question regarding Ancient Egypt & the Nile

[2travelers]

Hi - For those of you who have just returned from GCT Ancient Egypt trip and have so far given me a ton of information, I have some additonal questions. We are getting private tours during our free time in Cairo. Do we have the afternoon free when they go to Abu Simbel. Seems to me that over 6 hours will be spent in a motor coach traveling and several more hours at Abu. I expect that we will get back around lunch time. My traveling companions think that there will be time to see some other sights before we sail again. Is there time and how exhausted will we be. Also - she thinks that once we arrive back in Cairo before the flights home (I go on to Jordan) there will also be time in the afternoon to see some of the sights we may have missed at the beginning of the trip. Is this realistic? If we do have the afternoon free on the day we visit Abu Simbel, will we be able to get a guide at the port? What is there to see in that area? I know all these questions are subjective - if we are tired after Abu -we crash, but any insight you may have would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ronnie

[denny girl]

Your timing sounds pretty right. Our convoy left at 11am reached Abu Simbel at 2.00, left at 4.00 and arrived back at ship at 7.00. I`d like to reiterate what others have said on this forum. I had an icecream at Abu Simbel and was unwell that night, the only time on the whole trip. Also we were given lunch boxes to eat as we drove, also in Luxor and on the train to Aswan, and these are possibly not healthy as there was no fridge on the bus. One last thing our morning flight in Egypt turned out to be an afternoon one and so we didn`t get any worthwhile extra time in Cairo. This seems to be another common thread.