By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel · Updated June 2026
Instead of flying out of Israel, one girl and I chose to change our flights and head into Egypt. We took a bus down to Eilat where we were issued Visas to visit Egypt. On the very long bus ride to Cairo we were stopped by security a few times and our luggage was inspected. We also drove under the Suez Canal which was pretty cool.
We had a hectic journey that involved a police chase, taxis and switching hotels three times. But in the end we had no choice but to splurge and stay at the Hilton Ramsey Hotel…at way too much per night, but it was where we felt safest.
We saw the pyramids and the Sphinx (which was smaller than I thought it would be), ate ice cream, road camels and people watched. We had our names in hieroglyphics put on bracelets
We took a train North to Alexandria where we stayed at a quaint hotel across from the the Montazah Gardens. When we road the train back to Cairo, we were not allowed in the train car. Being women, we had to stand outside between the two cars.
Downtown Cairo was crowded, noisy and old. But, it is a place everyone should see once in their lifetime.
You can view more photo’s
here
PS. Today is 7.15.2012. It is very hard to me to remember everything that happened or go into too much detail. I am sorry for the brief blog.
As this was my first experience traveling abroad and alone, I wasn’t sure of the “budget” aspect and encountering people from different countries. So, I spent much of the trip scared and constantly on alert. I would like very much to go back someday and experience Egypt in a better light.
Arriving in Israel
What We Discovered
How do you build a life around adventure and travel?Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had honest conversations about what they want from their lives.
What does an adventurous family lifestyle actually look like?Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation.
How do you balance adventure with stability for kids?By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
What has travel taught your family?That people are fundamentally similar across cultures. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
How do you handle the pressure to live conventionally when you have chosen differently?By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life.
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