Are you looking to book a tour with Travel Talk Tours? Read this first.
I am not one to usually book a tour and would much rather explore a country at my own pace and to my own itinerary. However, with the desire to go to Egypt and Jordan, I decided it was best to book a tour. Based on what I had heard about safety concerns from other travellers.
After much research I stumbled across Travel Talk tours, which offered a great range of tours travelling through both areas. I also read a few reviews online, which gave me confidence in the company. After reading the itineraries, I decided this was the company for me.
This blog post will contain my full review on my experience with Travel Talk tours, and whether I would recommend them to others. I am not being paid or sponsored to write this post.
Table of Contents
Who are Travel Talk Tours?
Travel Talk tours are a UK based company, offering unique experiences all around the world. They have a large range of itineraries for most countries, meaning there is plenty to suit any traveller. They also use local guides, to offer a more authentic experience.
They cater to the ages of 18+ with their tours ranging from adventure to laid back. The group size is usually around 10-30 people. And from what I experienced; they are not a party tour company like Contiki!
When and Where did I go?
I booked the “Fantastic Jordan and Egypt” tour, which was an 18-day tour, travelling through Jordan and Egypt. I went on this tour on the off season, during the months of May and early June.
How Were the Guides?
Jordan
Our guide for Jordan was simply fantastic. Omar was full of knowledge, had a great sense of humour but was also very caring of everyone on the tour. One person got sick, and another had blisters on their feet, he made sure they were well looked after and had everything they needed to get better.
Sometimes it’s hard to make history interesting, but he managed to do this! He also made the handling of payments for extras, tipping and much more very easy. Which takes a lot of stress out of a holiday.
Egypt
Adham was our guide for Egypt, and he has some incredible knowledge! It was great having a guide you could ask almost any question and they would have an answer for you. Although he cared about the group, it was a little less than the Jordan side. This I can understand as the group for Egypt was twice the size of Jordans.
Adham did do an excellent job of accommodating for my friend and I when it came to vegetarian meals, which was very appreciated! Sometimes meaning searching for some falafel sandwiches when we couldn’t eat much at buffets. He also did help with extra things like helping plan transport outside the tour, which is always helpful! Overall, he too was a fantastic guide.
Was the Price Reasonable?
Overall, I thought the price was very reasonable for what I was getting. I essentially explored all of Jordan and Egypt in one tour, and we packed a lot in! Could of I gotten it cheaper if I did I by myself? Most likely. But I wouldn’t of the got the information I got on this tour.
The entry fees and extra activities are not included in the price, which did end up making this a bit more costly. The entry fees for Egypt are quite pricey and unfortunately you don’t get a choice if you’d like to visit a spot or not.
I paid $3673 AUD for the whole tour. This included:
- All accommodation, in 4& 5-star resorts
- Airport transfers
- 2 internal flights: Amman to Jordan and Dahab to Cairo
- All transport: buses, trains and a felucca
- 17 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 4 dinners
What was the Transport like?
Transport was perfectly fine in both countries. Both buses had A/C, charging points and the bus in Jordan even had free WIFI! The buses were very comfortable, even for the 4am starts or overnight trips.
The overnight trains were well overnight trains! They were clean and had good service, it was an efficient way to get from one place to another. The airline used was Air Cairo, which is your basic internal airline. We got 23kg of luggage for these internal flights.
My only negative with the transport was there a lack in communication with when my internal flights were. I had to email Traveltalk multiple times to get my flight information. For my final flight I was told it wasn’t included during my tour, which set me into a panic to try and organise. Later being told that it was. So, the communication part, may need a little more work.
What was the Accommodation like?
The accommodation all round was very nice! If you are used to travelling as a backpacker and staying in hostels, this will be very luxe for you. Some of the hotels had incredible views and facilities. They were all in pretty good locations, had good security and comfortable beds. All of the hotels had AC and private bathrooms.
The best accommodation was in Luxor. This was luxe. There are also several amazing restaurants in the complex, the Thai food was mouth-watering.
Positives
- Everything is organised for your, which is actually a nice way to travel. Just make sure you are on the bus on time!
- You get very knowledgeable guides.
- Cultural experiences. You will get to experience some things and places which you probably wouldn’t if you travelled by yourself.
- Ease of transport and comfort.
- You get the chance to meet some incredible people from all over the world. I actually made some of the best friends on this trip and created some incredible friends!
- You don’t have to organise ticket entries, as the guides do this for you. They also handle all of the tipping with a tipping kitty paid at the start of the tour.
- SIM cards were organised for us in Egypt, which made life so much easier.
Negatives
- Long bus rides, this is going to happen regardless, as the travel times are long.
- You don’t get a choice whether you want to visit somewhere or not. Some days you just want to stay in a hotel room and relax, you don’t get this option.
- Long days. You see a lot on this tour, which means there is little down time.
- Early morning starts. If you enjoy a sleep in, you won’t get many on this tour!
- Not much choice on where to eat. Most nights you can choose where you want dinner, but if it’s during the day – you will go where the tour goes. This is usually a buffet which is at ‘tourist prices’.
- The tour is very fast paced. You also don’t get an option on how long you want to spend at a place. For the pyramids we only had 1hr, which wasn’t enough time.
Overall Opinion?
I would book a tour with Travel Talk again and I am not a tour person! It does help with comfort and ease, especially in a country where there may be safety concerns or a language barrier.
You do need to weigh up the positives and negatives. I personally wouldn’t choose a tour over travelling independently, but I would choose travel talk tours if I was going to go on a tour again. The guides, accommodation, transport, and overall service was very good. They also regularly have sales, so you can get tours at great prices! This was by far one of the better tour companies I have used.
In short, I would recommend Traveltalk tours to a friend.
