ACarter

My wife and I are considering a trip to Egypt in the late December, early January timeframe. (Our travel plans for September fell through and we are scrambling to plan a big trip later in the year.

I've been reading the many helpful posts on this board and I have a few initial questions.

1. Is it too late to plan a first-rate trip at the end of this year?

I'm an obsessive trip planner and this feels last-minute to me. Also, will availability be a problem at top hotels, cruises, etc. if we are traveling from 12/27 to 1/10?

2. Guides. We have a strong aversion to group tours. Normally, we are independent travelers. But for this trip (similar to our trip to Angkor) it seems like a knowledgeable guide makes a lot of sense.

I've seen Ahmed's name mentioned quite a bit on this board. As I understand it, he both assists in planning your trip and acts as a guide. Are there other guides that fodorites have had good experiences with?

What about reputable companies that help plan trips? We are looking for something relatively high-end but don't want to pay a premium for the Abercrombie & Kent name.

3. If we are able to pull this trip off, we'll have 14 days to work with. We'll spend 3-4 nights in Cairo plus Aswan, a Nile cruise, and Luxor.

We are stuggling with how to spend our additional time. Alexandria, Sharm, or Petra are all places we are considering. Realistically, we can probably only add one or maybe 2 of those destinations.

Petra looks amazing but I'm worried that we may want a change of pace after lots of archaeological sites. I see very little mention of Alexandria on this board, which makes me wonder whether its worth the visit. (Maybe one night to indulge in the new Four Seasons?) Finally, will Sharm be too cold to enjoy in January? We don't dive but we do snorkle.

I welcome any thoughts on these options. Also, any must-sees that I'm missing?

By way of background, we are in our 30s, fairly active and well-traveled. We are interested in history but want to balance our trip with culture, a bit of shopping, and some relaxation. We are happy to do long days of sightseeing but try to avoid preplanning every minute of every day.

Thanks in advance for the help.

sandi

Contact Ahmad, tell him what you'd like to do (as above) - when, where to stay, # of days, etc - and see what he has to offer.

You may have to be flexible with lodging considering the dates are over the peak holiday period.

dmlove

It can be done though. I'm working with Lady Egypt to plan a trip that starts August 15th. Due to a health issue*, we weren't sure the trip would happen, and therefore didn't actually start "planning" (although we had done a fair amount of research on this board) until early July. I sent my first email to various tour operators to ask for information around July 4th. Today, we finalized our plans and price after about 60 emails back and forth - transfers, hotels, tours, flights, etc. (We made our own international flight reservations on July 8th).

(* My very first post on this board about this trip was May 15th at 12:20 p.m., about 4 HOURS before my daughter broke her ankle and ended up having surgery. She's only started walking again last week)

Elizabeth_S

We were very happy with the trip Ahmed planned for us (hotels, internal transportation, etc) and guided.

Here's a link to our blog

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...ards_2008_adv/

Re specific questions - not sure about that time of year - we were a couple of weeks later - but it's quick to find out the answer.

Re Alexandria - we took a day trip there - we enjoyed it but it's probably not for everyone......and it doesn't compete with Petra in my opinion!

Our itinerary was:

4 nights Cairo (Mena House Pyramid View Room)
1 Night Aswan (to Abu Simbel for day trip)
4 nights Oberoi Philae
1 night Luxor
1 night Cairo (transiting through)
2 nights Dead Sea
2 nights Petra

Apart from securing the hotels you have plenty of time to plan starting now - I am also a compulsive planner and started about this time last year for our mid January trip.

JUDBIRD

Hello, we are planning a Nile Cruise March 2009 and are considering Uniworld and a new ship
Oberoi Zahara. Any input on the
Uniworld Egypt experience or the
Oberoi is greatly appreciated as is any iformation on high end Nile
cruise lines and the best way to book. Advice on hotels in Cario. Also who is Ahmed ? How to contact ?

Elizabeth_S

JUDBIRD - Ahmed is a travel planner/guide who is based in Cairo - see our blog for more info. I worked with him to arrange our 16 day (private) Egypt/Jordan trip earlier this year and was thrilled with the itinerary, accommodation and price.

We stayed on the Oberoi Philae which carries about twice the passengers as the Zahara - my understanding is that the Zahara only offers a 7 night cruise and for us that would be too long (3 or 4 nights was perfect - whether it's 3 or 4 nights you see all the same sights - and on the 7 night cruise I think you only see one extra sight, you're just traveling back to your point of departure). But perhaps you are interested in a 7 night cruise?

Re Cairo hotels - we stayed at Mena House next to the Pyramids with a Pyramid view room (see link to our blog above) - and would highly recommend it. Others prefer to be in downtown Cairo......

Ahmed's contact info is

[email protected]

And here's a link to another trip report from 2 couples who used Ahmed in April

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35139771

JUDBIRD

Thank you Elizabeth. We will look at the links you provided. Also
perhaps someone will reply to
the question about Nile cruises
on Uniworld.

sandi

The Zahara is the newest luxury boat on the Nile, all suites and large ones at that (a whole lot nicer than the A&K boat). Also the most expensive.

If as mentioned above, the Zahara is only offering 7/night cruises, you have to decide how this fits your schedule/budget.

Diane60030

When I went to Egypt I used MISR Travel. They have standard travel packages and ones that are completely custom. I recommended them to a co-worker and they created one especially for him.

At the time of year you want to travel (over New Year) you may want to get your plans asap. It is a popular time to travel to Egypt for many Europeans.

I enjoyed Alexandria. It has a feeling much different than the rest of the country. I did it in a day and felt very rushed. I would have liked to gone to El-Alamin and actually in the Alexandria Library and Qiat Bey Fort. There was no time for any of that.

In Egypt, guides and drivers are wonderful things. I have traveled independantly all over Europe, but was very glad for the guide and driver in Egypt. The roads are not well marked and traffic is chaotic. Plus it is hard to appreciate a site with your nose stuck in a guide book. Guides and drivers are both affordable and valuable. Many guides have relationships with the conceiger at the hotel, plus MISR has a excursion office in most of the main hotels. You can pick and choose.

As for Sharm and Petra it depends on what you enjoy. Sharm is the night club of Egypt with snorkleing and scuba. It is also the gateway to St. Catherines. Petra is in Jordan and you need to be ready to adjust your travel plans. They do close the boarder when ever they want to. However it is a spectacular place.

GINGEE

This really isn't an answer to ACarter question but my husband & I have already booked a trip with Ahmed for Dec. 18 until Jan. 4. We have our airline tickets & have paid a 50% deposit fee to him. What does he do when others want to book at the same time? I would think he would not give up any customers. Does he have employees that do the tours instead? I am sure he has had this happen before. Does anyone know or have any ideas about this? Any comments would be appreciated. Yes, I am sending an e-mail to him to find out.

Elizabeth_S

GINGEE - I can tell you about our experience with Ahmed - we knew in advance that he might not be able to guide us in Cairo (due to the imminent birth of his first son) and that he wouldn't guide us in Upper Egypt (for the same reason).

The guide we had in Upper Egypt that Ahmed arranged for us was fantastic and I had the utmost confidence that had he had to substitute a guide in Cairo for himself - he/she would have been terrific. He has access to many great guides.......

Hope this helps.

star88

How much do you tip a private guide for a full day with a driver it's there a guide line?
Some guide charge $ 100.00 per day can that be correct?

ACarter

Thanks to everyone for their help. I've sent a message to Ahmed but it sounds like he may be busy during our dates. Does he do trip planning only?

Also, any recommendations for trip planners/guides other than Ahmed? I saw Jim Berkeley (from DAI Travel) recommended on Conde Nast but I've found no mention of him here.

Elizabeth_S

ACarter - Ahmed can do trip planning and not be the guide - that was almost the case in our situation (due to the due date for his first baby) - as mentioned in my post above the guides he organized for us were terrific.

I had a quote from DAI but it was substantially more than the other two quotes I received (Ahmed and another US based tour operator)

GINGEE

Hi,
We haven't travelled with Travel In Style or Lady Egypt Tours, but I have heard great things about them. We are going with Ahmed in Dec. but Travel In Style was 2nd on our list to use.

angel025

Hi Gingee,

Looks like you are going for 18 days. I have booked with Ahmed as well for around the same time. Coule you please provide me with your email address as I would like to exchange some notes.

Thanks!