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Egypt has always been my number one, must see destination. For years I said, “I am going this year” and failed myself. Last year was the 5-year passing of my Papa and it hit different. It hit hard. It shattered my inner child and for the first time felt real and not a nightmare. I realized time is going to pass and be gone before we recognize the warning signs. I began looking at tours for women, as a group, and how to do it on my own. My best friend, who is also my sister-in-law, said she would go with me. She studied history in college. It was something she knew I wanted to do but did not realize I kept putting it off for this or that reason. The number 1 reason is I have 4 kids. Later on how I juggle that but in a short, sweet answer: I have the best husband and father God could send a girl like me.

Here is how I began my plan:

First thing to do is to list where you want to go. I made my list of must see: Cairo, Alexandria, Abu Simbel, Luxor, and Valley of the Kings.

Second is budget. I will be honest I did not set myself a number per se on this trip but knew I would focus on mid-range pricing. There are some great budget companies but when I reviewed the accomodations I quickly knew I did not want to sleep on a budget. There are also great luxury options but out of my price range.

Third is timing. I did not want to travel there in the summer. Egypt heat is a no go for me. I also knew I did not want to visit during Ramadan as there are restaurants that are closed during the day.

Fourth was deciding how to travel. Ultimately, I settled on a group tour as I was concerned about language barrier and being able to plan this massive of a trip on my own.

Previously, I took a trip with Globus to Italy in 2019. https://www.globusjourneys.com/

My grandma, papa, mom, and I had an amazing time. Everything was taken care of and I only had to worry about packing, spending money, and my passport. Really, it was a no brainer when I saw they provided guided Egypt tours. https://www.globusjourneys.com/tour/africa/egypt

I read many reviews of Egypt tour groups. I watched a ridiculous amount of You tube reviews. Finally, I settled on staying with Globus as they offered everything I wanted and great prior experience. We opted to do an 11-day tour with a 3-night Nile cruise. Our thought was we want to see as much as possible in one trip. Just in case we never go back.

https://www.globusjourneys.com/tour/cairo-alexandria-escape-with-3-night-nile-cruise/KQL/?season=2026

This trip, with the optional tours, checked off all my must-see boxes. The deposit and price were reasonable. We did add an extra day prior. I highly suggest adding one night prior for two reasons:

• You never know if your plane will be cancelled or late. Missing the beginning of the trip would be a bummer
• Adjustment. I do not sleep well on planes and the first day is always a foggy disaster for me. We arrived same day for the trip to Italy and I said, “never again”. This time the one pre-night was perfect and I will continue to plan for an extra day prior if going on a group tour.

We also choose to pick our own flight. Globus does run deals with airfare included and we may have done it if we were flying from one of those hubs but we fly out of CMH (Columbus, Ohio). The price and time they provided as optionts were no bueno. We picked a flight out later in the day, 4pm, and arrived later, 4:30pm, the next day. By time we got to the hotel, settled in, and ate dinner it was 7pm and I was so ready to sleep. The next day we woke up ready to tackle Cairo.