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I mean, guy, read what you wrote before posting it! You're basically telling us that you live neither in Egypt, nor in the Middle-East, but after that you start telling us what the situation is like?
It does not make any sense!
People who can give insight on what the situation is are people who actually live and work in Egypt, because we know the situation first hand.
Besides, if expatriates are the best source of information, it's because they receive constant security updates from their embassies or employers through SMS. This information is not available to tourists and certainly not to people living abroad.
Last but not least, you cannot go to a bar or a restaurant in Cairo without meeting American expats every night. It must not be that dangerous if they feel safe enough to get drunk in the city center.
My wife and I was also planning on Egypt, Dahab, this year, but as there was some kidnappings and attacks around Dahab we decided to go to Jordan instead. I been 4-5 times in Egypt before for scuba diving, so it is not that I dont know the country at all. But after this second Religious Crisis I would not go for now, but look for other places.
As some have said, this is only a holiday, and I am not to balance my wife nor 2½ kid safety for a holiday, so my advice is that if you wish to go to middle east, you might take a look at Jordan which I discovered as being safe and not currently in all that tumult as Egypt seems to be in right now. Other places where you can experiance the Middle east culture would be Oman, wich is next on my list.
I am not US, but Danish and even we Danes are not in the center of this Crisis now I was travelling in Egypt 1 year after the first crisis and had no issues at all. But that was before my kid!
We leave for Jordan on the 23 sept. for 16 days :-)
I am only one person and this is the first time I've posted, as written in my original post, due to what I think are irresponsible responses comparing New York City to areas being attacked throughout the middle east.
Whether one considers it travel or a holiday, it's not a good time to go. There are other safer places to go.
Hopefully Egypt will be safer in the future. However, we will be canceling our upcoming trip, not making snotty remarks about other people's postings, not making paranoid accusations, and waiting for things to calm down and become safer. My husband and I agree we have time on our side and we want to enjoy our journeys, not worry about safety.
We look to Lonely Planet for travel advice. We've done so for years. We don't expect personal attacks from some who apparently think they own the space for their own use.
Gathering useful information from LPTT forums is an important and legitimate way to use the forums. If you wish to participate you must realize the global, anonymous format facilitates all types of personalities, communication styles and responses.
Successful participants take it all in stride, don't take any of it personally and move on to the next thread.
However it does not make any sense to have people who live far from the Middle-East, like Terry, write that "Egypt is not safe" when they have no knowledge of the situation.
There were violent protests around the American embassy indeed, but this was confined to 0,000000000001% of the Egyptian territory. It's exactly as if an Egyptian national said he would not travel to the USA because many people were killed in a cinema in Colorado.
You know that I have travelled in Egypt even though you continuously accuse me of never having been there. Let's face it, Egypt is not the moon. Millions of people, including myself, have been there.
Normlly, in other threads, you also accuse me of living in Tel Aviv. Why not this time?
The situation in Egypt is dissimilar to the theatre shooting in the US. In the Egyptian case American assets are being targeted. In the US case the shootings were random.
In the ME right now the Western idea of free speech is being attacked by Islamic fundementalists who hate western civilization and everything that it stands for. These Islamists now hold the levers of power in Egypt.
I can't do an Aussie accent so that's out...
I hope Egypt is open for business...because the Pyramids are one of the absolute "Must See" places on Earth...I'd love to spend more time in Egypt...
As a rule Egyptians are friendly to tourists...and realize that they are an important part of their economy... The touts are not more aggressive that in other parts of the tourist world... Generally I avoid demonstrations or police incidents...you can always duck into a side street...and avoid the main squares where things are happening...
This is a travel forum. Please let people who know or live in Egypt inform fellow travellers. Delirious rantings will not help them.
The situation in Sinai is clearly a different issue, and one I'm not qualified to give any sort of informed opinion on, but as far as Cairo goes, there is absolutely no reason why anyone should be scared of coming here. Personally speaking, the main difficulty facing me in Egypt over the past few months has been the temperature.
There is absolutely no danger in Cairo.
We're still planning to go next Summer unless the situation grows worse for tourists.
For example, we were thinking about going to Syria at one point since we went to Turkey last Summer. Obviously we aren't going to Syria now. That's a dangerous situation. Egypt? I don't see that it is and continue to read positive, recent trip reports from people there.
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15
Terry, I've had a good laugh reading your post.I mean, guy, read what you wrote before posting it! You're basically telling us that you live neither in Egypt, nor in the Middle-East, but after that you start telling us what the situation is like?
It does not make any sense!
People who can give insight on what the situation is are people who actually live and work in Egypt, because we know the situation first hand.
Besides, if expatriates are the best source of information, it's because they receive constant security updates from their embassies or employers through SMS. This information is not available to tourists and certainly not to people living abroad.
Last but not least, you cannot go to a bar or a restaurant in Cairo without meeting American expats every night. It must not be that dangerous if they feel safe enough to get drunk in the city center.
16
Dear All,My wife and I was also planning on Egypt, Dahab, this year, but as there was some kidnappings and attacks around Dahab we decided to go to Jordan instead. I been 4-5 times in Egypt before for scuba diving, so it is not that I dont know the country at all. But after this second Religious Crisis I would not go for now, but look for other places.
As some have said, this is only a holiday, and I am not to balance my wife nor 2½ kid safety for a holiday, so my advice is that if you wish to go to middle east, you might take a look at Jordan which I discovered as being safe and not currently in all that tumult as Egypt seems to be in right now. Other places where you can experiance the Middle east culture would be Oman, wich is next on my list.
I am not US, but Danish and even we Danes are not in the center of this Crisis now I was travelling in Egypt 1 year after the first crisis and had no issues at all. But that was before my kid!
We leave for Jordan on the 23 sept. for 16 days :-)
17
Hello all followers of this discussion.I am only one person and this is the first time I've posted, as written in my original post, due to what I think are irresponsible responses comparing New York City to areas being attacked throughout the middle east.
Whether one considers it travel or a holiday, it's not a good time to go. There are other safer places to go.
Hopefully Egypt will be safer in the future. However, we will be canceling our upcoming trip, not making snotty remarks about other people's postings, not making paranoid accusations, and waiting for things to calm down and become safer. My husband and I agree we have time on our side and we want to enjoy our journeys, not worry about safety.
We look to Lonely Planet for travel advice. We've done so for years. We don't expect personal attacks from some who apparently think they own the space for their own use.
18
There are no personal attacks because no one here knows who anyone else personally is.Gathering useful information from LPTT forums is an important and legitimate way to use the forums. If you wish to participate you must realize the global, anonymous format facilitates all types of personalities, communication styles and responses.
Successful participants take it all in stride, don't take any of it personally and move on to the next thread.
20
Everyone has to decide for himself or herself, no one is forced to travel or not. The purpose of this forum is not to tell people what to do, it's to provide them with first-hand information on the situation on the ground,However it does not make any sense to have people who live far from the Middle-East, like Terry, write that "Egypt is not safe" when they have no knowledge of the situation.
There were violent protests around the American embassy indeed, but this was confined to 0,000000000001% of the Egyptian territory. It's exactly as if an Egyptian national said he would not travel to the USA because many people were killed in a cinema in Colorado.
21
Cat W, your paranoid fantasies about me being several posters on this thread are amusing at best. They say a lot about you.You know that I have travelled in Egypt even though you continuously accuse me of never having been there. Let's face it, Egypt is not the moon. Millions of people, including myself, have been there.
Normlly, in other threads, you also accuse me of living in Tel Aviv. Why not this time?
The situation in Egypt is dissimilar to the theatre shooting in the US. In the Egyptian case American assets are being targeted. In the US case the shootings were random.
In the ME right now the Western idea of free speech is being attacked by Islamic fundementalists who hate western civilization and everything that it stands for. These Islamists now hold the levers of power in Egypt.
22
I usually tell people I'm Canadian...and they say "Nice Country"...I can't do an Aussie accent so that's out...
I hope Egypt is open for business...because the Pyramids are one of the absolute "Must See" places on Earth...I'd love to spend more time in Egypt...
As a rule Egyptians are friendly to tourists...and realize that they are an important part of their economy... The touts are not more aggressive that in other parts of the tourist world... Generally I avoid demonstrations or police incidents...you can always duck into a side street...and avoid the main squares where things are happening...
23
Molsons, why come and post on Egypt when you once said you've not been there and you live far form the Middle-East?This is a travel forum. Please let people who know or live in Egypt inform fellow travellers. Delirious rantings will not help them.
24
As catw said and as has been repeatedly said on other threads on this subject, the trouble in Cairo was confined to a very small area. On one of the recent days of desultory rioting around the US embassy I was sitting in a bar only a kilometre away while the television showed live pictures from the area, and afterwards walked home without the slightest annoyance. The embassy protests were not only confined to a very small area indeed (even Tahrir was mostly quiet) but only involved a few hundred people at most. It's really not something to start changing travel plans over.The situation in Sinai is clearly a different issue, and one I'm not qualified to give any sort of informed opinion on, but as far as Cairo goes, there is absolutely no reason why anyone should be scared of coming here. Personally speaking, the main difficulty facing me in Egypt over the past few months has been the temperature.
25
There were 3,000 people protesting in front of the US embassy, in a city home to... 23 millions people.There is absolutely no danger in Cairo.
28
No tourists were hurt in that clash, let alone targeted, and it remained confined to Tahrir Square.We're still planning to go next Summer unless the situation grows worse for tourists.
For example, we were thinking about going to Syria at one point since we went to Turkey last Summer. Obviously we aren't going to Syria now. That's a dangerous situation. Egypt? I don't see that it is and continue to read positive, recent trip reports from people there.
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