My husband, 2 sons – aged 9 & 11 – and I landed in Cairo at 5:15am on Saturday 12 January 2013. We had booked an early layover tour with Egypt Fun Tours after reading the great reviews in TripAdvisor. As promised he and his driver awaited us in a big, comfortable mini-bus.
We were all exhausted, with our boys having had only 1 and a half hours sleep on the previous evening’s flight and all of us from travelling around Europe for 4 weeks. but we had a very busy day planned. I have multiple sclerosis and was beginning to flare as my walking deteriorated and I wasn’t well at all, beginning the day prior to landing in Egypt. Not the easiest bunch to have as a group! Nonetheless, Hani ploughed straight ahead. He could see the little ones were tired and adapted things accordingly. After noticing how I was walking he also showed concern for me and was VERY patient with my snail-pace.
After the exhilarating, eye-opening ride through Cairo to Giza – Pyramids and Sphinx, we went to Saqqara, another pyramid complex that is beautiful in it’s own right, with a look at the first pyramid ‘the step pyramid’ and a view of the further red pyramid; then back to Cairo to a papyrus shop for an exhibit on how papyrus is made and an opportunity to buy some pieces; lunch at a local fast-food type place, where even my usually quite fussy eaters tried a bit of everything and ate a full falafel! Yes! Full of vegetables! We then visited the Cairo Museum – a place that I have dreamed about since I was a little girl. Ah! You walk in and the tall statues greet you with an ominous awe that seems to radiate the place. I could have stayed their for hours. Unfortunately for me my body could no longer keep up – I may have just pushed it to the limit insisting that I climb down into two tombs/pyramids and walked on a bit of Sahara to see the first pyramid ever built, how could I not??? But at the museum I just crashed. Hani was very concerned and wanted to take me to the museum clinic but I assured him I was fine, just needed to sit. I sat outside the exit whist my worried husband and children looked at the pieces I have read about all these years.
The last stop was the great market, I couldn’t go in but our son wanted to buy gifts for his big sister back home so Hani took all three of my boys for a rush buy at El Khalil I think it’s called? Pity, apparently the market is awesome. Back in the van we were taken back timeously enough to checked in for our long flight home (where on this flight, the little ones slept non-stop).
Thanks to my incredible slowness we didn’t get to see the market as we should have, or medieval Cairo. But that is the beauty of a private tour. It is adaptable. If we were on a group tour I would have been ‘left on the bus’ continuously. Hani was absolutely fantastic. His knowledge of the area, his warmth, friendliness and openness makes for a new friend in Cairo and I would recommend him 150% to anyone going for any type of tour to Egypt as he does other Egypt tours as well.
Thank you Hani, I am sorry for messing up the day somewhat and although it may have seemed I was not enjoying myself at times, it was not that, I was in a lot of pain and not well. But I loved our visit, even more so because you made it that more comfortable and special.
