Party of 6

We ended our Egyptian journey in Cairo. It certainly wasn’t without trouble. We have driven from Giza, to Saqqara, to Sohag, to Luxor, to Hurghada, and then Cairo. We were stopped at quite a few checkpoints. Some would just wave, some would ask for the car’s liscense, some would ask for passports, some would ask us to pull over to the side. They have all been a bit different. No consistency.

Side story: When we arrived in Egypt and went to the rental car pick up, they asked for an International Driver’s Liscense. We have a liscense from the States and one from Germany, but those weren’t acceptable. So, being the resourceful man that Steve is, got on his phone and paid money for an International Liscense. And lets face it, it was just another money grab. All he did was fill in a few things and it gave us a PDF “booklet.”

Okay, so back to the story. About 45 minutes from Cairo, we get stopped at a checkpoint. The “traffic police” stops us. He asks for Steven’s International driver’s liscense. This is the second time we have been asked the whole trip. The first time, we didn’t have the liscense pulled up, but the guy just said, that’s okay, go. Steve shows this guy the PDF packet for the International Driver’s Liscense. The “traffic policeman” says that wont work. It has to be a paper copy, but you can pay a fine of $10 USD. And guess who you pay. The “traffic cop” right then and there. After a few minutes of telling him how crazy and corrupt he is, we paid the fine. At this point, we just wanted to get to Cairo.

They did have a Circle K gas station that was actually decent. We got Pringles to snack on.

We made it to Cairo, and first up was the National Muesuem of Egyptian Civilization. It shouldn’t be too surprising by now, but there was a couple of sheep herds on the highway on our way into the city. The muesuem houses the mummies that were in the tombs at the Valley of the Kings as well as early Egyptian history.

Then we headed to the oldest known bizzare: The Grand Bizzare of Cairo. It was an experience. Notice the Crocs labeled “Josu Do It,” an interesting drink, LOTS of people, and some good fresh made potato chips.

Our final meal in Egypt was Chili’s. It was a welcomed, familiar meal.

Our final task of traveling in Egypt was to return the rental car. Did it go smoothly? Nope, not at all. Fortunately, Steven took a bunch of pictures and video of the car when we picked it up. The guy we returned the car to tried really hard to find something wrong with the car (we had to pay a $1500 deposit). The car rental guy would point something out and Steve would show it in the previous pictures. The guy then looks at the tire well and says there is road tar and we would need to pay for it. Steve said absolutely not and called “police and security” over. Finally, after rubbing the road tar off a bit and further proving no damage to the car, we were out of there.