Egyptian Adventure

I'm now skipping head to 2011, since I went to Ireland in 2010 with a friend, and doesn't count as solo travel.  I had always wanted to go to Egypt and see the pyramids and temples.  I had long been fascinated with them and a trip to see them in person was high up on my bucket list.  I thought the trip would make a great 40th birthday gift to myself.

As usual, I told all my friends where I was going that year and asked if anyone wanted to come along.  No one bit, so I started researching packaged trips.  I usually don't do pre-planned, escorted vacations, but with the language barrier and significant cultural differences, I thought it would be the best course of action.

There were lots of variables to consider when choosing a tour operator.  I found lots of super cheap packages that included most of the sites I wanted to see, but after reading the fine print, discovered that entrance fees and meals weren't included.  Some included entrance fees and meals, but I found I had to choose between sites if I wanted to add additional tours.

Then I stumbled across Memphis Tours, based in Cairo.  Their packages included all the sites I wanted to see, I didn't have to give up one site in order to see another, all entrance fees were included, as were almost all meals, and the single supplement wasn't ridiculously expensive.  The package even included airport pickups and drop offs, as well as transportation to and from the train station and cruise depot.

I decided on one of the Budget Tours that included a cruise.  I don't think my exact package is still available, but this is very similar.  http://www.memphistours.com/Egypt/Packages/Egypt-Classic-Tours/Egypt-Budget-Tours  I added on a day tour to Dashar and Saqqara, a day tour to Abu Simbel, and extra temple stops along the cruise route.  The extra stops along the cruise I paid for the day of, but the rest of the package, including the single supplement and extra day tours was about $1380. This included all meals except for four, I think, and all my transportation.  In Cairo, I had a private guide and driver every day, and I didn't even have to deal with checking in or out the hotel, which was not "budget" standards by any means.  The rooftop terrace had a view of the pyramids, and the room itself was quite nice.

The tour itself was everything I could have expected and more.  The tour leader didn't realize I had booked an extra day in Cairo, but I showed him my confirmation, he spent a few minutes on the phone, and done.   I also wanted to divert from the scheduled tour stop lunch and go to a more local place I had seen on TV.  No problem, and I probably ended up saving the tour company some money, as the place I wanted to go to, Abu Tarek, was much less expensive that the fancy tourist restaurants.
From Cairo, I took a train to Luxor to board the cruise ship.  Let me tell you, a deluxe sleeper is not so deluxe, and is super tiny.  I barely fit in the room with my luggage.  I can't imagine having to share that space with someone else.  It was an adventure and I'm glad I did it, but if I did it again, I would choose to fly to Luxor.

My guide and driver were waiting for me at the door of my train car, which was really nice considering the size of the crowd.  From the train station we went to cruise ship, which was just as nice as the hotel I'd had in Cairo.  Other than the train and the title itself, there really wasn't any "budget" about this trip.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Once on board, I discovered that for the duration of the cruise, I would take my meals and tours with another couple who had also booked through Memphis Tours.  This turned out to be the very best part of this trip.  They were a married couple from Canada, and we couldn't have gotten along any better.  The wife, Sandi, and I even shared the same birthday.  We got along so well, in fact, that I've since traveled with them, along with another Canadian we met on board, to Peru, Cuba and Jordan.

I was also very lucky in the timing of my trip to Egypt.  The January 25 rebellion happened a couple of days before I bought my plane ticket, but well after I had booked my trip.  I went at the end of May, first of June.  Everything had settle down by that point, but people were still leery of travel to the area.  As a result, I encountered no crowds at all until I got further south, to Aswan, which was quite a way from the disturbances in Cairo.  I even got a picture in front of Hatshepsut's temple with no one else in the background.  Of course, as well all know, all hell has broken loose over there again, and  I wouldn't recommend traveling to that part of the world right now.  As for my trip, though, I couldn't have planned it any better, and got to experience Egypt without the crowds that most have to endure.

All in all, Egypt was a fantastic experience, and I even got a tattoo meaning "Adventure" in Arabic to commemorate the trip.  If you ever decide to go to Egypt, I can't recommend Memphis Tours highly enough.  My trip was completely worry and stress free.  I was never alone, except while in my hotel room or cabin, and never felt unsafe or unprotected.  This is so important as a women traveling alone in the Middle East.

As I mentioned, the next three trips I took were with the group I met on this trip, so while I'll miss my Canadian friends dearly this year, I am looking forward to my next solo trip, which is officially Paris!

Tips for the Solo Traveller

Here are some links to great articles regarding solo travel.  Most of these tips worked well for me during my first solo trip abroad.  This article recommends leaving an itinerary with a friend or family member.  I was just staying in Rome, so I texted my sister every night that was back in my room safely.  She knew where I was staying and where to send the cavalry if I ever didn't check in.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/specialty-travel/single-travel-tips-for-going-solo

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/travelers-ed/15-mistakes-to-avoid-when-traveling-solo

And the all important article on what not to wear!  This is really important, especially for women, when visiting Muslim countries or religious sites.  Most tourists to Egypt, particularly Americans, dress exactly as they would at home for temperatures that range into the 100s.  Even my tour guide i Egypt told me we were going to be in tourist areas around other tourists, so it was ok to dress like I would at home.  I took the opposite tact, however.  I was in their country, and wanted to respect their customs, so I wore long pants, and kept my cleavage and shoulders covered.  When visiting the Vatican, you will not be allowed into the Sistine Chapel if your knees and shoulders are not covered.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/passports-and-international-travel/10-things-you-should-never-wear-when-traveling-abroad

And if you're on a budget like I usually am, this will come in handy.  AirBnB is a great resource for finding small, reasonably priced accommodations.  Most offer free Wi-Fi, and some even include breakfast.  Another perk is that you're staying in a residential area as opposed to highly touristy area, so you'll more of a feel of what it's like to live in that city.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/travelers-ed/how-to-save-money-on-solo-travel

Roman Holiday

Hello, Blogosphere!  As the title of this blog implies, I am a single woman who loves to travel, and frequently does so alone.  This wasn’t always the case, however.  I always thought big trips, i.e. anything to another continent, required a travel companion to be enjoyed, hence I put off traveling anywhere spectacular for years.

I’m going to start here by recounting my trips over the last few years, leading up to my planning for the trip I hope to take this year – Paris!  I’ll also be posting links to any articles or tips I find beneficial to travelers.  But first, let’s start with my very first solo trip.

I had wanted to go to Rome since my early twenties, after seeing it portrayed so romantically in a movie called “Only You.”  This romantic portrayal, however, had me convinced I needed to go with someone special.  So I waited for Prince Charming to show up and whisk me away on his big white horse.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited, but Prince Charming was nowhere to be found.  I finally concluded that Prince Charming might just be trapped under that white horse somewhere and might never show up, and I will have wasted my life, not doing or seeing things I wanted because I was afraid to do them alone.  Well no more!  I was going to Rome and I was going alone!

This began probably my favorite part of traveling, except for the trip itself, the research!  I’m very Type A when I travel.  I want to know where I’m going, how to get there, what’s it cost, when is it open, etc.  My friends who occasionally travel with me love this about me.  They even said they know all they have to do is wake up and follow me! 

The first thing I had to do was get a flight.  A few website searches and that was done.  Easy peasy.  The next thing to figure out was where to stay.  Any decent hotel (clean with a private bathroom) close to the city center was going to be well over $100 a night. This was more than I wanted to budget for accommodations (I was going to Italy, for Pete’s sake, I needed to save money to shop and eat!).   A friend of mine years before had mentioned a website called VRBO.com, Vacation Rental by Owner, where homeowners rent their apartments, houses, boats, etc. to travelers for vacation stays, and I thought it would be cool to live like an Italian, sort of, so I checked it out. 

Most of the places were as, if not more, expensive than most of the hotels I’d looked at.  Then I came across an ad for a “flatlet” near the Piazza Navona.  It was very charming, had everything I needed, got great reviews and was close to everything.  More importantly, it was 70 euros per night.  To put this in perspective, the hotel directly across the street was 140 euros per night.  I contacted the owner, and booked the apartment.  FYI, it’s still available on VRBO.com, the price has not gone up in six years, and the owner has remodeled the bathroom.  http://www.vrbo.com/22504   When I go back to Rome (and I will!) I’m staying here again. 

There is a bakery about a block away where I’d buy pastry every morning for breakfast, and a wonderful local restaurant at the end of the block where I ended up eating three times.  There is also an interesting little restaurant across the street where you don’t order, but eat whatever is on the menu that night.  Beware, however, it’s cash only!

So now I had my flight and a place to stay.  I had to figure out how to get to the city from the airport, and what I wanted to see.  At this point, I wasn’t very adventurous in terms of transportation, so I went straight to Viator.com and booked transport from and back to the airport, as well as tour of Vatican, the Colosseum, and an Angels and Demons book tour, which took us to various parts of the city that were mentioned in the book, and a very lively guide read passages from the book relating to those sites.  I highly recommend it if you get to Rome, and if Viator still offers it. 

So now I had a few things planned.  I scoured TripAdvisor and the internet for the best places to shop and eat.  Then I figured out which ones were close to the tours I booked, and planned out each day of my trip.  I had an envelope for each day that contained any tickets I might need, a map of the area, and the restaurants and shops I wanted to visit.  I was ready to go!

The day finally arrived.  No flight delays, a little nap on the plane and suddenly I was in Italy.  I went to my designated spot to catch my ride into the city, and ended up having to wait several hours.  I wasn’t going to let that get me down though.  I was finally in Italy!

So I finally get onto the bus and into the city.  The streets in the area where I was staying were very narrow, so the driver and myself were forced to walk several blocks to my flatlet, lugging my suitcases all the way!  He told me to meet him back at the same spot on my departure date and off he went.  I met my landlord for the week, paid my bill and collected my keys and was on my own.

I checked out my little apartment, unpacked a bit and freshened up.  Then a slight bit of panic set in.  I was alone in a foreign country and I had nothing planned for that day.  The hardest part of that whole trip was taking that first step out of the door, into the great unknown. 

But I did it.  I set out walking, and soon found a little place for lunch.  I had a Panini and a beer, and then set off to explore Rome.  I found the Piazza Navona within minutes.  This is a great place to spend some time.  The Bernini fountain is amazing, and the people watching can’t be beat. 

I kept up my exploring, wandering aimlessly, going nowhere and loving every minute.  I was just about to turn around and head back when I noticed a street sign I remember from hours of scouring maps of Rome, and knew that the Trevi fountain was very close by.  I walked another two blocks and there it was.  What a great moment to realize I had wandered onto one of the great sites in this amazing city.

That night I had a solo dinner in the little trattoria across the street, the one and only time I’ve ever eaten veal, but when in Rome……

The next day I started my scheduled activities, but I found the most interesting thing happened.  Once I started wandering, I found places I’d read about and planned to see on different days, and ate in places I’d never heard of, and found great little stores I hadn’t read about.  What it all boils down to was except for the pre-booked tours on specific days, I did absolutely nothing according to my plan, and it was fabulous. 

By the fourth day, I was walking around, loving being on my own, and realizing that solo travel does not suck.  I even braved the Roman mass transit system, and didn’t panic when my scheduled ride back to the airport never showed up.  I just lugged my suitcases down the street to the bus stop, went to Termini and bought a ticket to the airport. 

A few years later I got a tattoo to commemorate my epiphany and trip.  The back of my neck now reads “senza paura,” which means “without fear” in Italian, because that trip made me start living my life without the fear of being alone, of trying new things, or things going wrong.  I had gone alone, I tried new things, and things did go wrong.  And I came through it all on top, with a new love of travel and all things foreign, and a burning desire to start planning my next trip.