1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The one thing that absolutely made our holiday was the local tour leader. He explained, helped and organised everything, and we were made to feel incredibly special and safe in a strange environment. None of our group (11) was ill, mainly done to his coaching. The best thing for us, including the children, was the dinner with the Nubian family. We also enjoyed the donkey riding. And the overnight train is an absolute adventure.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Make sure you take enough dehydration sachets - 1 for each day for each member. Make sure you take something to clean your hands with each time you touch the money - the instant cleansing gel was a great hit. Drink enough water and have the fizzy drinks as well - good for dehydration. Be very polite when dealing with everybody - it pays dividends in the end. I wouldn't recommend taking smaller children on this trip - there were some long hot days with lots of walking and travelling. Keep going and pack every day with things to do. We enjoyed some of the more ad hoc things.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

When we were doing the local things - i.e. dinner with the Nubian family, tea with the Bedouins, henna tattoos with the Egyptians, and tipping them, we thought we were doing something worthwhile. The price of things is so low that a little goes a long way. We did worry about the coaches always running their engines, but realise that it would be extremely uncomfortable without the air conditioning onboard.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

For a family holiday this has to be one of the best. None of our three male teenagers complained about being bored - a first in 15 years. I would absolute recommend this trip to anyone with older children.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The whole holiday was fantastic. It's difficult to pick out anything in particular, though maybe just the experience of being in such a different culture. Our tour leader (Hazem Alam) was incredible, nothing was too much trouble for him. So helpful, knowledgeable, considerate and just an all round great person. He made the holiday even better.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Budget for meals, entrance fees and excursions - all of these exceeded the guidelines given. Otherwise, just go - you won't be disappointed.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes, we used local guides and staff. However, as we travelled on a large number of air conditioned buses and on quad bikes, probably fair to say there was not a low environmental impact.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

Best holiday ever.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

It's hard to choose among so many magical experiences. The children enjoyed the boating and the camel and donkey rides. Jackie and I have both been saying that it will be very hard to find the words to express such wonderful experiences and to stand on (and enter) the pyramids, visit so many huge and historic temples and interact with the welcoming (and extremely friendly) locals has been an unparalleled holiday for the whole family.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Take plenty of local currency as goods are extremely cheap and you will want to haggle for bargains that can mostly be purchased for between one third and a half of the opening offer price. Similar items can be found in the tourist and locals markets and everyone will haggle with you in a good natured (and very humorous!) way, especially if you have shown an interest but start to walk away when the opening price is mentioned. Don't be afraid to try the local food! It is most delicious and did not cause more than very minor tummy trouble among our group. Do try to pick up a few words and greetings in Egyptian. Almost everyone has fantastic English but they really do appreciate the effort.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

It was noticeable that our tour guide (Hatem) was universally greeted as a benefactor by all we encountered and his explanation that different families are selected to provide services for different tour groups to spread the benefit was particularly thoughtful. The significant poverty and limited life style among the locals was a further reason to count our blessings in the opulent UK and the delight at a comparatively small individual amount of "baksheesh" was further reward for choosing this wonderful holiday.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

***** Simply the best holiday I have ever been on. The ONLY reservation and disappointment of the whole tour was our hotel and the general tacky, un-authentic concrete tourist trap "cultural wasteland" of Hurghada. The experience of snorkeling in the Red Sea was fantastic but the rest of the stay (and particularly the dirty, crowded and badly maintained accommodation) was a real let down in comparison the fabulous times and great hotels our group had enjoyed up to that point. My feeling is that it may be worthwhile considering only one night plus the Red Sea experience followed by the return to Cairo for additional access to the many things that could not be seen during the initial visit?

We will certainly be looking for other Responsible Travel tours in future and congratulate you on a well planned and amazingly well run holiday.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

So many fantastic memories.... Crazy image of our group arriving at the car park in the Valley of the Kings like a pack of bandits on wayward donkeys, weaving in and out of the bemused Japanese tourists absolutely beside ourselves with the giggles.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Book the trip with Hazem, one of the company's tour guides. He made the holiday everything we wanted it to be and more. This won't be possible in reality but from our experience, if Hazem is anything to go by, the guides employed are extremely good and deliver a fantastic experience.

3. Any areas for improvement?

Perhaps more time in Luxor - there was so much to see and do at that point in the trip I felt we could have easily had another day there. We got used to it towards the end of the holiday but for the younger children the time between meals was quite difficult. Often too late (lunch at 2.00 supper at 9.00) and with little opportunities for snacks etc. Not a big problem. If I was to do it again I would have a plank of high energy snacks with me.

4. Any other comments?

We were very lucky to have a group with an age and gender structure that worked really well. It would be useful, should we book a holiday in the future, to know whether we could opt for a group with compatible profiles.

We talk of nothing except our holiday and are still living out all the fantastic times we had. We like to think we will go back to Egypt under our own steam but for our next adventure into the unknown we will be looking through the tour operator's brochures for some ideas. Thanks to everyone here and in Egypt for such a life enhancing holiday.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Galloping down the road on donkeys towards the Valley of the Kings (none of us having ridden donkeys before).

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Ensure you allow enough cash for all the entrance fees and extras - if you don't do them all, you'll have more to spend on souvenirs, but cash machines (particularly in the Aswan area) were hard to find.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

I hope it benefited the local people - all the guides and various transport operators (train, coach, bus, cab, motorboat etc) were all local. There were a lot of miles done by bus, but once at a destination it was down to more environmentally friendly methods (walking, felucca, camel, donkey etc).

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

An excellent adventure for all the family. Not a holiday for those who like a fortnight on a sunbed - we've all come home for a rest!

I have to say that there are loads of memorable moments, the Pyramids were awesome, and camel riding there was great fun, riding a donkey to the Valley of the Kings and back was amazing, and kind of surreal, and floating up the Nile on the Felucca was lovely and relaxing after our trip to Abu Simbel. Our Tour Leader, Hatem, should be awarded 'Tour Leader of the Year' award, as he was absolutely brilliant at organising us, and keeping the children amused. Our daughter had a bad cough and he organised some cough mixture and herbal tea to drink for her, this was delivered via boat when we were on the felucca - totally amazing!

For other travellers I would recommend avoiding the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, I know that all the tour group felt that, whilst we had thought it would be a great end to the holiday, our hearts all sank when we arrived at Hurghada. We could have been anywhere in the world, and most of the resort was like a building site. Also the hotel (Regina Style) was in a really bad state of repair, and inhabited mainly by Russians, very rude Russians at that. Cairo, Aswan and Luxor were all perfect and via Hatem, we all felt that we had seen the real Egypt, the Red Sea resorts are not like this at all.

I did feel that our holiday benefited local people - we visited a Nubian family and had dinner there, and were able to buy jewellery etc direct from them. Also Hatem told us that the donkeys are supplied by various local families so the money is fairly spread around. He also told us that they no longer used the horses and carriages in one village as the horses were being mistreated. We also ate out at small family run restaurants, where the food was great and not expensive.

We will be recommending this operator to all our friends, and plan to use the company again in a couple of years, may be to India or South America.

Keep up the good work

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Really enjoyed the boat - very friendly staff, very relaxed. Also completely overawed by the temple at Karnak and the Valley of the Kings.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Do the Abu Simbel trip but only needs an hour or so to go round. Don't take travellers cheques - much easier to get cash from ATMs Try to find out who else will be on your tour - I was disappointed that there were so few in my group: just one 12 year old boy - particularly given I was travelling with my 8 year old daughter and had picked this tour specifically to ensure she'd had plenty of other children to play with.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes it benefited local people, not sure if it really benefited the environment though!

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The Nile - the felucca trip, Phillae and the view from the hotel at Luxor .

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Not to try to do the first day after getting to bed at 3.30am and up at 6.45am - I don't think you should suggest this and should change the first day.

3.Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Hard to tell - I have to say that the Nubian evening was very disappointing - it was just food at their house - no talking or chance to learn anything about how they lived. Items for sale were not local crafts. I wouldn't bother with this in the future.

4. Any other comments?

My 10 year old son really enjoyed it -he especially liked the Pyramids.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The best parts were many & were pretty evenly spread out for the adults. Kids really enjoyed the donkey & camel rides. Our tour leader (Sameh) was exceptional. You should definitely keep him!!

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Bring a blanket for cold bus rides!

3. Any areas for improvement?

Hotel in Luxor - Our room was damp & dingy. We enjoyed being close to the kids' room so didn't complain at the time. If there is a way to get the convoys to travel at more reasonable hours, it would be nice not to wake up so early to travel!

4. Any other comments?

Although we normally plan our own trips rather than using group tours, we would definitely consider using this tour operator again.