and the tone it's quite beliefs and show you the challenge between the rock and the people and the location is good and its nature in my opinion the best place for me or my favorite place is Abu Simbel and also the value of the kings this considered to be a very special part for the ancient Egyptian history apart when the civilization reached the top of the top of its glory Abu Simbel and the pyramids of course but both of them different style of art and different period of time my favorite part about Egypt's Egyptian Museum because you feel really it's it's real life really it's for me it's my point of view it's just going from one king to the other king you feel they are talking to you you are talking to them you're going from golden mask we are going to coffin it's amazing the Egyptian Museum is the best for me my favorite thing about Egypt is the history of Egypt which actually taught most of the worldly what we know now nowadays what makes Egypt safe is its people makes it safe because very caring very loving very friendly and very responsible as well Egypt is safe because every one every Egyptian he like is each Egyptian he like it people have hospitality and they are kind they welcome with the foreigner and the guests we don't have violence we are not our maid we like people to visit us some TVs show that there is trouble in Egypt and problem but it is not like this you know the expanded our problems but Egypt is safe and welcomed with anyone to visit our country the government do lots of best to say - to make everything safe and the people is friendly for sure because of media if there is a problem problem look for media social media Egypt is one of the most safest places all over the world I've been to plenty of places there are the most nice thing in Egypt is the people of Egypt they want to make you feel that as if you are home Egypt is completely completely safe especially if you are travelling alone even if they don't speak English but they will try to help you as much as they can I will tell you something Egypt totally safe and magic wonderful country so Egypt is safe everyone have to come to Egypt this is my second time to Egypt and when anyone asked me the question is you're safe I tell them yes it is this is the kind of country where as you heard from the locals the people are super friendly most of them are quite innocent they're not going to be doing anything to harm you I think when coming here you just have to come in with certain expectations of just what the environment you're gonna be dropped in so for example you could be walking down the street and there may be kids trying to sell you bracelets or trying to sell you a book maybe asking you money or ask you to take a photo then give them money those are the kind of things that you just have to know to expect and know how to respond to so it's say things like you know no thank you and I think a lot of it comes down to the people are just naturally curious with foreigners coming in and tourists exploring their country another example would be the the camels of Giza that's kind of an interesting experience unto itself because we had our local guy kind of explained to us what to expect what not to do what to do and how to make sure we got we didn't get scammed we were in a much better place so overall my best recommendation is to work with local companies on the ground so a company like Jed Egypt travel they're the guys that have the people here they know the land they know all the sites and so when you come here you're guaranteed to have a really safe and good experience and with somebody that a local as well so that is my take on safety in Egypt well thanks for watching I hope you found this video helpful especially for your upcoming adventures to Egypt make sure you watch some of the other videos from this trip especially on the lovely davia and make sure you like and subscribe and I'll see you guys next time on going awesome places

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Keywords: Going Awesome Places, goingawesomeplaces, is egypt safe, visit egypt, egypt travel, egypt tourism, egypt travel guide, pros and cons of egypt visit, honest travel review, traveleah, opinions and thoughts on egypt, is egypt safe to travel 2019, is egypt safe to travel 2020, flying the nest, is egypt safe to travel, egypt travel video, egypt safety, pyramids of egypt, safe travel, is it safe, is it safe to go to egypt, egypt traffic, egypt travel tips, travel reviews

Id: 4GAILlHfYKI

Length: 18min 43sec (1123 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 12 2020