We did Tauck for Alaska in 2018 (our kids were only 10 & 8 at the time but loved it). At that time we had not done any ABD trips but have since done 2. I would say they were are highly comparable with the one caveat that Tauck uses one guide instead of 2. They also seemed more "flexible" about things. You went to dinner at any time at the hotel restaurants for instance and ordered whatever you wanted off the menu (including alcohol). Not many "dinners on your own" but that may be because it was Alaska and not many options at various places but the on your own was really any time you wanted. We would not hesitate to do Tauck again if the itinerary was better than ABD.
Other Options...
- Thread starter It's always cold
- Start date
We did Alaska on our own in 2021 (when it seemed like the entire world was in Alaska for big wide open spaces during the second summer of COVID world). No company had an itinerary that matched what I wanted, which I will admit was relatively unique. (I didn't want a lot of bus time or distance between locations, due to some back issues with in our party, so I traded out Denali for experiences closer to Anchorage. It was not the standard trip to Alaska, but we had a wonderful time and did a lot of different things.) So we did Seward/Whittier/Alyeska/Anchorage/Mat-Su Valley.
Good luck finding what works for you.
On a separate note - we are booked on a different sort of group travel experience. We are going to Dublin with Big Game Travel in September to watch our NFL team play a game. We will be there for a week and as part of the tour there is a day trip out to Galway/Cliffs of Moher, then some planned activities in Dublin (like visiting Guiness and Jameson, when in Rome, after all). But also appears that we will have a good amount of time on our own. Still waiting for more information on the itinerary to really figure our what we want to do. But should be interesting.
Good luck finding what works for you.
On a separate note - we are booked on a different sort of group travel experience. We are going to Dublin with Big Game Travel in September to watch our NFL team play a game. We will be there for a week and as part of the tour there is a day trip out to Galway/Cliffs of Moher, then some planned activities in Dublin (like visiting Guiness and Jameson, when in Rome, after all). But also appears that we will have a good amount of time on our own. Still waiting for more information on the itinerary to really figure our what we want to do. But should be interesting.
Dis_Yoda
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We enjoyed Ecoventura so much we went twice. The ship we sailed on (Letty) has been sold off, so I can't comment on life aboard the larger ones but they were great to work with and the guides were wonderful.
Dis_Yoda
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If anyone wants to read about the Tauck tour to Provence, I have it in my fall trip report here on the Dis.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...-2025-travel-adventures-update-10-16.3972272/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...-2025-travel-adventures-update-10-16.3972272/
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We are a month out from our Egypt trip with Archaeological Paths and they sent out an email letting us know they switched us for the Nile portion from MS Le Fayan to the Steinberger Senator. It LOOKS like a nice upgrade, but there are no reviews online to speak of... only 16 suites means we might have a very small group! Can't wait!
Hey there! Since it's been about a month, any chance of a trip report or review?
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Absolutely but we are still on the trip! We ended with a few days on our own in Jordan. Hiked all over Petra this morning and are heading to Wadi Rum next. We’ll be back home next week!
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Our trip with Archaeological Paths was amazing, exhausting, enriching, and exhaustive of our wants. They have even longer versions if the 10 night misses some hits for you, but we only had so much time as we wanted to go to Jordan after as well. That was not with a tour, so won't be reviewed unless you want me to. I'll try (and fail lets be honest) to be briefish since this isn't a full trip report...
Pre trip:
I had a hard time getting this company to tell me anything about the timing of things on certain days, which was my only gripe pre-trip. My husband was upset that he saw pyramid view rooms were available at Mena House but not through AP ahead of time. Any other questions were promptly answered by email or telephone if I wished. We were given the option of paying our balance by wire transfer or credit card with a 3.9% fee. Annoying, but common compared to other companies we've booked other tours with.
Ahead of departure they made certain we knew about obtaining required passports, visas, inoculations, etc, and provided us with confirmation of our hotels and such before departure as well. Three months prior to departure we were offered a slate of upgrades if we wished. Adding hotel days before and after was possible, as was an extra day at the end to visit Alexandria (I wish we had done/had made time for this), or add on days for Jordan or Jerusalem (we went on our own as the cost was very high and Jordan doable OYO). There were also hot air balloon rides, a visit to the Valley of the Queens, private tomb entries, room upgrades (not a pyramid view at Mena House specifically though they have them which is why my husband was annoyed), a visit to the bazar in Cairo (included on ABD), behind the scenes of Abu Simbel, etc. We booked several of the private tomb entries though the price made my eyes bleed on some of them. If anyone wants specifics I can answer them. Then a little over a month out we were informed our ship was switched from the MS Le Fayan which they normally book to the MS Steigenberger Senator, with the option to hand select rooms if you wished for a fee. At the time I was not sure what to think... they claimed it was an upgrade but... I found very little online about it so we were a little worried.
Arrival:
We were not met plane-side, but were greeted before customs and their representative walked us through the process, cutting us into the line and meeting us on the other side. We then went to get our visa - $25 in cash - and the officer handed him our stickers and he put them in our passport books for us. I guess they all know and trust each other... ^^; He then attended to us with our luggage which took a loooooong time to show up, maybe 45-an hour as well, and then walked us to our private car for the trip to the hotel. There was a driver and a guide who chatted with us on the way. It was a long drive, and our first experience with what the chaos that driving in Cairo is like. At the Mena House these reps also departed and we met our tour coordinator who was with us for the rest of the trip at the front desk of the hotel. He gave us our final itinerary which was VASTLY different than the original! I was so glad we had not tried to book anything extra at this point and understood why they couldn't or wouldn't answer my questions before departure on timing! Both he and the front desk agent seemed irritated with each other as both were vying for our attention at the same time - my husband was also very distracted trying to upgrade our room to be fair which was a bit of a dance as he and the clerk bickered a bit about which room specifically. Once that was all done we were off to our room, which was just lovely. I'd stay here again in a minute and we had a great view, well worth the extra $. ABD stays at the Ritz Carlton and has a dinner here on their pyramid day as well, so you do get to see this historic hotel /palace either way. Dinner was included so after a very brief freshen up we went to the huge buffet and then to bed after a long travel day from London on top of the long day before getting to London. Had we arrived a day early we could have had an optional add-on of extra museums in Cairo (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Tahrir Square and National Museum of Egyptian Civilization) or the Presidential Abdeen Palace, but we arrived in the evening and did not have the option.
Day 2:
Now our tour began in earnest! We met up after breakfast for the customary overture and were given hats, umbrellas, notebooks and pens, and our whisper devices for the duration. As in the original itinerary we immediately departed to Memphis, Dahsur and Seqqara. This day does not exist on the ABD itinerary, and is one of many reasons we did not book with ABD. If you want to see as much as possible of Ancient Egypt on your trip I cannot recommend skipping ABD enough. They hit the most world renowned sites, yes, but skip some real bangers!
We would be totally wasting our proximity to the great pyramid complex and visit them at the end of the trip. They did not specifically say why things were altered this way, nor do I know how often it happens as we did not ask. Presumably it was to accomodate our speakers' schedules. I did inquire why our ship changed, and was told it was because they always seek out and take upgrades whenever and whereever possible for the ship.
Our first stop was Memphis, the first capital of ancient Egypt, where we wandered the site of Meet Raheena and saw our first of many statues of Ramses II. Some may not actually be Ramses but I guess back in the day you just scrubbed out a cartouche or two to replace with yours and bingo, now its you!
While driving we saw evidence of a new rail line being put in; this will be a huge benefit for folk who travel outside the city to visit relatives. It will change the life of our guide as he currently can only visit if he takes all weekend - once this is complete it will be possible to visit for just one day.
We could have entered three pyramids but were all easily dissuaded from attempting the bent as it is a very difficult climb in and out for little reward. Though they mentioned it on the additional charge sheet they did not call out the price for entering the Steppe Pyramid which we did visit for pictures and wandered around outside - I'm not sure if its unavailable at this time or what. Skipping the bent left our legs fresh for the next two and I'll be honest, even though we're both in decent shape (I run a 5K 3x a week), we were SORE the next day. Regular aerobic exercise does not prepare you for the amount of crouching and scrambling you do getting in and out of the tight passageways. Some elderly folk were doing so on hands and knees to save their backs, and several folk skipped out entirely. Apologies for the butt shots but they show the contortions the best and keep in mind I'm only 5'6... these tunnels and ramps were LONG! Travel while you're young!
Red pyramid:
On the ramps going backwards was easiest, though you still had to hunch halfway over. I banged my back several times. It was also two-way, so you were passing other people much of the time.
Pyramid of Teti:
From here we went to lunch at an old resort called the Sakkara Palm Club which has given up being a resort and is now just a restaurant and pool though they had no takers on the pool area. I would NOT recommend eating here if given the chance, as I saw the waiters picking spilled food back up into the serving trays and knocking food off the spoons that had gotten cold back into them as well. Unfortunately it was after we'd already eaten (barf) and more tour busses arrived when we had finished also..it's so gross. This was the only meal where I had serious reservations - litertally every other meal was great, though to be fair other than this and the meal at the GEM we ate either aboard the ship or at the hotels we were staying at. Period. After seeing this... I can see why they do that.
I'm already out of space for pics, more to come!
Pre trip:
I had a hard time getting this company to tell me anything about the timing of things on certain days, which was my only gripe pre-trip. My husband was upset that he saw pyramid view rooms were available at Mena House but not through AP ahead of time. Any other questions were promptly answered by email or telephone if I wished. We were given the option of paying our balance by wire transfer or credit card with a 3.9% fee. Annoying, but common compared to other companies we've booked other tours with.
Ahead of departure they made certain we knew about obtaining required passports, visas, inoculations, etc, and provided us with confirmation of our hotels and such before departure as well. Three months prior to departure we were offered a slate of upgrades if we wished. Adding hotel days before and after was possible, as was an extra day at the end to visit Alexandria (I wish we had done/had made time for this), or add on days for Jordan or Jerusalem (we went on our own as the cost was very high and Jordan doable OYO). There were also hot air balloon rides, a visit to the Valley of the Queens, private tomb entries, room upgrades (not a pyramid view at Mena House specifically though they have them which is why my husband was annoyed), a visit to the bazar in Cairo (included on ABD), behind the scenes of Abu Simbel, etc. We booked several of the private tomb entries though the price made my eyes bleed on some of them. If anyone wants specifics I can answer them. Then a little over a month out we were informed our ship was switched from the MS Le Fayan which they normally book to the MS Steigenberger Senator, with the option to hand select rooms if you wished for a fee. At the time I was not sure what to think... they claimed it was an upgrade but... I found very little online about it so we were a little worried.
Arrival:
We were not met plane-side, but were greeted before customs and their representative walked us through the process, cutting us into the line and meeting us on the other side. We then went to get our visa - $25 in cash - and the officer handed him our stickers and he put them in our passport books for us. I guess they all know and trust each other... ^^; He then attended to us with our luggage which took a loooooong time to show up, maybe 45-an hour as well, and then walked us to our private car for the trip to the hotel. There was a driver and a guide who chatted with us on the way. It was a long drive, and our first experience with what the chaos that driving in Cairo is like. At the Mena House these reps also departed and we met our tour coordinator who was with us for the rest of the trip at the front desk of the hotel. He gave us our final itinerary which was VASTLY different than the original! I was so glad we had not tried to book anything extra at this point and understood why they couldn't or wouldn't answer my questions before departure on timing! Both he and the front desk agent seemed irritated with each other as both were vying for our attention at the same time - my husband was also very distracted trying to upgrade our room to be fair which was a bit of a dance as he and the clerk bickered a bit about which room specifically. Once that was all done we were off to our room, which was just lovely. I'd stay here again in a minute and we had a great view, well worth the extra $. ABD stays at the Ritz Carlton and has a dinner here on their pyramid day as well, so you do get to see this historic hotel /palace either way. Dinner was included so after a very brief freshen up we went to the huge buffet and then to bed after a long travel day from London on top of the long day before getting to London. Had we arrived a day early we could have had an optional add-on of extra museums in Cairo (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Tahrir Square and National Museum of Egyptian Civilization) or the Presidential Abdeen Palace, but we arrived in the evening and did not have the option.
Day 2:
Now our tour began in earnest! We met up after breakfast for the customary overture and were given hats, umbrellas, notebooks and pens, and our whisper devices for the duration. As in the original itinerary we immediately departed to Memphis, Dahsur and Seqqara. This day does not exist on the ABD itinerary, and is one of many reasons we did not book with ABD. If you want to see as much as possible of Ancient Egypt on your trip I cannot recommend skipping ABD enough. They hit the most world renowned sites, yes, but skip some real bangers!
We would be totally wasting our proximity to the great pyramid complex and visit them at the end of the trip. They did not specifically say why things were altered this way, nor do I know how often it happens as we did not ask. Presumably it was to accomodate our speakers' schedules. I did inquire why our ship changed, and was told it was because they always seek out and take upgrades whenever and whereever possible for the ship.
Our first stop was Memphis, the first capital of ancient Egypt, where we wandered the site of Meet Raheena and saw our first of many statues of Ramses II. Some may not actually be Ramses but I guess back in the day you just scrubbed out a cartouche or two to replace with yours and bingo, now its you!
While driving we saw evidence of a new rail line being put in; this will be a huge benefit for folk who travel outside the city to visit relatives. It will change the life of our guide as he currently can only visit if he takes all weekend - once this is complete it will be possible to visit for just one day.
We could have entered three pyramids but were all easily dissuaded from attempting the bent as it is a very difficult climb in and out for little reward. Though they mentioned it on the additional charge sheet they did not call out the price for entering the Steppe Pyramid which we did visit for pictures and wandered around outside - I'm not sure if its unavailable at this time or what. Skipping the bent left our legs fresh for the next two and I'll be honest, even though we're both in decent shape (I run a 5K 3x a week), we were SORE the next day. Regular aerobic exercise does not prepare you for the amount of crouching and scrambling you do getting in and out of the tight passageways. Some elderly folk were doing so on hands and knees to save their backs, and several folk skipped out entirely. Apologies for the butt shots but they show the contortions the best and keep in mind I'm only 5'6... these tunnels and ramps were LONG! Travel while you're young!
Red pyramid:
On the ramps going backwards was easiest, though you still had to hunch halfway over. I banged my back several times. It was also two-way, so you were passing other people much of the time.
Pyramid of Teti:
From here we went to lunch at an old resort called the Sakkara Palm Club which has given up being a resort and is now just a restaurant and pool though they had no takers on the pool area. I would NOT recommend eating here if given the chance, as I saw the waiters picking spilled food back up into the serving trays and knocking food off the spoons that had gotten cold back into them as well. Unfortunately it was after we'd already eaten (barf) and more tour busses arrived when we had finished also..it's so gross. This was the only meal where I had serious reservations - litertally every other meal was great, though to be fair other than this and the meal at the GEM we ate either aboard the ship or at the hotels we were staying at. Period. After seeing this... I can see why they do that.
I'm already out of space for pics, more to come!
JAM9842
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2013
- Messages
- 725
This is amazing!!!!!!!
You then had the perfect Egyptian experience! Things in Egypt happen "Inshallah" which means "when God wills it". That's just the way things work in Egypt which is different than then our concept of time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inshallah
-Paul
Minnie1222
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- Oct 25, 2018
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- 3,964
I remember you from another Egypt thread. Since that discussion, I also ventured to Egypt for a short 2.5 days to see the GEM (anything longer and I shall have to dig a hole in the sand to stick my head in). We were planning to go to Luxor in 2027 to see the "Eclipse of the Century", but I think it's best that we go elsewhere.
Minnie1222
DIS Veteran
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- Oct 25, 2018
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Just a friendly reminder that they now have electric buses and golf carts for you to traverse the Giza plateau. There's no need to ride the severely-abused camels and horses. Animals are getting whipped in broad daylight for no reason.
CaliforniaGirl09
DIS Veteran
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- Dec 4, 2009
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This is great--really enjoying!
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After lunch we visited the Steppe Pyramid and the Tomb of Mereruka (the prime minister). There are other sites for this area but our tour did not visit them.
An option was to visit the Wyhte Tomb but it was very expensive and quite small, so this was one of the few such opportunities we skipped. 7 other folk did this one, which was the largest group to go into one, so maybe we're fools... nah!
We also visited the Imhotep Museum which has many mummified cats in addition to other antiquities.
By now we could tell that we were very lucky to have our Egyptologist Hussein. He had done an excellent job all day fielding any and all questions and was very down to earth and honest about everything, good and bad, in ancient times as well as modern. He was funny, eloquent, and definitely on par with the ABD guides we've had in the past. Over the course of the next ten days we'd all say many times that we would not be at all shocked to start seeing his name in international news amongst the other speakers we were to hear in the comming days once he finally does his phd dissertation - he was slowed down by the happy arrival of twin boys right when he was about to finish up. Our other guide Suat was excellent as well, but he was there more for logistics and did not guide nearly as much though he would add in details as we walked and seemed to know a lot as well.
With that our first extremely full day was a wrap, and we were back at the hotel around 5:30pm for dinner. We didn't know it at the time, but this was actually a very tame day compared to what was to come...
Day 3
Though not yet, Day 3 is all about the GEM, and was our shortest day by far. We met up at 8:30 and made the short drive over for a talk with Dr. Tarek Tawfik, the former director general of the Grand Egyptian Museum Project. His lecture was great and we were fortunate to have his ear and be some of the very first guests to the new museum as it had just opened earlier in November. I asked if any countries had pledged to return artifacts now the museum is completed and unfortunately it sounds like a no.
Hussein then took us all around until lunchtime in the museum at 1:30 where we had another family style meal, followed by free time until heading back to the hotel at 3ish. It was exceptionally crowded, and not quite finished... the main entrance is still under construction and while most of King Tutankhamun's collection is there the mummy itself is still en situ in its tomb.
We thought of walking to the great pyramid complex as we got back so early but it closes at 4 in the winter, so there was no time. Boo!
Day 4
The first of several early wakings on this trip! I was grateful I did not know ahead of time how often this would happen as it was... kind of a lot. It worked well though, and was necessary. We were all jetlagged anyway, and as for me I'm still struggling quite a lot with chronic insomnia, so if anything the short sleeping schedule helped me. I regularly felt sleepy in the evenings which was a blessing as I haven't felt that much in 2025, and made falling to sleep effortless as it should be, lol! We were up at 2:15am, yes you heard that right as we had to be at the bus at 3:05am for a 6:15am flight to Luxor to board our ship! We ended up with a delayed flight, but not terribly and arrived before 8am. This left enough time to drop by the ship and freshen up/change clothes and such if needed before we headed to Karnak.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I LOVED this ship! She was gorgeous, the suites were amazing, the food and service excellent. My only complaint - seriously - is that you had to pass the ships' small shop to get to the dining room and the shop keeper acted like we were on land. No matter how many times we said no he still pestered us to go in every day, each way. The only time he didn't was if he was away from the shop (rare) or helping others. It's just the way things are there. My husband saw the guest book on our last evening and it gave the impression it is often booked up with charter sailings for big families and such, so I think it really was just luck she was available on our dates. We had also booked the entire ship, which meant we didn't have other groups sharing the space with us. Our guides pointed out that usually you have groups with different early mornings here and there onboard at the same time, so it's not unusual to hear doors slamming and heading down hallways at 3am on a day you can sleep in. I'm getting way off track though... no pics for this ship as its not the usual one and I don't want to break any hearts.
Karnak was, I think, my favorite temple of the ones we visited and is on the ABD tour. We were treated to another lecture, this time from Dr. Mostafa Waziri, who really was a great speaker! I ended up filming a couple of his stories as we walked from site to site on the grounds they were so enjoyable. Our last stop with him was in the Opet Temple, after which we all took group and individual pics and he signed copies of his first book as well if you purchased it, which he had just published. After he was with us for about an hour we continued to tour the complex which is very large! We were here from about 9am to 12:30pm when we went back to the ship for lunch.
Kyle and I had to eat quickly as we and a few other folk booked an extra tour at the Valley of the Queens. We departed at 2pm for that and met everyone else at Luxor temple at 4:45pm. This left us enough time for three tombs, though notably the Tomb of Nefertari is still off limits as they repair it. I'm not sure how they decide which tombs are open when exactly, so YMMV, same as in the Valley of the Kings. We toured QV55 Tomb of Amenkopshef, Q52 Tomb of Queen Tyti, and QV44 Tomb of Prince Kha em wast. Amenkopshef was a heartbreaker... his images showed the young prince being led through the challenges to enter the land of the afterlife by his father. He was far too young to have been able to navigate alone.
As you can see there were hardly any other folk there this day... I am not sure why. The tombs were gorgeous, the colors lovely... compared to Valley of the Kings later on, this was so easy.
Though the sun was fading fast as we arrived back at the ship the day had one more gift in store - we next went to Luxor temple which was basically across the street from our ship. They still had us board the bus though rather than make folk navigate the streets and drove us over.
It was fully dark by the time we headed back to the ship for dinner after about an hour here and had gotten markedly more crowded as the heat cooled off. Dinner is a seated dinner unlike lunch and breakfast which are bountiful buffets. It was very French in feeling, meat heavy with sauces and fancy vegetables and desserts and the staff had a hard time taking no for an answer when we said we wanted neither the appetizer nor salad on various evenings. Dessert would show up if you hadn't asked for it... Well, some staff would listen and skip a course, but they did seem sad about it.... I suppose they feel a few bites is better than throwing the whole thing away, but I can only hold so much!
Tomorrow was a second extremely early day though this time our own fault... we signed up for a hot air balloon rise at dawn, and so we set our alarms for 3:30am for a 4:10am meetup. Everyone else would get to sleep in until 8am when we departed for the Valley of the Kings.
An option was to visit the Wyhte Tomb but it was very expensive and quite small, so this was one of the few such opportunities we skipped. 7 other folk did this one, which was the largest group to go into one, so maybe we're fools... nah!
We also visited the Imhotep Museum which has many mummified cats in addition to other antiquities.By now we could tell that we were very lucky to have our Egyptologist Hussein. He had done an excellent job all day fielding any and all questions and was very down to earth and honest about everything, good and bad, in ancient times as well as modern. He was funny, eloquent, and definitely on par with the ABD guides we've had in the past. Over the course of the next ten days we'd all say many times that we would not be at all shocked to start seeing his name in international news amongst the other speakers we were to hear in the comming days once he finally does his phd dissertation - he was slowed down by the happy arrival of twin boys right when he was about to finish up. Our other guide Suat was excellent as well, but he was there more for logistics and did not guide nearly as much though he would add in details as we walked and seemed to know a lot as well.
With that our first extremely full day was a wrap, and we were back at the hotel around 5:30pm for dinner. We didn't know it at the time, but this was actually a very tame day compared to what was to come...
Day 3
Though not yet, Day 3 is all about the GEM, and was our shortest day by far. We met up at 8:30 and made the short drive over for a talk with Dr. Tarek Tawfik, the former director general of the Grand Egyptian Museum Project. His lecture was great and we were fortunate to have his ear and be some of the very first guests to the new museum as it had just opened earlier in November. I asked if any countries had pledged to return artifacts now the museum is completed and unfortunately it sounds like a no.
We thought of walking to the great pyramid complex as we got back so early but it closes at 4 in the winter, so there was no time. Boo!
Day 4
The first of several early wakings on this trip! I was grateful I did not know ahead of time how often this would happen as it was... kind of a lot. It worked well though, and was necessary. We were all jetlagged anyway, and as for me I'm still struggling quite a lot with chronic insomnia, so if anything the short sleeping schedule helped me. I regularly felt sleepy in the evenings which was a blessing as I haven't felt that much in 2025, and made falling to sleep effortless as it should be, lol! We were up at 2:15am, yes you heard that right as we had to be at the bus at 3:05am for a 6:15am flight to Luxor to board our ship! We ended up with a delayed flight, but not terribly and arrived before 8am. This left enough time to drop by the ship and freshen up/change clothes and such if needed before we headed to Karnak.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I LOVED this ship! She was gorgeous, the suites were amazing, the food and service excellent. My only complaint - seriously - is that you had to pass the ships' small shop to get to the dining room and the shop keeper acted like we were on land. No matter how many times we said no he still pestered us to go in every day, each way. The only time he didn't was if he was away from the shop (rare) or helping others. It's just the way things are there. My husband saw the guest book on our last evening and it gave the impression it is often booked up with charter sailings for big families and such, so I think it really was just luck she was available on our dates. We had also booked the entire ship, which meant we didn't have other groups sharing the space with us. Our guides pointed out that usually you have groups with different early mornings here and there onboard at the same time, so it's not unusual to hear doors slamming and heading down hallways at 3am on a day you can sleep in. I'm getting way off track though... no pics for this ship as its not the usual one and I don't want to break any hearts.
Karnak was, I think, my favorite temple of the ones we visited and is on the ABD tour. We were treated to another lecture, this time from Dr. Mostafa Waziri, who really was a great speaker! I ended up filming a couple of his stories as we walked from site to site on the grounds they were so enjoyable. Our last stop with him was in the Opet Temple, after which we all took group and individual pics and he signed copies of his first book as well if you purchased it, which he had just published. After he was with us for about an hour we continued to tour the complex which is very large! We were here from about 9am to 12:30pm when we went back to the ship for lunch.
Kyle and I had to eat quickly as we and a few other folk booked an extra tour at the Valley of the Queens. We departed at 2pm for that and met everyone else at Luxor temple at 4:45pm. This left us enough time for three tombs, though notably the Tomb of Nefertari is still off limits as they repair it. I'm not sure how they decide which tombs are open when exactly, so YMMV, same as in the Valley of the Kings. We toured QV55 Tomb of Amenkopshef, Q52 Tomb of Queen Tyti, and QV44 Tomb of Prince Kha em wast. Amenkopshef was a heartbreaker... his images showed the young prince being led through the challenges to enter the land of the afterlife by his father. He was far too young to have been able to navigate alone.
As you can see there were hardly any other folk there this day... I am not sure why. The tombs were gorgeous, the colors lovely... compared to Valley of the Kings later on, this was so easy.
Though the sun was fading fast as we arrived back at the ship the day had one more gift in store - we next went to Luxor temple which was basically across the street from our ship. They still had us board the bus though rather than make folk navigate the streets and drove us over.
It was fully dark by the time we headed back to the ship for dinner after about an hour here and had gotten markedly more crowded as the heat cooled off. Dinner is a seated dinner unlike lunch and breakfast which are bountiful buffets. It was very French in feeling, meat heavy with sauces and fancy vegetables and desserts and the staff had a hard time taking no for an answer when we said we wanted neither the appetizer nor salad on various evenings. Dessert would show up if you hadn't asked for it... Well, some staff would listen and skip a course, but they did seem sad about it.... I suppose they feel a few bites is better than throwing the whole thing away, but I can only hold so much!
Tomorrow was a second extremely early day though this time our own fault... we signed up for a hot air balloon rise at dawn, and so we set our alarms for 3:30am for a 4:10am meetup. Everyone else would get to sleep in until 8am when we departed for the Valley of the Kings.
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Day 5
Why so long before dawn you may ask..? (Just me, ok just me...) turns out it takes a LOT of logistics for this one! We dutifully reported at 4:10am and walked to a small shuttle boat and.... sat. And sat. And filled out paperwork and sat some more... as we waited other groups slowly trickled on, filling the other half of our boat and a few others. Turns out we had to wait for the military to give their OK before the little water taxis could cross the river. While we waited the call to prayer began reverberating all along the Nile as it does every day, multiple times a day. Huge speakers play it as loud as they can, but you do get used to it quickly.
At around 5am we were off... to some shuttle vans. After boarding our driver promptly pulled over and pulled out his prayer mat. I guess timing is not THAT strict, so you fit in in when you can! We got to our launch site around 5:30am, but stood around a little as workers rushed this way and that getting balloons out on the grounds. I had enough time to use the restroom (for a fee, mind you, ALWAYS have small bills on you for that if you do with this tour, I'm not sure what ABD does), and we were given a safety spiel during which we were informed we were now waiting again for the military to give permission to fly as we go over a base that overlooks the valleys. Due to this, only phone cameras are allowed on the balloons - nothing with a zoom. Of course I've heard if you find the right pilot and have the right bribe... if you're that sort of person. My phone did fine for me, thank you very much!
Also of huge note, there is NO GUARANTEE they will go up on any given day. If the military says no, that's it, you go home and I assume get your money back.
We had all been broken into groups of 28 (!!!?) per balloon, and then divided again into groups of three for each little box much like an egg carton or ice tray. I had no idea they took so many at once!
When it was your turn it was YOUR TURN GO GO GO! We all loaded as quickly as we could into our cubes and the pilot finished finessing the last of our balloon before we slowly rose into the air! I tried to ignore the way the floor bulged out under us and crept as close to the edge of the side as I could where it was not as noticeable. This is safe... right??
Even as we were launching they were setting up more and more balloons. Book with a reputable group or your "sunrise" might be "sunrose"!
Up was far easier than down turns out... after about 30 minutes airborne our pilot found a likely spot and told us all how to brace for a rough landing in case we needed to. It did not come to that, but the crew did miss us the first attempt and we ended up landing in an... old? I hope?... digging site or something. Whoops...
Folk from the settlements close by try to mingle in with the actual workers and help in the hopes tourists will accidentally tip the wrong folk, so the pilot collected it all and said he would be sure to divvy it up. All you can do is hope that does work... Suat went with us on this adventure and explained that even if you do give anything away it gets fought over afterwards. Tip a kid because you feel sorry for them and you're guaranteeing they will have to use fists to hold onto it. It's a horrible situation, but worth the risk to them.
I thus tried very hard to keep walking back to the van without contact but a kid ran into a pic I was taking and then tried to get a tip... yeah noooo..... ^^;
We did leave our breakfast boxes we had not wanted in the van - they commonly did this with the boxes as they were able to distribute the food to the needy. We had everything go off without a hitch, so we were back onboard in time for breakfast around 7:15am. At 8 we departed for what was a lot of folks' top to do - the Valley of the Kings - after crossing the required valley of vultures to get to the entrance.
These were both better and worse than I'd feared... November wasn't exactly the height of the touring season, but they did still come off agressively and would sometimes put their hand on your shoulder and walk with you. Blissfully my No Shokran kept them off me when coupled with my eyes straight ahead. I have no interest in bartering... I suck at it! Unless there is a clear price I am comfortable with I will just do without.
Inside is a model showing the tunnels of the tombs under the sand.
Outside the center you get on a cart and are taken up to the mouths of the tombs.
Why so long before dawn you may ask..? (Just me, ok just me...) turns out it takes a LOT of logistics for this one! We dutifully reported at 4:10am and walked to a small shuttle boat and.... sat. And sat. And filled out paperwork and sat some more... as we waited other groups slowly trickled on, filling the other half of our boat and a few others. Turns out we had to wait for the military to give their OK before the little water taxis could cross the river. While we waited the call to prayer began reverberating all along the Nile as it does every day, multiple times a day. Huge speakers play it as loud as they can, but you do get used to it quickly.
At around 5am we were off... to some shuttle vans. After boarding our driver promptly pulled over and pulled out his prayer mat. I guess timing is not THAT strict, so you fit in in when you can! We got to our launch site around 5:30am, but stood around a little as workers rushed this way and that getting balloons out on the grounds. I had enough time to use the restroom (for a fee, mind you, ALWAYS have small bills on you for that if you do with this tour, I'm not sure what ABD does), and we were given a safety spiel during which we were informed we were now waiting again for the military to give permission to fly as we go over a base that overlooks the valleys. Due to this, only phone cameras are allowed on the balloons - nothing with a zoom. Of course I've heard if you find the right pilot and have the right bribe... if you're that sort of person. My phone did fine for me, thank you very much!
Also of huge note, there is NO GUARANTEE they will go up on any given day. If the military says no, that's it, you go home and I assume get your money back.
We had all been broken into groups of 28 (!!!?) per balloon, and then divided again into groups of three for each little box much like an egg carton or ice tray. I had no idea they took so many at once!
When it was your turn it was YOUR TURN GO GO GO! We all loaded as quickly as we could into our cubes and the pilot finished finessing the last of our balloon before we slowly rose into the air! I tried to ignore the way the floor bulged out under us and crept as close to the edge of the side as I could where it was not as noticeable. This is safe... right??
Even as we were launching they were setting up more and more balloons. Book with a reputable group or your "sunrise" might be "sunrose"!
Up was far easier than down turns out... after about 30 minutes airborne our pilot found a likely spot and told us all how to brace for a rough landing in case we needed to. It did not come to that, but the crew did miss us the first attempt and we ended up landing in an... old? I hope?... digging site or something. Whoops...
Folk from the settlements close by try to mingle in with the actual workers and help in the hopes tourists will accidentally tip the wrong folk, so the pilot collected it all and said he would be sure to divvy it up. All you can do is hope that does work... Suat went with us on this adventure and explained that even if you do give anything away it gets fought over afterwards. Tip a kid because you feel sorry for them and you're guaranteeing they will have to use fists to hold onto it. It's a horrible situation, but worth the risk to them.
I thus tried very hard to keep walking back to the van without contact but a kid ran into a pic I was taking and then tried to get a tip... yeah noooo..... ^^;We did leave our breakfast boxes we had not wanted in the van - they commonly did this with the boxes as they were able to distribute the food to the needy. We had everything go off without a hitch, so we were back onboard in time for breakfast around 7:15am. At 8 we departed for what was a lot of folks' top to do - the Valley of the Kings - after crossing the required valley of vultures to get to the entrance.
These were both better and worse than I'd feared... November wasn't exactly the height of the touring season, but they did still come off agressively and would sometimes put their hand on your shoulder and walk with you. Blissfully my No Shokran kept them off me when coupled with my eyes straight ahead. I have no interest in bartering... I suck at it! Unless there is a clear price I am comfortable with I will just do without.
Inside is a model showing the tunnels of the tombs under the sand.
Outside the center you get on a cart and are taken up to the mouths of the tombs.
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