Egypt is supposed to be one of the most fascinating places in the world, with a profoundly old and rich history. So, we are excited to follow in the footsteps of the pharaohs and discover some of Egypt’s archaeological treasures!
As we prepared, the pandemic was finally winding down. That, unfortunately, did not give us less apprehension about passing our PCR test at the Orlando airport (especially since three of our neighbors had recently been diagnosed with COVID!) This test, with a required QR code, was needed for entry into Egypt, but had to be administered within 72 hours before arrival.
𝘼 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚!!!
Our PCR test for COVID was negative…YEA!!! Now $350 later, we are off, with close to an hour delay in our flight. We paid for an upgrade to business class to lie down and sleep. Well……it was difficult! We had never experienced such winds in a plane before. It almost felt like the plane (an Airbus 333) was a toy blowing around in the wind. We wish we could have slept through this frightening experience! But, in the end, all was well, and we glided smoothly into Frankfort and then on to Cairo.
A handler from our tour company, Overseas Adventure Travel, picked us up at the airport for a trip to our hotel in downtown Cairo. We could hardly believe it..… being in Cairo traffic seemed worse than being in the bumpy plane. All types of vehicles were on the road….cars, micro-vans, and buses. There were also horse-drawn carts and water buffalo! Tuk-tuks carried heaps of vegetables. Scooters had entire four-person families on one seat. We even saw one scooter holding two men and a sheep!
Within all of this…pedestrians and bicyclists meandering through the lanes. People do not pay attention to any lanes. We saw few operating stoplights in this city of 25 million people! Driving in this traffic seems nothing short of a death wish!! The air quality is poor (this city is the third most polluted in the world.) The congestion is like nothing we have ever seen. Welcome to modern-day Egypt!!!