I am on my flight home to Orlando and want to share, and which you may share with any other Ensemble staff and Ensemble members, my experiences with Egypt and Beyond. In twenty years, I have never experienced such a well thought out and well planned fam, or any tour for that matter. What we experienced was a typical package offered by Egypt and Beyond. I am going to write a more detailed day by day outline, but from being personally greeted at baggage claim after passport control to being escorted through Security to Check in and to Passport Control on the last day, the entire trip was effortless, smooth, and seamless.
Highlights:
1.Egypt and Beyond has the contacts. Tarek started out carrying baggage and meeting guests over 20 years ago. He knows the business inside out. His attention to detail is amazing, and he listens! His contacts include being able to arrange a talk by the “Mummy Chaser”, Director of Egyptian Antiquities Dr. Hawas. The managers at both Four Seasons told me how he is one of their largest tour operators.
2. Personal attention to details Tarek told us, and we asked his employees who verified this, that he is known to show up at all hours, day or night, for the meet and greets at the airport, hotels, and the airport in Abu Simbel, Aswan or Luxor and other destinations. Plus, all emails sent to anyone at Egypt and Beyond Travel also go to him. He also calls each guest upon arrival.
3. Tarek’s overriding goal is guest and agent satisfaction. Top of the line vans, busses, pre-paid tickets at all attractions, cold bottled water always available in the bus or van, rooms ready when you arrive at a hotel, meal options much more than a table.
4. His staff truly likes working for him. You can see it in their attitude. They respect him, but are not afraid of him. It is hard to explain, but the respect they have in working with him to create an upscale tour operation on par with A & K shows.
5. The hotels he uses are top quality. The Four Seasons properties in Cairo, Winter Palace in Aswan, and the Cataract Hotel he will be using in Aswan go beyond the expectations of an average traveler. He is very select in his use of Nile Boats, and of the 300 plus boats cruising the Nile, he will only use the top three or four.
6. Our Egyptologist, whom we called Madame Zhenab, has been an Egyptologist for 38 years, and is the doyenne the Egyptologists. At dinner with the Manager of the Four Season, he asked who had been provided as our escort. We mentioned Zhenab and his mouth literally dropped. She is the guide who is provided to celebrities visiting Egypt, the Metropolitan Museum, Yale, Harvard, and is the top Egyptologist for A and K. She is greeted everywhere with respect at the sites, museums and five star hotels. And we had the benefit of her expertise for seven days. It was like taking a Master’s Course in Egyptian History. She has known Tarek since he carried the luggage for guests, and you call see how truly fond she is of him.
7. He can turn on a dime. We were at Luxor Airport waiting to board our flight when he received a phone call. An agent asked if he could help plan an itinerary, driver, tickets and access for a couple arriving the next day at 6:30 am. We had not even left the airport and everything was arranged.
Bob Cook
Go Travel
Orlando USA
407-774-7730 ext. 110