Destinations

Very nice to have "hand holds" throughout, especially at Egyptian airports and all the staff were so friendly and helpful. Would recommend.
Fantastic tours and guides with good knowledge - the holiday does go at a pace however, to get everything in - no lie-ins if you really want to see everything! Egypt is a place I wouldn't really want to negotiate/navigate through on my own - Encounters saved a LOT of time and stress.

We had an amazing trip! Mariska was super helpful in accommodating our requests to upgrade our itinerary and providing all our pre-tour information and details. Hani, our tour guide, was spectacular, and every detail was carefully attended to by the Encounters team in Egypt. We felt safe and relaxed as tours and transportation took place flawlessly and enjoyed every minute we were there.
This tour is incredible - we saw all the major sights in Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor, and enjoyed several days at the Jaz Makadi Resort in Hurghada. The tour is arranged more or less chronologically and you have the same guide the entire time, so you really get a great experience following the cultural/religious/political development of ancient Egypt over several thousand years.

Everything went really smoothly on the booking end and on the ground in Egypt. The only surprise was when arriving jet lagged at the hotel being presented with a list of fees that needed to be paid right then. The problem was that everything up until then had these fees in US dollars and now the fees were in Egyptian pounds. It pretty much cleaned out our stash of Egyptian money. Had we known we had to pay in Egyptian currency we would have sought out additional currencies places at home to get us the funds we needed. (Banks wouldn't order the funds). However after that the tour itself was great. Our guide Emad did a great job.
This was a great way to see all the primary historical sites in Egypt efficiently and with ease. I can't imagine how slow and difficult it would have been otherwise. It was also a good jumping off point to then spend a few weeks on or own seeing other parts of the country and focus on modern day Egypt

I was very pleased with the responsiveness of everyone that I encountered through Encounters Travel. I worked mostly with Anthony and he was always very helpful.
I thought they selected a wonderful guide for the trip. The one part that I really hope that they change is the night at the Bedouin Camp. It was not authentic and it was so out of the way. I think that people would prefer to spend the extra money for a night in a hotel with a bed and your own bathroom.

My dealings with Encounters were all excellent however there must have been a breakdown with Fez Travel as we weren't expected at Istanbul Airport and our guide was unaware we were leaving the tour a day early.( A Fez Travel rep eventually turned up and we were taken to our hotel so it was sorted.)
The tour was well organized and the tour guide and driver were excellent. Being a small group everything ran smoothly.Really appreciated the cold water being provided on the bus as we had some warm days.