ATT:any Australians who have travelled to Egypt in the last 3 months:can I easily get a visa at the airport???

Question

(or must I apply for it at home? If so, how long does it take for it to be processed & how much?) What sort of things do I really have to declare upon arrival at Cairo International Airport? (eg, mobile? digital camera?) How much spending money did you consume in a week there (Australian dollars) -or how much should I take (even if indulgent-wise)? Can I easily use my debit card in their ATMS especially say -if I have a Commonwealth Bank one?!? Which banks in Egypt can accept my card? What was the weather like? -What would I need to take? Whats a great souvenir I must bring home with me once I get back? What is worth seeing/doing (even if I don't follow a tour)? What/where are the hidden treasures of Egypt that have not yet been exploited by mass tourism?

I AM AN AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN!!! (even though I look otherwise)


(or must I apply for it at home? If so, how long does it take for it to be processed & how much?) What sort of things do I really have to declare upon arrival at Cairo International Airport? (eg, mobile? digital camera?) How much spending money did you consume in a week there (Australian dollars) -or how much should I take (even if indulgent-wise)? Can I easily use my debit card in their ATMS especially say -if I have a Commonwealth Bank one?!? Which banks in Egypt can accept my card? What was the weather like? -What would I need to take? Whats a great souvenir I must bring home with me once I get back? What is worth seeing/doing (even if I don't follow a tour)? What/where are the hidden treasures of Egypt that have not yet been exploited by mass tourism?

Answer 1

May Allah guide you to the best sweetie :)

Answer 2

Visas and Documentation
There are three types of Egyptian visa:

Tourist Visa - usually valid for a period not exceeding 3 months and granted on either a single or multiple entry basis (note it is not visas are not chargeable when visiting the red sea resorts of taba and sharm-el-sheik)
Entry Visa - required for any foreigner arriving in Egypt for purposes other than tourism, e.g. work, study, etc. The possession of a valid Entry Visa is needed to complete the residence procedure in Egypt.
Transit Visa
Non-Egyptian travellers are required to be in possession of a valid passport.

Entry visas may be obtained from Egyptian Diplomatic and Consular Missions Abroad or from the Entry Visa Department at the Travel Documents, Immigration and Nationality Administration (TDINA).

Citizens of many countries may obtain a visa on arrival at major points of entry. The fees for a single-entry visa are as follows:

UK citizens: £15
US citizens: US$15
Australian citizens: A$45
Canadian citizens: C$25
Please check with your nearest Egyptian Consular mission for more details concerning visa regulations applying to your citizenship . we have HSBC and CITIBANK here in cairo, you dont have to declare mobileor ur camera its personal , the weather is cold, but when r u travelling to be able to advise what clothes r good fr u!!!!! regarding how much money, it depends for how long r u going to stay , where r u going to visit and what category of hotels !!!! souvenirs are too much in egypt it depends on ur taste.i dont recommend u to go on ur own without a tour for the first time in Egypt.. there are many many things u should c and do and none can help u here exept a travel agency . We need long long time to talk about The hidden treasures of Egypt , so why dont u use wikipidia.com or google.com to answer all ur questions they will be more detailed too.

Answer 3

so many question la.
as i know, as long as you r a malaysian, you dont need to have any visa before travelling to egypt, i mean you just need to have a visa after you arrived in egypt. the prosedure is called visa upon arrival. how it will cost, i dont now. but if you apply the visa from there(australia) it would be more better. because egyptians people in here, wow, it is so difficuilt to explain about their behaviours. maybe if you dont have any visa after you arrive you are going to be send back to malaysia just like that.
my roomate before a week just flied to Qatar from here(egypt), and he didnt apply any visa from here, because he want to apply it there(qatar), beside he has a family there. but at the departure hall, he is not allowed to fly because the workers there want him to show them the visa. we explained to them about our speciality but its denial (all arabian when they want to travel to other arab countries, they have to get the visa first, they're not like us). so we went back after two days, and after make a hot disscussion with the ticket company, my roommate almost didnt fly that day again, because they still didnt believe us and you know what, the flight that should be at 9.30 am that morning, has been delayed at 10.00 because of him. fortunately, we meet the manager.
it is so hard to working with egyptians, sometime. so my advise, do apply the visa from there. do apply it there, before you have to to face a mega problem.
and if you want my help, i am here is ready for you, and together in here you can find a lot of malaysians. because we have our own villagge here. we have for in about 25 aparments that we rent especially for malaysians.
ok, that's all.

Answer 4

I am an Australian who travels to Egypt frequently and you will have no problems getting your visa at the airport.I usually do it while waiting for my luggage.The office is quite close by.
You can take all the things you mentioned with no problem. But,you will need to get another sim card for your phone to make and receive calls. Vodaphone is easily found ,they have offices all over Egypt and will do it for you on the spot.No Optus or Telstra of course!
If you plan on staying in 3 or 4 star hotels book from home as you will get a room with a/c,T.V.,that is clean and in a good location for around $35.00 a night.
How much spending money etc. depends a lot on if you love to shop. On my first trip I spent around $3.500 in just 4 weeks and I was almost excess baggage on the way home!Last trip I spent about $3000,no more in 8 weeks I stayed on, after I finished the tour I was leading.
It will depend on how much sight seeing you are planning to do .The average entrance price to a site is 20LE ,that is about $4.70.
When converting Aust.dollars I always think 4.50L.E.(Egyptian pounds) to the dollar, so then you are on the good side.
I find rounded numbers are easier, when you are trying to bargain and quickly convert money in your head.
If you are going after June it will be getting hotter,July and August are the really hot summer months.
Especially in Luxor and further south.You really must go to Luxor and spend at least 2 or 3 days,there is just so much to see. It really is a must do if you are going to Egypt!
My favorite place in Egypt is the West Bank of Luxor and I plan on building and moving there as soon as possible.Inshahallah.
I use my ATM card and take a couple of hundred in U.S dollars as security(lost card or something) to spare.
You loose money every time you change it,so ATM cards are the way to go.Your C.B.A. card is acceptable at almost all ATMs in Egypt and you will have no problems finding them.
I have not found one that doesn't accept my C.B.A. card.
There is one at the airport.So you can draw L.E. to get you into town.
Try and take cotton clothing.Synthetics don't breathe and are horrid to wear in the heat.A cotton fabric with a 30% synthetic mix is fine.The dress code is what you would expect in a moderate Muslim country. Sensible sandals are a must,if you plan on doing a lot of "exploring" sneakers or some form of gym shoe is advisable.
The only thing that may be hard to get is a suncream that is over Factor 8.I am quite fair but I never seem to get burnt in Egypt as I do in Australia. The sun doesn't "sting" your skin as it does here.
In fact I find the heat easier to handle as it is very low humidity.
You should get to the Cairo Museum of course.But as I said earlier you have to go to Luxor.Either can catch a train or fly there. If you go by train ,do choose the overnight sleeper train.You don't want to even know the details of the toilets on the normal train.
With the sleeper train you have to book at least 24hrs ahead and pay in U.S.dollars, if you are not an Egyptian citizen.
Don't try and do it on the internet or by phone as they are notorious for loosing your booking.
It only means going to Rameses Station and waiting in a short queue,the service is pretty quick and straight forward.
Accommodation is even a little cheaper in Luxor by about $5 dollars.It has lots of hotels most are very central and within walking distance of Luxor temple and The Corniche that runs along the Nile.
If you are really into Pharonic Egypt treat your yourself to a visit to Abydoss. It is the Temple of Seti 1 one of the sights not included in many tours.It is a beautiful temple complex and the site of the unique Osirison. You can get there on a day tour or by hiring an a/c car for the day,no more than 80L.E plus tip..
Make sure Deir El Barhi on Luxors West Bank is on your list it is breathtaking in design and location is awesome.
Such an incredible temple built by an amazing and powerful female Pharaoh. Like the Pyramids,no picture does true justice to the size and the impression left on you.
The temple reliefs are superb and give detailed descriptions of the expedition to Punt.Other walls tell of the visitation of Amun to her mother Ahmes, that resulted in her birth.
You can even find "hidden" references to her closest friend, adviser,architect and daughters tutor, Senenmut.
I follow the school of thought that he was the likely father of Neferu-Ra',and that they were grooming her as the next female Pharoah. That is the reason for both dissapearing from history and the absolute vandalisim on a grand scale of Hatshepsuts statuary and anything related to her after her death.Also the reason she was not buried in the tomb she had built for herself and her father Thutmose1 in The Valley of the Kings.
The temple is directly in front of the Valley, and her tomb was designed originally to connect with the temple.
I find Hatshepsut's life and death fascinating, as you may have guessed.
Not to be biased ,you should try and visit the famous and stunning Temple of Abu Simbel,built by Rameses 11 and right carved into a cliff.
Almost as incredible is how the engineers cut it up and transported the huge statues and the temple, 500 metres up the cliff when the Aswan dam was built.
Unfortunatly there are no "hidden" or newly found sites available to the public.All are visited by 1,000s everyday,and in the future replicas may take the place of the originals for tourists.Partly the reason I decided to study Egyptology at Macquarrie University.
In the last year several of the tombs have been closed , due to damage by the thousands of tourists breathe,sweat,vibration, all have a negative effect on the reliefs in particular.
It is likely more will close and only be accessible to scholars and the very rich. Nefertari's tomb will be opened for you on application and payment of $20,000!
There are so many mementos available,everything you can imagine is sold at Khan el Khalili in Cairo.
It is a hard job for anyone to choose what to buy and what to leave behind.
But you can always use it as a good reason to go back again!
Enjoy your trip! I do hope this has given you some insight from an Australian view point.
edit. 19/2 typo Ahmes,Hatshepsut's mother.

Answer 5

I'm not sure if that's gonna help you :) I'm an American and it was very easy for me to get my visa at the airport.