Safety Tips in Egypt

Grand Circle Travel books tours on a regular basis to Egypt. Amongst the sites they promote a trip to see the Temples of Abus Simbel. Despite the fact that there have been over a dozen fatal accident involving Tourbuses since d2006, they curiously fail to inform their clients of flying to Aswan, Cairo, Temple Of Abu Simbel, or Luxor is an option. Unfortunatly my Mother was not told about the forementioned option. On December 26, 2010 my Parents took the ground tour that was contracted by Grand Circle Travel, the Tourbus company was Misr Sinai, On that day there were threee buses carrying 115 passengers traveling together to see the Temples Of Abu Simbel. The first bus in the caravan drove around a parked dump truck that was sticking out on the highway. The bus driver of my parents bus was speeding. The driver crashed into the dump truck killing my Mother and seven other people. Dismembering some of the other Torist. Two people are paralyzed. My Father and twenty eight other people seriously injured.This horrific tragedy was reasonably forseable and Grand Circle Travle and Misr Sinai caused me the loss of my Mother, including the eight other people that were killed. It has devastated the lives of all of the victims on that bus, as well as their family members. I don't want to see any other people getting killed. Do the research to see for yourselves. All of the information is online. Please pass this information on to your family and friends. This accident could have been totally avoided. I am posting this to get my message out solely. On behalf of the victims that are dead and seriously injured. There is not one thing that will ever bring back my MOther. No amount of money will replace are beloved family members. Please dont let this happen to anyone else. Boycott Grand Circle Travel and Misr Sinai. If travelling to Egpt, find a reputable. Travel Agency, that hires professional employees.

Grand Circle Travel books Tours on a regular basis to Egypt. Amongst the sites they promote a trip to see the Temples Of Abu Simbel. Despite the fact that there have been over 12 acccidents involving Tour buses since 2006, they curiously fail to inform their clients that of flying to Aswan, Cairo, Temple of Abu Simbel, or Luxor is an option. Unfortunatly my parents were not told about the forementioned option. On December 26, 2010 my Mother and Father took the ground tour contracted out by Grand Circle Travel, the Tour Bus company was Misr Sinai. On that day there were three buses in a carrying 115 passengers traveling together to see the Temple Of Abu Simbel. The first bus of the caravan drove around a parked Dump Truck full of tons of sand that was sticking out on the highway. The driver of my parents bus was speeding. The driver crashed into the dump truck killing my Mother and seven other people instantly. Dismembering some of the Tourist. One of the other victims died recently from this accident. Two of the victims are paralyzed. My Father and twenty eight other passengers injured. This horrific tragedy was reasonably forseable and Grand Circle Travel, and Misr Sinai caused me to lose of my Mother, including the other eight people who were killed. It has devaastated the lives of all of the victims on that bus as well as their family members. I dont want to see any other people getting killed. Do the research to see for yourselves. On November 20, 2010 twenty six days before my parents accident their was a Tour Bus that crashed and killed eight Tourist. Forty people were injured. I am posting this message to get my message out soley. On behalf of all the victims who are dead and seriously injured. There is not one thing that will bring back my Mother or anyone else. No amount of money will ever replace are beloved family members. Please dont let this happen to you, or anyone else. Boycott Grand Circle Travel and Misr Sinai. Search for a Travel company who hires reputable employees when going on a Tour. The lives of our family will never be the same.

I found this website that rates restrooms in various countries. I am including the Egyptian link.

Actually, believe it or not, this could be a helpful bit of info. Seniors, travellers with disabilities and parents with children often need to know about access and I bet it is difficult to find this kind of information.

There is a section to add your own tip so why not help out the seniors and people with disabilities and everyone else by noting a few locations and features next time you are in Egypt if you think of it. Egypt is not known to be 'disability friendly' at all and you couldnt pay me to enter some restrooms

PS Try not to be freaked out by the fact that this site has some essays and a palm pilot service to help one locate restrooms....
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Posted by Megypt

From my personal travel experience...

1) Never leave your personal belongings unattended even if you are travelling in a private coach provided by your travel agent!!! Thievery is common in Cairo.

2) Don't go out at night alone without a male companion.

3) Don't flash those pearly whites at men unless you want to be bothered.

4) Expect nothing.

5) Customer Service is overrated.

The waters off Shame El Shake in December were full of shark and they were attacking the tourist. The beaches were closed during our stay. We were told by several locals that it had become a new practice for religious people to take there boats out and perform religious ceremonies of Slaughtering their goats.l they then throw them in the waters. This is a bloody ceremony that the sharks have been coming to shore to feed. Also the women who where many smocks that drag the ground swim freely in the swimming pools with all their clothes on and pollute th pool with a million germs. A Christian boy was a retail sales person in our hotel told me that he is often beaten up on his way home from work because he is Christian. I hope and pray that Egyptian People get a new and free government as it is a lovely warm country for a winter visit. God bless Egypt..It is in need of reformation.

The waters off Shame El Shake in December were full of shark and they were attacking the tourist. The beaches were closed during our stay. We were told by several locals that it had become a new practice for religious people to take there boats out and perform religious ceremonies of Slaughtering their goats.l they then throw them in the waters. This is a bloody ceremony that the sharks have been coming to shore to feed. Also the women who where many smocks that drag the ground swim freely in the swimming pools with all their clothes on and pollute th pool with a million germs. A Christian boy was a retail sales person in our hotel told me that he is often beaten up on his way home from work because he is Christian. I hope and pray that Egyptian People get a new and free government as it is a lovely warm country for a winter visit. God bless Egypt..It is in need of reformation.

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If you are the least bit squeamish when driving, it may be difficult to ride in a cab in a lot of parts of Egypt. I can't say that the cab drivers are bad, because they aren't, they are just the most aggressive drivers I've ever been in a vehicle with.

Because the traffic is so bad in many places, cab drivers must drive aggressively otherwise you would never get to your destination in a timely manner. And when I say aggressive I mean driving inches from the bumper of another car, jumping curbs, and completely ignoring traffic lights.

Now this is not to say that ALL cab drivers are like this but I took a lot of cabs and many were like that. So use a cab only if you are ready for a thrill word and learn to say "doob tee-lo" which is my horrible pronunciation of "Slow Down".

Happy Travels :-)

Baksheesh at the Pyramids is the worst. They wanted Baksheesh for any and everything. Baksheesh is less in the Sinai.

Should you tip, take into account the cost of living in Egypt, not the cost of living back home. Remember the average income in Egypt is 350 Egyptian pounds a month, about $65 USD or 45 Euros. This comes out to about $3.25 USD a day based on a 5 day work week. So a $1 US tip is about 30% of a days pay.

Would you tip someone 30% a days pay back home? This will really unbalance the Egyptian economy. Bus boys will make more then teacher and doctors.

I ended up only tipping for taking pictures inside of tombs in the Luxor area, and only about 1/2 Egyptian pounds. However, most of the time, I sneaked pictures.

Please rate this and my other tips should you find then interesting, useful, or like he photos.