Danger Travelling in Egypt

Last week I posted on the Facebook page that we’d just been involved in a very dangerous situation while travelling in Egypt. We were still in Egypt then. It was scary, too close for comfort, and we had a very lucky escape. I thought we’d all handled it pretty well as we carried on enjoying our few days of luxury and comfort of the Egyptian Red Sea coast.

This is what happened to us on that day, one of many experiences of note on this month long trip. Don’t get me wrong, we love Egypt and this wasn’t our first time visiting, we will return. But this dangerous incident was something we’d never experienced before in all our years of travel. Our travel horror stories are published elsewhere, maybe we should add this one!

“This just happened.
We were not far from the Marriott, walking up the street with an employee who was helping us find a restaurant. The tanker was coming down a steep side street. We heard shouting, a guy was running alongside the tanker. Our escort shouted, “RUN!” We ran.
Luckily the kids were trailing behind us a bit, I was ahead, the tanker swerved, hit a car, rolled, and crashed into parked cars. It was exactly where I was standing. Liquid sprayed all over me, James, and the employee, the kids just got a big splash. It was in my eyes, in my mouth. I ran. I lost a shoe, turned an ankle, and kept running. It was a massive relief to find the liquid was dirty water, not petrol.
I feared another deliberate truck attack, but it was certainly an accident.
The kids did exactly what they should, ran, and didn’t look back.
We’re back in the hotel now, showered, disinfected, and getting our clothes washed. My day pack is soaked, my camera, papers, everything.
Hopefully none of us swallowed any.
We’re all a bit shook up but OK.
There was nobody in the parked cars and I think both drivers are OK. Cops were there immediately.
Wow. Not our day to die. #Hurghada #Egypt #Crash“

It was a random accident but I think the above experience made me think deeply and maybe shook me up more than I thought.

Over our next week in Egypt, as we faced the usual trials and tribulations of our travelling lifestyle After the oasis-like luxury of the Hurghada Marriott, instead of rolling with the punches I started to struggle and see things differently.

That’s not like me. I laughed off our felucca problems and bantered with the constant touts, but problem after problem over those few days wore me down as I found the inequalities of the world more and more unsettling.

Our bus journey from Hurghada to Cairo was long but I set off with the right attitude and enjoyed the hours of desert and Red Sea views taking delight in spotting hundreds of dolphins playing along the coast and managing to ignore the driver’s race track speeds along the dusty roads.

The bus was new, the air-con worked and the kids slept most of the way. We arrived back in Cairo feeling good.

My final day in Hurghada had been a tiresome hunt for accommodation in Cairo and then in Alexandria while Chef and the boys splashed about in the Red Sea.

There was little available and none of it was ideal, but after a full morning of searching, I eventually booked a couple of hotels.

The downtown Cairo hotel was fairly horrible, but we treated ourselves to dinner at the Intercontinental on the Corniche and went to bed well-fed and happy.

We were getting blazé about travelling in Egypt so the next morning we just turned up at Cairo’s main Ramesses station to catch the luxury 11.15 train to Alexandria that we’d spotted online. We’d booked all previous train tickets in advance, we’d recommend you do the same.

After a chaotic taxi ride through the very worst and noisiest of Cairo’s traffic, we tumbled past the metal detectors into the faded glory of the station and tried to buy our 1st class tickets. 1st class is cheap, everything is cheap here if you have tourist dollar and it’s worth paying for.

Unfortunately the 11.15 we’d found online didn’t exist.

This wasn’t the first time we’d come up against non-existent trains in Egypt so, although frustrating, it wasn’t a massive surprise.

We settled on the 12.15 but this one wasn’t the luxury version, it was one of the old Spanish trains and we knew that meant filth.

We had a coffee and a couple of plates of fries to while away the extra hour. I watched, vaguely horrified, as the chef moved from handling raw meat to placing handfuls of fries on our plates. Hygiene was not a strong point, but our young waiter was really sweet and the coffee was decent, we smiled and tipped.

Imagine a post-apocalyptic TV series set in a future where society and infrastructure have collapsed and trains have sat unused and neglected for decades. If you imagine what a modern, 1st class train carriage would look like under those circumstances, you’d probably be underestimating the levels of filth on this next train.

They seem to have a total block with cleaning sometimes in Egypt and the levels of dirt are far worse than India or Cambodia, our two grubbiest countries to date.

But only sometimes, other trains in Egypt were absolutely immaculate.

Other than having to peel ourselves off the seats in Alexandria, the ride was fairly comfortable and the changing scenery interesting.

Our next disappointment was an Alexandrian hotel that, despite being the cleanest we’ve seen and having the best wi-fi, saw us approaching Booking dot com for a refund.

They agreed when we told them of late-night noise, screaming toddlers and cigarette smoke leaking in from the corridor. Add to that the horrific Alexandria traffic and general lack of charm and we’d had enough.

Throw in Chef feeling unwell ( an accidental hangover, not his fault after 1 can of dodgy beverage), followed by being ripped off over coffee at Alexandria bus station by a grinning, rotten-toothed scum bag, and our run of crap luck continued.

So we fled back to Cairo to the shadow of the pyramids and our favourite guest house, enjoying this crazy little village full of cowboys and con men. They know us now, we are welcomed by genuinely smiling faces and that’s always lovely, even if, after coffee, they take us to their cousin’s gift shop.

Our journey from bus station to Sphinx took 4 times as long as it should, our taxi kept overheating forcing us to stop every few minutes for our driver to release the steam and top up the water.

We were probably the only customers he’d had all day so we stuck with him and paid him a little more than the agreed price.

We left Egypt on a 2am flight via Germany the night before last and were thankfully granted a very late check out so we could enjoy comfort, wi-fi and the nightly sound and light show from our rooftop rather than sitting out in the dust, grime and heat.

Another ancient car and older taxi driver took us to the airport. The older ones are, we hope, the more sensible drivers, they’ve survived.

Ibrahim drove us for 3 days but his eyes weren’t good enough for night driving, so Mohammed had been summoned for our airport run. Over an hour in the worst traffic you can imagine, the most dangerous roads and with eye-stinging pollution.

Mohammed assured me we’d be safe, he was a steady driver, everything would be fine, but I was terrified on that highway. I’ve lost my nerve.

On the highway I noticed  young mum, perched sidesaddle on the back of a scooter holding her precious baby. Trucks (like the one with no brakes above) screamed past her on either side, boy racers in modern luxury cars weaved through the chaos like madmen. She and her child breathed the toxic air that is their daily reality. It’s not fair.

We met so many lovely Egyptian people, like Mohammed, Abdulla, Ibrahim, Gouda and the random boy on the train who asked me to hold his baby son. Their lives are so freaking hard.

They have to live there, we can leave, they struggle to make a dollar out of cynical, often rude tourists, when there are ANY tourists.  

They put their lives on the line to get on a bus or even cross the street, their eyes are sore from pollution every day and they can’t escape from it. Their children grow up surrounded by filth.

It’s just not fair and I hate it. I’ve had enough of the crap in this world, of corrupt governments, of inhumanity, of rich selfish fools lining their pockets and shopping for recreation while the poor suffer.

It’s been an amazing trip with a wealth of learning for all of us, but don’t let anyone tell you travel in Egypt is easy. We had incredible experiences visiting all of the big ancient Egyptian sites you know about, plus a few more. Posts on Ancient Memphis, the Saqqara Stepped Pyramid, Luxor, Karnak, Aswan and Abu Simbel are still to come.  The pyramids and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo are already published.

Egypt is truly one of the most spectacular countries on Earth. We loved Egypt despite the hiccups and we’re so grateful to have had this opportunity but it’s left me with too much to think about. I’m still processing, wondering if there is anything I can do to help.

I’ll do my best, possibly the only thing I can do is to tell you to go and spend your tourist dollar in supporting the Egyptian people.

We felt perfectly safe with regard to terrorism and “trouble”, security is good. We visited Coptic Cairo just days after the most recent bombing and felt completely safe.

Cairo airport had the best, most thorough security I’ve seen anywhere in the world. The roads are another story, but you, as a tourist, can take safer forms of transport.

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Learn About Egypt Before You Travel

We highly recommend the Lonely Planet guide books for learning about the history and culture of a country before you leave home. You can use it to figure out where in Egypt you want to go and learn the basics of the language, a few pleases and thank yous are always welcome. It’s also a good idea to learn numbers 1-10 in Arabic, we’ve found this very useful.

If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!

We also suggest you take a look at this company to get a quote for all kinds of the more tricky adventure or extended travel insurance.

Try Stayz / VRBO for an alternative way to find rentals on homes/apartments/condos in any country!