Dear all,

I am a British/Egyptian guy and I do feel somewhat bemused at some of the comment posted on here and some other websites. Let me tell you something,
Egypt is one of the safest countries in the world. It is safer for a young Western woman walking back home at 4am in Cairo than say New York or London.
How many Western women have been raped in Egypt?

I strongly believe that tourists and individual travellers are safer in Egypt than anywhere in the world. You could be walking home after a night out in any city in the UK and get kicked punched and raped. Wake up people!

I am afraid some of you do not know what they are talking about. I have never, ever heard of a Western woman being raped in Egypt. Rape is much less common than in the West. Attacking a Western person means days and days of atrocious torture in the local police-station... no one will take the risk. As for kidnapping, I have never heard of a westerner being kidnapped in Egypt.

Frankly, some people in here have only ridiculous clichés in their head. I strongly advise people to travel to Egypt independently if they choose to. Organized tours are a rip-off and you won't see anything of the real country, make some searching before you leave. Always remember, Egyptian people are very friendly even friendlier than the German and Swiss.....In Egypt, you would not find a stranger telling you off for crossing the road when the red man is showing; this happened to me in Switzerland by the way.

For more information and for a level headed advice, do email me on omarengland@hotmail.co.uk or omarengland at hot mail dot co dot uk.

Cheers
Ali

Thank you for your comments about the safety of Egypt.
I am planning an independent first visit to Egypt in Feb/Mar 2010. We are experienced travellers coming from Australia, but can only spend about 7 days in Egypt.

My biggest problem is that I always get terrible food poisoning on holiday even though I only drink bottled water, and my husband has severe allergies, especially to spices. They can trigger asthma in him.

In the past, I have solved this by bringing some of my own food in my suitcase, and buying packaged food to eat on holiday. Is is allowed in Egypt to bring food into the country? Would I be able to buy branded supermarket type food in the major tourist centres? I am not interested in experiencing the local cuisine, as there are plenty of Egyptian run restaurants in Australia!

Can you suggest the best two areas to visit and how best to travel between them?

My husband and I will be arriving in Cairo around midnight. Is there someone who would meet us and escort us to our hotel?

I think you can find more information at egypttours.com or affordabletours.com/Egypt .

Thanks
Kerala Tourism