Postcards from Egypt

Hi Mark,

Family back from Egypt and I wanted to let you know we had a fantastic time.
Our guide was exceptionally good, with fantastic knowledge, real passion, a great sense of humour, and the ability to pitch what he was saying at the right level.
The travel arrangements went without any hitch (can’t really complain about unforeseen traffic problems!) and there was always someone from the local office to meet us and wait until we were safely on board our next transport at all transfer points. The experience at Cairo airport, for example, was seamless on both occasions.
The proposed tour was, for almost every day, exactly what we wanted – the right balance of visits and travel, with opportunities to chill out thrown in. The only exception was our day trip from Cairo to Alexandria, which was frankly not really practical whilst also doing justice to the city itself – 10 hours in a car for 3 hours on the ground is not a great balance – for us, drivers and tour guides alike. You might want to suggest alternatives to future travellers.
Hotels, cruise and sleeper all excellent.

Hi Sarah

Just a (long) note to say thank you so much for organising a brilliant holiday for us. We had a wonderful time!
Your agents in Egypt were excellent, always there (sometimes three of them: agent, driver and guide) and very helpful.
Guides were varied in their knowledge but always good and willing to wait for us when we needed more time at places.

The hotel in Giza was absolutely excellent, brilliant service, a lovely pool and good room service and restaurant.
We got there quite late in the evening but there was no problem getting food. We also loved the cocktail bar!
The sightseeing at Saqqara and Giza was amazing, could have done with longer at Saqqara actually. I wish we had been able to go into Cairo and see everything there but next time - we will! One of our guides said they all expected it to be much safer after the elections in May.

We had a very long day flying down to Abu Simbel via Aswan, it is a brilliant site. Got to Aswan and went straight by car to the Aswan Dam, Unfinished Obelisk (stopped to eat something there (coffee and biscuits!)) as we hadn't had lunch, then to Philae Temple. We arrived at the end of the day in wonderful light and were the last people at the site, very atmospheric, I think we liked this temple the best. The journey there by little boat was super.
Then we got to the Old Cataract - what a marvellous hotel, we MUST go back there. Had a super big room in the old part, everything was great. Not much time to relax as we then went off to the Nubian Museum nearby, very interesting despite being full of school parties. After all this we were very pleased to get back to our room, down for cocktails and dinner in the very smart French restaurant 1902. The hotel was evidently very proud of this and the service and extras were terrific!

Next morning we had breakfast on the terrace, fabulous views of the Nile, then had to check out (boo hoo) and off for another excellent day. Went by boat from the hotel steps to visit Tombs of the Nobles and St Simeon's monastery - both by camel... a long hot ride actually but good fun. Then stopped at the Botanical Gardens which were really lovely, time for coffee and admire the superb trees and plants. Again back on the boat to the Old Cataract and picked up our baggage. We drove down to pick up the dahabeya (it was only 2pm) and arrived to find we were the only guests on board (with our guide Mustafa)! Very pleased about this.

It was great being on the boat, especially when the captain turned it round and used the sails, extremely quiet. Most of the time we were sailing into the wind so had to use a little tug. Even some of the boats sailing the other way were being towed as there was very little wind. It was quite cool on deck when we sailed along but on our private terrace it was lovely. Of course the weather was sunny all the time. I must say I had expected the cabins to be less basic than they were, and the main problem was that the electricity and water were turned off at 10.30pm each night so going to the loo in the night was interesting...

We had 3 lovely days sailing and stopping at some places not accessible to the big boats, which was great as we were there by ourselves. We tied up just past Kom Ombo the first night, then near Edfu the second and ended up at Esna. There isn't much to see at Esna (one small temple) and it is a noisy town, also we were tied up against some other dahabeyas and the waves between the boats were gurgling loudly all night so we didn't get much sleep. It would have been much better to sail on and end up at Luxor, also it would have been fun going through the lock at Esna. Maybe another time.

The food on the boat was very good indeed, all freshly prepared and tasty. They even served wine which we weren't expecting.

And at Luxor we of course had the most amazing sight-seeing, another long session at the Valley of the Kings, Queens, Tombs of the Nobles, Temple of Hatshepsut, etc etc, really super and not crowded (which we had expected it to be). Very hot there - goodness knows what it must be like in August! We had a good guide and driver. Checked into the Old Winter Palace, faded grandeur, a lovely building but very haphazard service. The pool and gardens there are lovely.
We had a good trip out to Dendera - quite a long drive but really worth it. The next day we went to Karnak, a huge site, also two very interesting museums in Luxor. On the final morning we went to Luxor Temple by ourselves (for a change!) and finished with a caleche ride back to the hotel.

All in all an excellent holiday, made perfect by the excellent organisation of On the Go - we will be booking with you again, soon I hope.

Many thanks Sarah,
Best wishes

Very informative & funny tour guide-he made every day very enjoyable :)

An amazing holiday! it was recommended by brother who did same trip 3 years ago + would certainly do another tour! Our guide was excellent!

It was a fantastic trip. We enjoyed having egyptian guides who are passionate about their country and very informative. We felt safe at all times.

Had a great time. We usually travel independently but it was nice to be part of a group and feel really looked after.

Sam was absolutely amazing guide & made the tour awsome, I got to see it all with great stories behind!

Overall experience A+
thank you