My husband, Shayne, and I had a very enjoyable 3-week trip to Morocco with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/221-0814, www.oattravel.com) in October ’06. We took their “Morocco Sahara Odyssey” plus the Essaouira and Casablanca extension.
We paid approximately $2,700 each for the main trip, which included economy air from New York (JFK), plus $700 each for the 5-night pretrip to Essaouira and Casablanca.
In connection with a short trip to Marrakech to see one of the last remaining medieval North African walled cities, I stayed at Riyad Al Moussika (62 Derb Boutouil, Kennaria, Marrakech-Medina, Morocco; phone +212 [0] 44 38 90 67, fax 44 37 76 53, www.riyad-al-moussika.com).
By Ed Kinney, following the Euphrates River in Syria. See the May ’07 article.
On a trip to Morocco, Dec. 20, 2006-Jan. 4, 2007, I arrived in Casablanca with only a hotel reservation and some ideas but no firm plans. I had read articles about Morocco in ITN, checked the Internet and had referred to Lonely Planet and Footprint guidebooks as well as several fine pamphlets (“Imperial Cities,” “Museums,” “The Kasbah Trail,” “Casablanca,” etc., published by the Moroccan National Tourist Office (Orlando, FL; 407/264-0133, www.visitmorocco.org).
I took a trip to Egypt with Explore, booked through Adventure Center (1311 63rd St., Ste. 200, Emeryville, CA 94608; 800/227-8747), in December ’06-January ’07. Adventure Center is a broker listing hundreds of trips run by other operators. Explore is a British company specializing in low-cost small-group tours.
I was part of a group of eight friends who arranged a trip to Iran, Nov. 19-30, 2006, with the help of a guide, Saied Haji Hadi, or Hadi, at All Around Persia (Tehran, Iran; phone 0098-21-2357580 [or 81, 82 or 83], fax 2357584, e-mail info@allaroundpersia.com or visit www.allaround persia.com). All our correspondence was in English; we told Hadi what we wanted to see and he added the things we did not even know existed.
by Ed Kinney
I’d like to mention some things that happened during a 17-day Egypt tour I took in Cairo, Sinai and along the Nile in December ’06-January ’07.
Our family of four took a 10-day trip to Egypt, Nov. 16-27, 2006. We booked it with Prem Sharma of Somak Safaris (2700 East Imperial Highway, Ste. N, Brea, CA 92821; 714/985-3456, www.somaksafaris.com). (We had also traveled through Somak in 2004, to Tanzania.)
by Roxana von Kraus, Boston, MA
“American? Welcome. Welcome to Egypt!”