"Egyptian travels with Teenagers" a Egypt Travel Page by MikeBird

Memories of Cairo from my first visit way back in 1982 seemed such a long way removed from the second time around. This time I could afford to be met by an agent who saw us through Visa/passport control and onto our waiting Microbus that took us to our hotel. All those years ago it was very different - finding a cheap hotel on Talaat Harb street, lugging a back pack around and the biggest difference now was having my wife and 3 teenage children along to relish the experience. For my children it was to be a fantastic experience albeit softened by having Mum and Dad to pay the bills and do all of the organising.
I'd found a reasonably priced hotel this time, centrally located - the Cosmopolitan. I was amazed to see the Golden Hotel was still there with a grubby placard announcing it's presence. It looked even grottier than I remembered it back in 1982. My wife was horrified " you stayed there!" . The Cosmoplitan was clean, comfortable and affordable. I remember the Golden Hotel sharing only one of those criteria back in 1982.
This time we'd booked a tour of Memphis, Saqqara and Giza with our own dedicated guide and driver. We felt very posh and were grateful that we could take our own time to look around the places where we wanted to linger. We loved the tomb of Mereruka at Saqqara - the wall inscriptions were so clear and well defined. Our guide was able to show us things that we'd probably have missed otherwise.
At Giza my daughter was excited to go into the baby pyramid and to have her photo taken as a souvenir. We also went out to the viewing point where we could take pictures of the kids standing as though they were holding a pyramid on the palm of their hand. Our stay at Giza Pyramids was cut short though because we still had to pack in the unexpected and unasked for visit to the Egyptian perfume shop and the Papyrus factory. Needless to say we didn't buy anything at either of these establishments. Still, I'm glad we took the tour. It was a good way to ease ourselves into sightseeing in Cairo. My kids enjoyed the experience although my 14 year old daughter still felt uncomfortable - she wasn't sure about the cleanliness (lack of it) and the staring (she's an attractive blonde girl).My eldest, 18 year old son thought it was all just brilliant particularly as it gave him some perfect opportunities to try out his camera - these are all his photos. Our 16 year old son was even impressed and didnt once show withdrawal signs from his computer games.

Visit my separate pages on Cairo and Luxor for some tips about these places.

After the overnight sleeper train ( see the tips) we arrived in Luxor weary but looking forward to seeing the unmissable sites of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings.
Our teenagers were really impressed with the hotel ( we don't usually stay in hotels) and didn't even complain about having to share a room - the younger two usually gang up against the oldest. After catching up on some rest we set out for Karnak - just a few kilometers away. It's a truly awe inspiring place. You can't help but be impressed at the scale of the site , the high walls all engraved with murals, the columns again all covered in heiroglyphics and the temples at the back where the original paintings can still be found - along with graffitti from the French archeologists! It's just magnificent.

On the second day within a couple of seconds of setting out from our Nile fronted hotel we had been approached by a guy asking if we wanted a guide and taxi for the Valley of the Kings. That was perfect. We had to do a bit of negotiation for the price of the taxi but that was expected and we were happy with the price we paid.
We were dropped a little outside the entrance to the Valley and had to buy our entrance tickets which again was all fine. The standard price ( can't remember now how much) includes tickets to 3 tombs but if you want to see the Tutankhamun or Rameses VI tombs you have to pay extra. We'd been told that Tutankhamun is small and a bit disappointing so instead we went for Rameses VI. We didn't regret the extra fee. Unlike the other tombs where you were basically moved along by the rest of the crowd from behind Rameses VI was empty, so it was cooler and you saunter and gaze at your own pace. It was worth it. The tomb chamber at the end has the most fantastic paintings of night and day - it was just brilliant.
Returning to the taxi we were then taken to Deir el Bahari via an Alabaster workshop ( the driver gets 5% commission on any sales). The funerary temple is such an impressive sight with the cliffs as a back drop. The wall paintings are exquisite. Our kids enjoyed spotting all the different kinds of foods and animals in one of the sections.
Stopping for a welcome drink at the nearby cafe the man at the till enjoyed his joke about how many camels our daughter must be worth. We said we'd already been offered 2 thousand and he said "no too few, 2 million" !
Our driver finally took us to Medinet Habu - smaller than Karnak but an equally impressive site. The wall inscriptions and carvings show the power and battles of the Kings/Pharoahs of the time. This site was less crowded but unfortunately the local guardians were more intrusive. Nevertheless worth a visit if you've still got the energy. Our kids loved it and their best bits were the RamesesVI tomb & Medinet Habu.