Trip to RSDS in October

[JustSurfaceInterval]

In the other thread @RedSeaDiver2 said

Get a flight to London from the U.S. and then connect onto one of the charter flights to Hurghada - EasyJet etc. - or use Turkish Air via Istanbul direct to Hurghada.

and

Leaving from CAI is less trouble than coming in BUT I'd caution to make sure the visa you get in Hurghada or marsa alam allows you to leave Egypt from a different airport than the arrival airport. I am not certain of this but in my part of the world it usually does matter and you have to depart from the arrival airport.

There are indeed reports that people got denied checkin on the way home when using so called holiday charter flights arriving at one airport and leaving fro another. This may occure when these flights are booked independly of each other and not as a package holiday.
Unfortunately the "knowledge base" on this is quite small and not 100% reliable.
Fortunately, i would assume that @dflaher will not use one of these but rather regular flights.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

First question would be what time of year are you visiting Egypt?

A dive buddy and I have just booked at week of diving at Red Sea Dive Safari (RSDS), at their Marsa Shagra Village. We are diving there in the first week of October, and travelling from the western US (Arizona).

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

OK in that case Luxor will be OK'ish - far too hot down there in July August September - will still be very warm in October.

I wouldn't get too hung up about visiting Cairo - the pyramids can be a miserable experience due to the touts etc, and I tell my Egyptian friends that the pyramids are the biggest engineering F..kup of all time - you are in one of the hottest countries on the planet so you go and build a tourist attraction with four sloping sides so that it doesn't create much shade - pure genius!


For travel from Arizona I would look at Turkish Air - they fly directly into HRG so take a look at the flights from LAX, SFO, DFW and George Bush to see which offers the best connection in Istanbul.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

It's not that easy to get out of PHX...
Two examples with acceptable arrival times in HRG and only +1 day travel time.

SN8872 30.09.2023 11:41 30.09.2023 17:10 PHX ORD (UA1269)​

SN8804 30.09.2023 18:05 01.10.2023 09:00 ORD BRU (UA972)​

SN3333 01.10.2023 14:50 01.10.2023 20:50 BRU HRG​

UA2290 30.09.2023 07:30 30.09.2023 13:00 PHX ORD​

UA9807 30.09.2023 14:40 01.10.2023 06:15 ORD ZRH (LX7)​

LX8130 01.10.2023 09:45 01.10.2023 15:15 ZRH HRG (WK130)​

 

[dflaher]

Two examples with acceptable arrival times in HRG and only +1 day travel time.

Thanks @JustSurfaceInterval. I need to decide if the need to avoid CAI is greater than our desire to see the pyramids/GEM etc.

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Thanks @JustSurfaceInterval. I need to decide if the need to avoid CAI is greater than our desire to see the pyramids/GEM etc.

I would skip Cairo on this trip, do your diving and Luxor etc. - I always think that Luxor is far more spectacular than the pyramids.

On a later trip combine Cairo with a trip to Alexandria to dive the ruins there

 

[BoltSnap]

trip to Alexandria to dive the ruins there

Is this possible without too much trouble?

 

[RedSeaDiver2]

Is this possible without too much trouble?

Certainly is, and Alexandria is a nice place to visit.

 

[MB NZ]

Just thought I would add to this thread to maybe allay some concerns about travelling through Cairo. I travelled from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Cairo to Hurghada. I followed all the rules, more or less about travelling with electronic equipment. In short, I just sailed through. I've done a little international travel over the last month and this was by far the easiest! Security checks were minimal. Baggage collection at Hurghada was extremely random and more than a little concerning at one point. In a very Egyptian way, no one explained what was happening, but it all worked out just fine. Your experience may vary.

 

[divezonescuba]

We just got back from our three week trip to Egypt. We did some diving in Sharm and a King Snefro liveaboard the first week, a week of shore diving in Dahab, and four days in Cairo.

The GEM Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids is not completely open to the public. It is a very impressive facility, but you can only go outside and into the main lobby which is the size of an airplane hanger. There are a couple of exhibits there. It seems as though many of the artifacts are still in the old museum. All of the mummies are still in the NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. I wanted to go inside the pyramids this year, but got hit with mummy tummy the night before.

One thing else, I would like to mention is that we arranged for a bus directly between Dahab and Cairo thru St. Catherine's. It took about 7 hours. Much of that was waiting at checkpoints like the one before the Suez underground tunnel. The equivalent multimodal trip of Dahab to Sharm by bus, plane from Sharm to CAI, and a taxi from CAI to our hotel by the pyramids would have taken about the same time. But it was much less of a hassle than switching transportation modes, going thru airport security, and collecting our luggage.