Booking Tours
10 questions
general questions
rick steve's tips
tour operator
Abercrombie & Kent
Absolute Africa
AER Tours
African Safari Club
Ancient Adventures
Ancient Empires
Ancient Explorations
Advantage Int'l
Adventures Abroad
Bales Worldwide
Destinations Adventures
Egypttours
Far Horizon
Family Adventures
Grand Circle
Grand Expeditions
Journeys International
Kerr & Downey
Lotus International
MaupinTour
Museum Tours
Odyssey Archeology
Shamanic Journeys
Spiekermann travel
Top Deck Travel
TravelQuest
Vanguard travel
Voyages Jules Verne
Ya'lla Tours
Question for the tour operator
LIke I said,I'm thorough. These are the questions that I had for the tour operator (a very nice gentleman names Ashraf Michael from Ancient Adventures, who spent almost an hour answering them for me)
- What is included in the cost?
- Who actually runs the tour -- guide? manager?
- Do we need travel insurance? Covering what? How about extra medical coverage? What is covered when we pay via credit card?
- Can we get a detailed itinerary for the pre-planned tours (beyond what is posted on the website)? Can the daily excursions (which seem to be fairly common between the set tours) be priced "ala carte" to make another package? It's likely that we want a slightly changed version of one of the set tours.
- When is the best time to go?
- If the itinerary does not include meals, and we are out and about with a guide and/or driver, are we obligated (by either convention or tour requirements) to provide meals for our 'staff'?
- What are the common guidelines for tipping a paid tour guide and/or driver? How is this done? Daily? Or at the end of the trip (or is it like a cruise, where "tipping in advance" may help things along?)
- If the tour includes a Nile cruise which visits various temples, etc; how long is the boat docked?
- What, exactly, goes "Egyptologist" mean? Does the same guide stay with us for the entirety of the journey, including flights or cruises to other cities? What services does the guide provide (getting tickets, arranging hotel luggage transfers, etc?)
- Which rooms/suites in the specified hotels? In the historic hotels, is it the "old" rooms or "new" wings?
- What does "tour" vs. "visit" vs. "see" mean?
- What does a normal day entail? Start time? Length of day? Are pre-dawn starts and/or transportation included to sites as available?
- How to arrange a diving excursion in Sharm el-Sheik?
- Do entrance fees paid to the monuments include camera fees and tripod fees?
- Is it better to try to take film from the US there, or buy film there?
- Can we specify which tombs to visit at Beni-Hassan and the Valley of the Kings or Queens?
- Are they any known closures?