I left in March 2015 in Egypt, joining the Terra-Trips team for my trip Egypt with French-speaking guide. I arrived at Cairo airport where I was able to buy my Visa and change my currency into Egyptian pounds.
Then, as the men in yellow at the airport saw me alone. They helped me to join the guide (Walid) who was waiting for me outside (because of the world. He hadn't been able to go inside. The man in yellow called him directly on his mobile then, led me physically to him.
So I met the guide and the one who would be my driver for the week.
They then cond mestay at my hotel (which I had chosen myself). The guide was very reassuring, the driver smiling.
I didn't encounter any difficulty except maybe a little at the hotel. For my room but the guide helped me by speaking himself with the receptionist of the hotel (hotel which I chose myself. I should have asked advice from Amro, responsible for Terra-Trips…!) . In short, everyone was nice to me.
I did not feel any animosities towards the fact that I am European. (I had also chosen to dress in tunics that hide my buttocks. And therefore to pass more “easily” with the locals).
So I visited Cairo, Alexandria, El-Fayoum, Meidoum, Giza, Sakkara, … I didn't get sick because I only drank bottled water and the food was good and the weather was good .
I was also able to walk around the area of my hotel on my own and had no problems.
It was therefore with Amro that I had contact by e-mail, I believe, from January (two months before the trip) and it was the fact that it was a small local agency that reassured me.
I found the site well done, the choice of circuits interesting and the comments from travelers satisfactory. Above all, I didn't want to travel with a large organization where the stay is necessarily less difficult than in very small groups.
As soon as the visit to a site was over, the guide (Walid) called the driver who came to meet us. This would not have been possible with a bus. Moreover, concerning the attacks aimed at tourists, I am much safer alone with Walid than in a group: I was in Egypt during the attack on the museum in Tunis; I felt no fear since in any case not connected to the news.
The only ones who scared me are my colleagues. That's all ; the next time I go to a so-called “sensitive” country, I won't tell them anything.
So I paid a deposit of 20% one month before departure by bank transfer plus transfer fees. I was not afraid of any misappropriation of money because very recent comments had been posted by satisfied people.
I paid the rest in cash four days after my arrival. Month too, I would have liked to do only the “big sites” but, as Amro told me, I only had 8 days.
If I had the choice to redo the trip then I would do more the natural sites like the white desert (the photos of the landscape on the site had pleased me a lot) because the city of Cairo is very crowded and which I find anyway the landscapes more beautiful to see than the concentrations of inhabitants). I will also leave it to Amro to recommend a hotel to me instead of choosing it myself.
So for all these reasons, I advise everyone to travel with Terra-Trips and not to listen to those who have not been there (only if their comments are negative!);
Walid and Amro speak French very well, and financially it is fair.
