To cance l a trip to Egypt next summer?

[DrSeuss]

Am well aware that my holiday is the least of the problems facing the Middle East but it is my current dilemma and I need to make a decision.
We were in the process of arranging a three week trip to Egypt for next summer. We would be travelling independently by public transport from one end of the country to the other, accompanied by our thirteen year old daughter, staying in Airbnbs and guest houses and doing our own day trips to see the sights. Before having children, we did this kind of thing all over the world including India and South America and never felt at all unsafe.

However, the current situation has me a bit rattled. There is no way that this will all calm down any time soon. I do not want to expose my daughter to any danger. She has travelled with us in this way in Europe lots of times and we took her on a package holiday to Egypt when she was two. She is used to travelling and all that goes with it but I just don't think we should do this right now. A family of tourists were attacked on Saturday in Alexandria. We don't speak Arabic and are very obviously Northern European to look at so no way will we blend in.
Everything I have booked so far is fully refundable at this point. Should I cancel?

I live in the Middle East and would cancel, or at least leave everything as cancellable. I was planning to go to Egypt in Feb, but will defer for now.

As an aside, Egypt can be sort of done independently - Cairo sites are ok, Luxor sites ok, I'd get a night train etc. You pretty much HAVE to travel by convoy in certain areas though i.e to get to Abu Simbel. It's not a place to take risks - you do not want to get kidnapped. However, the hassle factor can be overwhelming - kids shoving things in your hands and putting things on your head at the Pyramids etc. Having a good guide with you can sometimes mitigate some of this. Alternatively you may be dragged around your guide's uncle's five shops

I also wouldn't go in summer, unless you hate yourself!

Enjoy Europe

You'd enjoy Thailand, OP.

Given it’s fully refundable I’d just cancel and spend elsewhere

Going from Cairo to Luxor and then Aswan is not hard.

I've travelled lots of places independently but wouldn't do it in Egypt

Me and dp really enjoyed Prague and Poland!

yeah i wouldn’t go. i wouldn’t go with a teenage girl regardless of what’s going on at the minute - my parents took my sister and i as teenagers and it was so scary i have never felt so uncomfortable travelling in my life. one man even stopped and asked if he could buy my sister

Haven't RTFT but I laughed at this. Also travelled extensively, also very independent, also have a girl.

Also, the only place I've every hated and couldn't find redeeming features was LA. If there is an afterlife, and I've been bad enough, I will be sent to LA.

If everything is fully refundable and you dont feel comfortable, you are better off cancelling as otherwise you will drive yourself mad in the run up to the holiday fretting about whether you made the right decision.

What i would say is that a decade ago, i did an amazing three week trip around Egypt using Intrepid Travel. I see they now do family trips as well so something to look into. The guides were local, knowledgeable and no dropping into "friendly shops" where you felt pressured to make a purchase. Given how big they are as a company, it was a really great experience.

Like you OP, I've independently travelled in some far flung places of the world. I thought I'd be fine doing the same in Egypt.

The travel on trains and taxis and buses wasn't the problem. It was the absolutely vile men in every single place me and teen daughter went. Both conservatively dressed, yet the amount of men that followed, yes followed, us was scary.

One island in the Nile, I did 2 X 180 turns on the not well populated path and the man did the same. I ended up using an extremely stern voice to get him to go away. Never felt so scared on my travels and I've been in hairy situations before.

Another one told me to fuck off because I'd been ignoring him following me for 10 minutes asking to clean my shoes.

Another followed us down a street in Luxor trying to get us to enter his very dark shop. He swore at us when we kept walking away from him.

I have several more stories of the same ilk. Don't get me started on the tourist police...

Suffice to say, my advice too would be go to Poland. Gdansk is stunning. Krakow is wonderful. Poznan is ok.

And Budapest...oh my life... Wonderful place I hope to revisit

I wouldn’t go to Egypt in summer! I know it’s cheaper but you’ll fry.

Push it off till winter 24/25 and take a view with enough time to cancel?

We went to Egypt recently with our toddler and had an excellent time, but we are also both from major U.K. cities so as soon as a situation gave us an odd feeling we would leave immediately (this only happened once at a very crowded tourist site where I was sure we were being followed).

Just like with London or any other major city, you can’t be afraid to also speak up/confront/leave if something doesn’t feel right. Egypt is no different, and I wouldn’t want to trade the incredible experiences that we had because of one or two tricky ones.

That being said, I think as soon as you start to worry about a holiday rather than look forward to it, your experience won’t be the same so I’d say cancel and rebook a couple of years down the line.

As pp said, independent travelling in Egypt is very, very different to either a package tour to Egypt or independent travelling in Europe.

Add in the fact that you don't speak Arabic and will physically stick out like a sore thumb, I think you are potentially asking for trouble. Never mind all the other stuff going on in the middle East.

Go independent somewhere else (safer), or go package somewhere more exotic, I just don't think Egypt is a sensible choice to be independent without any of the language.

Several of our trips to Egypt have been in July and august and we've not found the heat intolerable because it's such a dry heat, and all three of us are very fair skinned. I find 40 degrees in Egypt much easier to cope with than 30 degrees in London or other European destinations because of the difference in humidity.

I would go with this plan.
Highly recommend prauge and the Czech Republic in general

I did America independently in the 1990’s wouldn’t do it now. Egypt in the 1990’s we were escorted everywhere by armed guards can’t remember why.

I've done a lot of travelling, including to objectively dangerous countries, and there is one country I would never travel independently, especially with a young teenage girl, and that's Egypt.

Have a browse on some of the independent travel subreddits, and have a look at what people have to say about Egypt. You will face constant harassment and your daughter will absolutely have old men leering at her and potentially groping her. It could be a really disturbing experience for her.

Sorry to gatecrash- friends are planning on going to sharm el sheik next week with a blonde female teenage dd- I think it’s bonkers, what does mumsnet think? Esp with the Gaza situation.

If you do want to visit a middle eastern country, Jordan is amazing and the people don't treat women and girls anything like Egyptians do. Although given the potential political situation , I would personally choose Germany and Poland atm, particularly travelling with a child.

A lot of Egypt gives an uneasy atmosphere. In certain areas tourist buses are accompanied by armed soldiers and there are army checkpoints on the roads. And there is history (older as well as recent) of tourists being attacked.

I personally wouldn't. If they are intent on going, they need to keep an eye on the fco travel advice page for Egypt, because their insurance may be invalid if anything happens if the fco have advised against travel.

I mean, they will almost certainly be fine, so I guess it depends what levels of risk they are happy with. For me, travelling with children completely changes what level of risk I will tolerate, so for me it would be a no. I don't think I would be able to fully relax anyway.

Nothing to do with the situation next door but I can’t imagine travelling independently in Egypt. Sounds like a recipe for stress and hassle.

sharm is a bit of a dive but very hotel based. If they stay in their hotel they’ll be fine. I found all hotel staff in Sharm respectful and welcoming. It was when wandering outside the walls (by myself) that things went swiftly downhill.

I’ve been all over the world including Far East, South Africa and Brazil, as a young woman and the only place I’ve ever felt unsafe was Morocco. No shits would I be taking my daughter anywhere remotely like that.

We used to live in Egypt and are used to travelling there independently. We are gong in a few weeks. But we are not taking our teenage uni-age daughter with us by her choice and I do think she would just attract so much attention it might be too uncomfortable for her. I don't really see the problem with travelling independently but I suppose I am familiar with the country but the excessive attention to women (especially younger but not only) can be really annoying. It's a shame - because most of the ordinary population are just friendly and welcoming - but once you are on the 'tourist circuit' things go downhill.