Budget trips to Egypt possible or impossible/
 

I am a female, 61 years old,and I would love to go to Egypt. Problem is once I get there, I would have very limited funds. Can I travel alone? (Or is anyone interested in joining me around next May or June? ) Is the heat unbearable then? I don't have a lot of flexibility in dates, but I am terrible in heat. Are there safe hostels? How much does a taxi driver usually cost for a day? How much does the Nile Cruise cost? All the posts I read seem to be pretty much luxury trips; is there any room for the rest of us? Any practical solutions would be gratefully received.

Judging by your screen name I assume you are a teacher and that's why you must travel in the summer. Please check out these weather stats and decide if the heat will be bearable for you.

Cairo:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/w...326&refer=

Aswan:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/w...426&refer=

As you are a teacher (I presume) would you be able to travel over Christmas/New Year when it's cooler?

If you are interested in a budget tour company, check out Imaginative Traveller's tour called Red Sea and the Nile Valley. My dad and stepmom went with this company and they liked the trip very much. Here's a link to that tour:

http://www.imaginative-traveller.com...=moreinfo-link

If you do decide to go it alone, I'm sure others on this board can help.

If you have a problem with the heat, you may find it too hot in May or June. When I went in March, temps had already reached 100 degrees at a couple of locations.

I went with Overseas Adventure Travel. (www.oattravel.com). Their tours are quite reasonably priced, given they include air. They are owned by Grand Circle Travel, who also runs tours there. You can see both companies' tours on the OAT website.

Thanks for your responses. Yes, I am a teacher, but I don't think I could get away from family obligations at Christmas. I was afraid the heat would be really bad. How is the humidity there? I did survive a trip to Rome in Aug, 2006, which is the worst time to go there because of the heat. It was in the high 90's when we were there. I even walked to the top of the Palatine Hill and then hours at the Coliseum , although the next day I could barely move. But heat is definitely an issue for me and something I try to avoid. Thanks for the weather link and the tours info. I bookmarked everything, but is there any way to get the costs down more?

If heat is a problem Nov., Dec, Jan and Feb are the only times to go.

Look at Misr Travel. They are affiliated with (owned by?) the Egyptian government, reputable and have very competitive intineraries. Used them for my 1st sampler trip to Egypt when a 9 night tour was $1400 (inc. air).
Problem is the airfare-not the costs in Egypt which are usually quite reasonable. Traveling alone would be stressful if you don't speak Arabic and have to do your own negotiating for everything.

Ditto what ShayTay said about the heat. I like it hot but 100+ in April and May was taxing.

Why not contact this company and ask for just the RT flights and the 2 days in Cairo with them. Skip the Kenya portion.

www.funforlesstours.com/africaKenya051708.html

Go on your own the rest of the time. Its really easy. Everyone seems to speak English at all the Tourist areas. Even 10 years ago when I did the trip, just organised a car and driver and off we went as far south as Aswan. I took a boat trip on the Nile and let him return, booking the train for return.

If you have problems with the heat, Egypt is not the place to be in the summer. Whereever you go, temperatures will be in the 90s & 100s. Humidity is very low, however. We went in October of 02 and found it quite hot. Being from Boston, we are not used to prolonged high temperatures. We went with Grand Circle and thoroughly enjoyed the trip(We have traveled with them 7 times since). To avoid the high temperatures many days started very early, so that we were back on the ship or at the hotel by the time the day really heated up. Their 15 day trip in August, based on a New York departure is $1995. This includes airfare, a 7 day Nile cruise,6 days in an excellent hotel in Cairo, 29 meals, excellent guides and buses. Grand Circle caters to a 50 plus audience and keeps a relatively relaxed pace on all of their trips. You could travel alone,or they have a roommate matching program that would save the single supplement. Their web site is www.gct.com.

If you have any questions, we would be glad to answer them.

Jack and Ann Donoghue

twoteachers,

Just a suggestion, if you haven't already done so: Check out Lonely Planet's thorntree forum, as there is wildly different information and opinions over there (thorntree.lonelyplanet.com). I usually read both forums when planning a trip, and for every country we've been to, the opinions are similar, with the only difference being budget (backpacker vs. mid-range or luxury traveler). In planning our trip to Egypt, I found the opinions and philosphy here at Fodor's to be the complete opposite of those at Thorntree. Egypt Fodorites strongly suggest package tours, while Egypt TT's are totally comfortable with completely independent travel (and I haven't seen that kind of difference in all our years of traveling). If you are on a budget, you might want to go over to TT. In response to that the last two sentences, we'll probably hear a lot of opinions as to why they feel package travel is better for Egypt. Just make sure you read the Egypt branch at TT and that will help you make the decision on what to budget and how to travel.

Thanks, everybody for the suggestions. Fayray, I will definitely check out Lonely Planet. Jackandann, I also bookmarked Grand Circle, although my new plan of attack on budget is to get a p-t job with American Airlines, so that I get travel benefits. If the flight is included, I 'd have to check how much it would cost without the flight. I am getting really discouraged about the heat. I have always lived in humid heat (NC),but I hide in the air conditioning. How much better is the high 90's when the humidity is low? Maybe I could figure out a way to go before or after Christmas next year. Since I teach in a college, we have a longer break then. Safe journey to all.

Actually, Cairo is not the humidity free place that it once was. it can get pretty humid sometimes. It's much drier in Arizona than it is here.

Sunshine, Too true, but those of us from the West Coast will notice it a HELL OF A LOT more than anyone from the Midwest, East coast or South East states. I think they have a bit more humidity tolerance than we do.

I've found that Trip Advisor has a very active forum for Egypt. Start with this link (I don't remember the content but I have it bookmarked - very informative).

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...own-Cairo.html

It's my opinion after reading a lot about Egypt that most family run budget hotels (Longchamps is mentioned often)can arrange the services of a guide/driver and airport pick-up while in Cairo. Nile cruises can be booked online and Egyptair offers inexpensive flights to Luxor/Aswan and back.

I've read two tons of trip reports online and the hostels are hit and miss as far as getting ripped off.

Good Luck

Twoteachers, what kind of budget are we talking per day while in Egypt?

My budget while in Egypt is about $70/day including hotels, tours/driver and 1/2 board pr person.

That doesn't seem to be too unreasonable and I will let you know how the local tour company works out. My last trip, which was a 23 day trip to Southeast Asia, I posted reports every couple days. I'll probably do the same on this 2 week visit to Egypt.

Mark-

zengeos, I would love to hear about your trip. I think that is a budget I could manage. I am not sure how soon I will go with all the discouraging reports about weather and with finding out working for an airline probably won't get me free air tickets, but I definitely want to go before I get too old to travel. Thanks for thinking about me and have a spectacular trip!!!

Two teachers, you can never be too old to travel. My mom and I travel together from time to time and she is nearly 80. She travels way more than I do, and she visits very out of the way places.....Ethiopia, hiking, fall 06, for instance.

Zen-