EGYPT 2000

Why Egypt??  I was asked that question several times when I told people that I was planning to take a vacation in Egypt.  Frankly, I'm not sure if I have an answer!  We've all read about the Pharohs and the Pyramids and the Sphinx back in highschool.  But I've never really been a huge fan of history.  I guess it was a program on Egypt that I watched on the Discovery Channel that helped me decide to make the trip.

Once I had decided to go, I found that there was an abundance of information on Egypt - travel, customs, people, history, economy, etc. etc.  The Lonely Planet website and guide books were particularly useful.  There is also some useful information on the Ministry of Tourism website.  The website for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo is also worth visiting before you leave on your trip.

Being that this was my first trip to the country, I opted to join a guided tour.  There are numerous travel companies that offer tours in Egypt.  After a fairly exhaustive search of resources on the worldwide web, I decided on iexplore.com.  They are not tour operators themselves, but seem to serve as agents or brokers for a wide variety of tours around the world.  I dealt with Becca Wheeler and Eowyn Greeno at iexplore.com.  Both were extremely helpful and answered every question I had.  Their service was excellent and they were very prompt in returning phone calls and emails.  Thanks ladies!!

I finally decided on a tour called the "Kingdoms of the Nile" conducted by the Imaginative Traveller.  This is a 13-day tour along the Nile Valley from Cairo to Aswan and back that hits all the major historic sites in the Valley.  In addition, the tour included a short cruise along the Nile, and a few days and half-days of liesure along the way.  This was a good mix of planned activities and free days.

I landed in Cairo at about 1:30 am (morning) and was met by a representative of the Imaginative Traveller, and transfered to the Salma Hotel in Doqqi (suburb of Cairo).  I spent the next day recovering from jet lag.  I met the Tour Leader (Andrew) that evening, and the rest of the tour group the following morning.

LINKS

Our Tour Group

Memphis & Saqqara

Pyramids & Sphinx

Dashur

Egyptian Museum

Philae

Abu Simbel

Nubian Dinner

Nile Cruise

Luxor  (NEW 9/29/2000)

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