Taxi Across the Sinai Peninsula – Egypt

During our 2008 Middle East Trek their were a few very tricky travel logistic issues that we had to deal with. Although I had done HUGE amounts of research we still were not 100% confident that our itinerary would work with the numerous border crossings, security, etc. The biggest of these issues was how we were going to get from Tel Aviv, Israel to Cairo, Egypt. We essentially had 3 options:

1.Take a VERY expensive flight from Tel Aviv to Cairo. This would have saved us a lot of time but was simply too expensive.

2.Take a very long bus between the two cities. This was risky as the northern border crossing is very intense and constantly getting shut down (or sometimes just unusable due to tensions in the area)

3.Work our way down to the laid back southern border crossing in Eilat, Israel and then take a bus to Cairo.

We decided on the third option and caught a very short early morning flight from Tel Aviv to Eilat. We then took a taxi to the border crossing which was extremely easy and painless (very rare for a border crossing in the Middle East). I had read that the bus station to get to Cairo was just outside the border crossing but before we could even get their we learned that the last bus for the day had left. For a moment we started to panic but quickly realized we were in the Middle East and there is always a taxi driver willing to take you somewhere. With just did a little asking around and eventually found a very friendly taxi driver who was willing to take us the 5 hours across the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo. This trip actually only came out to be around $100 USD which was a steal considering it is the equivalent of hiring a taxi in Provo, UT to take you to Idaho Falls, ID. :) We jumped in the cab and before we knew it we were winding our way along the Red Sea on our way to Cairo. This particular part of the drive was gorgeous as the bright blue waters of the ocean were a stark contrast to the yellow desert sands all around us. At one point we even saw a castle built on a tiny island just off the shore. This castle was made entirely of yellow brick which was such a contrast against the blue waters of the Red Sea. After a while the road turned away from the Red Sea and for HOURS we passed absolutely nothing but sand. Occasionally we would come to a road block in the middle of nowhere were we would have to show our passports to armed guards. This usually only took a second and then they would wave us on. This probably happened 2-3 times and almost always woke me up from a peaceful nap. :) Eventually we made our way to the Suez Canal and took the long tunnel underneath it. When we came out we were no longer in the desert but in an urban jungle that was the outskirts of Cairo. After only a few minutes we found ourselves right in the heart of Cairo and were extremely excited to explore the magnificent city we were seeing outside the taxi car windows. I particularly remember seeing the spires of one VERY LARGE mosque which was a great “welcome” to the city. Our taxi driver had a very hard time finding our hotel and had to constantly ask for directions. He was such a nice guy and went “above and beyond” as he could have easily just dropped us off anywhere. He eventually found the hotel and left us with a smile and a wave. Of all the options we had for getting from Tel Aviv to Cairo taking a 5 hour taxi ride across the Sinai was not one that we had planned on. However, it ended up being a wonderful experience that we will never forget.