winesaavy7

anyone have any suggestions on the best-most economical way to get to egypt from Italy? I'm a student who has break coming up in February, am traveling with maybe 1-2 other girls and we want to make the most of my time so if it's only a little difference in price I'd prefer to fly. We're toying with the idea of stopping in Greece. Feasible at all?

jasher

Hello,

Take a look in Alitalia's website. They have very reasonably-priced tickets direct from Milan or Rome to Cairo. I'm flying with them from London (via Milan) in March and the ticket cost me about £149 -- given how overpriced everything is in the UK, it should be much cheaper from Italy.

Cheers,
Julian

winesaavy7

thanks Julian are you going through a tour group or just doing it on your own? do you have hotels booked yet?

jasher

Hello,

I'm booking some things independently and some things through an agent in the US. I've never done an organised tour and I don't think I ever will -- the idea brings back too many memories of school trips being herded from place to place.

I haven't booked my hotels yet, but I'm leaning towards the Al-Moudira in Luxor and probably the Mena House Oberoi or the Four Seasons on Cairo. Normally I prefer smaller boutique hotels or guesthouses to large luxury hotels, but I have asthma and none of the smaller places could guarantee me a room on a non-smoking floor.

Try for a midweek departure to get the best prices on your flights -- and make sure you get an ISIC card, as students with an ISIC get 50% off on the admission prices for many of the historic monuments, which can save you a lot of money.

Cheers,
Julian

twofortheroad

We were in Egypt & Jordan for 35 nights --returned Dec. 13. We Plotted our trip & chose our hotels & then priced air & hotels on the web. We were at 3 Four Seasons--Amman, Sharm, & Cairo for a total of 15 nights. We contacted a high end agency in Cairo to price our trip. The quote for domestic air was the same as the web, but they put us on flights that were unavailable on the web. They also came in $600 lower for the Four Seasons and lower on the other hotels. We also booked some transfers, which were pricey, but worked to our advantage. We told our meet & greet agent to get us upgrades if possible, & succeeded. All of the arrangements were flawless. We did not book any tours. Egypt is like no other country in the world for travellers. An independent tourist is given shorter than short shrift. I strongly suggest you try an Egyptian agent. You will save money on hotels and your air will be reconfirmed by the agent. The hotels & Egypt Air work with the agencies & will not screw them, but the individual tourist will get screwed.

I'll give you an example-we befreinded 2 European couples, both very experienced travellers. We all had the 7:30 flight Aswan to Cairo. They booked directly with Egypt Air. When they reconfirmed the flight, they were told they would be on the afternoon 3:30 flight. We left on the 7:30 flight.

jasher

Hello,

Would you mind revealing the name of your agent? Using an in-country agency sounds like a good idea, but I wouldn't be able to tell a bad one from a good one from here in the UK.

Cheers,
Julian

winesaavy7

Julian,
good point. I'd be happy to know who you guys booked through. we found an awesome student deal for the tour-hotel part of the trip but it doesn't include airfare which I would prefer it to, as it would be simpler to do it all through one agency.