Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

My personal highlights were hearing about Mardi Gras in New Orleans from our leader who had lived there and experienced the whole 2 week festival and to then see costumes and further detail in the Presbytere museum along with a great exhibition on Hurricane Katrina. We also had a few great evenings in New Orleans hearing a variety of musical acts on the steamer dinner cruise and in the bars of Bourbon Street. Visiting Graceland was also memorable and Sun Studio in Memphis was so much more than expected and so exciting to see.

Thoughts on Group Leader

We were so lucky to have Mike as our leader as he made this holiday an amazing experience. His knowledge of music of all types, civil rights and slavery is exceptional. He has also lived and worked in the area and had visited everywhere we visited multiple times before. This meant he could point us in the right direction of things to see and the best bars and restaurants to try. This saved us wasting time trailing round trying out places. His enthusiasm was infectious. In addition he is very kind and thoughtful and worked hard to make sure everyone on the trip was happy and saw and did what they wanted.

Advice for Potential Travellers

I had done a fair amount of research in advance, but the trip exceeded my expectations. There was so much to see and do related to music and I learnt so much about civil rights and slavery. The hotels are adequate so don’t expect luxury but are well positioned close to city centres and walkable to the main sights. Although I have been to the US a few times before it takes a while to remember every price has tax added to it and in restaurants a minimum tip of 18% is expected and tips for every round in a bar. I see that the trip we did that started and finished in Atlanta seems to have been changed to a shorter one starting in New Orleans and finishing in Nashville. This means you would be covering a lot less miles than our trip which covered well over 1600 miles. However you would miss out out on stops in Atlanta, Birmingham and the Jack Daniels visit.

Most Inspirational Moment

Pyramids, Cairo museum, valley of the Kings , Abu Simbel and drive through the desert to A S.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our guide, SAEED, was superb with first class knowledge, excellent communication of that plus thoughtfulness of the group members. He made changes to the itinerary that proved to be ideal.

Most Inspirational Moment

tomb of Tutankhamun

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable, full of historic stories but his 'people' skills could have been better. He was often quick to dismiss questions/observations which didn't fit his narrative. He messed up the booking of optional trips, failing to let us know what days the trips were on and advised the wrong opening times of the Nuburian museum at Aswan which meant some missed going. Clearly he loved sharing his knowledge but needs to member it's own holiday and not just everyone shares his passion and take on the history.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Book an extra day or 2 at the end to chill in Aswan and it's a busy full on trip

Most Inspirational Moment

From a cycling perspective, making it to the end of the really hard hill climb was very inspirational from a personal perspective! I loved the view from the hotel in Lake Girithale, breathtaking view. The final beach hotel was wonderful. Standing on the sand looking out at the ocean at the surfers was wonderful and the final poolside BBQ was very special. The pools at that hotel were fab as well as the one at Chaarya hotel Seeing elephant and leopard on safari and a fin whale while whalewatching also very special.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ruwan was a wonderful group leader. He was incredibly patient, knowledgeable, flexible, attentive, great wildlife knowledge too.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring your own loo roll and hand sanitiser. Bring cycling shoes and trainers because one will get wet. Bring high quality camera. Bring a sarong for easily going into temples to tie round your waist

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the Tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings (note: this wasn't included in the tour and I paid extra for this, but it was worth it) Also, Abu Simbel was breathtaking

Thoughts on Group Leader

Really good. Galal had amazing historical and archeological knowledge which really bought the things we saw to life and made them fascinating. He fully explained all aspects of life in both Ancient and Modern Egypt. Leading a big group around Egypt must be quite a stressful task, but Galal handled this brilliantly.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Beware of people in Luxor telling you they are from your hotel and trying to take you to a shop or a spice market. This happened to a few of us in the group.

Most Inspirational Moment

Very friendly locals, an aspirational country clearly highly motivated to embrace education.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent team, faultless.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Skip the first week, find a trip spending more time in Kerala.

Most Inspirational Moment

Cairo museum, pyramids, alley of the kings and Abu Simbel. Travelling by bus through the dessert was also very interesting.

Thoughts on Group Leader

He was very good at judging the amount of information given with free time at the venue. Good recommendation about changing itinerary swapping Abu Simbel with the dam visit day.

Most Inspirational Moment

In Jordan our day in Petra where we discovered there was so much more to see than the heavily advertised Treasury and Monastery. The massive area the site covered, variety of buildings and civilisations evidenced by the ruins was spectacular. The Bedouin experience at Wadi Rum was just as impressive. A completely different landscape to that I’m used to, the taste of food cooked in an underground oven, a moonlit night ride to stargazing, a magnificent sunrise and a 4 X 4 tour of the local area, taking in stark rock formations, ancient writing, soap plant hand washing, an endurance run and rock climbers turning up to scale a cliff. In Egypt the vast scale of the great pyramids, that there were still many questions unanswered regarding the dates and methods of construction and the incredible belief system that must have been in place for the investment of time and economic effort of subjects for the benefit of their pharaoh. Also, our Nubian experience, which included desert regeneration, rescued and reconstructed temples and a Nubian lodge at Abu Simbel. The lodge and surroundings were quite spacious and peaceful compared to Cairo and Luxor. The felucca sailing experience on the Nile was special too.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Both Ahmed in Jordan and Yousef in Egypt were very knowledgeable, came with a wealth of experience, were great ambassadors for their countries, making us feel welcome and valued. They were happy to answer our questions, and both had a great sense of humour. In Egypt there was also a senior Exodus representative with us, Sara, who fed back the benefit of her many years of experience to the local operator. Her being there was a positive experience for the group and I’m sure will see positive tweaks to the itinerary, I also thought it shows that Exodus is committed to continuous improvement.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Customs officials in Egypt didn’t like us bringing in optical equipment (monocular) and cameras were singled out and then wiped with chemicals as part of explosive testing.

Most Inspirational Moment

Angkor Wat was always going to be the highlight of the holiday and it did not disappoint. Yes lots of temples but each had different qualities. Then the harrowing visit to the prison and the killing fields brought back memories that we’d witnessed from afar.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Nut was superb. Happy to go the extra mile. Full of ideas and recommendations.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Keep hydrated. The cycling isn’t difficult but the conditions are taxing. Hot and humid but if you’re a reasonable biker you’ll be ok.

Most Inspirational Moment

Certainly the wildlife. We were able to see so much and get so very close to some animals because of the expertise and knowledge of the guides. They knew the animals and their behaviour patterns so well. I always felt very safe.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Onary was excellent. Occasionally I didn’t quite catch his accent (I’m partly deaf) but he was happy to repeat things. He was very knowledgeable and showed great care of us all, nothing was too much trouble. He was very concerned that we were always safe and enjoying ourselves. He quickly became very much a part of our African family on the trip.

Advice for Potential Travellers

It was an exhausting trip because we did so many varied things but that is what we signed up for. The list of animals and birds we saw became very long and the encounter with white rhino was exhilarating. Moving from lodge to lodge can be tiresome but it meant we did so much and saw so many different areas. It was worth it. We didn’t bother with Zimbabwean dollars, US$ were all that was needed there. We did exchange a few dollars for Botswanan Pula. It was much hotter than I had expected for November, high 30s/low40s and I was pretty useless in the middle of the day but the main activities were early morning or evening and that was very pleasant.