Cairo - should I cancel?

steve_cov

The Foreign Office has a Travel Advice section on its website, which will tell you whether there is advice against your plans. It is updated regularly.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1095423800990

FWIW, I am less worried about bombs than I am about Egypt's poor human rights record. Do you really want to visit a country which uses state-sanctioned torture, imprisons gay men, limits freedom of political expression on pain of imprisonment and uses exceptional courts?

trigger_mike

i had this chat on here the other day, im of to taba in june for my honeymoon, just up a bit from dahab, quite worried plus we won't get our £950 back unless the home office grant it as unsafe, Taba was bombed 2 years ago so kinda hoping they won't bother again....

trigger_mike

steve_cov wrote:

FWIW, I am less worried about bombs than I am about Egypt's poor human rights record. Do you really want to visit a country which uses state-sanctioned torture, imprisons gay men, limits freedom of political expression on pain of imprisonment and uses exceptional courts?

Yea!! (joke)

Nicholas

I know it was a few years ago now, but I was in Cairo in 1996 just after the attack on a bus thought to contain Isralites. There were police everywhere - and I mean everywhere, for example down the main road there was an armed policeman every 50 meters or so in the central reservation. All the hotels have metal detectors to step through as well, just like at the airport.

Now that Egypt has just had another attack, the country will be on very high alert, and that means everywhere tourists go. So now is the safest time to go. The time I worry about going to these sorts of places is when things have been too quiet for too long.

Hope this helps.

trigger_mike

I did hear that the egyptians are very worried about losing the tourists as that is they main source of income so i quess they be very keen to make you feel at home.

tipsychick

Hi Trigger Mike - I was actually in Luxor when Taba was bombed in Sept 04!

We went to Cairo, then flew to Luxor and cruised down the Nile to Aswan but didn't actually go to Sinai or any of the beach resorts, so I can't really comment on the security in those areas but overall the security was fairly tight most of the time.

From Luxor to Aswan, all of the cruise ships and the coaches used to go sightseeing, moved in one long convoy with armed police escorts. Apparently this was done at the behest of the US government! Some people felt this was over the top but I think they were a bit naive. There was quite a bit of underlying tension and hostility for various reasons - the obvious stuff like the war in Iraq, religious tensions, etc. plus the huge gulf between the haves (you!) and the have nots (everyone else!)

The problem is that as Westerners, you stick out like a sore thumb. Having been to the temple at Luxor where all those tourists were gunned down in the 1990s, I can so easily see how it happened. The archeological sites themselves are totally exposed and there would be just no way of escape at all. We had an extremely bright and on-the-ball guide and I couldn't help noticing he didn't accompany us into that temple!

Having said that, we didn't have any specific problems other than being hounded by touts flogging stuff everywhere we went!

Just on a need to know basis, if you're going to Cairo, there was actually a bomb outside the Egyptian Museum three or four weeks back. No Brits hurt (so little coverage here!) but a couple of tourists were injured. You do have to put your bag through a machine before going into the Museum but security wasn't up to much really.

I think I'd go to Egypt at the moment but do be careful.


PS Don't bother converting too much money. Everyone prefers dollars and sterling!

monkeyspanner

saveapenny wrote:

The bombing wasnt anywhere near Cairo ...go and enjoy it security is good for tourists in Cairo. Have a brilliant time you will love it

There have been attacks in Cairo targeted at Tourists. But there have also been attacks in Turkey (kusadasi), Bali (Kuta), Madrid, London, New York and if you go far enough back even Wales (although aimed generally at holiday homes not people)!
Tourists are fair game for terrorists but really you are probably more likely to be struck by lightning than to get involved in an attack.
That being said, we haven't been back to Egypt since the Hatshepsut Temple attack refered to in another post.

PeteMc

Nicholas wrote:

I know it was a few years ago now, but I was in Cairo in 1996 just after the attack on a bus thought to contain Isralites. There were police everywhere - and I mean everywhere, for example down the main road there was an armed policeman every 50 meters or so in the central reservation. All the hotels have metal detectors to step through as well, just like at the airport.

Now that Egypt has just had another attack, the country will be on very high alert, and that means everywhere tourists go. So now is the safest time to go. The time I worry about going to these sorts of places is when things have been too quiet for too long.

Hope this helps.

I was in Cairo 3 weeks ago and it's still like that.

kizito

sparkymarky wrote:

Hi Val/psykik

If you are staying at the Sofitel on the £6 per night offer, please check your private messages, I have sent you my email address, so that you will know if the reservation will actually be honoured or not.

Mark

I may be going out on this deal in May - please can you let me know why it may be dishonoured....cheers:rolleyes:

sparkymarky

To Kizito and PennySaver and anyone else who booked the Sofitel Maadi for £6 a night

You asked why they might not honour it.

Well, I have emailed the hotel yesterday to ask if they can confirm my reservation, and provided the booking details. I haven't heard back from them yet, but will do today I expect. I don't suggest anyone else emails the hotel until I have a reply. I will post their reply here.

If the hotel will not honour it, as it was booked through Octopus, Octopus will be obliged to meet the costs of alternative accommodation, that I could arrange myself and recover from them later.

I'm trying to get the email addresses for all the people who took advantage of this offer, safety in numbers and information shared is better than isolation.

So if anyone booked this, they can email me by left clicking on my name "sparkymarky" at the top left hand side of my message, a drop down menu pops up, then select "Send an email to sparkymarky" and you will see my email address. Copy it and paste it into your email program.

A friend of mine has some spare weeks that he booked, if you know anyone who wants them (blocks of 3 days). Also there are some on Ebay right now.

Mark