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Share your thoughts on the itinerary, guide, and overall organization of the adventure.
C
Pyramids, Petra, Promised Land - 19 Days
I thoroughly enjoyed Egypt. The guide was excellent and went out of his way to enhance our visit.
Jordan was equally spoilt by one of the worse guides I have ever encountered (I have e-mailed a separa…I thoroughly enjoyed Egypt. The guide was excellent and went out of his way to enhance our visit.
Jordan was equally spoilt by one of the worse guides I have ever encountered (I have e-mailed a separate of this section of the tour)
Halawani in Israel was great.
The only bit of Israel I did not enjoy was the choice of hotel in Tel Aviv (B14). This was more like a backpackers establishment than even a 2-3 star hotel. The rooms were boxy with little or no amenities, no lounge. go next door for meals, fine if I had picked a totally budget tour but not for this tour.
Once we arrived at the Cairo airport, we were greeted by your representative. He took care of everything, so entering Egypt was a breeze.
Our 10 day trip was amazing. We were kept busy every day, no …Once we arrived at the Cairo airport, we were greeted by your representative. He took care of everything, so entering Egypt was a breeze.
Our 10 day trip was amazing. We were kept busy every day, no time to be bored. I will say, the sleeper train needs some upkeep, but given the situation of the country we were in, we made the best of the situation. Our tour guide, Nader, is the best!!! He made our group feel like we were family. He is knowledgeable, funny, patient and very helpful helping us with the locals. I recommend this trip to anyone who wants to learn Egyptian history and experience first hand Egyptian culture. This was an amazing adventure!!!
L
King Ramses - 13 days
Fantastic tour! The hotels were nice and food was great! A real experience with the over night train!! Hurghada was the highlight of my trip loved snorkelling and orange bay!! The history of Egypt is …Fantastic tour! The hotels were nice and food was great! A real experience with the over night train!! Hurghada was the highlight of my trip loved snorkelling and orange bay!! The history of Egypt is unreal would deffo go again! We had Nader as our tour guide and he was awesome!! Really knowledgeable and helpful!!
W
Pyramids, Petra, Promised Land - 19 Days
The itinerary was excellent, I was very happy with where we went and what we saw and did. The guides we had were friendly and knowledgeable but very motivated to get their $8 USD per day tip as it was…The itinerary was excellent, I was very happy with where we went and what we saw and did. The guides we had were friendly and knowledgeable but very motivated to get their $8 USD per day tip as it was mentioned a few times that this was not included in the tip kitty for porters and other guides.
All went pretty well up until after being on the felucca for two days that we were told has properly functioning showers, running water and proper flushing toilets that is. There was no functioning showers at any time. Flushing toilets and running water was non-existent for at least 85-90% of the time. The 'captain' always seemed surprised at the lack of water each time he came along in the support boat and would turn on the generator to pump more water from the Nile. However, with only one toilet on the felucca to 19 in the group plus 1 guide water ran out very quickly. Same in the 2 toilets on the support boat.
Staff were seen washing dishes directly in the Nile (unbeknownst to the majority of us) which were then provided to us still damp.
Can you guess all of this was a recipe for disaster? Everyone started coming down with gastro which made the toilets even more toxic - used paper had to be put in a basket as it's not allowed to be flushed all adding to the highly unhealthy situation and with no running water to wash hands or to flush the quickly filling toilet it really was terrible. Of course we all had bottled water but that didn't save 15 out of 19 becoming very ill. I ended up in hospital as the gastro was so severe I very quickly became dehydrated despite Imodium and electrolytes. Because of that I collapsed breaking a bone in my foot requiring a cast and spelled the end of my journey - I had to stay an extra week in Hurghada, Egypt after the group had continued on to Jordan and Israel. I am yet to hear if I will receive a refund or credit for those lost days.
Some people in the group were on round 2 of gastro having just recovered from the filthy conditions on the '5 Star' overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. That was incredibly dirty too. It could have been quite ok if it was cleaned. The bathroom, one to each carriage of 10 sleeper rooms, was an open hole to the tracks with flushing mechanism that weren't strong enough to flush everything out. The bathroom itself was maybe never cleaned there was so much dirt on the floors and the sink and mirror were the same. As was the window in my cabin that was so dirty you couldn't see through it - I discovered the thick dirt was on the inside!!
I spilled a little black tea on the tray between the bottom bunk seats and when I wiped it with a tissue much to my horror the original colour of the tray came through and the tissue had a thick sludge of dirt on it like mud. Completely unhygienic by anyone's standards so I didn't even eat the dinner and breakfast I was presented with apart from the juice box.
When my bottom bunk was made up, the blanket was clearly not clean and was crusty in places - the only saving grace was that the sheets and pillowcase looked clean but I didn't dare look under them!
Unfortunately I cannot comment on Petra (Jordan) and Israel but others in the group said both were amazing and were much cleaner than Egypt.
Due to the illness I missed out on lots in Egypt; hot air ballooning over Luxor, seeing The Valley of The Kings, snorkelling and swimming in the Red Sea and partaking of the other water sport opportunities in Hurghada. This was so disappointing!!
The hotels were all in reasonably good condition. To be called 5 star is a stretch for some hotels as the fittings and décor is old and tired. Generally speaking they were clean and catered well to the tourist market. Staff were always friendly and helful. Hotel food was ok but not enough local dishes (they seem to cater too much to tourists by having pizza, burgers, chips etc etc featuring on menus), breakfast choices were usually plentiful and good quality.
Loved the pyramids, Abu Simbel, Karnak Temple, the Phillae Temple etc they are amazing sites and sights to see. We had a fun group that gelled really well and quickly and Facebook friends were made.
Overall not a high rating from me because of the hygiene factor - I think 'On the Go Tours' ought to be much more conscious of the risk they are putting their travellers in rather than trying to lower our expectations by saying 4-5 star standards are not the same and we should not expect too much. Remaining healthy on tour (when taking my own appropriate precautions eg sanitiser, masks etc) and being put into hygienic and not filthy situations is not too much to expect and not an unrealistic standard for On The Go Tours to demand from the hotels, boats and trains they put their travellers on!
King Ramses - 13 days
My experience was fantastic! Nader, our tour guide, was extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. We never waited for entry or transportation, he always had site tickets and busses ready to go. …My experience was fantastic! Nader, our tour guide, was extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. We never waited for entry or transportation, he always had site tickets and busses ready to go. No issues as we traveled all over the country. Every site we visited was amazing, the hotels were at minimum nice and in several cases beautiful. The felucca and train experiences were a lot of fun and very authentic. I cannot recommend this trip highly enough for all lovers of travel, history, and culture. Go on this tour!
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King Ramses - 13 days
Well planned & organised tour. Felt like we saw as much as possible in a start time. Overall brillant!!!