for some background, i’m 21, american, and traveling solo. I’ve traveled internationally before, so i came into egypt genuinely excited to experience somewhere very different from home, and i’m not someone who expected cairo to feel like europe or the us.
i knew egypt would be chaotic. i expected haggling, traffic, touts, and a bit of culture shock. i did not expect to feel this worn down this quickly.
in three days I’ve already dealt with:
- constant hassling and people approaching me for money
- a group of kids following/chasing me while demanding money
- getting overcharged for basic things over and over
- uber has become an actual problem. multiple drivers keep trying to get me to cancel the ride in the app and then pay them directly, usually while suddenly quoting me a much higher price in usd. today i was literally just trying to get to tahrir and the driver wanted me to cancel and pay $25 cash. at this point i genuinely don’t feel like i can rely on uber to get around, which is a huge part of why I feel so stuck here.
- trying a local egyptian food spot where a roughly 250 egp meal turned into a 1,000 egp demand after they brought out things I never ordered. they surrounded me, demanded tips for the “service,” and i eventually paid 600 just to get out of there.
- being in a car when the driver hit a motorcyclist, then having a crowd surround the car and open the doors until police eventually showed up
- constant traffic, noise, aggressive driving, dirt, and just general chaos everywhere
- staying near the pyramids in giza and feeling way more isolated than I expected
it’s gotten to the point where i’m suspicious of basically every interaction involving money. i don’t know when somebody is genuinely being friendly and when i’m about to get hit with another inflated price, tip demand, or sales pitch.
that’s probably the part that’s bothering me most. i actually want to enjoy cairo. i want to go downtown, walk around, eat local food, have a drink, and just experience the city. instead, i’m sitting in my hotel debating whether going out is even worth the hassle.
i know three days isn’t enough to judge an entire country, and I’m not saying every egyptian is like this. i’m just saying that my experience so far as a solo foreign tourist has been overwhelmingly exhausting, and it makes me question why people willingly come to this country after experiencing it firsthand.