Everything you need in one page โ numbers to call, money, transport, heat, scams, and the visa thing you need to sort this week. Works on your phone, saves your checklist locally, and every number is tap-to-call.
Lebanese passport holders are not visa-exempt for Egypt, and Egypt does not offer Lebanese nationals an e-Visa or a general visa-on-arrival. Per Egypt's published visa policy, the only visa-free categories for Lebanese are:
So: if you're flying into Cairo (CAI) on a scheduled flight, you need a visa issued in advance from the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut. Passport must have 6+ months validity from arrival.
Two things to do today: (1) ask OEA / Michel Baakliny whether the syndicate is handling group visas or a charter routing โ delegations often are. (2) Call the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut to confirm the current rule and processing time, since published policy lags reality.
Sourced from Egypt's official visa policy (Timatic-based) on 29 Jul 2026. The underlying citations date to 2018 โ treat the embassy's answer as final, not this page.
Bookings confirmed (pulled from your inbox 5 Aug): ME302 BEY 07:20 โ CAI 08:40 Thu 6 Aug ยท return ME CAI 20:35 โ BEY 21:55 Mon 10 Aug ยท Safir Hotel Cairo 6โ9 Aug ยท airport transfer pre-paid. Full details in My Trip Details โ including the night of 9โ10 Aug, which has no hotel.
You are the opening speaker of ุงูู ุญูุฑ ุงูุซุงูู. Slot is 15 minutes, hard limit, contractually enforced โ the deck is built to that, do not add slides.
ุงูุฐูุงุก ุงูุงุตุทูุงุนู ุงูุชุทุจููู ูู ุฑูุงุฏุฉ ุงูุฃุนู
ุงู
Part of ูุฏูุฉ ุงูุงุฎุชุตุงุตุงุช ุงูููุฏุณูุฉ ูู ุนุตุฑ ุงูุฐูุงุก ุงูุงุตุทูุงุนู
Hosted by ุงูุฃู ุงูุฉ ุงูุนุงู ุฉ ูุงุชุญุงุฏ ุงูู ููุฏุณูู ุงูุนุฑุจ (80th anniversary) with ููุงุจุฉ ุงูู ููุฏุณูู ุงูู ุตุฑูุฉ ยท ูุฌูุฉ ุงูุชูุฌูู ูุงูุฅุฑุดุงุฏ. Audience: practising Arab engineers โ structural, geomatics, electrical, architectural, mechanical โ from Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Libya. Senior syndicate officials in the room.
ููุงุจุฉ ุงูู
ููุฏุณูู ุงูู
ุตุฑูุฉ โ Ramses St, Cairo.
From Safir Hotel (Dokki) it is ~6 km across the river. In Saturday midday traffic budget 40 minutes, not 20.
Leave the hotel by 11:45. You want to be in the room by 12:30 to test the screen, the sound, and the internet before ุงูู ุญูุฑ ุงูุซุงูู opens.
Built 31 Jul. 11 slides, Arabic RTL, Tahoma throughout, 16:9 PowerPoint as the organisers required.
Also in Drive: SHARED COMPUTERS / 260731_cairo_symposium. Font is Tahoma on purpose โ the organisers asked for Traditional Arabic, which macOS does not ship and silently substitutes, which would break every Arabic line.
Slide 2 you launch a product live; slide 7 you reveal it working and the room opens it on their own phones. That is the whole beat of the talk, and it depends on things you do not control.
Before you walk on: confirm the venue Wi-Fi actually works (test a real upload, not a ping), have your Egyptian SIM hotspot as backup, and keep a recorded 20-second screen capture of the finished product on your phone as the fallback if connectivity dies mid-slot. A failed demo in front of syndicate officials costs more than a slightly less dramatic one.
Note: the 8 Aug date is confirmed by the deck brief, not by an OEA email โ nothing from the organisers has landed in your inbox. Get the final running order from Michel so you know what precedes you and whether the 13:00 start has slipped.
Ordered by deadline pressure. Ticks save to this device โ open the same page on your phone and it keeps its own list.
Egyptian emergency lines are short codes โ dial them exactly as shown from an Egyptian SIM. From a Lebanese roaming SIM, add +20 and drop nothing.
Save the Lebanese Embassy number to your phone contacts now, not when you need it. If your passport goes missing, that number is the whole ballgame.
Egypt runs on cash and on baksheesh. The single biggest practical mistake visitors make is arriving with only big notes.
Baked at 1 USD = 50.53 EGP / 89,500 LBP (29 Jul 2026). Works offline โ re-check the live rate before a big exchange.
Most Cairo restaurants add a 12% service charge + 14% VAT. The service charge often doesn't reach the waiter โ a small direct cash tip does.
| Situation | Tip (EGP) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Restroom attendant | 5 โ 10 | Have 5s and 10s permanently in your pocket |
| Porter / bellhop | 20 โ 50 | Per bag |
| Housekeeping | 50 โ 100 | Per day, left daily not at the end |
| Restaurant | 10 โ 15% | Cash, direct to the server, even if service is on the bill |
| Uber / Careem | 20 โ 50 | Round up, or tip in the app |
| Site guide (half day) | 100 โ 200 | Per person on a shared tour |
| Private guide (full day) | 300 โ 500 | USD is welcome at this level |
| Private driver (full day) | 150 โ 250 | Separate from the guide |
| Someone who "helps" unasked | 0 โ 10 | A firm "la, shukran" is fine. You are not obliged |
One rule covers 90% of it: use Uber or Careem, never a street taxi. Metered fare, GPS trail, no negotiation, no "the meter is broken".
Both work across Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. Install and log in before you fly โ verifying a phone number on arrival is a nightmare.
Cairo International (CAI) sits ~22 km north-east of downtown. Terminal 2 and 3 handle most international arrivals โ confirm your terminal on your boarding pass, they are far apart.
Cheap, fast, and it beats traffic โ but crowded and hot in August. Buy a paper ticket at the booth. The first two cars are women-only during posted hours.
Download Cairo & Giza offline in Google Maps before you leave. Data works fine, but offline maps save you when you're underground, out of credit, or in a dead zone at Saqqara.
Cairo traffic doesn't stop for pedestrians and lanes are decorative. Cross with a group of locals, walk at a steady pace, don't sprint and don't hesitate mid-road โ drivers steer around predictable people.
Roaming from Alfa or touch will quietly cost you more than the hotel. Get a local line.
Buy at the airport or any operator shop. Bring your passport โ registration is legally required.
If your phone supports it, an eSIM (Airalo, Holafly, Nomad) is live the moment you land โ no queue, no passport copy, and it keeps your Lebanese number active for WhatsApp and OTPs. Slightly pricier per GB, usually worth it for a 6-day trip.
Egypt has historically blocked or degraded WhatsApp, FaceTime and Messenger voice/video calls on local networks. Text and media work fine. If you need to take a real call, use hotel Wi-Fi, a data eSIM, or plan on a normal phone call.
You're going in the hottest month. Cairo hits 35โ38ยฐC with relentless sun and almost no humidity โ which is dangerous precisely because you don't feel yourself sweating.
Egypt is safe for visitors โ violent crime against tourists is rare. What's relentless is commercial hassle, especially at Giza. None of it is dangerous; all of it is exhausting if you don't have a script.
Expected at Khan el-Khalili and any bazaar, never in shops with marked prices. Open at roughly a third of the asking price and settle near half. Walking away is the strongest move you have โ and it usually gets called back.
Fine at tourist sites. Never photograph military, police, bridges, or government buildings โ this is taken seriously. Ask before photographing people, and expect a tip to be expected.
Avoid demonstrations and crowds entirely. Don't discuss Egyptian politics or the military in public or with strangers. As a foreign professional you have no upside there and real downside.
Much of this will feel familiar from Lebanon. The gaps are where people get caught out.
If you get a free half-day, these are the ones that justify the heat. Ordered by how much you'd regret missing them.
You'll be understood everywhere โ but Egyptian and Lebanese diverge on exactly the words you use most. Switching a handful of these makes you sound local instead of foreign, and it changes how you get treated and priced.
Egyptians pronounce ุฌ as a hard G โ Gamal, not Jamal; gineih, not jneih, for the pound. And where you'd glottal-stop the ู, they often do too โ so 2albi lands the same. Say "bekฤm?" instead of "addฤsh?" and you've already stopped being a tourist.
Confirmed bookings below, read from your inbox on 5 Aug 2026. The blank fields underneath are yours โ they stay on this device only.
Safir checks you out Sun 9 Aug at 11:00, but your flight home is Mon 10 Aug at 20:35. That's one night and a full day unbooked. Either extend Safir by a night, or move the flight.
Also: the calendar block said 6โ11 Aug, but the ticket returns you to Beirut Mon 10 Aug 21:55. Carol Saba, 17:30 Mon 10 Aug in your calendar is unreachable โ you're still in Cairo.
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