I still can’t get over this trip, even though it’s been a month. I even waited this long to post anything about this trip since I had to sort through the mounds of pictures I took first. Many people have wanted to know what I did, the things I saw, the people I met, and I figured this would be a good way to share my experience. So without further ado, here is my trip to Egypt!
August 2nd
After a very long 10 hour flight with little to no sleep, we were finally in the great city of Cairo. As we exit the Cairo International Airport, we were approached by a traditional Egyptian welcome act. They played instruments and danced for us, which was a great little burst of energy we needed after that flight. Once they finished with the welcome, we boarded the buses and headed straight to our hotel. Let me tell you, the traffic in Cairo is no joke. There were people walking in the middle of traffic, jumping on the backs of moving cars, everyone cutting each other off, it was complete madness. Le Meridien Hotel is just breathtaking. Right outside of our window was the most beautiful view of the great pyramids. You can only imagine how many pictures my mom and I took the next morning as the sun rose right behind the pyramids (insert heart-eyes emoji). Later that night, we took a dinner cruise right on the Nile River and were able to sit back and sail by the city of Cairo.
August 3rd
This day was the one I was the most excited for. Even though we had a 5:00 AM wake up call, this was the day we were going to see the pyramids up close. The minute you stand in front of those pyramids, you just can’t believe how massive these monuments are. It became even more surreal after our tour guide told us how the pyramids were made, strictly by hand, which was unbelievable. And I also got to ride a camel, which was pretty awesome!
August 5th
We arrive in Luxor and take a tour of the Temple of Luxor & Ancient City of Thebes. This was one of the hottest days so far with the weather reached 115 degrees. Apparentl, that’s nice weather compared to how hot it usually gets in Luxor.
August 7th
Our last stop is in a city called Aswan and here is where we visit the tombs of great rulers such as King Tut. We also got to see temples that kings built just for their queens. If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is. After leaving the temples, we shopped ’til we dropped and bought a ton of souvenirs from local vendors.
August 8th
This was the day I thought was the most fun. We took a falooka to a small Nubian village and brought school supplies to the children of the village. As we walked around, kids of all ages tried to sell us things and kept asking us for money and food. Unfortunately for us, we could not give the kids anything because that would just cause problems. It just broke my heart to see those kids suffering and I couldn’t even do anything.
Early the next morning, we boarded the plane in Aswan and endured a full day of travel back to JFK airport. It was a little bittersweet when the plane touched down in America, but I was happy to be back.
Going to Egypt is probably the best thing that has happened to me thus far. I’m just so grateful that I was able to experience going to another country. The trip was even more memorable because I was able to spend the entire trip with my mom. Now we have memories of standing next to the pyramids, being followed by security everywhere we went, and enduring extreme heat and more to bond over later in life.
I hope you enjoyed a little snippet of my trip and maybe I convinced some you to go to Egypt one day and experience everything I did and more!