Planning a trip to Egypt? Not sure if you need a guide?

Well, trust us, you are going to have the time of your lives! Egypt is a place where history and culture mix beautifully and it is full of unforgettable sights.

However, to make the most of your trip, we believe you should invest in a travel agent. There are three ways in which a travel agent would prove to be very beneficial:

A Tour Guide in Egypt will give you Peace Of Mind

This is the most important benefit. The guide will meet you inside the airport, after immigration and is a huge help within the airport. There was complete pandemonium at Cairo airport when we got there, and without our guide, it would have taken much more time to get out and it would have been a miracle to get out without being mugged!

After that, a guide was with us throughout the trip. When we took a local flight he dropped us to the airport and another guide was ready to receive us at the airport when we landed.

 There is someone with you every step of the way and in a completely new country, that gives a lot of peace of mind.

You should also be ready to be haggled by people selling fake Souvenirs. These guides help you to get through them with a breeze.

They will give you detailed explanations wherever you go

Egypt is a country that is full of history. Most of the tourist spots are historic places with a rich and colorful background. While you will definitely enjoy these spots without a guide, having a guide will help you make the most of your time there. They give amazingly detailed explanations about every site you see. It is the best feeling to be standing in front of such wonders and getting a complete explanation of the locations history.

I will never forget how it felt to be right in front of the Great Pyramid and learn how the pyramids were built. They also have a lot of small entertaining stories that you would never find on the internet. They are keen to demonstrate how a story happened, something that you can never experience from anywhere else.

You will meet unforgettable guides like ‘Sam’ who will be so passionate about their job and will be so happy to show you around that it will be contagious.

You can ask any question that pops into your mind and you will get an answer instantly. These guides have been doing this job for years, there is very little they do not know about what they are showing us.

You get a photographer to take out group pictures with everyone!

They are not so expensive

As the tourism industry in Egypt is not doing so well right now, this is probably the cheapest it is going to get. Since the security problem in Egypt is much better now, tourism will also start booming soon and prices will skyrocket. They Egyptians are proud of their heritage and are keen on showing the tourists around. Their hospitality cannot be compared. This is the perfect time to travelers to come in and use the situation in advantage to themselves as well as help out the tourism industry in Egypt.

A Word of Advice

At times, the guides have their own agendas, and it is essential you do not fall for this common tourist trap.
They have deals with many shops which provide souvenirs and mementos at 3 to 4 times the actual price. Normally the guides have some sort of profit sharing agreement with these shops, so they will always encourage you to go shopping at these shops.

When we were in Cairo, we had a lot to cover in only one day and we wanted to utilize our time so that we get to spend a good amount of time at each site. However, our travel guide at one point kept insisting to take us to a couple of perfumeries where we will get “The exact scents that Queen Cleopetra used to use”. However, we had done our research before going and told him that we were not at all interested as it would just have been a waste of time.

One time we did get deceived by our travel agent. When we were at the museum of Cairo, he told us that he would show us how Papyrus Rolls are made. It sounded very interesting, so after we were done with the museum we decided to go there. He took us to a shop where they sold papyrus rolls and also demonstrated how they were made.

The demonstration, though short, was quite interesting and knowledgeable. After the demonstration though, the shop keeper started showing us the different papyrus rolls he already had in his shop and how he could customize it for us etc. However, all the papyrus rolls were very expensive, so we just bought a very small one (for how much?) as a memento.

A few days later we took a break from the cruise on the River Nile and, went into the market ourselves. We found the EXACT SAME THING, only in a bigger size for less than half the price.

The post 3 Reasons to Invest in a Tour Guide for Your Trip to Egypt appeared first on Off The Beaten Trails.