Frances' art studio

A life filled with art is a life well lived

My Travel blog

Where do I start?
I’m Frances, a adventure junkie from the dry Northern Cape in South-Africa. I grew up traveling and now it’s definitely an addiction. I found a quote this morning , “I’m a travel addict on the road to recovery. Just kidding… I’m on my way to the airport.” If you’re also a traveller I’m sure you had a laugh reading that.
My first time traveling was when I was only six years old, my brother was only 3 and we visited the island Reunion not far from South- Africa. I remember having to carry my own bag very well. I also remember that the flight was not very full and my brother and I got in trouble for playing “hide- and-seek”on the airoplane. After that holiday, my parents have taken my brother and I to many different countries and continents. But don’t get me wrong, we’ve stayed in many youth hostels . Traveling will always be expensive but there are ways to make it more affordable, ways that I will still share in this travel blog.
Currently, I am studying chiropractic in Johannesburg and obviously I have not been able to sit still, thus I will also share some great places you can visit if you live / if you ever visit Johannesburg. I hope you enjoy this blog. Please send me a dm on Instagram @adventuresinjoburg or @frances_art.studio if you have any questions or suggestions on how I can improve my blog. You can also send me an email at art.studio.frances@gmail.com.

I recently visited Egypt with my family and the trip was nothing short of life changing. Our 8 day trip was action packed and after being back in Johannesburg for a week, I still haven’t processed that I am back. I won’t keep you busy for to long but I’m going to share our Egypt trip in two parts.
- THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE VISITING EGYPT
- MUST GO PLACES IN EGYPT

Things to know before you visit Egypt.

In school, I had always found egiptology intresting and I dreamt of wandering through corridors filled with hieroglyphics. But there are some things about Egypt that even research did not tell us before hand.

If you don’t have Egypt on your bucketlist, you're definitely going to miss out, this country is filled with so much history, that nothing else in the world compares to what you will see. If you are planning on going to Egypt , here are some tips that will help make your trip there pleasant.

Security

Overall, we found that Egypt was safe in the sense that the chance of your money or phone being stolen is not that common, but we did visit Egypt in September 2021, thus it was a lot quieter than it usually is , so pick pocketing did not happen, though we heard rumours that in bussier seasons , it is something you should be careful of. It is safe for you to walk around at night,in cairo. Before going to Egypt I do recommend doing research on what is going on in different parts of Egypt,because some parts of Egypt is dangerous because of unrest in bordering countries.

The length of clothing.

This was a question that I wondered about before going to Egypt and I could not really find a good answers anywhere online. Egypt is hot, even at the start of their winter, we were always sweating, but in winter it does get slightly chilly so I do recommend taking a sweather or two with for the nights. Egypt is a muslim country but it is not compulsory of you to wear longer clothing, especially if you are in the tourist areas. I do however recommend wearing longer clothing is you know you are going to be walking around in a local area,it shows that you respect their culture and it will help that you don’t stand out to much.You only need to wear something covering your head, if you are visiting a mosque. However longer and loose clothing can be a bit less warm and the temples can become very hot.

Tipping

This was a expense that we did not expect. The Egyptians are all really friendly people and always willing to help. Most people expect a tip and in a world that’s going more and more cashless, its strange to have to keep cash with you the whole time. Since the Egyptian found and the rand are 1 to 1 the tipping was really expensive to us but it’s something you have to expect.

Scamming

A lot of people will try to scam you when they see you are a tourist, the government shops have a set price for locals and tourists and even though they could still possibly scam you, the chances that they will are a lot less. Papyrus is one of the biggest scams, I recommend going to the Papyrus factory in Cairo where they will show you how papyrus is made and how to see if the papyrus is fake or not.

Food

Mediterran food is to die for, but I must warn you beforehand that you should not eat to much, it can cause a few stomach problems. Do not drink the tap water. Even though the amount of plastic that gets wasted in Egypt because of the plastic water bottles bothered me a lot, I would still not drink the tap water because it is definitely not safe. The street food is a must and you can get pastry’s for a really cheap price.

Guide

Without a guide, your trip to Egypt will not be worth it. The amount of information that I learnt from the guides in such a short period of time astonishes me. The guides can also help you with everyday interactions because a lot of people cannot speak English.