evecolorado

We've been working with Debbie for the Cairo portion of our trip, and she has been wonderful--we are so excited. If you type in Casual Cairo Detours, you can find her website, which includes her prices. We've heard only good about her from people who have used her services. As she limits herself to Cairo and environs, for the rest of the trip she has recommended another company that she knows is reliable.

alfie2

Hi StanKase
Forgot to say that you could contact Ahmed at [email protected] and ask him what he charges for the diff. trips
Enjoy your trip
Sussie

robjackson_97

I recently returned from a two week trip to Egypt with my family. To assist us with our vacation I employed the services of Ahmed Hamed Yousif to guide us in Cairo. I prefer to hire an individual guide rather than taking large organized tours. Ahmed turned out to be more than a guide, but a family friend.

Prior to our trip, I had combed several website in search of an independent tour guide. Several times I ran across reviews of Ahmed’ services and each one of them described what a fantastic guide he was. I emailed Ahmed at [email protected]. Ahmed quickly emailed me back his credentials, an itinerary of things to do in Egypt and a price list. Since we take several trips a year, I explained to him we needed to do things on a shoestring budget. That was no problem for him and he agreed to a very reasonable fee and was willing to drive us rather than hiring a car & driver to reduce our cost.

When we arrived in Cairo, Ahmed was waiting for us at the Cairo airport. Having traveled to Egypt several times before without my family, I knew the throngs of tour companies would be at the exit to greet us in an attempt to sell us their services or try to pull one of many infamous tourist scams. It was nice to be able to skirt all the offers and be driven to our hotel after 24 hours of travel by such a kind gentlemen. Ahmed explained to us that he would make suggestions of sites to visit, but the ultimate decision of where to go would be up to us. After checking into our hotel, Ahmed took my entire family out to dinner to discuss our itinerary while in Cairo.

Over the next two days Ahmed took us to the sites we wanted to visit and explained each of them in detail. Ahmed has a great love for guiding and his country. Ever since he was a small child growing up in Giza, he wanted to be a professional tour guide. Ahmed graduated from Cairo University with a BS in tourism and Egyptology and has been guiding for over 12 years. He speaks excellent English, probably because his father was an English teacher. At each site he would allow us to spend as much time as we wanted and would keep the hustlers away. Ahmed took us many stores to purchase souvenirs, but at each location he reminded us not to buy anything if we didn’t like the people or we thought the price was too high.

Through his kindness and easy going nature, we really grew to develop a close friendship. After two days in Cairo, we had arranged to take the overnight train to Luxor. We had not arranged a guide in Luxor, but Ahmed said he had a friend who arranged tours. He called his friend and organized two days of private touring at a price that was significantly less than the prices I had received from other tour organizers in Luxor. At the train station, Ahmed bid us a farewell and my wife began to cry, because of how fond she had grown of Ahmed. Upon arriving in Luxor at 5:00 AM, he called the tour organizer to make sure we had arrived safely. Later in the day he called to make sure we were happy with the services we had received. The following day he called to make sure we were ok and happy. After Luxor we traveled to Sharm El-Sheik for scuba diving. Once again he called to check and make sure we were ok. Through out our six days in Sharm he would telephone or email us to make sure we were ok. When we returned to Cairo for the remainder of our vacation, he greeted us for dinner one evening and would check on us each day to make sure we were ok. After only two days of his guidance and advice, we felt acclimated to Egypt enough to easily travel on our own.

Upon returning to the USA, Ahmed contacted us to ensure we had a safe journey home. I can’t state strongly enough what an outstanding guide and ambassador to Egypt Ahmed is. While you frequently hear of the scammers and hustlers in Egypt, Ahmed is the polar opposite of them. Any visitor to Egypt will find Ahmed to be an individual of high character, extremely knowledgeable of his country and will leave having a great friend.

Abbyo

Robjackson_97. Is there any chance you could tell us what Ahmed Hamed Yousif charges? I'm very interested in using him or a similar guide when we go this August if possible.

arabianjedi

Bookmarking for Egypt trip planning 2008. Thanks!

tomnegirls

Words cannot begin to explain what a blessing having Ahmed Hamed Yousif as our personal guide to Egypt was! As American parents of five children ( ages, 4, 9, 13,16 and 19) we had contemplated a family trip to Egypt for several years. We would get close to making firm plans to go and then I (the mom) would back out. I was really concerned about our safety in a country so close to the middle east. This year, as I once again looked into our much yearned for trip to Egypt, I stumbled onto a web page that wrote about a wonderful Egyptian guide. That page led me to other web pages and other travelers from all over the world who had also had the same fantastic guide. I finally got up the courage to contact Ahmed with all sorts of intricate, overwhelmingly neurotic questions about how he could help us, where he would guide us and most of all how he would keep us safe. Ahmed wrote me back with the most detailed answers to all of my questions….I know he wrote at least three pages.
After about a month of e-mails back and forth, my husband and I decided to have a leap of faith and go to Egypt trusting in all that Ahmed had promised to do. We landed in Cairo in the middle of the night, and there waiting for us with a sign and a big welcoming smile was Ahmed. Just as promised he had a large air conditioned van and a terrific, experienced driver (believe me in Cairo you need an experienced driver) waiting for us. Ahmed took us to our exceptional hotel , made sure that we were settled in . The next day, Ahmed not only showed us Cairo but he took us into the world of ancient Egypt. We came face to face with King Tut (at least his beautiful mask) and were surrounded by the treasures of the Egyptian museum. The children thought the mummies were awesome. We were taught how the ancient Egyptians made the papyrus that documented so much of their art and hieroglyphics. The children were able to “weave” some papyrus leaves themselves to make the ancient type of paper. We stood in absolute awe of the pyramids and the sphinx. We were able to journey to the innermost chamber of the pyramid and were taken for a ride on the hump of the Bedouin camels nearby. What and experience! At each stop Ahmed made sure that his driver was waiting for us with cold water bottles.
Ahmed planned lunches for our quirky family (six of the seven of us do not eat meat … not typical in Egypt) at a great air conditioned restaurants (one of which had huge windows over looking the great pyramid). There Ahmed came through for us again with not only a traditional Egyptian meal ( with meat) for my husband but with a traditional form of a “vegetarian meal” plus French fries for the rest of us. Ahmed ate with us and answered all questions that we had and became our true friend. At the end of the day we were able to visit a Bedouin family owned perfume shop that specializes in lotus fragrances. The owner was a treat in himself, he showed us so much hospitality. We left with a bottle of lotus perfume and to this day if I put any on the children say that they can smell Egypt…Egypt did smell like lotus blooms.
The remainder of our trip we toured the Citadel and had the opportunity to visit the inside of the the Mohammed Ali Mosque. As Christians, we had never been in such a place and it was breathtakingly beautiful. From the soft rugs under our bare feet to the tremendous chandeliers that hung from the huge domed ceiling… it was an unforgettable experience. Ahmed took us to Coptic Cairo and accompanied us to the ancient Christian churches and nunneries. He even showed us the underground cave that was reported to be the home of the holy family when they fled to Egypt. The Step Pyramid was out in the Egyptian countryside and we had the chance to see not only rural life but to get an up-close look at the dessert and see an actual oasis.
I could go on and on but words can’t begin to describe our family’s wonderful trip to Egypt with Ahmed. When we left Egypt, we traveled to Istanbul, Ephesus ,then onto Greece and Italy. If you were to ask any of our children what they liked best about our trip, they would all say Egypt…. And I know we loved Egypt because we had the world’s best tour guide to watch over and guide us. I would really like to encourage hesitant visitors to get in touch with our guide and friend Ahmed at [email protected]. I know that Ahmed guides travelers from the very casual tourist without a care in the world to large groups, to guests with specialized agendas that they want him to implement. Without hesitation, I would bet that I had to be the most nervous, neurotic, pain of a guest that he has ever had to deal with. Ahmed more than fulfilled our wildest dreams of what a trip to Egypt could be. He “caught us in his welcoming arms” at the airport, stayed with and protected us every step of our trip. He engulfed us with the sights, sounds , tastes , people, history and experiences of his beautiful country and left us with the most beautiful memories. Words cannot begin to show our gratitude for Ahmed Hamed Yousif for enriching not only our lives but the lives of our five children forever. Ahmed light heartedly calls himself the “Prince of Egypt” ... Our family fondly calls him the “Pharaoh of the Guides“!

Momliz

I, too, would love some prices...

anyone?

Brahmama

Tomniegirls has posted virtually the same thing touting this guide on 4 different posts. Those are her only posts - never any mention of prices or a website.

We also are planning a 2008 trip. For those who are new to newsgroups, be sure you click on the name of the person that is posting the message. If they have only 1 post, or if all of the posts are advertising the same guide or trip - be cautious!

Also be sure to "google" names of travel agencies and guides to be sure they are legit.

Like the others, I would love to see some prices!

kcrotzer

I understand your concern, but I too can confirm that Ahmed is wonderful. I am not sure how much he charges because it depends on what all you want to see, where you want to go, how long etc. With that said, I THINK it was around $1000-1500 for around a week for us. Dont hold me to that, but you wanted numbers! I will check and find out for sure!

Wanda1

Brahmama and anyone else - please contact Ahmed directly for prices. [email protected] He charges based on what you want to see and do. He did not charge us by the hour, he just gave us an all inclusive price (including 2 meals every day, hotels, cruise, personal guide service (traveled with us for 12 days) tour group of 2!!! air conditioned mini-van, driver, trains, flight to Abu Simbel, drove us anywhere we wanted it was a private guided tour for 12 days!!! at the most amazingly reasonable price to us. I cannot give you our price cause it was in August 2 years ago. It would not be fair to quote you our price cause it included so much and it was what we wanted to do. Just keep working with him until you reach a good itinerary and price. That's only fair. I hope this helps. He's an exceptional guide. We have used private guides on other trips i.e. India and Tibet and believe me, Ahmed was wonderful and others just don't compare to his personal attention and fun personality. Like having a friend with us. Believe us!

Elizabeth_S

Hi Wanda - only 6 weeks until we leave for Egypt where Ahmed will be waiting for us!

samuell

bm

kcrotzer

Wanda1,

You are completely right. It wasn't fair for me to quote a price because each trip is tailor made and includes so many extras that the price can vary drastically.
Can you delete old entries in this forum?