Egypt: Family Vacation of a Lifetime or Monumental Lapse in Judgement?

First of all, don't anyone tell Brandon the title of this post. He says comments like that make it sound like I'm complaining about everything. But, there were times on this trip (and it was a trip, not a vacation) that I had to ask myself that very question.
So, ten days, eight days of actual sight seeing. I managed to take 421 photos. We'll begin with number one. Just kidding.
We'll actually begin with arguments for the prosecution, that lapse in judgement.
Egypt is dirty. Like, really dirty. I was really surprised. I guess I shouldn't have been. I mean, it is a developing third world country in Africa, but I guess I thought that Cairo would at least be tourist friendly. The air quality in Cairo brought out the Japanese tourist in me. I came very close to walking around with a surgical mask on. Everyone smokes. And the garbage in the irrigation canals from the Nile made me wonder about the cleanliness of the things growing in those fields. There was trash everywhere. Cairo was actually the worst. I kept thinking I should take pictures, but I decided I really don't want to remember that part of the trip.
The smoking nearly ruined it all for me. If there is one thing that really irritates me it's smoke, and it was everywhere, the hotel rooms, the bed linens, the carpets. When we rode the overnight train, I finally did bust out my surgical mask because the porter left his lit cigarette burning in the drinking fountain just outside our room all night. And the overnight train is a whole other story. Let's just say that a three star accommodation rating does not mean the same thing in Egypt.
And lastly, the hassling market vendors. I do not enjoy shopping in this sort of environment. I feel rude ignoring them, but if you pay them even the slightest bit of attention, they get ten times worse. I feel like telling them that if they would leave me alone, I might look around and spend some money in their store, but it's just not worth the hassle. Luckily, we had a tour guide the whole time to tell them to bug off if it got too bad, or to bargain for us if we really wanted something. Needless to say, we came back with fewer souvenirs than we may have wanted, but more money in our pockets, which is a good thing. But enough of the boring commentary.
I will now offer arguments for the defense. I have pictures like this now.

The Pyramids at Giza

The obligatory camel ride

The Sphinx

Valley Temple of Khafre

Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara

Colonnaded Corridor at Saqqara


The Mosque of Mohammed Ali, not the boxer, within the walls of the Citadel


The Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo

The Khan-al-Khalili market

The Egyptian Museum

Aswan

Temple of Philae





Abu Simbel






Temple of Kom Ombo






Temple of Horus in Edfu




Luxor Temple






Avenue of Sphinxes at Luxor


Hatshepsut Temple




Temple of Amun, Karnak





My kids can read hyroglyphics now.



Cairo

Cairo Tower

All in all, it was an amazing trip. I don't know if I would take the kids if I had it to do over. It was too stessful, worrying about them getting sick, or lost. We went through six bottles of hand sanitizer and we still all ended up with a case of King Tut's revenge. But I'm glad to be able to say that I have been there and seen the eveidence of such ancient civilization. My advice to all of you would be to plan carefully, make sure you have a tour guide, and get a babysitter.