Overview

We have been spending lots of time here. I have been working for the Noor Group in Cairo since October. That means spending about two weeks of every month here. Our home away from home is the Semiramis Hotel on the banks of the Nile, just a few blocks from the Antiquities Museum.

Larry plays tourist most days. Tough life isn’t it? Or as Disco (the friend, not the cat!) continually reminds us - “it sucks to be you.”

In March, we decided to book a few tours out here so that I could  get a chance to join Arnie and Larry touring Egypt. We tried to book tours with Abercrombie and Kent in the US. Bad move. Really bad move. If their tours are even half as bad as their service, we wanted no part of them. They advertise custom travel. However, my request of a tour without charter air was too customized for them to handle - they said we couldn’t book until two weeks before since we weren’t booking air, then they told us that there is a large penalty for booking late. Truly an awful organization to deal with.

If you want great service from people who know how to book customized travel, we highly recommend Voyages Jules Verne in the UK. Everything was top notch. Customer service in booking the trip was outstanding - and we were able to do everything via email. The company representative we dealt with was knowledgeable, professional, and courteous. Everything A&K was not.

Our guide in Upper Egypt, Maged, was one of the best we have ever encountered. We cannot say enough good things about him. He’s also available for private tours. We recommend him highly. His insights into ancient and modern Egypt did wonders to put things into perspective for us.

Our tour boat on the Nile, the Serenade, is run by InterEgypt. Again, a top notch company. Service on board ship was wonderful - the staff are very friendly and extremely eager to please. The boat is absolutely immaculate - something that can not be said about many, based on what we saw.

As I write this, we are nestled into a lovely hotel in Nuweiba, a resort on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Sinai. Tomorrow we leave for Petra in Jordan.