I went to Egypt in April 2025 for sixteen days, and it felt like my history book jumped out and waved hello. My mom planned it with her friend Yasser from Alexandria. It was over spring break, and I did an extra week of independent study on the trip (yes, homework in a suitcase). I’d just learned about ancient Egypt in school, so I was basically on a field trip… but giant.
We flew through Doha on Qatar Airways and landed in Cairo around midnight. The city was still wide awake—bright lights, tons of people, and even suit shops open like it was noon. The taxi ride in was chaotic in a fun way, like the city was saying, “Okay, try to keep up.” I was already glued to the window.
We stayed near Tahrir Square, which I’d heard about because of the Arab Spring. Yasser made sure we were busy every day. We did the Pyramids of Giza (camel ride = surprisingly bouncy), and we visited the Grand Egyptian Museum, which felt like walking through a treasure level in a video game. In Old Cairo, we went to several mosques, and then to Coptic Christian sites—cool to compare with the churches I’ve seen in the U.S. and Europe. Seeing the Mask of Tutankhamun up close was a total “whoa” moment.
After five days, we flew to Aswan to start a Nile cruise, and it honestly felt a little like Death on the Nile—minus the murder, obviously. We saw the Temple of Philae, did a night tour at Kom Ombo (hello, crocodile god Sobek!), and rode horse-drawn carriages in Edfu. In Luxor we hit the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s temple, and the huge Karnak and Luxor temples. We also visited two Nubian villages near Aswan and learned how the dam changed things for people there—different vibe from Cairo and super memorable.
Back in Cairo, we checked out the Step Pyramid of Djoser and compared it to Giza like pyramid nerds. Then we went to Faiyum, met Bedouins, and tried 4×4-ing over sand dunes. The truck slid around like a Matchbox car and I laughed the whole time. I also tried sandboarding and discovered… it’s way harder than it looks. Overall, the trip made Egypt feel real and alive—huge, ancient, and very now. 10/10, would pyramid again.