In the latest of Travel Monitor’s fam trip stories, Sydney agent Sarah Liebenberg talks about her trip to Dubai and Egypt.

Sarah at the Abu Simbel temples in southern Egypt.

I went because: I was invited on a 10-day fam trip to Dubai and Egypt with African Wildlife Safaris and Emirates.

Don’t miss: The Mummy Rooms at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo are an abosolute must-see. To see 3000 to 4000-year-old mummies with skin, nails and hair still intact is incredible. The magnificent collection of treasures from the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun isn’t to be missed, either.

Don’t bother: Looking for shopping centres in Egypt. It’s not that kind of destination. But the bazaaras are entertaining and you can pick up trinkets, cottons, scarves and shisha pipes. Haggling over the price of an item is a must and as a rule of thumb, don’t pay more than 10% of the asking price.

My favourite meal: In Dubai we took a 4WD ‘dune safari’ into the desert, watched a magnificent sunset and then had dinner at an encampment which seemed to appear from nowhere. It was a traditional Arabian barbecue, followed by belly dancing and the chance to smoke a shisha pipe - a cultural practice involving specially-prepared, flavoured tobacco. The whole thing was a great experience as an introduction to Arabia.

Best shopping experience: Shopping for spices in Assam (starting and finishing point for Nile cruises). It has the best spice market in Egypt and the prices are unbelievably cheap compared with Australia. You pay according to weight. The amount of saffron I got for $20 would cost me up to $150 at home.

Coolest souvenir: I suppose you can’t leave Egypt with a model pyramid of some sort.

Worth a splurge: Photographs of the the Great Pyramids at Giza, outside Cairo, don’t do them justice. The sheer size is breathtaking, and you keep asking yourself ‘how did they do this?’

But don’t just see them from the outside. It’s worth paying an extra $20 or $30 to go inside. Daily numbers are limited. You need to get there early and buy a ticket.

A similar arrangement applies for the tomb of Queen Nerfertari in the Valley of the Queens, though it was closed when we were there.

I wish I’d packed: Suitable walking shoes. I had only flip-flops when I arrived. There’s a lot of walking, and you need good shoes.

I’d also warn my clients: To avoid a summer trip, when temperatures can reach 60 degree celsius. We were told of summer visitors lying on the ground and pouring water over themselves to try to cope with the heat.

Always be prepared to haggle ferociously over the price when buying something, carry plenty of Egyptian one pound coins to pay for use of bathrooms everywhere, take tissues and never drink the water.

Looking back: There is, of course, much more to a Dubai and Egypt tour than the experiences mentioned here.

For instance, our trip included a cruise between Aswan and Luxor on one of the 380 cruise boats now plying the Nile, with stops along the way at various sites, including the Temple of Philae, saved from the lake created in the early 1970s by construction of the massive Aswan High Dam and reassembled on an island 500 metres away.

Egypt has more than just history. It’s home to 30% of the world’s artefacts and 70% of those are in Luxor. I came away feeling I’d had the trip of a lifetime. If you’d like to know more, you can contact me by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sarah Liebenberg.