Flights to Egypt & other questions!

[KBT35]

We are seriously considering canceling our New Years Disney cruise on Fantasy and putting that money towards EGYPT!!! It would be Dec 2014, school is out so time wise it's perfect! Now just working out the financial logistics. When should I start looking at pricing for international flights and what should I expect to pay? We would be traveling from ATL. My DS will be 12yrs at the time of the trip. How large are the groups usually? WE are really excited about the prospect of going, now to just make it all happen!!

 

[Tozzie]

We are seriously considering canceling our New Years Disney cruise on Fantasy and putting that money towards EGYPT!!! It would be Dec 2014, school is out so time wise it's perfect! Now just working out the financial logistics. When should I start looking at pricing for international flights and what should I expect to pay? We would be traveling from ATL. My DS will be 12yrs at the time of the trip. How large are the groups usually? WE are really excited about the prospect of going, now to just make it all happen!!

The maximum group size is 40-44.

You would not be able to book the airfare until around the end of January, I wouldn't even be able to guess what the airfare to Egypt would be.

A word of caution don't get focused on Egypt, with all the issues that they have had lately ABD will cancel the trips. I know they have canceled a few last year and I think this year as well but I am not 100 percent sure.

 

[dizneekrazee]

The maximum group size is 40-44.

You would not be able to book the airfare until around the end of January, I wouldn't even be able to guess what the airfare to Egypt would be.

A word of caution don't get focused on Egypt, with all the issues that they have had lately ABD will cancel the trips. I know they have canceled a few last year and I think this year as well but I am not 100 percent sure.

This is correct. To date, only 1 Egypt trip ran, which was in April of 2012. The rest of 2012, all of 2013, and part of 2014 have already been cancelled. We were going to book March 2015, and decided against it bc I know how devastated I would be if it was cancelled.

 

[fabulousfive]

Yes I wouldn't plan to try for Egypt for at least a few years.

 

[sayhello]

If you do decide to book, be flexible, and have a backup plan. ABD will work with you to get you re-scheduled to another ABD, or give you a refund. There was a father & son on my Greek ABD who were on their 2nd ABD, because they had tried for the second time to go to Egypt, and it also was cancelled, so they went to Greece instead. The father said the son was happy, because he keeps getting to do ABD's, because he (the father) was determined to go to Egypt, so he just keeps trying!

Sayhello

 

[Alacrity]

I traveled to Egypt in September 2010 before all the hoopla started. Not with ABD but it was a very interesting and fun trip. I seem to recall the air then being around $1600 out of New York. Running a quick search about as far out as possible for 2014 (July) from BHM to CAI yields prices in the neighborhood, $1300 and up.

I'm still on the state departments travel advisory list for Egypt and get regular notes about not going there right now. It may be wise to hold off a bit. If you do chose to risk it you may want to take a look at trip insurance. ABD offers it I believe and there are other companies too (I've used Travel Guard before).

 

[KBT35]

Thank you all! Yes I have been paying attention to the unrest in Egypt so we are working through our back up plans. Egypt just struck us both initially so that's where we have started. Nothing is booked yet, we are still in planning & research stages. My initial 2 options to him were Italy and Egypt and this child have the nerve to say "everyone goes to Italy!" well I'd love to know who these people are! LOL! He then explained that what he meant was that you just never hear anyone say I just went to Egypt....I get where he was coming from! It was be amazingly exotic!

Which AbD trips are y'alls favorites?! He wants to be an American Ninja and create his own super secret service American Ninja team in the military someday so perhaps we should go to China!!!

 

[Bobo912]

Thank you all! Yes I have been paying attention to the unrest in Egypt so we are working through our back up plans. Egypt just struck us both initially so that's where we have started. Nothing is booked yet, we are still in planning & research stages. My initial 2 options to him were Italy and Egypt and this child have the nerve to say "everyone goes to Italy!" well I'd love to know who these people are! LOL! He then explained that what he meant was that you just never hear anyone say I just went to Egypt....I get where he was coming from! It was be amazingly exotic!

Which AbD trips are y'alls favorites?! He wants to be an American Ninja and create his own super secret service American Ninja team in the military someday so perhaps we should go to China!!!

Maybe you should try the Galapagos. When I told people that was where we went on vacation they looked at me like I said we had gone to Mars. We didn't do the ABD (we went with Lindblad/Nat Geo) but either way it's still exotic and you don't run into a lot of people who have been there. My DS was 10 at the time and he loved it.

 

[Kez250]

so far we've only done 2 - China in 2012 and Italy this year - we're also booked for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam over Christmas and New Years 2014

Our two were so different in terms of culture and sights that it's really hard to pick between them. But I would say that on both, the guides are awesome and the local experts really make the places come alive

I know this doesn't really help much expect to say that which ever you end up choosing it'll will be an awesome experience

K.

 

[CarrianneB]

Btw- if it does go we will be with you! We were booked for spring break 2014, but that got moved to dec 2014. My DH and 2 DS ( just turned 13- eek- and 14 at trip time)will be on as well. Fingers crossed!

 

[CarrianneB]

cancelled again- sigh...

 

[sayhello]

cancelled again- sigh...

So sorry to hear that! At least they gave you plenty of notice. I just can't imagine how long it will be until the situation in Egypt settles down enough. Are you going somewhere else instead?

Sayhello

 

[SingingMom]

Which AbD trips are y'alls favorites?! He wants to be an American Ninja and create his own super secret service American Ninja team in the military someday so perhaps we should go to China!!!

We have been on the London/Paris and Germany ABD trips. Loved both! The first was chock full of all the famous sites you've always heard about. The second trip was immersed in the culture and beautiful scenery. I think you can't go wrong with any of the tours!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[CarrianneB]

So sorry to hear that! At least they gave you plenty of notice. I just can't imagine how long it will be until the situation in Egypt settles down enough. Are you going somewhere else instead?

Sayhello

We are going to Peru in March! The trip is over 75% full and it's highly unlikely for them to cancel . An added bonus - the flights are much cheaper than Egypt.

 

[sayhello]

We are going to Peru in March! The trip is over 75% full and it's highly unlikely for them to cancel . An added bonus - the flights are much cheaper than Egypt.

Cool! I'm so glad you worked out a good alternative! I've heard it's a spectacular trip!

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

We are going to Peru in March! The trip is over 75% full and it's highly unlikely for them to cancel . An added bonus - the flights are much cheaper than Egypt.

Peru sounds like an amazing ABD. Bring back some pictures!

 

[dizneekrazee]

We are going to Peru in March! The trip is over 75% full and it's highly unlikely for them to cancel . An added bonus - the flights are much cheaper than Egypt.

Did you purchase your flights yet? If not, watch for sales on TravelZoo. We went to Peru in Oct 2012 (not with ABD, but almost the exact itinerary), and flights came out about 4 months before our trip for $269 r/t!! That was from LAX, but other cities had sales as well. Ps. Peru is amazing, you will love it. If you have any questions on Peru itself (not the ABD aspect), shoot me a PM I would be happy to help.

ETA: I typed the wrong website for the flights!! TravelZoo is the correct one.

 

[CarrianneB]

We bought our tickets shortly after signing up for the trip - but luckily I waited and checked. They dropped significantly from the weekend when we booked until that following Wednesday when I booked the tickets so we were pretty happy with the final cost. Only 4 more months!