To begin, i am a shoestring traveller who rarely takes a taxi but starting to appreciate a bit more luxury these days, occasionally!! .... I try to experience a country from a local perspective, not as a tourist, although i did many tourist sites in this journey .. I have also lived and worked for many seasons as a scuba diver in Egypt, and can speak a bit of Arabic.. Learning the numbers will help you immensely and prices will drop immediately.... I met a lot of people being fleeced of their floose (money) in Egypt over the last 10weeks, so i hope this helps a few people......

Due to Economics, Egypt is very cheap right now and its very easy to live on 10$/€ a day all in..... And it is also welcoming.... Sure there are touts, but the call of WELCOME, 5 times a day makes for special feelings..
Changing money should be done at a bank... Egypt wants hard currency and the rates are about ¼ of one percent below the XE rate.. If 20.75 to €, banks give 20.68 or more... There also special ATM machines that do not need a card in tourist spots (dahab, sharm, cairo, luxor, aswan) that take direct currency and spit out the local pounds... You can change at stores but you lose 5%..... Even the airports give normal rates... In some cases, i saw rates better than XE for UK pounds.

Cairo.....
Standard taxi fare from the airport is 80LE, about 4€...They try to start at 200! One can also take the public bus by going to the bus station near the domestic terminal for 2.5le, about 10cents. This way is a bit confusing, takes an hour+ with traffic, and drops you directly behind the Egyptian museum.. You want bus 1003.....it is easier by bus returning to the airport.....
I stayed at Hotel Ismalia in Cairo, a long running staple.. Its location is brilliant.. Directly on Tahrir square, directly next to the subway (Sadat station), and within 5 minutes walk to the museum, the Mogamma (extensions ) and long distance busses.... Its much cleaner than it used to be with fresh paint, very hot water, wifi, and ashraf at the front desk. The elevators are a bit rickety!! Room 805 has one of the best views in Cairo.. Its 100LE per person, and a bit more with attached or the sealed rooms with AC on the 7th floor.

Cairo.....use the subway.. It takes you all over, is very cheap, 2le, though it can be PACKED. There are specific women’s cars!

Ice cream in Cairo.... Dont miss this.. Along Talat Harb are numerous places... Just follow all the cups and cones... A double scoop of insanely good chocolate or mango ice-cream is 7.5 le...
The pyramids.... You can easily reach the pyramids for 5 le... Take the subway to Giza station, walk outside, and take any mini bus/bus for about 3 le.. They know where you want to go and tell you when to get off... Trust!!!.. Its then a 15 minute walk...
Beginning November 1, 2017 tourist sites are getting more expensive... I dont know if they all are, but essentially prices are doubling, from 4-5€, to 8-10....i was told this at 2 sites, but will not be there for increases... Student cards, if you can get one, offer up huge discounts..
Right now, in oct 2017...
Pyramids.. 80 le, Karnak.. 100, VOK.. 110 for 3 tombs, Hatsheput.. 50, Edfu.. 60, Abu Simbel.. 115...........

Trains..... Seat61.com offers up great info but a bit out dated.... It is next to impossible to buy a sleeper train ticket for an Egyptian price!! People are apprehensive about buying for you as they must show id and train officials are clued in... Most machines in stations are broken or ask for a form if payment you don’t have... Buying directly on the train is easy, no problem, and involves a small penalty... For ALL trains..
You can also buy at the windows in train stations.. I bought my girlfriend a 1st class night train seat yesterday from Aswan to Cairo for 132 le....Cheaper than i expected.... It may be that certain trains have more expensive seats as i was expecting 300???

Other fares i had, buying on the train. Cairo to Luxor, day train, 186 1st, Luxor to Edfu 2nd, 25 le, Edfu to Aswan, 2nd, 27le

Minibusses....this is perhaps the most cost efficient way of making small journeys in Egypt of about 5-10km,in general..
You need small bills. Jump in, sit wherever there is space, and and pay..
Prices per city approx ...if a payment is 1.75, most pay 2
SHARM... 2 LE
CAIRO.. 2.5 LE
ASWAN, LUXOR, EDFU.. 1.25 LE

Dahab... What a great place to pass time.... Spend what you must... I stayed at Sindbad camp for close to a month and a private room with very clean share bathroom was about 4€/day...it could have been less but i didnt really eat there. Amazing beds.

Sharm.... Its possible to stay for 10€ day in many places. The AIDA offers up rooms for less... I rented a 2 bedroom house with yard, kitchen, rooftop for 75 per month.... Utilities were an extra 10...
Luxor....avoid the East bank.. STAY on the West bank where its much MUCH calmer ... We rented a beautiful house with kitchen, balcony, ac, hot water, with an Italian owner called Villa Diletta...cost was 10$ per day... Brilliant.... You can rent it via booking, or TA, or airbnb, but i called directly from a photo of the phone number, avoiding cleaning fees. .. The Egyptian running it, mohamned, speaks perfect English. 3days turned to 5....luxury when you can take a cold beer from your own fridge... Beer is available for 20 le/ 1€ from the wine shop on station street...

Edfu.. One of the few places where hotels are limited.... Edfu is very Egyptian, and most tourists dont spend the night... The only hotel listed was al medina... WHAT A DUMP.... 5 minutes away on the main street are the Horus Hotel, or where we stayed, the al Moon... Double with ac and private was 110 le..Note the manager started out at 250 but when I showed him the prices llisted on the wall in Arabic and English numbers, he agreed to the normal price... Price lists are very common in the registration section of hotels so look around and learn the numbers..

Aswan... We couchsurfed with a guy named David.. Very positive experience.... We also stayed in the Yaseen Hotel, also positive... About 100 le..

Abu Simbel.... Rather than the normal tourist all day trip that starts at 0300, we went by public bus to Abu.. The bus station is a bit out of town.. Bus departs at 1700 and ticket is 50le.. Arrive into Abu at about 21:00.. RETURN TO Aswan, bus departs at 0600,so you need 2 nights... Maybe?? there is one more bus leaving from abu to aswan at 11 but it wasnt clear as i think one bus was broken at the time...

If returning by public minibus to aswan, the best time for mini busses is between 15:00-16:00...says the locals
There are also minibusses that leave when full.

Abu Sleeping...
Nobele.. Next to where the bus stops, this place is cheap, but a dump... My girlfriend refused to even use the shower but we arrived much later than expected and took the first place.. 150le

Directly Across from the gas station is Abu Simbel Village.. VERY dated, but better than Nobele.. We just didnt find it..
SETI..completely overpriced and stinks like smoke.. 200$+
Tuya...we tried to bargain here and were close, but we couldn’t reach a price both were happy with. About 50$
Now for the surprise!!! “Next to Eskahleh, which is incredible, is a new place called Kabalah House.. Same family, owned by the grandparents, so incredibly luxurious, hot water, thick white towels, clean etc, but much less $... A US Andrew Jackson got us a night and we stayed a few more..

Camping.... If you want to camp, some really perfect spots in Abu Simbel just before the bridge, airport side, close to gas station.. Sandy and flat...
Food and water

As much as i usually use bottled water, realized quite quickly that locals cannot afford it and places like Edfu, almost hard to find. .. This being the case, there are good water machines all over for good, free, a little bit chloriney water.. We partook in Abu, Aswan, & Edfu without any stomach problems at all.... I do carry a sawyer water filter, and we sometimes used this..
Other places, we bought 6 or 19 liter bottles for 10 le, 32le..
Food.. If you want to go cheap and tastey, eat Egyptian... In general a Felafel sandwich is between 2.5-3.5 le.... Or buy a plate of felafel for 5le..or a plate of babaganough, a plate of eggplant and tomato etc...we bought 5le of felafel in aswan and got 25 pieces!!! Fresh Bread is about 3 pieces for 1 le if not subsidised, otherwise 15-20 pieces. Fresh Feta cheese is delicious and stupidly cheap.. Tomatoes are beween 5-8kg, bananna, 8-20kg, grapes 5-15, mango 10-25, fresh figs 10,....etc.
½ bbq chicken with sides should be about 50le..

A great snack is buying a jar of Tahine and learning to make it.

Guess thats it for now... I m off to Sudan and Ethiopia.... Note i posted on another post about changes in prices and timings for the ferry... It is by the way, possible to get a sudan visa for 50$ for a US citizen, but they must have done a sponser beforehand... All other passports are 50$and 4days... , i inadvertently met the sudan consulate official and got mine in 2 hours same day!!!

Come to Egypt.. Its fantastic!!!!

Many thanks to all who helped with the planning.

Clickhere for full trip report with pics.

Cheers.

Jon

In the Carpathians... Ever since arriving in Ukraine last week, I've been having bad flashbacks to my year and a half studying the grammatically diabolical Russian language. To me, Ukrainian and Russian are similar enough yet also different enough that I'm never quite sure if I should: a) attempt to communicate in Ukrainian; b) make a marginally better attempt in Russian; c) just give up and go straight to English. With b), I never know how Ukrainians will feel about being addressed in Russian so I've been hoping that I'm being perceived as a well-intentioned tourist trying to speak unintelligible Ukrainian.

Currently in L'viv, beautiful city with a fascinating history. Will spend 3 days and nights here before continuing to Kyiv, Odesa, and Moldova... one frenetic week for all 3.

До побачення, товариші!

[h1 left]Mt Hoverla[/h1] Before the trip I had booked a train ticket from Užhorod to Vorokhta (one of the staging towns for Hoverla) with a change in L'viv. It was overnight to L'viv then switching to a ~5 hour ride from there to Vorokhta with a nerve wracking, schedule 37 minute layover which ended up being about 15 minutes. Both tickets were 3[sup]rd[/sup] class but very quiet and comfortable and I was able to sleep really well. There is a shorter way from Užhorod by bus to Rakhiv then train to Vorokhta but it would have burned an entire day and cost more than the 2 train rides combined, not to mention my accommodation on the train too.

After L'viv, there was a long stop in Ivano-Frankivsk (a.k.a., IF, about halfway to Vorokhta) which would have been just enough to hit the really good cafeteria in the train station had I been paying attention. Settled for a tea (10 UAH) from the carriage attendant then used the glass to brew my own coffee with the super critical hot water from the [i]samovar[/i] conveniently present on all trains I've ever taken in the former USSR.

While preparing the coffee I met Andriy from L'viv and his friends who were doing an overnight near Hoverla but were starting from a different trail than I was. He introduced me to some local kids who were going to hike Hoverla then return to L'viv same day. This was [i]muy importante[/i] since I had no idea how I was going to get from Vorokhta to the start of the hike ~20 kms away without shelling out 400 UAH for my own taxi. At the train station, 12:00 or so by this time, the 10 students arranged a van to the start of the hike at Zaroslyak for 100 UAH each and they were happy to take me. I would have to figure out how to get back on my own because they were not going back to Vorokhta until 20:00 and I knew with 100% certainty that I would not need 7 hours for the hike.

At the park boundary checkpoint we all had to get out of the van, register with the officials, and pay the 30 UAH entry fee. When I slid over a 100 UAH note to the woman to pay she pushed it back saying, "mini present," and would take absolutely no money. After receiving my present we cruised along as fast as we could on the deteriorating road arriving at Zaroslyak just before 13:00. It took me a few minutes to wander down to the bathroom/shower building (5/50 UAH) where I left my luagge with the attendant for 50 UAH.

The hike was straightforward except that I did not heed the advice of the park official who suggested going up the green marked trail and down the blue (3 kms to the summit and 1 km shorter than green but pretty steep for a stretch). I took blue both ways because I was naively holding out hope that I could catch the 17:00 train north to IF. The trail was very crowded presumably because it was the weekend but it only took me 1½ hours to get to the freezing summit at 14:45 where, per the norm, I did not dawdle.

Back at Zaroslyak by 15:55 I inhaled a bowl of scalding hot [i]yushka[/i] (mushroom soup with noodles) as I had barely eaten anything the whole day save for a Clif bar on the trail and a cutlet roll on the train that my compartment co-traveler had graciously offered me for breakfast over tea. After retrieving my bag I wandered around the parking lot asking about a lift back to the train station. I actually met someone from Minnesota living in Kiev and his Ukrainian girlfriend who were also looking for a ride. It took a while before the other passengers were rustled up but we passed the time doing shots of [i]navlika[/i] (strong berry wine) for 20 UAH each. Blackberry was my favorite. The ride back (also 100 UAH pp) was much slower than the way up and I just missed the 17:42 bus to IF. Hit the local pizzeria for a healthy sized margherita and a pint of Czech beer for 96 UAH. The next bus, [i]marshrutka[/i] actually, rolled through ~19:00 and it was a quick 2 hour trip to IF for 85 UAH dropped right at the train station about a block from the hostel.

I left Užgorod just before midnight Friday night, tagged the summit the following day, and got to my next destination 21 hours later making for one of my most intensely packed travel experiences ever.

[b]Transport[/b] The train from Užgorod to L'viv departed 23:48 scheduled to arrive 05:58 but was ~20 minutes late. The next train departed Saturday morning on time at 06:35 and arrived Vorokhta more or less on time at 12:00. Cost for each leg in [i]platskart[/i] was ~127 UAH, so ~$10 for the entire trip.

[h1 left]Užgorod[/h1] Good entry point into Ukraine coming from Czech Republic or Slovakia. Logistically, it worked for me as I was heading straight to the mountains from here via L'viv. Aside from L'viv, Užgorod itself is not really well connected by train to other parts of Ukraine which may partially explain why there were so few tourists. Not much to draw the traveler here but not a bad place. If I'd had more motivation I could have taken an hour bus ride to Mukachevo to check out the purportedly impressive castle.

[b]Accommodation and food[/b] Had reserved Freedom Hostel for one night because they would let me check in early after the long trip from Brno. The hostel was still a major work in progress but more importantly there was no one staffing the place. As such, I headed down the road to central Alina Hostel at Rio Plaza and took a bed in a 3 person dorm (only one other person) for 150 UAH. Super clean, good WiFi. Couldn't check in til 15:00 so dumped the bag and hit the [i]stolovaya[/i] (Russian term for cafeteria, not sure that word is used here but it's understood) 2 floors down. There are a TON of cafés in Užgorod, close by was Palermo, 30 UAH for a cappuccino or a Ukrainian latte (for a US style latte flat white is better), 20 UAH for a shot of espresso. Good WiFi, can chillax there no pressure.

[b]Transport[/b] The adjacent train and long distance bus stations are about a 30 min walk south of the center. City buses also make the run.

[h1 left]Ivano-Frankivsk[/h1] IF was a quasi-planned stop after Hoverla since I did not know how far I'd be able to get after the hike. It was only 2 hours by bus from Vorokhta, another 3 hours to L'viv which would have involved getting to a different bus station on the far side of town. Seeing as it was late and there was still space on a late afternoon train to L'viv the next day, I opted to crash there for the night and see the sights before catching the train.

Turned out to be a really nice, small city and the weather, unlike on Hoverla, was perfect. Since it was Sunday, the market area around city hall was buzzing with food stalls, booze, and crafts. The city hall tourist office has an English map for 2 self guided walking tours (maybe an hour for each one) and there is actually an app for the tours too.

[b]Accommodation and food[/b] A block from the train and southern bus station, Transit Hostel admirably served its purpose. I reserved it thru booking.com as I waited for the receptio