Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing the pyramids for the first time.
The amazing carvings in so many of the temples.
Nice group.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Ahmet was pretty much always an enthusiastic, knowledgeable leader, even when things weren’t going quite right (for example when the sleeper train arrived significantly late). Nothing was generally too much trouble, and he made the tour much more than it would have been without him. By the end of the trip he was still the same as at the start, ready to explain how great Egypt is, and how ‘everything started in Egypt’! Only issues I noticed were a couple of times where we could have used time better (once we did a 40 min coach trip, that Google maps confirmed was actually only to drive less than 2 miles - I think we were killing time without being told, which annoyed me - we just drove one way and then the other through Luxor town!), and a delay in getting alternative flight info that caused me issues and cost on the return flight.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Don’t expect to do everything in depth, and consider adding more time after the trip - I spent an extra day in Luxor, and 2 days in Cairo, and would recommend that. I went back to Karnak temple and spent another half day on my own, in addition to the quick trip with the group. I also hired a taxi in Cairo and went to the ‘other’ pyramids at Darshur/Saqqarah - which I felt was one of the best days of the whole trip, less tourists, more time to see, and almost better than the Giza pyramids in my view.
The sunrise at Abu Simbel wasn’t really worth it - we didn’t really see anything additional - though going to Abu Simbel is worth it.
The sound & light show at Karnak (which I did independently) wasn’t really worth it).
Suggestions
The issue with flights back (as I ‘missed’ the one from Luxor to Cairo, due to wanting to stay an additional day in Luxor and ending up having to buy another flight after the options weren’t given to me in time) cost me over £100 to pay a random ‘fee’ that Egyptair charged, to allow me to travel back to the UK (on a flight I had already paid for) and nearly led to me missing that flight. To date Exodus haven’t been very helpful in trying to sort this, or apologising for not making it clear this ‘fee’ was a possibility, which has been disappointing, especially given I’ve used Exodus on multiple occasions and always had good service.
