My Arrival to Cairo, Egypt was not what I expected! After putting off my trip to Egypt for years due to negative online content about the country, I finally decided to visit for myself. In this video, I share my first impressions of the city and the visa on arrival process in Egypt. I also take you to the Novotel 6th of October where I stayed during my time in Cairo.
Upon arriving in Egypt, I was blown away by the beauty outside the plane window as we landed in Cairo. I decided to vlog my experience upon arrival to debunk the myths of difficulty entering the country often portrayed online. Despite the warnings I had received, the immigration process was actually very smooth and easy.
I stayed in the Novotel 6th of October, as recommended by a hotel representative, and found the area to be a perfect choice for my stay. I also had the opportunity to explore different areas of the city during my visit.
I also share my frustrations about not being able to get a SIM card in the airport due to the lack of service providers supporting eSIMs. This made it difficult for me to connect to the internet and contact my Uber driver, adding an unexpected challenge to my arrival.
Overall, my first impressions of Cairo were positive and I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Egypt is a beautiful country and this visit was an eye-opening and enjoyable experience. Join me in this video as I share my journey to Cairo and debunk the negative stereotypes often portrayed online.
Watch the video by Travelwithchris
Salam alikum welcome to Cairo baby yeah a lot of construction going on you can tell that there’s a  lot of developments um happening and I love these Vans too these Vans are awesome look they’re so  small this here is the swimming pool relaxing area there’s all kinds of beach chairs places Â
To hang out what’s up everybody welcome back to a brand new video now right now I actually just got  off of my flight from sprf for Germany to Cairo it was about 4 hours and to be honest it felt a Â
Bit brutal because I didn’t get much sleep last night um because of the jet lag but I’m excited  to be here now um as we were arriving I was blown away by the views outside of the window Â
Of the plane I mean everything was brown deserts I could see the NY river outside of my window it  was beautiful so I’m super excited to be here now right now I’m actually filming the intro Â
To my video because this here is my well my first impressions of Egypt now a lot of people told me  when I got here to not Vlog in the airport to not make the video but I want to go ahead and Â
Show you guys if entering is as difficult as people have made it out to be I mean there’s  a million videos on the internet um from you know all kinds of other travel vloggers telling people Â
Not to come here with cameras but let’s see if anything has changed right now in 2024 now this  airboard is super beautiful they got all kinds of different um lounges I’ve noticed they also  have a lot of art pieces around the walls it is beautiful this is my first time here I’ve never Â
Even stopped here on a layover of course you got the Arabic already because that is the official  language here in Egypt Arabic and in English is the second spoken language baggage claim exit  connecting flights toilets now I did have to fill out an immigr ation card on the plane but it was Â
All very basic information and I’m sure we’ll have to put that in uh right now when we make  it to immigration now my hotel actually reached out this morning to see if I had Transportation  or scheduled any transportation to get me to the hotel I’m staying at the no hotel in the Â
6th of October neighborhood so not in downtown Cairo I will be going there later on this week  however I wanted to um check out different areas of the city so I’m staying at the nov hotel right Â
Now and I was actually told by uh the lady that contacted me that we can actually reach there by  Uber so we’ll jump onto an Uber and hopefully I can grab a SIM card here in the airport as well Â
Because I got no service all right I’ll talk to you guys after immigration now so this here is  the line for the bank entry Visa I mean it’s still pretty long line and then this year is Â
The line to actually enter through immigration man what a what a long day we’re about to have  in here this actually reminds me of when I arrived in Tunisia a few months ago and this Â
Took hours hopefully it’s not a 3-hour um yeah line okay so here is the EV Visa stamp this is a  little ticket you get and you actually have to pay $30 it has to be in US dollars to receive
This made it through immigration it was extremely easy I got stamped up and now I’m at the baggage  car so hopefully my bags show up and um it’s not like when we were in Sri Lanka a few weeks Â
Ago where my brother’s bag didn’t show up and was stuck in grease so hopefully that makes it  I always get a little bit nervous when I got long layovers and I had that 24-hour one but  yeah everything went um incredibly smooth I didn’t get asked to open up my bags or Â
Anything now I did get asked as soon as I walked through security one of the immigration officers  was like what’s up man where you from the US Oh California you didn’t bring no weed with you bro Â
What about any um stuff for your nose and I was like bro obviously I didn’t so um that was really  easy simple straightforward I mean happens pretty much everywhere else in the world and now we’re in Â
Cairo and I see my bag so that’s good news all right let’s grab the bag we’ll grab a SIM card  there’s some SIM card stations here and then um time to hop into an Uber and make our way to the Â
Hotel here it is oh I didn’t pack anything in here it’s pretty much empty okay well I think  I’m uh pretty screwed right now at the moment so no telephone providers here Voda phone they Â
Got Orange right behind me none of them do eims I guess eims are not allowed in Egypt so if you’re  coming here with an iPhone 15 and you have an eim you’re screwed you can’t use it unless you Â
Have service from home so I don’t know what I’m going to do this is exactly why I wanted to keep  my old iPhone but I guess I’m going to be stuck without a phone the entire trip it is what it is Â
All right well damn I don’t even know what what a ride to the hotel would roughly cost this is  going to be hard all right I’m going to figure something else something out right now I can’t Â
Even connect to Wi-Fi you can’t connect to the Wi-Fi in Cairo Airport without a SIM card because  it sends you a text message message so it sucks man can’t believe that no eims in the country Â
And it’s one of the most visited countries in the world crazy so once you make it through customs  there’s actually rental car services ATMs um a little statue that says welcome to Egypt which  is pretty damn cool and right now I’m just going to grab some cash and there’s all kinds of people Â
Trying to um sell taxis and uh Hotel transfer so I’m just going to have to take one of those  because yeah I have no phone absolutely nothing just pulled out some cash I’ll actually show you Â
Guys what that looks like once we make it into the car but um I just looked on my conversion app and  I believe $20 is around 600 um Egyptian pounds so here the money is called the Egyptian pounds Â
I think that’s fair that’s probably like the max I should pay to get to my hotel so um let’s see  right now who comes up and offers me something but look at this welcome welcome to Egypt baby you got Â
A nice big Pharaoh right there as soon as you walk on in how cool is that how much do um Nova 6th of  October 6th oober Egyptian pound Egyptian pound 650 egptian pound okay let’s go I’m following you Â
All right that was easy you’ll take that one for me thank you welcome to Egypt you take me to Hotel  you you D it’s busy today huh what very busy today no no no no it looks busy the lines were so long Â
In Immigration yeah true true oh it’s nice and fresh out here it’s nice warm beautiful sunset  time now we’re walking on over to the car oh I’m so happy to be here look at these desert sunsets Â
Oh these are going to be so nice to see look we got a little Starbucks right there oh yeah  this is nice I like it and it’s not hot because it is winter time right now so it’s about 20° C Â
Which is around 60° Fahrenheit or 65 beautiful weather actually it might be a little bit closer  to 70 and you know what earlier I mentioned that the Visa was $30 it was actually $25 and you got Â
To have American Cash you got to have American cash for pretty much everything I’m not sure why  that is but that’s just the way things work so I actually had to ended up paying 700 for the Â
Ride to the hotel which is about uh $21 or so not terrible but okay thank you not not terrible but  definitely um don’t think that’s what it would have cost me in the Uber but hey it is what it Â
Is I got to get there and I probably got to buy a little burner phone now because yeah I need a  SIM card while I’m here or else I’m going to be pretty useless especially for the map you know thank you enjoy your day
Siram all right time to get these Egypt Explorations I’m excited to see what things  look like outside the window can I roll the window down sir no English no English it’s  okay very little Arab Shan all right well we got here at perfect time because the Sun is setting Â
However we’ll still be able to um see a little bit of the city First Impressions here we go now  typically speaking I would definitely tell you guys something different like you know always  look for something that has like you know taxi markings or whatnot but I was pretty much left Â
With no option right now and yeah I feel like it was a a good call to just jump into a ride  now what is the time right now oh it’s 4:55 and the sun’s already setting that’s crazy Â
I actually saw the little glow from the sunset around um 4:00 so it’s been around for a while  I mean look you get a little better view of it now you know what let me not point the camera Â
Outside too much cuz there’s a little bit of or quite a few like police and military checkpoints  and the last thing I want is to be stop so yeah I didn’t get told anything at all of course all I’m Â
Traveling with is a GoPro and a a cell phone but um you can imagine that you go through a lot of  like security screenings where you have to stick your duffel bag so you can imagine if you come Â
Here with drones big cameras microphones you’re going to call a lot of attention um but yeah  everything everything went by extremely smooth my driver’s on the phone right now he doesn’t speak  any English but it’s all good we’re here we made it to our destination not to be honest usually I Â
Get a little bit nervous um showing up to a place for my very first time by myself um it’s been that  way ever since I started traveling but right now I feel extremely comfortable maybe because Â
I spent so much time in Tunisia recently and also in uh Morocco but yeah look welcome to Cairo baby  welcome to Cairo 2024 happy New Year this is where we’re kicking off um the New Year I’m so excited Â
For what this year has to has or what this year is going to bring let me know what you guys have in  mind what are some of your goals for 2024 I know I want to hit a million Subs let’s hope we can make Â
That happen hey how are you Salam and of course now we’re going to be exploring Egypt so I’m so us all right so far Egyptians are super cool I like it all right let’s hope it’s  like this the whole time a lot of um mix opinions on the country based off Â
Of YouTube videos that I watch some people say it’s a rough place to  travel others say it’s pretty smooth I think I think it’s going to be a mix of both I’m excited first time Egypt all right we’re going through like this uh checkpoint gate now I think there like a Â
Toll road to pay for for the highway and then uh we’ll be well on our way you know what I  had a perfect view outside of my window as we were flying in um to Cairo I can see like the Â
Infrastructure and see like how densely populated the city is but I couldn’t see the pyramids I was  really looking for them and I couldn’t see them however I did see the NY River views of Â
The deserts but yeah no sign of the pyramids from the plane I was sitting on the right hand side so  maybe if you’re flying into EG into Cairo sit on the left hand side and quite possibly that might Â
Be where you view that um that iconic view of the pyramids from the window out of but yeah we made  it oh something about um visiting a new country for the first time oh there’s a huge military Â
Checkpoint right now something about visiting a country for the very first time is just oh man so awesome we just made it onto the highway I didn’t realize that when I arrived here I  thought we arriv in at the Sphinx International Airport that’s the one that I had saw on the map Â
When I downloaded it I didn’t realize we landed in the Cairo Airport that was near the new Kyo  city so we actually got quite a drive probably about 45 minutes based off of what I can see Â
On the map but let me just tell you guys so far looks impressive here I mean the infrastructure  is uh very nice the roads look amazing look you got malls everywhere there’s one right there we  passed by another one called Sun City and then look at all of the advertisements on the highway Â
Super cool right and yeah there’s not much traffic where we are right now but I can imagine that when  you get closer to the city centers that it gets pretty bad but yeah a lot of construction going Â
On you can tell that there’s a lot of developments um happening it’s really cool to see I think after  this I got to go to Algeria now because I’m going to be missing Algeria and Libya for the Â
North Africa oh man what a place wow those signs are huge I wonder what the petrol is here if it’s  uh by liter or by gallon but yeah you can see um what I was talking about while we were Landing Â
I mean look it’s just desert out here guys just desert and I’ve been noticing based off of what  I’ve been seen so far I’ve been noticing that a lot of people smoke cigarettes here as well every Â
Car that I’ve been driving by everybody’s smoking so um I guess cigarette culture is uh not frowned  upon here well in a lot of the Arabic countries in general I mean cigarette smoke is pretty much  part of the culture I mean uh shisha cigarettes coffee it’s how people socialize you know well Â
Not everybody I’m gener generalizing now but uh a lot a large majority of people do love a nice um  shisha and a coffee a cigarette and a coffee seems to be very common not only here in North Africa Â
But also in Eastern Europe and in um the balans but yeah look a lot of construction going on all right I’ll log back in once we make it a little bit closer into the City and there’s  um something something else to look at besides just construction and and the Â
Highway but the highway is already super impressive to me oh this building right  here I don’t know what this one is Kinski oh kinsky that’s the hotel um that one I  could actually see from the airplane when we were Landing so kinsky I was wondering Â
What the one with the blue roof was that’s what it is Coca-Cola advertisements what is  this vodo phone they should adverti that they don’t sell eims crazy all right see you guys Soon now it’s quite impressive I’m noticing that there’s a lot of like  um car dealerships along the roads there’s also plenty of shopping sensors I think I  mentioned that a while back but another really interesting observation that’s I’m Â
Noticing that there’s a lot of people walking along the highways oh what is that College of Egypt oh wow that is beautiful oh thank you sir now I just looked on the map it said that we’re going to be driving Â
By uh where the pyramids are so hopefully we get a nice view of those as well but yeah the  city super impressive but what I was saying is I noticed that there’s a lot of people walking along Â
The highways and I think that uh they’re waiting for rides or maybe that’s how they jump on the  bus I’m not too sure I haven’t seen actually anybody doing anything but I’ve seen so many  people walking along the sites but yeah very impressive City so far you know let’s put the Â
Window down a little bit more and I love these Vans dude these Vans are awesome look they’re so small furniture stores yeah man this is cool  and the buildings have such a cool unique architecture to see
Them okay so that drive took about an hour and a half but it was quite enjoyable I actually  knocked out for large majority of it but we just made it here to the Nova Hotel this year is the Â
Lobby it’s super beautiful you still got some poinsettas they got a Christmas tree which is  really interesting to see I’ve seen a lot of Christmas decorations and being that this is  primarily a Muslim country well it’s pretty um odd to see but look they got a little computer Â
To work on this here is the bar man this is awesome such a nice hotel all right well I’m  going to get checked in right now but that gentleman’s actually helping um out another  family and it looks like over here in this area there’s a restaurant buffet oh this is nice and Â
It smells lovely in here too look at this huge gingerbread house I’ve never seen a gingerbread  house this big before man they’re in more of the Christmas spirit here in uh Egypt and they were  over in America as of recently all right let’s get checked in all right so the bman actually Â
Brought my stuff to the room I’m on the third floor let’s see what the suite is looking like  now I actually just got done adding breakfast and dinner to all of my uh stay dinners were only 700 Â
Which is not bad and about $20 for all you can eat buffet and the breakfast is about2 200 so  a steel around $7 all right I am 329 oh no 329 that’s not right there’s not even a 329 3128 oh Â
I’m this way but yeah this place is beautiful hey and the smells so good I love hotels that  put um nice air fresheners around the hallways and the lobby it’s a nice touch all right 3128 Â
Oh I’m all the way down the hallway all right it’s about to be time for a little room tour I  know you guys love the room tours I’m going to show you guys what 80 us can get you here in Â
Cairo all right 3128 oh man I think I missed it yeah I passed it all right now um as I mentioned  earlier when we were in the car a lot of people I noticed a lot of people smoking cigarettes and Â
Well um here at the bar they actually have a bar downstairs and a big pool that I’ll show  you guys maybe tonight maybe tomorrow man I walk the wrong way where is this place oh man it was  right here but yeah they actually have areas where you can smoke downstairs 3128 3127 3125 Â
All right you know what let me figure this out and I’ll catch back up with you 3129 yeah where’s  my room 3128 are you kidding me it was right next to the sign all right there’s my luggage Â
Oh phone’s ringing wow this is beautiful what a room all right let’s see what they want hello hi Sanka thank you so much thank you Sanka thank you bye Sanka what a legend so he sent me an amenity kit because Â
I left my tooth fresh in the last Hotel but this here is my Suite um let me show you guys  so I actually got upgraded to this um this here is an $80 but I paid $80 on my reservation this Â
Here is the bathroom we got the sink nice toilets of course with the hygiene wrap on  it storage space I’m guessing this is a closet yeah nice closet space little espresso machine  teac kettle fridge safe what’s in here extra pillows laundry bag coffee cups wine I mean Â
Wine water what am I thinking about what am I thinking about this here is the lobby I got the  lobby the living room I got a couch table little chair television phone this here is the bedroom  wow this is beautiful big comfy queen-sized bed actually this is a king it’s a king we Â
Got a television another one usually I only get one uh TV in hotels but this time we got  two so I got to make use of that and oh there’s someone knocking this is probably my amenity
Kids hello sir thank you so much you’re fine very good thank you sh say in you order and call your  reception number zero okay thank you so much have a nice day and happy New Year thank you Happy New Â
Year to you thank you oh man I’m G to love you je and the hospitality here is good so yeah I  got a shaving kit sent up Dental kits um I kind of overlooked this but look at this fruit um display Â
That they put out for me and then a nice mix of nuts looks like we got some walnuts hazelnuts and  almonds all right back to the room but yeah this is awesome I’m going to be here for four nights Â
Who knows this might even stay a little bit longer uh big mirror what is this a door to the bathroom  as well oh wow another shower in a tub well shower and a tub cuz the first bathroom literally just Â
Has the toilets another storage space another safe no this place is mint let me know what  you guys think down below and as I mentioned it’s in a real trendy area 6th of October so  you know what um I definitely made a good good choice by staying here all right so yeah this Â
Here is the view look look you got the swimming pool down there this here is the reception lobby  area they got a um the bar restaurants with the Terrace oh this is gorgeous good morning Â
Guys and well last night I ended up not doing too much I came back down for dinner and let me just  tell you guys the dinner here is incredible so I actually have an alak Kart menu and a buffet Â
I actually went alak cart last night and I got some steak with potatoes that was incredible and  then I also had a taco salad and of course where a beautiful strawberry uh tart dessert that was  incredible now right now I’m currently waiting for my omelets I’m at the breakfast buffet they Â
Actually have a crepe stand over here I’m trying to do a little bit of healthier eating so I got  an omelette coming out seasonal fruit falafal but they have a wide selection of um breakfast  all kinds of different options but yeah let me actually show you guys around this little um Â
Courtyard area until my omelette comes up but this here is the swimming pool relaxing area there’s  all kinds of beach chairs places to hang out it looks like there’s also I don’t know maybe some  more rooms over in this direction they got shisha a barbecue over in that direction beautiful hotel Â
My room is actually like actually up there with the balcony how amazing is this place though right  a lot of bang for your buck and the temperature is absolutely perfect I can’t imagine coming out  here in the summer I can imagine during the summer it is BR but yeah the plan for today Â
Is to head into ancient Cairo the old part of the city that’s where I’m going to be kicking off the  series and then I’ll be making my way around the city now last night I actually ended up booking Â
A last minute Nile River Cruise because that’s what a lot of people do here in Egypt and I’m  cutting my trip extremely close but I think I’m going to manage to make that happen so I have Â
A feeling that in the next few days we’re going to be flying to a swan to make the River Cruise  happen look they also have like some little hangout areas for the kids beautiful hotel I  love all of the green spaces but yeah please let me know down in the comments any recommendations Â
You might have for Egypt where else should I visit I mean there’s so many places to see but only um  very short on time I will be back however so drop me down recommendations who knows maybe Â
I’ll come back a lot sooner than later maybe I’ll change my flight I don’t know but um for now uh  let’s get back over there and see if the omelet is ready but yeah that’s the outdoor Terrace Â
Area so even in the rain it’s covered you can still sit outside enjoy the beautiful weather  here the birds chirping all right let’s see if the breakfast is here hey thank you so much sir  wow this looks amazing thank you I appreciate you guys and cheese something no cheese no cheese no Â
No I think I’m fine Sal something I’m okay thank you sir thank you thank you man the staff here at  the Nova are amazing so um that was Muhammad he’s my waiter right now but this here’s the Omelette Â
Looks amazing let’s go on in there and try this who knows I might have to get a crepe later too bum okay breakfast was great and I was actually able to come upstairs  change my flight for only a $75 fee on Qatar Airways and I was able to Â
Find a website let me tell you guys it’s a website called Olaf fly h o l a f l y Olaf fly and that’s where you can actually purchase an eim so if you  have a iPhone 15 like I do um or any other phone that requires the eim and you can’t get Â
One here in Egypt use that application it’s kind of expensive it’s about €40 for 10 days compared  to the SIM card at the airport that’s 15 EUR for the same amount of time but it’s unlimited data Â
It’s eim you need it you know what I mean and I actually just noticed that there’s a mosque I  don’t know if you guys can really tell behind the tree but there’s a mosque this place is beautiful Â
It’s going to be a nice place to relax but yeah guys for now I think I’m going to end this video  I hope you guys enjoyed the journey um getting to the hotel my first little um experience arriving Â
To Egypt it wasn’t as stressful as everybody says it was or it is I mean you got to be smart guys  you got to um plan accordingly Egypt is not one of those countries where you can come to with Â
Microphones tons of camera equipment drones and not have permission there’s a lot of videos on  YouTube saying um that this is like the worst country to enter that it’s one of the hardest  countries to enter but that simply is not true I think you just have to do your due diligence and Â
You know plan accordingly there’s a video going viral on the internet about Egypt um by Sony from  the best ever Food review show and to be honest I love the guys videos I love all of his videos Â
I watch them all the time but his video that he created here in Egypt with the thumbnail saying  it’s the worst country has like 10 million views which means 150 million people probably seen that  thumbnail and several million that watch the video or saw the thumbnail probably changed their whole Â
Ideas of coming to Egypt simply because of that video and I think it’s wrong so so um keep that  in mind I had no problems at all coming in um everybody’s super kind welcoming and I’m looking Â
Forward to spending the next two weeks here in Egypt so um for now I’ll leave you guys a little  more view of the noael here in the 6th of October area of Cairo and I’ll see you guys again soon for Â
Another adventure now that I got the SIM card I’m feeling good I’m feeling relaxed I’m about  to order an Uber after I brush my teeth and then we’ll head off into ancient Cairo and kick the Â
Series off right first I need some cash though I need some cash and then um we’ll be well on  our way now the Uber to ancient Cairo from here is only 200 Egyptian pounds so around $5 not bad Â
At all anyways um that’s it for now I’ll see you guys again soon for another one later guys you always was the one to take I remember
Video “My Arrival to Cairo, Egypt was NOT WHAT I EXPECTED! 🇪🇬” was uploaded on 01/14/2024. Watch all the latest Videos by Travelwithchris on Gretopia