General Info & Safety

This is a test, this is only a test … and a little informal market research exercise into the efficacy of advertising/promotion. (Before I started getting published I worked as a copywriter for a Madison Avenue ad agency, so I take a certain “professional” interest in such matters.

That subject line makes it sound as though the upcoming Egypt trip will be my last one, doesn’t it?

That is misleading, and, of course, deliberate. But here’s the market research. Would you have clicked “more” if the subject line read simply “Last chance to sign on for the upcoming Magical Egypt Trip”?

For the record, and for those planning an Egypt trip with me at some unspecified future time, rest assured that I’ll be doing them until I can no longer make it up and down the Red Pyramid of Dahshur (a more difficult haul than even the Great Pyramid). That’s my self-imposed signal that it’s time to give up leading trips… That, or I finally hit the jackpot in the Scholarly/Literary Lottery after all these decades and have to devote all my time to high profile, high paying writing or media matters of some sort. (As the pitch for the New York State Lottery goes, “Hey, you never know!.”) And, in fact, someone eventually does win the lottery!

In any event, if you’ve read this far, remember that while this is certainly not my last trip, it truly may be everyone’s last chance to see Egypt with tourism still way below normal. Everyone understands the attraction of an uncrowded Egypt, even those who’ve never been there.

But the question still foremost on most everyone’s mind, is of course the question of safety.

Is it safe? Virtually everybody asks me that, so if that question is on your mind, you have plenty of company.

It is safe …and the fact is that for tourists, it has been safe all along … though no one would ever suspect that, reading or listening to the incessant hyperventilated scaremongering of our Western print and media presstitutes.

It has been safe for tourists ever since (and even in the middle of) the 2011 Revolution that brought down Mubarak! We know. We were there for it! (Click on my PhoenixFire Audio blog #10. The Five Star Revolution for a full account.) And over the course of three years of major political protest and intermittent violence, no one has been after us, no one!

Now, with the Military firmly in charge, it seems to me likely to stay that way. At least for the foreseeable future.

The Muslimbecile Brotherhood has been has been declared a “Terrorist Organization” (which it was); its leadership has been jailed and awaits trial. Its power has been broken. And the military is busy making sure it does not re-group.

Notwithstanding pious admonitions and hand-wringings from Hillary Clinton and assorted Democracy-boosting, hypocritical Western windbags of both Right and Left (as if what we have here in Amerika is “Democracy”!) the Egyptian people are some 80% behind the military. Indeed, the Military only marched in when 30 million Egyptians took to the streets demanding an end to Muslimbecile attempts to Talibanize Egypt.

And once in power, as the history of the world vividly demonstrates, there has never been a Military that ruled in kid gloves, much less kid combat boots.

Some of you may remember me predicting this as the most likely post-Revolution scenario: i.e., that the Military would be deciding the route Egypt would take, and that effectively, the Egyptians being the Egyptians, would find a way to muddle through without self-destructing.

As I write this, both my Egyptian friends and American/European friends living in or traveling to Egypt report back that tourism is still way down, it is safe, and we are, as tourists, and as always, warmly welcomed. But the longer it stays peaceful, the sooner tourism will recover and the crowds will return in force. This is great for the Egyptian economy, of course (and I do not begrudge them that!), but it’s hardly conducive to experiencing Symbolist Egypt the way I like to experience it. And given the experience of the last three almost-tourist-free post-Revolution years, I’ve now been well-spoiled!

In other words, if you’re contemplating a trip, and there’s any chance of you getting on this next one, you should do whatever you can to join us.

I have enough people signed on to make this October trip fly, but there are still spaces open. So please spread the word.

If you need any further info, don’t hesitate to email, call or skype me.

I hope to see at least a few of you in Egypt in February. But if you cannot join us, that’s no reason to despair, either. (Regret, perhaps, but not despair.). Anyone who’s already been with me when it was choc-a-bloc with tourists knows that I’m very good at avoiding the worst of the crowds much of the time …but, alas, not all of the time.

PS. Please note that I am no longer doing the international ticketing. What had been the “Land Only Option” is now the only option.

PPS. Many people have inquired about this one already, and deposits are flowing in. So don’t wait too long to make up your mind.