Om Kolthoom Hotel Cairo

... and we weren&#8217;t allowed to eat until the sun went down&#8230;well, lets&#8217; just say we wouldn&#8217;t be very pleasant to be around to say the least. During this time we, as a group, had to take a few extra precautions such as not eating or drinking anything in front of locals during the day, and sticking to the tourist hotels until sundown. <br><br>As mentioned the heat in Jordan really picked up and daily the temperature was in ...

... to Arabic. The place is a tourist attraction during the day and a bonafide Egyptian hangout at night. I splurged on some nuts, bread, fruit juice, and jasmine, spending five Egyptian pounds (less than one US dollar). <br><br>Though it was late, Jasmine and Corley wanted to move their belongings from the hotel they were in to the apartment they&#8217;d just rented. I went to the hotel only to be told by the guy working the front desk ...

... and that I was not registered for classes nor had they received any payment from me. Great. By the time the day ended, I learned that I should just go to the Zamalek residence and that they would figure things out from there. Sounds good? Not really. For the first time in a while (including after a month of traveling and not knowing where I'd be staying the next day), I was quite nervous. One bit of comfort was that the housing director told me that I could stay in her son's ...

... with a one hour stopover in Dubai. By the end of the torturous flight I felt I'd never be able to turn to the left or right again.<br><br>Anyhow, we landed in Cairo with no problems and got through immigration fairly quickly. Some trouble cropped up when we couldn't find the guy who was supposed to drive us to the hotel, but between my dad and two information counter attendants and two prepaid cards, we managed to page him and call him on ...

Classical tour 12 days to Egypt<br><br>12 Days/11 Nights<br><br>1060$<br><br><br><br>Day 1:<br><br>Meet &amp; assist by Go Egypt Travel representative at Cairo International Airport- Transfer via air-conditioned modern van to your hotel. Overnight in Cairo.<br><br>Day 2:<br><br>Breakfast at hotel- Enjoy an excursion to visit Giza Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, Mykerinus, the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple- then transfer to visit Sakkara ...

... walked far behind us. I refused to take the whip, knowing I didn't need one and would never use it anyway. <br>It was just Oscar and I, in the Sahara, with the Pyramids behind me....<br>We got to this lookout point and the driver did a full on camel photo shoot. He told me to stand up on Oscar. Stand on a camel? Really? I wasn't overly keen but he says "What? Are you scared?" Oh man, as girly as I can be, I have the heart of a boy and I refuse to have anyone ...

... late in the evening around 11.30pm; the airport arrivals area reminded me of India&#8217;s New Delhi years ago, dusty, old and not very welcoming. The line up for visas and immigration was chaotic and took ages. We got a taxi to our hostel we had booked. Cairo looked dingy at night and despite being around 3am there were still heaps of people around and cars everywhere. The street was blocked off so we walked the last half a block from the taxi and found a very dirty looking entry ...

... the bill, which always adds countless confusion and time to the bill paying process. I recognize that as an eater with a more than healthy appetite I almost always "win" when we split the bill, but I think principle and conveinience alone dictates that it is a better policy. <br><br>Our dinner conversation did discuss our major dilemma with respect to the following day: while sipping a beer and playing some cards seemed like a sure way to pass the time on ...

... to celebrate your marriage. There is so much pollution and trash throughout the city that our guidebook even said to seek medical attention if we happened to fall in the Nile river. Yet every evening from the top of our hotel I could see the locals fishing in the river and can only imagine what types of toxins those fish contain.<br><br>Not to dwell on the downside ...

... and at the end of the tour, we decided to skip the Khan-El Khalil Bazaar and lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. Whilst I was a bit annoyed with the travel agent for not being flexible enough to rechedule the Bazaar trip to later in the evening, it was actually the best decision we made.<br><br>When we checked into Holiday Inn City Stars, first they upgraded us to a lovely suite. Secondly , it was next a modern shopping mall and the group was so happy to see the mall.<br><br>And ...