Egypt Itinerary changes 2024?

[Raya]

Does anyone know around when we would expect changes to the Egypt trip, if those changes were to happen? I'm wondering about the last part of the trip - the snorkeling day in the Red Sea and if it will be changed due to the war. Would we have already heard about those changes or can they happen at any time?

 

[sayhello]

Does anyone know around when we would expect changes to the Egypt trip, if those changes were to happen? I'm wondering about the last part of the trip - the snorkeling day in the Red Sea and if it will be changed due to the war. Would we have already heard about those changes or can they happen at any time?

Unless ABD is permanently changing the itinerary, I wouldn't expect to hear about changes to your particular departure until a couple of months ahead of time, if that. They generally keep an eye on situations and make changes as necessary. But there's no hard & fast rule for this. Sometimes the changes are made quite last minute.

That said, Sharm El-Sheikh is not anywhere near where the conflicts currently are in Israel/Gaza. So I wouldn't expect that to cause any changes unless the nature of the war changes to a large extent. Based on the current situation, I wouldn't expect any changes to that part of your trip. Honestly, I wouldn't expect any parts of the trip to change due to the war unless the situation changes a lot.

Sayhello

 

[pjacobi]

That said, Sharm El-Sheikh is not anywhere near where the conflicts currently are in Israel/Gaza.

It depends on your definition of "near"! In this case, Sharm El-Sheikh to Gaza strip is about 225 miles as the crow flies.


-Paul

 

[abdgeek]

Does anyone know around when we would expect changes to the Egypt trip, if those changes were to happen? I'm wondering about the last part of the trip - the snorkeling day in the Red Sea and if it will be changed due to the war. Would we have already heard about those changes or can they happen at any time?

I’m currently on the Dec. 19th Egypt ABD. While our first official meeting is at breakfast tomorrow, we have not been advised of any itinerary changes. We are still going to and ending in Sharm El Sheikh. I came in a couple days early to see other sites and I have felt safe the entire time. As someone else posted, if you didn’t know there was a war in Israel you wouldn’t know it being in Egypt. There is such a police and security presence here on a normal basis. There are police and security at the sites and hotels and in the streets. Anyone coming and going is screened and there are metal detectors and X-ray machines at the sites and hotel entrances.

Because of the war, tourism is definitely down and the Egyptians who work in the tourism industry know it. One of my private tour guides talked a little about Egypt’s history with Hamas and stressed that Egypt has a defensive military. He said their military ranked higher than Israel’s and that Egypt would defend itself—after that he said Israel would not be stupid enough to attack them for a variety of reasons.

Only you ca decide whether you feel comfortable traveling to Egypt at this time. Because ABD has run numerous successful Egypt trips already, I would not anticipate them changing the itinerary. Frankly, unless the State Department changes the threat level for the areas the ABD visits to Do Not Travel, I wouldn’t expect anything to change. As the local guide who picked me up said—the CIA and FBI visited each site and hotel to determine if Egypt could provide the protection and security measures needed to keep Americans safe.

 

[sayhello]

It depends on your definition of "near"! In this case, Sharm El-Sheikh to Gaza strip is about 225 miles as the crow flies.


-Paul

But you can't get from the Gaza strip to Sharm El-Sheikh as the crow flies.

No-one is going to bomb Egypt unless something SERIOUSLY changes as far as the war is concerned.

Sayhello

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

It depends on your definition of "near"! In this case, Sharm El-Sheikh to Gaza strip is about 225 miles as the crow flies.


-Paul

To give a bit of perspective. I grew up in Dublin which is 116 miles from Belfast. All during the 1980's and 1990's The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bombings, the shootings, the riots were only something I saw on TV. They did not affect day to day life in Dublin or the majority of the island of Ireland.

 

[pjacobi]

Instead of "as the crow flies", I should have said "as the missile flies". 225 miles is not far for an off-course missile.

You should also know that Sharm El-Sheikh was the location of ISIS terrorist attack in 2015 where over 200 tourists on a resort were killed. Remember that?

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but travelers should have all the information to make an informed decision.


-Paul

 

[WeLoveABD]

Instead of "as the crow flies", I should have said "as the missile flies". 225 miles is not far for an off-course missile.

You should also know that Sharm El-Sheikh was the location of ISIS terrorist attack in 2015 where over 200 tourists on a resort were killed. Remember that?

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but travelers should have all the information to make an informed decision.


-Paul

True. We were in Tel Aviv on October 7-- heard those missles explode! Tauck of course canceled the tour and got our group to Jordan. So you never know in this crazy world! Just staying well informed is about all you can do, as you note (and we had NO info re Gaza/Israel conflict before we got there)-- although if past acts were the determining factor there would be few places to go (including NYC after 9-11). I believe Disney, Tauck and most other major tour groups are on top of things-- as best as they can be.

 

[Grifdog22]

Curious about arriving early for this trip, for those that have not chosen to come early. Since day one is only an arrival day, without an opening dinner or any scheduled activities, did not taking a pre-day to arrive impact your trip? Any delays or issues getting into Egypt and getting settled? We used to not take a pre-day, but had a disastrous experience with American airlines which put us two days behind our schedule some years ago. Now we don't fly them. Ever.

What airlines did you use to travel to Egypt, and please share any pros and cons.

Thanks for your input!

 

[sayhello]

Instead of "as the crow flies", I should have said "as the missile flies". 225 miles is not far for an off-course missile.

You should also know that Sharm El-Sheikh was the location of ISIS terrorist attack in 2015 where over 200 tourists on a resort were killed. Remember that?

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but travelers should have all the information to make an informed decision.


-Paul

The terrorist attack at Sharm El-Sheik was in 2005; 88 people were killed and 200 injured. The incident in 2015 was a flight from Sharm El-Sheik to Russia, where the airplane was blown up by ISIL, not ISIS. Yes, things have happened there. Things happen everywhere. You are correct, people should know the history, but security in Egypt is infinitely tighter now because of this. If you only go to places with no history of violence, your list of destinations would be extremely thin.

Sayhello

 

[calypso726]

Curious about arriving early for this trip, for those that have not chosen to come early. Since day one is only an arrival day, without an opening dinner or any scheduled activities, did not taking a pre-day to arrive impact your trip? Any delays or issues getting into Egypt and getting settled? We used to not take a pre-day, but had a disastrous experience with American airlines which put us two days behind our schedule some years ago. Now we don't fly them. Ever.

What airlines did you use to travel to Egypt, and please share any pros and cons.

Thanks for your input!

We are going on the January 2nd ABD. We are coming in on January 1st. I plan to do one of my day by day trip reports as I have done for our other ABD trips in the past. At the moment, my BFF TA who is traveling with us has us booked for some pre ABD things like a visit to The Grand Egyptian museum and Saqqara. I will let everyone know what arrival day is like for us.

As for airlines to and from, you may recall I like to travel hack my flights using points and miles and often the airline I choose to experience is part of the trip like when we flew first class on Singapore suites. I'm literally looking for just about any excuse to do that again. Anyhow, BFF TA positioned to EWR and is staying a couple days in NYC and then flying out on Egypt Air using United miles that were transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards. Her return is the same. I will write about this more on my TR as part of our pre trip but I had different ideas on travel hacking my flights and pre trips. I started with flying Qatar, failed, flying Etihad Apartments, failed, pre trip to Giraffe Manor, failed, pre trip to Petra, failed. I eventually wound up deciding to use British Airways with a transfer bonus from either Chase or Amex (I forget which) and am positioning in London on a stopover flight to spend New Year's Eve there and see the fireworks for a couple days and then on to Cairo. For my return, I did Egypt Air using United miles that were points transferred from Chase to EWR. We will stay for a couple of days in NYC and catch a show or two.