Independent vs Tour
 

I know, I know. This is a site for independent travelers to help each other. Have used it for that for years. However my husband is uncomfortable with our doing this one (our age and the part of the world). So since Egypt, Israel, Petra is one of my forever dreamt of trips and I don't want to go without him, I'm have to go with a tour group this time. Anybody have any knowledge of a good company for this trip?

If you wish a company Stateside for all three countries, contact:

Isram Tours - in NYC (Manhattan)
Gate 1 - in Phila area

you can Google either of these and see their offerings or call and have them design an itinerary that works for you.

I totally understand - DH and I have always done independent travel but we're going to Egypt for the first time and I wanted help with that trip. We are using Ker and Downey and so far they have been great. Happy to recommend the person I've been working with if you're interested.

Yes, please send me the person's name. I'm planning on early May, so I want to get going. Right now is my "gathering knowledge" time!

bev,

i think lindblad expeditions has the best egypt trip. also, A&K has a great trip as well. both have optional add-ons for jordan. A&K is surprisingly cheap in Egypt and on par with the competition. both these companies own their own boat in egypt for the nile portion of the trip. this is important for quality control. they also have some of the best egyptologists (guide). you really get what you pay for with guides because a bad one in egypt may speak poor english and in the worst case they are just slobs.

i must admit i have not been to egypt since i was 17 (1989) but we send clients there all the time. when i went, we used A&K and they have been operating there since the mid-80s. i have been to the galapagos with lindblad and i have been to the peru and the amazaon with A&K as well.

my brother just moved from amman, jordan to cairo, egypt with his company. three days in jordan is plenty.

i do not know of any company that specializes in all three countries on one tour but i could easily be wrong. you may have to do israel seperately.

craig beal

bev - i have been dealing with a person at Ker and Downey - if you call them ask for anne - she has been helping me and she set up a great trip for us. we go in January and I cannot wait!!

I'll 2nd A&K - they do a fabulous job, worth every penny in this wonderful part of our world. I agree, a tour is the best way to do it, much as I enjoy independent travel.

"three days in jordan is plenty." - very surprised to read that, as I'm planning to spend at least 10 days there, and have found plenty to do.

what are you doing for ten days in jordan?

Craig - current (independent) itinerary - Jerash, Madaba, Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, Amman. May go to 14 days, depends on how long I spend in Syria and Lebanon. I'm not going to Israel, if you are you could visit the Dead Sea there.

We are going in 10 days time to Egypt and are using Royal Egypt (highly recommended by users on the Frommers boards and here, that's how we found out about them). They have designed a custom tour for our family with private touring in Cairo with our own guide and Egyptologist (we are part of small group tours on the Nile cruise). They did all the hotel and cruise ship bookings, all internal flights, airport transfers, etc. They have been very easy to work with and really came through with the exact itinerary we wanted and at a good price. And I believe they also do trips or extensions to Jordan.

We spent 5 days in Jordan and it could have easily been longer.......

does royal egypt have a website with tours or do they schedule trips on an individual basis?

STI tours was top notch - spent 4 days in JOrdan and 9 in egypt. Time was short and I feel we got the most out of our time and value for the money. Wished we could have done Israel as we passed the road to Israel while driving thru Jordan. Just the 2 of us, trip had a max. of 5 in Jan. '08

hendrenl - Royal Egypt has a web site but I don't know if its fully functional. Best way to contact them is via email - [email protected]. I think they may have some prepackaged tours but we were interested in the custom tour so that's what we focused on when talking to them.