We decided to change our flight to leave the Galapagos early and head to Egypt, since that was the kids’ main bucket-list attraction. This was made easier by the fact that the Ecuadorian government forces tourists to buy the higher-priced plane tickets which are generally easy to change without penalty. The tickets are listed as XS to XL, and foreigners have to buy a size Large flight or bigger (somehow this seems to correspond to “living large”?), all of which include the ability to change dates and flights without penalty. So while the tickets are way more expensive than I initially thought when I googled flight prices, at least there was some added value for the cost.
I started our 24 hour trip to Egypt by dropping a full water bottle on my son’s head, causing him to drop blood all over his clothes while our plane prepared to taxi away from the loading gate. Luckily I was able to hold pressure for the entire 2h flight to Bogota and it resolved.
We connected through Miami and let the kids run around outside for a while in North America before we got on our Qatar Airways flight to Doha then Cairo.
Egypt is one of the only places we arranged a guide beforehand. Our Cairo guide was spectacular- I highly recommend him. He was an incredibly knowledgeable Egyptologist and a nice person. He took us to his favorite street food stalls at our request (our stomachs paid for it later, but man was it amazing food!) and took photos of us as a family everywhere. Cairo is a great cosmopolitan city. The food is great and cheap, and accommodations in the tourist area felt safe and secure. The Giza pyramids and Sphinx are only 30 min driving from the city and there are other, lesser-known pyramids not much farther out. Our guide service came with a driver and guide, and they picked us up at a time we requested and dropped us off in the evening. We felt safe walking around the main thoroughfare to get food for dinner.
Then we flew to southern Egypt, which includes Aswan and Luxor. Southern Egypt has a very different feel- more remote, less cosmopolitan, temples instead of pyramids. Harder to walk around without getting hassled, felt less safe. Seeing Luxor and the Valley of the Kings was incredible. It did involve a lot more driving long distances. The kids really loved it though, probably more than my husband and I did. We also didn’t mesh with our guide in southern Egypt as well (he had a lot of theories about how the pyramids were built by aliens, among other things). But it’s definitely less touristy and cheaper than Cairo, and we were glad we went.
Food: 8
Budget: 6
History: 10
Vibe: 4