Hello,

I will be planning a trip to Africa that will include Egypt and Jordan in March/2010. I have been avidly reading the Egypt/Jordan Forums and have found them very useful!

I have been planning my itinerary with Lady Egypt and Amanda Whittome. She has been very prompt and helpful in planning my itinerary. I will be doing a private tour with my girlfriend in Cairo for 3 days then will be on my own for the remainder of my trip through Egypt and Jordan (my girlfriend has to head home for work). I will continue on the private tour on my own. I will have "someone/escort" with me throughout the tour and different guides at the different places.

I am interested to know what anyone's actual experience has been using Lady Egypt and their private guides, drivers, etc. Are the escorts very helpful? How flexible are they(ie. i decide to stay at the pyramids and not go to saqqara)? How often are these escorts with you...i don't want to be the dog on a leash...lol? What was your overall experience with Lady Egypt? Did lady egypt supply contact phone like Ahmed (the other popular tour organizer on these forums) does??

I have been on other private tours to Peru and Ecuador and have found the guides/drivers/escorts to be very helpful an invaluable at times. They have also been very flexible and can change itineraries based on my wishes. I hope this is the same in Egypt and Jordan!

Thanks for any comments, replies

doc

Hi Doctor John, I am a 67 year old ex-pat and went to Egypt alone at the first of November, 2009. Lady Egypt did everything for me. Their guides are great. Every place we went, the guide gave me the general tour and talk, then gave me as much time as I wanted to go around and take photos. I had one guide in Cairo and one for the rest of the trip (Aswan, Abu Simbel and Luxor). When we took the felucca trip out to Kitchner Island, I asked to walk across Elephantine Island through the Nubian village on the way back and they went out of their way for me and the guide (Emad) to stroll across the island. It was one of the nice surprises of my trip. The day we went to the Egyptian Museum, I was a little tired of the talking, and when the guide asked me how many minutes I wanted to spend in the Royal Mummy Room, I told him that he and the driver could leave me and I would get back to the hotel on my own. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the museum and walked back across one of the bridges over the Nile to my hotel (Cairo Marriott). I wish I had done that at the pyramids too, but it was my first day "on tour" and I didn't think of it. I would have had them leave me and then take a taxi back to the hotel. They got me a ticket to go into the Great Pyramid, kept my camera while I did the crawling inside. The drivers were really good. In Cairo, he maneuvered through the traffic like a pro; and in Luxor, the driver, Ramadan, was a jewel. I had an all day excursion to Abydos and Dandarah which was excellent...especially seeing the countryside out of the cities. I always had the phone number of the guide and the company rep in each city. Having said all this, I would recommend Lady Egypt without reservation.

judi_in_gutemala, I too am travelling with LE later this month. Could you please let me know if they arranged tipping for porters at hotels, etc and charged you for this or if you took care of this yourself. I remember reading sf7307 had said LE gave her the option to prepay all the tips, but she travelled a few years ago and I'm wondering if LE still does this. Thanks.

doctorjohn, I have read many many good things about LE which is why I choose to book with them but I haven't taken my trip yet so I can't comment on their service.

We just got back from Egypt and Jordan using Lady Egypt tours. You do the tipping for the porters,guides,drivers,cruise by yourself.(They provide a guidelist if you want).We enjoyed using Lady Egypt through both countries.
We found that we saved about $800/$900 USD per person using Lady Egypt and doing the exact same things and staying in the same places instead of certain guides used from this forum which when traveling with a family of 4 is very helpful.
The general premise with LE is you arrive at the Cairo airport and there is one of their representatives there to get you through customs and get you your visa (you give them the money). Then you go out and there is your personal van and driver who take you to your hotel. The next full day you will have your guide and driver who will be with you during the day in Cairo for touring and up in Alexandria,etc.

When we flew to Aswan, there was a new representative,driver and a guide who actually was with us in Abu Simbel,Aswan and did the Nile Cruise with us to Luxor.
When we left Luxor, we flew to Cairo and then onto Amman where we were met by an airport rep with a new touring company who helped us with the visa and getting us out to our personal van and driver.
LE had contracted Desert Horizons tour company for Jordan and we got a WONDERFUL driver named Yusif(sp?) with them. He picked us up in Jordan and was with us the entire week using guides for Petra,Jerash,etc. Yusif speaks perfect English,is 35 with a college degree in business and was like a dear friend by the time we left Jordan. Seriously, ask Amanda to set you up with him as our friends that we recommended him to are using him through Lady Egypt right now in Jordan and loving him.
The one thing that I learned from all of this is you can decide your hotels(even book them yourself if you want) and where and what you want to do. Amanda at LE was very helpful and was flexible when I wanted a certain hotel or wanted to change our flight to fly straight through Cairo to Amman from Luxor.We even got an upgrade to a newer boat at the last minute by Amanda which was nice-had balconies and was only a year old.She is really a sweetheart and even took a call from me at her house on Christmas Eve!
We stayed at the Hotel Longchamps in Cairo recommended by Casual Cairo on this board. It was absolutely wonderful and I would suggest seeing if you can stay there instead of Marriott or wherever else in Cairo.

If you want to save some money I would suggest going down to 3 or 4 star hotels at most of your touring spots as you really aren't in the hotel much and cannot use anything at the hours you come in.We were at the Iberotel in Aswan which was lovely but only there less than 14 hours because of the early flight to Abu Simbel.
Same thing with the Marriott at the Dead Sea-got there at 5pm and left at 9am.
I think that you cannot go wrong with Lady Egypt-they are prompt and reliable with great service for the money!

Forgot to add-we never needed to buy a cell phone like Ahmed does. The one time I just used the guide's phone to call Amanda.

One more thing-Ahmed uses Lady Egypt and its main tour company to plan his trips.

Duty Free: Thanks for the information. Very informative. You are right, Amanda is very flexible with regards to changing itineraries and booking the hotels you request. I will likely stay at the brand new Fairmont Nile City as it is now open and I am a Fairmont Loyalty Customer. Amanda was more than happy to check on rates for me. I will definitely request this Yusif dude in Jordan. Sounds like a good guy. You are also right in that the costs are lower with LE than with others I have enquired with. And Amanda has been very prompt with replies and requested information.

Justshootme: Amanda says she will give a tip sheet. I am well aware that everyone and their dog expects a tip in Egypt. I do not know if you can pay for the tips in advance. You will find this out before I do. All I can is be prepared before you go with many small bills in US and egyptian pounds.

Judi in guatamala: Thanks for your info. It is good to know that the guides are flexible to your wishes. My itinerary is pretty jammed packed and I won't know til i get there if I need more or less time at one attraction. Its nice to know that I won't be on a strict schedule like the organized group tours.

For everyones info, my itinerary so far is as follows:

Day 1: arrive Cairo in AM Tanzania. Free day after transport to hotel
Day 2: trip to pyramids at Giza in am. Afternoon, trip to Saqqara and Dashur. breaky and lunch incl.
Day 3: Egyptian museum then go to islamic cairo then khan kahli for shop then coptic cairo then sunset felucca ride. Breaky included
day 4: flight to Abu Simbel. then to aswan and tour aswan. all meals incl. start nile cruise
day 5: nile cruise and see temple Kom Ombo, edfu temple
day 6: west bank luxor in am. East bank luxor in pm.
day 7: luxor to cairo to amman by air. then drive to petra and overnight
day 8: morning tour of petra. then afternoon to explore petra. overnight at petra.
day 9: drive to wadi rum. full day jeep tour wadi rum. overnight in private camp (not permanent one)
day 10: drive to aqaba. diving during day. overnight aquaba
day 11: depart aqaba and see dead sea, kerak, mt. nebo on way to amman. overnight amman
day 12: transfer to airport.

thanks for any other info!

Doctorjohn

You may want to wait and go to Giza in the afternoon due to the morning fog/haze. Maybe Casual Cairo can comment on this!

Lady Egypt saved me 50% per person!!!!! And, I get a private guide and driver, and 5 star hotels... instead of traipsing around with a group of 30 or so folks and I am at their whim!

A very good deal I would suggest.

Amanda is also booking me too!

Lollie14,

Thanks for the advice. I will have to see when I get there. I am an avid photographer and look for good shooting times. Sunrise and dusk are the best times usually. Just as important is the people issue. I would rather not be jostling with several hundred people to take a photo.

Maybe I'll go there in the morning, then head off to saqqara and dashur and return in the late afternoon. The ticket should be good for all day.

That's the perks of having a private driver!!

Thanks!

MissGreen,

You are right! I have compared package tours through GAP adventure and Abercrombie and kent and found that Lady Egypt is a bit cheaper, provides better accomodation and is private!

I am glad I did my own research on this!

doctorjohn

The color of the sky is amazing! And...it changes by the minute! Of particular note....we arrived at Abu Simbel at daybreak and the rising sun washed the facade of the temple in an orange glow...breathtaking!

Also...we were at the step pyramid around 3pm. I noticed, that the color of the sky changed as I pivoted around....it went from a deep "Lapis" blue, almost purple as I faced the pyramid, to a light, sky (Carolina) blue as I turned to my left, to an almost grey at 180 degree turn, then back to a light blue. It was amazing.....my son captured the different hues of this light with our camera.....look on his blog at

http://web.me.com/matt_shankle/Egypt...n/Welcome.html


then click under the Cairos pictures...to the fourth page (I wish he had not loaded all these pics up, but there it is) anyway....do you see the color of the sky behind the pyramid? Then look at the picture that has the camels all lined up on the horizon.....then see the picture of me with the long shadow???? All these pics were taken within seconds of eachother....don't you think that's neat? We are absolute amateurs at picture taking...I wish we had known more about photography before this trip....none of the pics have been touched up or photoshopped....Anyway, I thought you might be interested!

The other thing I noticed was that the sky in Luxor at the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple was an even deeper bluish purple.

You are in for a real treat...the light is strong and clear and makes for beautiful skies and hence...great pics!!!!

Lollie14

Great pictures! Looks like you have a fabulous time. I did notice the change in color in the sky. I can't wait. I am an amateur photographer but have aspirations of taking well composed pictures. I have all the gear including multiple lenses, filters and a tripod. Hopefully, I can take some fabulous shots too. Thats part of the reason I didn't want a group tour. I can take my time! I've heard that it costs extra to bring a tripod to the pyramids. Hopefully its not too expensive.

Thanks for posting the link to see your pics!

Lady Egypt gave me a suggested list of what to tip per day to the guide, driver, city rep, etc. I wasn't given the option of giving a set amount at the start for them to distribute. The rep met me in Cairo after I had cleared immigration, collected my baggage, and cleared customs. He was in the waiting area after one leaves the secured areas.

<<<The rep met me in Cairo after I had cleared immigration, collected my baggage, and cleared customs. He was in the waiting area after one leaves the secured areas.>>>

Interesting, because our rep met us what I would conclude was "inside" the secured areas, i.e. before we got our Visa or passed through immigration. In fact, he walked with us through passport control, and collected our bags for us. I wonder if they're no longer allowed to do that.

According to what I gather from Amanda, the representative will meet us AFTER we have passed passport control. So I am assuming that we get our visa, pass through customs, collect bags, then look for the representative.

Is this correct??? Perhaps duty free can comment.

thanks

doc

When we were there (a couple of weeks ago), our meet-and-assist person (and from what I could tell, most all the other meet-and-assist people -- there were a bunch of them) was waiting for us just inside the building, inside the secured area. Our person obtained our visas while we got in line for immigration. He then went with us to the baggage area and would have collected our bags, had they arrived. So anyway, they are definitely allowed in the area.

"Paul" is the Cairo rep and he was there as soon as we crossed through the door. We handed him our money for the visas and then stood in line at passport control-he had the visas(4) within minutes so we got right through. We then went to get our bags;changed some money at the ATM before we went out the door of the airport to our driver and van. Paul stayed with us to the hotel and got us upstairs(we booked this by ourselves as it was the Hotel Longchamps).He then told us that the next morning he would be back with our Egyptologist/guide for the museum,etc.
I think it is pretty standard for everyone with an agency/guide.

The only part that was different for us is that our rep waited by passport control while we went to get our visas (which is only a few feet away).

Cool! Thanks for the info about arrival to Cairo airport. Its nice to know what to expect before you get there.

Just to let everyone know, I have now officially paid my 50% deposit on the trip. I payed by credit card knowing they charge a 3% service fee. I can still make changes to my itinerary and Lady Egypt will adjust the cost accordingly. Nice to know its not set in stone once you pay...i guess it is once you get there though.

Also, my bank was more than happy to get egyptian cash for me in advance. They were even able to get the small change for tips. All they needed was 48hrs notice. Good to know so that I won't be trying to break bills when in Egypt!