doyouski

My wife and I are fairly well traveled, and we took our first trip to Egypt in December. Since we were only there for a week and it was in an unfamiliar part of the world, we decided to do guided tours, which is not our usual way. We were staying in Hurghada and booked two separate tours -- Luxor and Cairo. We are really glad we did because these trips would have been difficult to pull off on our own given that we were only there for a week. Their trip advisor was very responsive to my emails and gave clear instructions and answered my questions promptly. Once in Egypt, the trip coordinators both spoke excellent English, and were very friendly and helpful. The pickups and dropoffs at the hotel were in a late model car -- very clean and comfortable -- and the drivers were both excellent, particularly the one in Cairo, which has world-class traffic. But it's the guides at the sites who are the stars. We had "John" (Yahia Abdou Ahmed) in Luxor. He was very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. John loved to answer our questions as we visited the Temple of Karnak and Valley of the Kings and he anticipated many of them. He's obviously very proud of his heritage. In Cairo, Maha Mahmoud El Halwagy took us to a mosque, a Coptic Christian Church, the Egyptian Museum, the pyramids and the Sphinx. She, too, was extremely well versed about these sites and really brought our experience to life. Maha not only informed us about the antiquities we were seeing, but gave us valuable tips on how not to be hustled at the pyramids, introduced us to delicious pure sugar cane juice from one of her favorite street stands and gave us insights into daily life. Memphis Tours is doing it right. They not only meet, but beat your expectations.