Most Inspirational Moment
Valley of the Kings and King Tut's tomb. The latter was an option not encouraged by the guide but I would definitely do it. You just gt a ticket at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings.
Thoughts on Group Leader
The guide was good, but we felt he didn’t grasp that this tour had children on it. At times he lost his audience a bit with his descriptions at the various sites. I think, particularly in Cairo, he over sold the optional tours. I’m not sure how the tour would operate if only some of the group opted for the one of the optional tours. Overall though he worked hard.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Don’t use the tip kitty just tip the drivers, hotel staff etc yourself. Bring $100 to $150 cash per person for optional tours etc. e.g. the Cairo Museum is optional and costs $40. You can pay on a card but they add a commission and then convert to EGP at not a great rate. Buy a Egyptian SIM card at the airport on arrival. When booking we were told family / interconnecting rooms weren’t guaranteed, in reality we never got one. As there were four of us we would have packed differently if we had known our rooms weren’t going to be close to each other. The exchange rate for EGP is much better in Egypt than the UK. All the hotels had ATMs with no commission. Make sure you take plenty of snacks each day, often there is a long time between meals. It was pretty cold in February at night, so bring warm clothes.
![Review Centre]()
Reply from Exodus
We want to thank Jon for taking the time to review our Egyptian Family Adventure. This tour was developed by Exodus and the logistics are delivered by our local ground operators, though we are so sorry to read that it did not live up to Jon’s expectations of a family tour.
We include the overnight train as it is the quickest way to travel through Egypt, though we appreciate it is still a long journey and sleeping on a train is not always easy. However, the timings and organisation of this particular departure sound as though they were not in line with the needs of children, which is of course a cause for concern for us. Jon can be assured that we have discussed this with his tour leader and our local manager, as we know a family tour needs to be run differently from adult tours and this especially includes the timing of breaks. We are very confident that this has been greatly improved on subsequent departures, in line with Exodus and our clients’ expectations, though we regret that Jon’s experience was not as positive.
We were concerned to read Jon’s description of the Cairo Pyramids Hotel; unfortunately, there are currently limited choices for accommodation in Cairo for hotels due to the boom that Egypt is experiencing, but our staff visited the Cairo Pyramids Hotel in December 2022 and found the location to be excellent, and the cleanliness of the bungalow accommodation and facilities provided to be of a good standard. We are very sorry to read of Jon’s assessment of the property, however, and while we haven’t received similar feedback from other clients, we will continue to monitor comments we get about the Cairo Pyramids Hotel, and will also continue to explore alternative hotels in the area, should we feel the accommodation in Cairo could be improved on this trip.
We provide a local representative at each hotel, who is there to ensure a smooth check-in and that the right rooms are allocated based on family sizes. We are not sure why this did not go as we plan on this occasion, and are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to Jon and his family, though he can be assured that this has been followed up with our local team.
With regards to the tipping kitty, this is most definitely optional, which has been reiterated to our leaders. Egypt has a tipping culture and it is occasionally hard to know when to tip, who to tip, and how much to tip, so the kitty is intended to alleviate this confusion. The leader manages the kitty and tips where good service has been given, and he is accountable to the group for this expenditure.
Once again, we would like to thank Jon for leaving a review. We are sorry that there were aspects of the trip which left him disappointed, and we have worked on these with our local manager in order to improve this trip and match what Exodus are offering with what we are delivering. We are very confident that going forward this will be the case.
– Kashka Lantis, Exodus Product Manager
