"Egypt-20 Years in the planning-finally made it!!" Egypt by sue_stone

Our latest trip (Dec 2004/Jan 2005) was a whirlwind, but fabulous tour of Egypt, that I had been dreaming of for almost 20 years. We decided the easiest and most time efficient way to see the highlights was to do an organised tour (our 1st ever tour, we were a little dubious!) - which we did through an Aussie company called Intrepid Travel - and I am most relieved to say that we really enjoyed it. We got to travel with a really great group of people (9 other Aussies and 3 from the USA) and our tour leader was a well travelled guy from Melbourne.

We had such an amazing time and the weather was perfect - blue skies and warm for the most part. Magical.

Here is a brief run down of what we got up to...

Day 1 The trip started off at 4.15am on Boxing Day at Heathrow airport, and nearly ended there, when we were told by Alitalia that our flight had been "cancelled" and on top of that they had no record of our flight booking... After an hour or so of discussion/arguing we established that they could do nothing to help us, so we had no choice but to purchase flights with Air France, leaving later that morning....meaning we would still get to Cairo that night, for the start of our tour (but have to pay for 2 more flights at top price!).

To top off the day nicely, when we finally arrived in Cairo (via Paris), we found that our suitcases had been "broken into" by Air France and were both damaged.... at least a tour rep was at the airport to meet us and whisk us through customs, help us put in the damaged baggage report and then took us to meet up with the tour group.

Day 2 First stop was the number one attraction in Egypt - the Pyramids! Wow. Very exciting, though surprising in that they are so close to town....right on the edge of the city. There are 3 pyramids here - the largest is the equivalent of a 45 story building. We were able to go inside the smaller of the 3, and although they are not decorated inside, it was such an amazing experience to be inside a pyramid!

After plenty of photos, we moved just down the road to the Sphinx - another surreal experience...and a load more photos! We had the pleasure of stopping for lunch here, dining in an open-air cafe over looking the Sphinx and Pyramids - love dining with a view!!

After lunch we headed to a papyrus "factory outlet" and then moved on to the Egyptian Museum. We didn't have a great deal of time at the Museum, but did get a chance to see the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb, including the stunning death mask. We really needed more time here....and more energy - we were pretty exhausted by this time.

Early evening we boarded our train for an overnight trip to Aswan, 800kms south of Cairo. We had a 2 berth sleeping compartment with bunks and a small basin. We were served dinner in our compartment and slept badly...

Day 3 Arrived in Aswan and headed to the Nubian Museum (the Nubian people are from southern Egypt) where we learnt a lot about the history of the Nubian's and the region around Aswan.

Next we checked into our hotel and had a little free time to relax and enjoy lunch looking over the Nile and surrounding desert.

Then we jumped onto a felucca, a traditional canvas-sailed boat, for a sail on the Nile. We pulled up at Elephantine Island, in the middle of the river, where we visited a traditional Nubian Village. Then back on the felucca for a further sail to watch the sunset.

Next we left the river and had some time to spend in the 'souq' (market) before heading to a Nubian restaurant for dinner and show with traditional music - including the amazing Whirling Dervish - where a man spins around and around for about 10 mins in a type of dance/worship - I don't know how they do it, I get dizzy just watching!

temple at Abu Simbel

Day 4 The next morning we left early and flew from Aswan, further south to Abu Simbel, to visit the 2 amazing temples here that are carved out of the mountain, by the Nile. It is an awe-inspiring place - the temple of Ramses II with its 4 huge statues. Also amazing is the fact that the temple was moved in the 1960's as it would have been underwater after the completion of the Aswan High Dam.

Due to a delay in our flight departure to Abu Simbel, we had only an hour or so to spend here, as we had to then fly back to Aswan....but it was just enough time to soak up the grandeur and explore inside the temples - and take loads of photos of course.

When we returned to Aswan, we headed back to the river, and boarded our home for the next 3 nights - a "5 star" cruise ship called the "Nile Bride", which slept around 150 people. It had 4 passenger decks, a bar, restaurant and on the top deck there was a small pool and plenty of room to relax and watch life on the banks of the Nile as we cruised by.

There were numerous other ships all heading in the same direction, and the plan was to pull up to the banks of the Nile and visit the attractions along the way. The funny thing was that one ship would anchor right on the shore, and then the other ships would all pull up in a row alongside it - up to 11 lined up out into the river. To get to the river bank, you then walked through the lobby of each boat - crazy!

That night, we stopped off to visit the Temple of Kom Ombo. After walking through several other ships, we had to scramble up the sandy banks of the Nile and walk along to the temple, which was magically lit up. Really enjoyed the visit. We had a quick tour of the temple and then had to hurry back to the ship as it was due to sail again....we had a little trouble finding which other ships it was attached to, as they had moved around since we had left...anyway, it didn't leave without us. phew!

Day 5 After cruising during the night, we awoke early in the town of Edfu and headed off the ship for a tour of the impressive Temple of Horus. Although it was only 7am, the place was crowded with people from all the other cruise ships also docked at Edfu.

Another informative tour over and we headed back to the boat and set sail for Esna, where we had to wait several hours to go through a lock. This meant we had most of the day to relax in the sun, and an hour or so to jump off the ship and visit the Esna markets for a quick spot of bartering.

Day 6 We finally got through 2 locks late in the night, and after more cruising we woke up at 5am to find ourselves in Luxor.

A few of our group (including us!) had opted to go on a hot air balloon flight, so we departed early and very excitedly and headed to a sugar cane field (after a boat ride and 2 buses) where 19 people all up clambered into "the biggest balloon in Luxor" and floated over farming land, temples and desert. It was such an incredible experience.

statue at Karnak Temple

After landing in the desert, we joined the rest of the group for a big day of sight seeing in Luxor. First we stopped off at Colossi of Memnon, which are a massive pair of statues, by the side of the road.

Then we headed to the Valley of the Kings, which is a barren canyon where several tombs of kings have been discovered over the years (including the tomb of Tutankhamun). Here we visited 3 tombs, and they were all spectacular inside - the walls/ceilings were covered with coloured paintings and hieroglyphics, which are basically carved into the walls and then painted. You have to see it to understand how impressive it was.

Next stop was a very quick visit to the Temple of Hatshepsut, and then back to the ship for a late lunch.

Back on dry land, we headed to the huge Karnak Temple, where we marvelled at the size of this monument, and took plenty of photos and learnt more about the history of the pharaohs who left their mark here.

Last site of the day was Luxor Temple, where we arrived on dusk and had a tour whilst enjoying the colour changes of the stone as the sun set.

We returned to the ship and got spruced up - for it was New Years Eve. We relaxed with a drink and then all enjoyed a 7 course dinner and a laugh with the rest of the group and the waiting staff. Just before midnight, we moved to the bar, where at about 5 seconds to midnight there was a power failure, so we saw the new year in standing in the dark! The lights came back on almost instantly, and after wishing a happy new year to those in our group who were still awake, we headed off to bed to snatch a few hours sleep.

Day 7 We left the ship at 5am, and headed to Luxor airport, on route back to Cairo - a 40 minute flight. We boarded the plane and taxied out to the runway....then we turned around and went back to the gate.....due to smog, Cairo airport was closed - hence we couldn't leave Luxor until it had cleared... We were also unable to go back into the airport terminal, as it was full of passengers for the next few flights due to depart after ours...so we had to wait on the plane....and wait...and wait...for close to 5 hours!!

Eventually we arrived in Cairo and transferred to our hotel, had a quick lunch, and then several of us jumped into some taxis and headed to Khan al-Khalili bazaar - a huge crazy place consisting of markets and shops in mostly narrow corridors - heaving with tourists and "very friendly" vendors selling their wares.

I braved the markets alone, making friends and getting numerous proposals along the way, whilst Alex settled down with a couple of tour-mates and enjoyed a smoke of a sheesha - a traditional water pipe with a flavoured tobacco like substance, and a turkish coffee.

Another crazy taxi ride later - one of the great experiences of the trip - several near misses and a lot of laughing, we were back at the hotel for a quick freshen up, and then headed off for the farewell dinner.

Back onto a boat on the Nile, we had a dinner cruise, with entertainment, including a belly dancer and another of the amazing Whirling Dervish dancers. Then after a last drink, we arrived back at the hotel, hugged everyone goodbye and jumped into bed, exhausted.

Day 8 Another early start....we were collected at 5am from the hotel, to head to Cairo Airport. Luckily there were no delays or problems with our flight, and we took off on time and promptly fell asleep, sleeping most of the way to Paris. Arrived back to a freezing cold flat and a grey London afternoon.

Haven't stopped raving about the trip since.

p.s. We are now in the process of trying to get a refund of our Air France flights from Alitalia.

p.p.s Air France are currently repairing our suitcases, at their expense.

• In a nutshell:wow!