CAIRO

Day 1. Wednesday, Dec 2. Leave JFK airport, New York, on Egypt Air MS 986 departing from JFK at 18:30 ET (6:30 pm ET). Overnight on plane.
Please note: if you are not traveling from the U.S. or if you are booking your international flights, you need to arrive to Cairo on December 3.

Day 2. Thursday, Dec 3. Arrive at Cairo. Guardian Travel's staff will greet you as soon as you walk into the airport and escort you through customs and baggage claim. You will then be transferred by bus to your hotel. Relax, acclimate and meet your fellow travelers. Dinner in the evening. Overnight Mena House. (D)

Cairo photo courtesy of National Geographic

SAQQARA

Day 3. Friday, Dec 4. Buffet breakfast. Guided tour to Saqqara and Dahsure. Visit the amazing temple complex at Sakkara, home of the oldest pyramid, the step pyramid. We will also visit an Old Kingdom tomb that will give some good visual images of how the ancients lived nearly 5000 years ago. The area of northern Egypt between Giza and Dahsure includes a number of fascinating funerary monuments, including tombs, mastabas, temples and pyramids. Together these "pyramid fields" have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Free evening. Enjoy an authentic home hosted Egyptian dinner. (BLD)

Steps inside Saqqara
photo courtesy of Inia Burginger

Day 4. Saturday, Dec 5. Buffet breakfast. Visit the famed Cairo Museum. The museum exhibited collection now exceeds 120,000 objects ranging from the pre-history era to the Greco-Roman period. Lunch. After lunch we continue to Old Cairo. No trip to Egypt is complete without shopping at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, in the heart of Old Cairo. Fly to Luxor in the evening and check into the hotel. (BLD)

LUXOR, ABYDOS, TEMPLE OF OSIRIS

Hathor
photo courtesy of the BBC

Day 5. Sunday, Dec 6. Buffet breakfast. Morning visit to Abydos, temple of Osiris, to delve deeply into the art of remembering. See the ‘flower of life’ and the most beautiful reliefs in all of Egypt. Box lunch as we travel en route through the timeless countryside along the Nile to Dendera, where we will visit the exquisite temple dedicated to Hathor to experience her mysteries of love, laughter and joy. Return to Luxor. (BLD)

Ancient carving inside Abydos Temple
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

Day 6. Monday, Dec 7. Check out of the Luxor Hotel. Guided tour to the Valley of the Kings and Queens and Hatshipsut temple. Visit the Necropolis of Thebes on the West Bank of the Nile and explore the tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings and the mortuary temples at Medinet Habu and Deir El-Bahari (the temple of Queen Hatchsepsut). Check in the Nile Cruise. Lunch. This evening we visit the beautiful Luxor Temple. (BLD)

Caretaker at Luxor Temple
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

Day 7. Tuesday, Dec 8. Buffet breakfast. Morning exploration of the magnificent Karnak Temple, one of the largest temple compounds in the world. There we will meet the goddess Sekhmet, in the sanctuary where her "living" statue has stood unmolested for 3500 years. Lunch. Free afternoon and evening to your leisure as we sail on board the Nile Cruise. Overnight on Cruise. (BLD)

EDFU

Hank by the Statue of Horus, Temple of Horus, Edfu

Day 8. Wednesday, Dec 9. Buffet breakfast. In the morning we visit the Edfu temple. Guarding the entrance of the temple are two statues of the god Horus. Horus was originally seen as a god of the sky, whose eyes are the Sun and the Moon. His importance was such that he was equalled with the king. The pharaoh was seen as a human manifestation of the god Horus. Lunch. In the afternoon we will have a guided tour to Kom Ombo temple where we will visit the temple dedicated to both Horus, the hawk and Sobek, the crocodile god. Overnight on Cruise. (BLD)

Kom Ombo - In deep conversation
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

ASWAN

Temple of Isis
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

Day 9. Thursday, Dec 10. Buffet breakfast. During our visit to Isis’s beautiful and serene island temple at Philae, we will engage in ceremony to open our hearts. In the afternoon we sail to Elephantine Island by Felucca boats. At Elephantine the god Khnum was worshiped as the Creator and he was seen as the guardian of the source of the Nile. Overnight on Cruise.(BLD)

Isis's Temple at Philae

ABU SIMBEL

Entrance to Temple of Nefertari
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

Day 10. Friday, Dec 11. Buffet breakfast. Check out of Nile cruise. Fly to Abu Simbel. Visit The Temple of Ramesses II and The Temple of Nefertari dedicated to Hathor. Lunch. Fly to Cairo in the afternoon. Free evening. Dinner in the hotel.

GREAT PYRAMID

Giza, Egypt
photo courtesy of Mikey and Lou Samson

Day 11. Saturday, Dec 12. Buffet breakfast. Camel ride. Explore the Great Pyramid, Sphinx and Giza Plateau. Private time in the Great Pyramid and Sphinx enclosure for our final ceremony. Lunch. Meeting in the evening after dinner. (BLD)

Hank looking into the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber

Day 12. Sunday, Dec 13. Fly back home from Cairo. Depart for New York on Egypt Air MS 985 departing from Cairo at 09:10 am and arrive in JFK at 15:30 ET. (3:30 pm.)

PETRA, JORDAN and the RED SEA Extension

photo courtesy of National Geographic

Day 12. Sunday, Dec 13. After breakfast in the hotel, rather than returning home we will drive from Cairo to Taba - a Red Sea resort town in Egypt. Lunch en route to Taba. Dinner in Taba hotel. Overnight in Taba.

Day 13. Monday, Dec 14. Breakfast & Transfer to port. Take the ferry to Aqaba, Jordan. Arrive in Aqaba and transfer by bus to Petra, Jordan. Lunch. Visit Petra in the afternoon. Dinner in hotel. Overnight in Petra.

Day 14. Tuesday, Dec 15. Visit Petra again the morning. Lunch. Drive back from Petra to Aqaba. Take the ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Taba, Egypt. Dinner in Taba. Overnight in Taba.

Day 15. Wednesday, Dec 16. Free day in Taba to snorkel, dive, rest, relax, ... Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included. Overnight in Taba

Day 16. Thursday, Dec 17. Free morning in Taba. Drive back to Cairo and rest. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included. Overnight in Cairo.

Day 17. Friday, Dec 18. Fly back home from Cairo. If you are with the group air package, you will depart for New York on Egypt Air MS 985 departing from Cairo at 09:10 am and arrive in JFK at 15:30 ET. (3:30 pm.)

Also please note that due to the magical and spontaneous nature of these trips the itinerary is subject to change, although all sites listed will be visited.