After flipping through the guidebook about 9000 times, I nailed down the wheres and whens.
Sarah's replies in blue, to my first itinerary*...
day 1 - cairo: arrive around 11 - museum, night market, walk around
This is a good plan. Will he have a car waiting for him at the airport? It's INSANE if he doesn't, and it's enough to make a visitor want to turn right around and get back on the plane. Also, when he comes through customs, he will need to go to one of the little booths and get TWO STAMPS before his passport can be processed. No one will tell him - it's as if they want to torture tourists. But you have to go pay for these stamps (try to use Egyptian Pounds if he's got them), and then you go wait in the line. It was normal for us to spend an hour to an hour and a half just to get to baggage claim. Cairo is the epitome of disorganization.
day 2 - cairo: pyramids, camels (i plan to smoke a cuban while riding a camel)
Definitely do the camel ride and definitely smoke the cuban! You can get them all over, but any nice hotel is a sure bet. Beware at the pyramids that he should try to get there as early as possible. I think they open up around 7:15 or 7:30am? Something like that. The lines get long, and often times there's a guy at the front of each pyramid trying to charge money. The only fee you have to pay is when you go through the main gate. Enjoy the view of Pizza Hut and McDonalds at the bottom of the Sphynx.
day 3 - cairo: (not sure what), night train to luxor
This would be the day to do whatever you haven't managed to do yet. Traffic can be bad, so things take a little longer. There are lots of lines, and the exhaustion level can be really high. Don't feel bad if you just want to head to the Four Seasons and down a few martinis.
As far as the train goes, buy First Class tickets, but don't be surprised when it's less than what you hoped for. You should be able to get tickets for less than $15 a piece, and the ride takes about 9 hours.
day 4 - luxor: valley of the kings
Get up early. There are boats that leave regularly, and once you get to the other side of the river you'll need to hire a car/driver to drive you to the actually valley. They'll be all over harrassing you to no end. Act as if you know what you're doing, even if you don't. People will seriously try to charge you massive amounts of money for next to nothing. There are other sites around there as well (The Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut (sp??)). When you're in the Valley of the Kings, pay the extra money to go down into the different chambers. They have package deals for this (you'll see what I mean when you get there). It's definitely worth it. There are some really cool ones.
day 5 - luxor: (not sure what)
Karnak Temple is what you want to do on this day. Or night. I only went there at night and did this huge light show tour. It was really cool - not just looking, but in temperature as well. It's a short taxi ride down the road from Luxor. There are also lots of restaurants and little bars in this city.
day 6 - hurghada: early bus to hurghada or other beach city along red sea coast, do water stuff?
The bus to Hurghada is crowded and dirty and smelly - I took it actually the opposite way (Hurghada to Luxor). But it's cheap and gets you there, as long as you don't mind the random Egyptian falling asleep and drooling on your shoulder. Hurghada itself is a crappy little seaside town that's full of nasty, sweaty Germans and tons of Russians on vacation package getaways. That's the downside. The upside is that there's some decent snorkeling, tons of bars with cheap beer and a lot more English spoken. Hotels are pretty cheap, but nothing to write home about. If you're looking for something a bit more remote, there are a ton of other spots on the coast to visit. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll give you some names. These places won't have anywhere to go out to - maybe a restaurant or two, but you'll have a beach to yourself and lots of privacy.
Just north of Hurghada about 45 minutes (I think) is El Gouna. It's a cute little town with some nicer, more western places to eat and hang out. It's where our mom worked, and I would definitely recommend it for a day or two. You can hang out on relatively uncrowded beaches, but there's still a bit of life going on - a nice compromise. There are boats that you can take out for the day or 1/2 day for snorkeling or diving. We did a day long snorkeling trip for about $75 per person, and it was incredible.
day 7 - hurghada: relax then afternoon bus to cairo or alexendria
These bus trips generally take around 6-7 hours, depending on which one you're on. They're nicer than the other kind. You'll have more room and maybe even be lucky enough to watch a ridiculously long Egyptian movie. If you're thinking of doing the Alex segment, then try to take a bus straight there.
day 8 - alexendria: day trip
Alex is a neat town - it's pretty-ish and definitely the most modern. The library there is worth seeing - it's new and modern, but it's on the same site and the original, famous one that was destroyed. There's some good seafood joints right along the boardwalk area, and there are some decent bars around. It's fun for about a day, so if you arrive the night before, that should be good. Take the afternoon train/bus back to Cairo, treat yourself to a night out on the town
day 9 - fly out of cairo (11am)
is this a good itinerary? nothing is solid except the flight in and out of cairo.
im totally open to suggestions.
*After reading this, gim was quick to let me know that I added an extra day. We're not leaving on a Friday night like I had hope to because there simply weren't any flights out. Revision to come.
