Trip Report Review of First (for me) Liveaboard in Egypt: Brothers/North Route

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thanks for posting this

would you do recommend i do the long drive from Cairo or just fly?

Did you spend your last night on the boat or in a hotel?

I did not see much point to flying, because I didn’t have a pressing need to get to Hurghada early on the date of boarding the liveaboard. The drive took a few hours longer but I didn’t have to deal with airport transfers, security, possible flight delays, additional baggage fees, or other related hassles. Personally
thanks for posting this

would you do recommend i do the long drive from Cairo or just fly?

Did you spend your last night on the boat or in a hotel?

I think it makes more sense to drive than fly. The liveaboard doesn’t start boarding until 6 pm, so plenty of time to get to Hurghada if you leave Cairo by 11 am (after an early morning pilgrimage to the pyramids, a few laps in the pool, and a leisurely breakfast). If you fly, you have to get to the airport, deal with security and luggage hassles, and risk flight delays. And if you do fly in earlier to Hurghada, you’ll be twiddling your thumbs until checkin time at the boat.
 
Thanks again for all the details. Did you used your own equipment?

Yes. The owner of the Tillis has a very large retail scuba shop in Hurghada and people who rented equipment had no complaints that I heard of. But I brought all my own gear.
 
Excellent report and photos. Thanks for taking the time to post it for us. I will be doing a Red Sea live aboard next June and your stopover in Cairo has me considering this as an option now. Current plan is to stopover in Istanbul for a few days to get over jet lag and explore the city and then fly into Hurghada and then a few days in Luxor and Nile, either on the front end or back end of our diving, which will be out of Marsa Alam and diving the deep south. Look forward to your next report!
Thinking similar for September 2020.
LAX to Istanbul for 3-5 days, fly to Cairo. Visit Cairo, Giza and Luxor for a week, head to Hurghada for a liveaboard then fly out of Hurghada to a TBD European city for a flight back to LAX.
 
Istanbul is a great destination on it's own, if you can squeeze 5-6 days there it wouldn't be a bad idea. First day is probably useless due to transfer time (Istanbul is quite big and transfer to hotels in the Fatih historical area take time) plus hotel check in plus jet lag.
 
Excellent report and photos. Thanks for taking the time to post it for us. I will be doing a Red Sea live aboard next June and your stopover in Cairo has me considering this as an option now. Current plan is to stopover in Istanbul for a few days to get over jet lag and explore the city and then fly into Hurghada and then a few days in Luxor and Nile, either on the front end or back end of our diving, which will be out of Marsa Alam and diving the deep south. Look forward to your next report!

Did you ever do the Istanbul stopover in combination with the Red Sea trip? I'm planning my third Red Sea trip out of Hurghada, and looking to do a stopover in Istanbul on the way in, as well as on the way out, as Turkish Air allows that with no extra charge, and even pays for a 4-star hotel. I've been to Istanbul a couple of times for work and it's an incredible place, and your post is what gave me the idea of doing that as a stopover on the way to Hurghada. I've already been to Cairo and Luxor and I feel like I'd rather spend the time in Istanbul. Anyway, wondering how that combination worked out for you.
 
Did you ever do the Istanbul stopover in combination with the Red Sea trip? I'm planning my third Red Sea trip out of Hurghada, and looking to do a stopover in Istanbul on the way in, as well as on the way out, as Turkish Air allows that with no extra charge, and even pays for a 4-star hotel. I've been to Istanbul a couple of times for work and it's an incredible place, and your post is what gave me the idea of doing that as a stopover on the way to Hurghada. I've already been to Cairo and Luxor and I feel like I'd rather spend the time in Istanbul. Anyway, wondering how that combination worked out for you.
I did not do it, but if I had it to do over again, I definitely would take a few days in Instanbul to break up the lengthy travel and also for the experience. My route was a grind, but I sort of felt pinched regarding time since I was already going to be away nearly a month between getting there and home from the west coast + 2 weeks diving, + a week on the Nile, etc.
 
I love Istanbul but with the recent elections, who knows what our fuzzy-lipped friend is going to do.

I guess the same goes for Thailand but I'm not cancelling THAT trip.
 
I love Istanbul but with the recent elections, who knows what our fuzzy-lipped friend is going to do.

I guess the same goes for Thailand but I'm not cancelling THAT trip.
Yes, that thought had crossed my mind, but if I only travelled to countries that had smooth transfers of power, I might never leave the United States. Oh, wait . . .
 

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