Would you travel to Egypt at the moment?

[thegoldensun]

Looking for some thoughts on this.

Am due to travel to Egypt in a couple of weeks, I know all the advice at the moment is that Egypt is safe. However- I am travelling with two young children and concerns around the airspace, potential delays (more worrying about being out there and not being able to fly home!) are really concerning me.

If I wasn’t travelling with young DCs I might be a bit more relaxed. But I am struggling to feel excited about this trip with all that’s happening.

We have booked through Thomas Cook and it appears we can amend the booking for a fee, plus any other fees associated with travelling elsewhere.

Thoughts?

I am currently in Egypt , it is absolutely fine , the Gov red zone remains to be exactly where it always has been avoiding the far north Libyan borders - tourist areas like Hurghada and Sharm are not involved , not even the same continent and I feel absolutely fine. Not in the slightest bit worried .

Have you booked as a package?
Is your provider ATOL and ABTA?
Are you insured?

If yes to all 3 then yes I would go, including with children. If no to any of them, then I wouldn't.

If you booked with someone like Tui for example and flights are delayed an unreasonable period of time then you will be taken to another hotel, you will not be abandoned at the airport.

Egypt is safe, resorts are safe.

(Disclaimer, I came back last weekend and wish I was still out there!)

I wouldn’t as I don’t think it would be enjoyable just now. Probably all will be fine but also maybe not and that would make me anxious.

I agree, you wouldn't even be flying over the Middle East to travel there. Both Hurghada and Sharm are both perfectly safe at present.

Wouldn’t personally go anywhere in the region at present, even though Egypt isn’t obviously involved it’s still Israels neighbour and things escalate so quickly

Nope: been before, would not even think about going right now.

Yes, come back to the USA & risk being killed at school by a mad gunman.

No way!

I’m due to go in 3 weeks - DD1 currently on her uni year abroad there and been there since last August - really hoping I can still go, will see if things escalate. I have lived in the Middle East before but many years ago.

I wouldn't bother with Egypt full stop

You will probably be fine. But insurance doesn’t cover war.

We are due to head out in 28 days. Sharm is safe to travel to, unless things change, we will be going.

Because I am capable of thinking rationally about the risks and coming to a decision instead of jumping to some sort of worst case scenario which is incredibly unlikely to happen.

No, don't do it!

How the fuck can you rationalise the risks? Pretty much full scale war has broken out in the Middle East and absolutely nobody knows how it's going to go. Including the leaders that started it! The only thing you can 100% guarantee is that it will get worse, much worse.

Well for starters Egypt is over 1,500 miles from Iran. That's roughly the same distance as Ukraine is from the UK.
Given recent history Egypt is very unlikely to get involved in any conflict or become a target for Iranian missiles.
Flights to Egypt go nowhere near the area where the conflict is happening.

@Erin1975 as someone had pointed out upthread Egypt is neighbours with Israel which is a significant factor to consider.

I’m intrigued as to what @quiettrumphas been saying . No personally I wouldn’t go especially with children. Anything could escalate once you’re there and to not able to get back on time with kids it would be awful

Neighbours yes but in terms of where tourists tend to go it's about 300km from Cairo to the Israeli border, and eslewhere probably 200 km from Aqaba (right on the junction of Egypt, Israel and Jordon) to Sharm.

I guess whether that's significant is down to the individual.

Oh this is really tricky. The chances are, it will probably be fine. However even if everything turned out fine in the end, it would be hard to relax during the holiday, I’d be checking the news the whole time in case we needed to move fast.

If you have the option to change for not much, and you can change to something equally appealing or nearly, then I would do that. So it would depend on what my other options are to be honest. And how big the change fees are.

Yeah but Egypt is actually right next door to Israel which is being bombarded by Iranian missiles! And you don't seem to have considered the heightened risk of terror attacks because there most definitely will be. Iran supports a whole network of terror organisations across the Middle East. For a start, Egypt is only around 300 miles from Lebanon where Hezbollah (one of Iran's greatest supporters) operates.

This. Awful place. Deeply misogynistic culture. I was constantly harassed.

Never again.

The war is changing daily with new countries becoming involved. I wouldn't go to Egypt right now. Pay the fee and switch somewhere much further away. Canaries?

No. I've been in Thailand for a couple of months and tbh if I were travelling here tomorrow I would cancel. Flights are very very expensive, people are stuck trying to get flights, and it's all a bit of a worry . . .

Can I ask: are those that are stuck people trying to get back on the nonstop flights to places in e.g. Europe that avoid the Gulf, just those that have chosen to connect in the Gulf or a mixture?