hello guys welcome to Egypt I'm on a tour here with gate one cruising down the Nile right now
we're on a nine-day trip heading from Cairo to Aswan to Abu Simbal to Luxor then back to
Cairo so i wanted to give you a few facts in case you're taking this similar trip to Egypt
what to expect so number one is this country at the beginning of the decade
in 2011 there was the Arab Spring here all right demonstrators shouting angrily he's not leaving
Tahrir Square had more than two million people everyone in the square at the three
splinter square everyone the big revolution everyone again is Mubarak the Arab Spring here
everyone that is complaints can you see where they're working out what they're doing what
they're doing something here but in that spot, in particular, most people shot that in that house
during the Arab Spring everybody that is that is february 2011. so it this country has faced a very
tumultuous decade a lot of people here they are on a tour they are not traveling solo i haven't seen
any solo travelers or independent travelers at all everyone is here with a tour you want to
have a guide to point out the facts to you there is absolutely no way unless you're an egyptologist
or an archaeologist to know everything about what you're seeing and our guide has spent years in
school studying archaeology so he knows about the different pharaohs the gods the life and times in
the past so it's been really great number two is there's a lot of people selling stuff and trying
to make a dollar so as you're going to the sites you'll hear people say dollar one dollar take
i did buy the scarf but be careful about that because if you show your money or you show
interest they will swarm you so just so you know number three is we are here in january so it is
chilly it's in the 60s i'm from california so that's cold so that means a jacket
scarf long sleeves you do not want to wear shorts here even if you are here in the summer
it's not considered acceptable wear also you want to bring no sandals i would recommend
shoes covered shoes because the temples have a lot of rocky roads and you could trip and get
hurt so be careful where you're walking wear appropriate shoes okay i am boiling some water
and that means it's time for our next fact about what to expect when visiting egypt is about the
food so egypt has some really delicious food but you want to be careful about food poisoning here
we haven't eaten at any of the restaurants off the beaten path we haven't eaten any street food it is
not safe to eat and the water is not safe to drink for travelers so be sure to drink bottled water
life here it's both modern and ancient at the same time. i feel like if you went back in time
you would see a lot of people living the same lifestyle like fishing, living in simple homes,
living a simple life. and then you have modern Cairo which does have skyrises and some busy
modern life, a lot of traffic things, like that. And one of our tour group members
said that it's similar to Pennsylvania in that way. you have people living in the past
people living in the present side by side. another thing is about safety. so we are on a tour.
i do not recommend coming here unless you are on a tour. the reason is because of safety. so
our guide is with us at all times we also have a bodyguard and sometimes even a police escort.
Egypt has a tourism police and they are very vigilant and they've been watching over all
the sites. everywhere you go you have to go through metal detectors and things like that
in order to get into the sites the airports including domestic have double security
so you go through the security belt twice so it's a little bit of a slog to travel like that
but it's good to be safe and they're really taking extra precautions there which is great the economy
here is very much centered around tourism it's one of their top sectors if not the top sector of the
economy here so it's we haven't felt unsafe at all but you do notice people with huge machine guns
another word on safety is do not be alarmed by the guards they're very prevalent here to
protect both you and the ancient sites also egypt is experiencing a time of peace right
now but do check your u.s state department before traveling here we did notice that walking around
it did feel safe and well lit and so right now we're crossing through the
nile we're gonna go see some more temples we're only on the nile for three days
it's really nice this is the relaxing part of the trip but before today it was very go go go
a lot of early morning flights to get down to Abu Simbal you can also take a bus to Abu Simbal
but that takes three and a half hours so if you want to do a seven hour car ride you can do the
bus but we opted for the 30-minute flight like i said two security lines both ways
but definitely not to miss Ramses II temple! it was awesome! so the last thing i want to say
about Egypt is: it is definitely, 100% worth it to come here. it is absolutely incredible. one
of the greatest civilizations of all time. super mysterious. super interesting. you'll love it.
we're on the nile cruise we are on the nile cruise what do you think about egypt so far it's cool we
are so happy to be here we waited so long to be here now the tour groups are back and we are here
i love this!
it's a beautiful chat we were just saying how this country is like a
two-speed country you got folks living in the past and then folks living in the