One thing to look at is this, if you want to go to Cairo and you have booked the tour operators insurance you will need really to go with them basically because if anything happened to you or your b/f you will not be covered. If however you have got your own insurance then this is up to you. We have done this trip in the past, but found reps prices fairly reasonable and you can upgrade and have your own guide just for the two of you. However there are some guides that will some you what you want, as opposed to the reps that will show you what they want. A lot also depends on the trustability factor, always pick someone reputable. Flights are about £80 - 90 and take an hour. Good Luck

We went on this trip with first chioce which we booked while in Sharm. It cost 165 british pounds each.
We had a very good guide who gave us lots of good advice. It was all english speaking people on trip. I know this was a bit more expensive than local trips but we felt it was worth it.
Hope this helps.

Garry

Hi it can be done locally for £125 which includes all transport guide, entry to museum and pyramids and lunch on the Nile. PM me if you ant more details.
The reps prices are a rip off for eactly the same and their groups are alot larger as well.

I went from Hurghada by plane through memphistours on a private tour last summer and it was well worth the money. You get to do your own thing and their not trying to push you along to gold shops etc. You also get much more time in your day. Went all around pyramids, sphinx churches, markets, museum etc. by private brand new air con minibus. Booked on the internet before I went and paid deposit up front with balance when I was picked up from hotel. Cost £125 each for 8 of us. Recommend it highly.

Thanks alot that has really helped me.

I have spoken to my boyfriend and we are happy to use a local firm in egypt.

I will probably do a little more research but just wanted to say thanks to all for the advice.

Kind regards

Jenna

Hi Jenna

Please make sure as i do keep stressing that companies maybe cheaper but think of whether you are covered on the insurance. So many people go on trips and do not realise should anything go amiss you will not be covered by a tour operators insurance, only insurance from a broker. Whilst in Egypt we went on a camel ride, was told a lot of English were going on it, only to be left in the dessert with a young lad wanting money off us every five minutes and strode off into the sunset. We were very alone in the middle of nowhere. Thomson had no idea we were gone, the hotel had no idea we had gone, in fact no one knew. Just remember although i am sure you will have a great time who ever you go with, its not worth it if you fall foul of a stranger.

Hi I also agree with above and similar happened to my daughter and I when we went on camels - it was just the 2 of us and we didnt feel comfortable at all and the bediouns wouldnt leave us alone.

The guy I now use is English, based in Nabq and his quads trips etc are insured and his prices are really good. We went on his quad trip recently and he came along too which he does try do on most trips excluding Cairo. The quads were brill for 3 and half hours for just £15 each. There were only about 7 of us in total. My mum and 2 friends have booked to go on the Cairo trip with him next month.

We've been going to and travelling around Egypt for a number of years. By Egypt - I mean Cairo, Luxor and Aswan.

In around 8 holidays there, we've only ever take 2 organised excursions with a tour operator representative and that was only because it was convenient to do so.

One of these was the cruise to Denderah temple and the other was a half day tour around Cairo. From Cairo, we arranged our own trip to Alexandria by train (a cost of around 3 Gbp per person as opposed to a taxi indicated necessary by our rep at a cost of 25 Gbp per person).

Mostly, we've been based in Luxor for a couple of weeks and then done all our West Bank excursions under our own steam, taking taxi's etc. We also went to Hurghada on an overnight stay in a hotel including snorkelling and have taken several overnight train journeys to Cairo.

Our last holiday was in May 2007 but this time we went from our new home location of Cyprus - again, all organised by ourselves. We used Memphistours to reserve an overnight train from Luxor back to Cairo as we were limited on time in Luxor to be able to ensure we could get the seats and we were flying back to Cyprus from Cairo and they also reserved our 3 night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor. They sent a rep to our Aswan hotel with the tickets, the morning after we arrived as agreed and no hassle at all. We would definitely use them again as well as recommend them to anyone else. We paid a 25% deposit and the rest when we collected the tickets from the rep.

Maybe there has to be some consideration regarding your holiday insurance, but your tour operator cannot be on call to get you around your resort and chosen destination 24hrs a day, nor can they expect you to not go anywhere other than on their excursions or not use public transport etc. However, you should consider such things as balloon flights, boat trips etc may not be covered on your insurance should you have an accident if you take these not escorted by your tour op.

I would suggest it's better to take an independent insurance policy in any event rather than being tied with the one offered by the tour operator.

CwB