Normalize spending a long weekend in Africa

i traveled to Egypt for like 4 days and honestly i would do it again.

Egypt is at the top of many people’s “places to visit” lists, but from my many conversations with well-traveled folks, it often never gets moved to the "places I’ve been" list.

One reason Egypt doesn’t get checked off the list is that people don’t really think of the African continent as a place to visit for just a few days.

For some reason, people have no problem visiting cities like Paris, London, or Berlin for a long weekend, but they hesitate at the idea of going to Beirut, Marrakesh, or Cairo.

The flight to Cairo is 10 hours direct from JFK on EgyptAir, while flights to Berlin are 8 hours direct. Just two extra hours to see the pyramids—why the hell not? Think about the Instagram stories and the content you’ll gather as a reward for your troubles!

I also get the impression that many people think the Middle East (or Africa in general) is dangerous. Some places are, and some places are not.

I can’t speak much about Sub-Saharan Africa because I’m guilty of never having traveled there, but I can certainly vouch for Middle Eastern cities like Marrakesh, Cairo, sometimes Beirut, and Istanbul — which is technically not the Middle East but does have a similar vibe. There’s also Jordan, Tunisia, and Oman, which I’ve heard great things about.

Back to Egypt, though.

Egypt is like the Mexico of Europe—it’s a very popular vacation destination for Europeans and Russians. If they’re in the mood for Mexico City, they hit Cairo. If they’re in the mood for Tulum, they hit Sahel. My uncle married a German woman he met on the beach in Sharm El Sheikh.

I’m not advocating flying from NYC to Egypt to chill at the beach, but if one of your dreams is to see the pyramids, I highly recommend a long weekend in Cairo.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Cairo with the Toronto/Cairo-based clothing brand Kotn. We shot a campaign for their fall/winter line (it’s fire! — sidenote: Kotn makes the best socks I’ve ever owned.)

We were there for just a few days, and it was definitely the shortest amount of time I’ve spent in Cairo, but it was FUN! The crew was made up of a few people who had been to Cairo before and a few who had never been and everyone had a great time

That’s what inspired me to write this post!

Here are some photos from the quick trip—everyone went to see the pyramids, but I’ve already seen them many times, so I opted to visit my family instead.

Anyway, maybe in a later post, I’ll put together a little 72-hour itinerary for Cairo, but for now, this one in Nat Geo works pretty well.