Hillary and Philip Kennedy's Travel Tips

Hillary Kennedy and her husband, Philip, first-time Odysseys travelers from Rye, New York,  just returned from our Egypt & the Eternal Nile small group tour and shared the following tips regarding travel to Egypt.

Packing

• Pack light and bring layers. There is laundry service available on the boats and in the hotels. They did a terrific job and it is not expensive.
• Most days I wore cotton slacks, a T- shirt, sneakers or boots, a sweater and/or a down vest, plus I brought a huge cashmere scarf (could be wool or cotton) that I wore almost every day.
• I also brought a pair of Blundstone slip-on leather boots and I was very happy that I did. Much of the terrain is uneven and the boots did right by me.
• I brought one pair of slides/heels for evenings.
• I do wish I had brought one pair of jeans and a lightweight down coat.
• We were there in January and most days it did heat up, but the early morning starts and evenings are cool-to-cold.
• There were tourists in shorts (not on our tour, but my husband did wish he had brought a pair), and no one seemed to mind.
• You'll need small bills ( Egyptian pounds) to use the toilets and to take photographs of the locals and their animals, kiosks...etc.
• Also, bring 3 or 4 small packets of Kleenex for the toilets, as there may be limited paper products available in restrooms when you're out and about.

Food

• Use bottled water only. I did not risk tap water anywhere even in the nicer hotels. My choice.
• I also did not eat any water-based vegetables like okra or cabbage. I did eat the strawberries, oranges, and other fruits with skins. The dates were divine and so were the figs and the mangoes.
• I brought an antibiotic with me just in case; thankfully, I did not need it.

Tipping

• The tip for the tour director is optional, but if you do choose to tip your Odysseys tour director, they prefer U.S. dollars. It was difficult to obtain U.S. currency in Cairo, even through American Express, so bring a few hundred dollars cash with you.

Flights

• We flew home Business Class on Lufthansa, with the 2:00 am departure from Cairo and with the 7-hour time change, I would recommend that flight upgrade if you can afford it.