Pyramids and reverse taxi hijack

Well, you can't take kids to Cairo and not visit the pyramids, can you? So, of course, we did.

I am always paranoid about rip-offs, but getting there, getting into the pyramid area, and moving around were all not too bad. of course, there were lots of "offers," but we turned them all down. That said, Flo and the kids did hire two camels for all of us, after doing a really good haggle, something they will need in some other places later.

It wouldn't be Cairo, though, without one or two bigger hassles, and so it was when we tried to get back from the pyramids. First, it was difficult to find a taxi, but we eventually got one at a fair price. Once in the car and driving a few km, the problems started. "What was the name of the hotel again?". "The Atlas International", "Ah, that's not the Atlas I understood, so the price will be [double]." So we tried to go back to the agreed price, but to no avail. So instead I said to the driver we had changed our plans and we wanted to go to the Swiss Hotel, which on Google Maps was pretty close). he wanted to stop across from the Swiss hotel, but I told him we wanted dropped off in front of the hotel. So he did, then everyone got out, ran quickly into the hotel past the security, and I informed security that the driver was a shameless cheat. I gave security enough to pay him for that part of the trip. He was mad as hell, but security wouldn't let him in (which I had assumed). By the time we had had a cold drink to cool off, he was gone. The next taxi was fair and fun, with loads of Arabic music blasting all the way to the Atlas.Read more