Sunday, September 20, 2009

Reporting back from Egypt - Part 1

Egypt today remains a land of wonders and mysteries that are yet to disclose. The treasures of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt were immeasurably vast. The temples and pyramids are still unique the way they were in the past. But overall Egypt was one of the most beautiful and historic destination I have ever been to. I was in Egypt for 10 days and I think this was good enough time to explore Egypt’s highlights. I stayed 5 days in Cairo and 5 days on board the Nile cruise.

Some quick fact's about Egypt,
Egypt's capital is Cairo, their official language is Arabic.
The population is 82,999,000, their currency is Egyptian Pound.

The airline that took me from Vancouver to Egypt was British Airways. The flying time was about 15 hours. Including a stop at London, England. The British Airways 747 aircraft was clean and comfortable. It had a seat back TV with few games, music and movies, in the first aircraft. London to Cairo flight was not that pleasant as we were delayed by almost 2 hrs at London.

The Cairo airport was surprisingly clean and nice; it wasn’t how I expected a developing country's airport to be. I was met by Indus Travels representative inside the airport and he helped me in getting my Visa on arrival and clearing immigration formalities. The Egypt visa on arrival is very simple, you pay only $15 US and get the Visa.
But when I got outside airport another Indus Travels representative was waiting outside for me to transfer from airport to hotel. They were very welcoming. I arrived at 2 AM in the morning so there wasn't any traffic on the roads of Cairo.

Once I got to the hotel, the staff there took some time to find my reservation but still I was in my room in about 15 minutes. In Cairo I stayed at 2 hotels and one of them was the Grand Hyatt Cairo. Grand Hyatt Cairo is a luxury landmark, directly poised on the River Nile. It is very close to all of Cairo's tourist and cultural attractions. The hotel is just 20 km from Cairo Airport or 45 mins drive.

My room was luxurious and comfortable with phenomenal view of the Nile River.
There was a flat screen TV and 24 hour concierge, and high speed internet. Grand Hyatt is the only hotel in Cairo with a roof top revolving restaurant serving French Cuisine. I would rate Grand Hyatt as 7 out of 10 as it was good but I think service could be little better especially at the time of breakfast.

Will report more next week…

1 comment:

  1. Egypt is the mind blowing place,the out fits of the people there is different, the famous pyramid is located there......................

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