Hi, I'm new here, so I apologize if this has been covered I'm going to Cairo for two weeks with school next month, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience skating there. I asked the people organizing the trip and they just looked at me like I had six heads. Any suggestions?

I've never been to Cairo and don't have any direct knowledge. But several years ago there was a guy visiting our rink who said he was from Egypt - sent there by his work. He told us that there was one rink in Cairo, and that it was very small - about the size of a studio rink in the US. I'm sorry I don't have any further information.

Just to clarify - do you mean Cairo, New York or Cairo, Egypt?

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Never been to Cairo, but I have tried something similar with Moscow (which has many many more rinks) and I'd rather had not tried! First of all, flying with your skates will be a problem. Also, you're likely to have such a busy schedule there that every spare minute you'll be wanting to sleep, school trips usually are like that...

I googled ice rink + Cairo. If you scroll about half way down this link http://www.touregypt.net/magazine/mag01012001/mag10.htm it talks about a mall that has an ice rink. That is probably as good as it will get. I just came back from a month in China. I second the opinion that you may not have time or the opportunity because school trips don't have much free time. I was able to go skating once, it was the same set up described on the website, very small rink, in a mall, with rental skates. I'm glad I was able to go, but don't count on being able to practice much of anything. In all honesty, for me having the time off actually helped my skating, suddenly everything sort of clicked. 2 weeks really isn't that long to be off the ice.

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There certainly was one there a few years ago, but I don't know whether it still exists. I believe it was only very small, though, and the skater I met (an American working in Egypt) was trying to get a skating federation together.

However, on a school trip you'll probably find every minute of your time accounted for, and your teachers will probably not allow you to go off by yourself anyway. Skating will still be there when you get back, and may be all the better for a break.

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Mrs Redboots
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I go to community college where the median age is like 50 so we're not going to be on as tight of a leash as a high school trip or so. I also didn't sign up for any of the "extras" and do indeed have a lot of down time, bc standing in line for tourist activities isn't my idea of a good trip. I don't really need to skate there, I just thought it would be cool to get some smelly rentals and be able to say I ice skated in Egypt. Thanks for the info everyone...looks like it might be harder to do that then I thought, due to the absence of rinks!

Ah sorry - two nations divided by a common tongue, again! For me, "school" is only attended by persons under the age of 18, if not 16!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I have been to Cairo -spent a couple of weeks there, on Sinai, and in Luxor, about 10 years ago. Just wanted to say that you have to be very careful about going off anywhere by yourself. It's true that in Cairo you will see people wearing all kinds of clothing --so very Western garb as well as more traditional or Islamic clothing-- but you may still stick out like a sore thumb. I have blonde hair, and everywhere I went the Egyptians would follow me, calling, "Mrs. Clinton!" because they knew I was American. Then when they would get no response from me, they'd call, "Mrs. Thatcher!" because they assumed if I wasn't American, I must be British. I learned a few key words in Arabic to get them to (mostly) leave me alone. You also will find that you pay more for the same things than an Egyptian citizen. Museums and other attractions have 1 price for citizens and another price for foreigners.

Off topic, I know, but you should go to some of the tourist attractions. The pyramids are very cool and I actually went inside one. That was one of the few things I went to that had a long line. The other things --like the hanging Church (it's suspended over some water, IIRC) and a big marketplace where you can haggle over various things-- may have been crowded, but you didn't have to wait in line really. If you have the chance to go to Sinai, that is an amazing thing. I climbed Mt. Sinai with some friends and it was an amazing experience. It took us about 6 hours to go up and come back down, and we were exhausted.

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August 22, back on the ice!