coolbaugh7

My husband and I will be traveling to Egypt in April. I have made all of my basic travel plans myself. I am concerned about the sleeping trains and the security on them. I have read in books that one person needs to sleep while the other stays awake due to theft. Can you lock yourself in these cabins, or bring a lock?

hastern01

We took the Abdela Sleeping Train in July and we were in a two person cabin where the door locked from the inside. We both slept peacefully all night.
We did not both leave the room at the same time, because you can't lock it from the outside, but there really isn't anywhere you'd want to go.

coolbaugh7

Thank you hastern01 for the information. Did you have a tour guide in Egypt? We will be visiting Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria. Any suggestions?

hastern01

We also planned the trip ourselves, but for drivers and guides we worked with Debbie Senters ([email protected]). I think her website is www.casualcairodetours.net/pyramids. I would recommend you contact her to set you up with drivers and Egyptogists. Her driver in Luxor, Mustafa, is terrific, as is an Egyptologist he works with, Yasmin. She planned a great day for us at all three Pyramid sights (Sakkara, Dashur and Giza), and a nice day in Alexandria. Just make sure you hire one of her Egyptologists to take you to the Pyramids instead of going with her and a driver. The price will probably be the same, since you have to pay all her entry fees, whereas the Egyptologists get in free. Let me know if you have other questions; we had a fantastic time.

kimburu

Yes, it's always a concern, I beleive; but you'd think the Egyptian railways would have found a way to keep their trains awake at night by now.

coolbaugh7

Humor! I like that.

egypt_pharaoh

well yeah we did find a way to keep the train awake since that bad time we had and lol thanks for that note;-) and for any concern about theft on trains not to worry as one thing that you 'll get to see here which is the tight security where ever u go and they do have a security personal in all the sleeper trains as for tourists and the conductor is alwayse awake for the whole trip which is about 8 to 9 hours from cairo to luxor....wish u happy trip in Egypt and as i am not sure if i'll be in Egypt in april but u can always contact me any time for any info,webpage:
http://www.egyptguide.4t.com

Conlet

We took the train in November and slept well except for the person in the next compartment who seemed to be on the phone for several hours. In the morning, we discovered that he was one of the armed guards on the train as he was cleaning his submachine gun when we ventured by! Yes, the doors do lock from the inside. The worst part of the trip is the Luxor train station!

coolbaugh7

What can we expect at the Luxor train station?

Conlet

Hard to describe. We got out of the train well down the tracks and schlepped our luggage for what seemed like miles through the mud on a very narrow piece of ground. Train station in extremely poor condition compared to other public transport areas.