Off to a Middle Kingdom Adventure

On Monday, December 1, 2025, I left my friends’ home in Cairo and flew to Luxor to join a tour group.

This was an unusual undertaking for me: I’m allergic to package tours in general, and especially allergic to organized tours in Egypt. As some of you know, I fell in love with ancient Egypt at age 6 and have spent much of my life immersed in Egyptological minutia – I would drive an Egyptian tour guide/group crazy while being driven equally mad myself. However, this tour was created by the very special folks at Kemet Klub, who recently created a t-shirt that says it all.

These are my people!  

In their own words…

Welcome to the Kemet Klub!

We are a friendly group with a passion for ancient Egypt. No membership required,  simply choose an online course you like and enrol! We explore a wide variety of Egyptological topics with some of the very best Egyptologists in the world. We look forward to meeting you online soon where everyone is welcome, from the curious, to the serious academic, and everyone in between! Kemet Klub was set up in 2009 by Ali Ball and Josie Newman when Bristol University stopped running evening classes. We wanted to make sure that people could continue to enjoy the study of ancient Egypt. Initially our courses were in-person events based in Bristol. Since the pandemic, with the addition of Bernadette Brady to the team, we have taken our courses online.

This tour was especially tempting because it was built around Egypt’s “Middle Kingdom” with visits to many sites that I’ve read about for years but never seen.  The “Middle Kingdom” (c. 2000 to 1650 BC) is considered the high point in ancient Egyptian culture, art and language, with traditions that were emulated by the Egyptian people over many following centuries.  Unfortunately, although gorgeous art and literary works from this period can be found in museums all over the world, few places survive on the ground in Egypt. (Ancient Egyptians and their later Roman overlords were great recyclers of stone). Making sense of the sites that do remain requires some knowledge and a lot of imagination – which is why they are not on the usual tourist itinerary.  Who wants to look at sand-encrusted foundations and piles of rubble?  Well…me and the Kemet Klubbers.

This 12 day road trip (Monday 1st December 2025 – Friday 12th December 2025) will take us from Montuhotep II’s mortuary temple in Luxor through middle Egypt, the Faiyum and Cairo to conclude with an exhilarating 4×4 journey across the desert to visit Senusret III’s pyramid at Dahshur! We will travel over 500 miles and will explore many fascinating Middle Kingdom sites along the way. This tour includes a staggering number of special openings to allow us access to many off-the-beaten-track sites. We will be accompanied by the Middle Kingdom specialist Dr Wolfram Grajetzki, who will give lectures as we travel through Egypt to help us appreciate the Middle Kingdom like never before!

Matt and I traveled together to Cairo’s airport, where he was headed home (via Frankfurt) and I was headed to Luxor. We intended to hang out together at the airport after checking in, but found ourselves herded into separate terminals after clearing the airport’s multiple security stops, to connect only virtually thereafter. Questa è la vita.

Anticipating long lines, I arrived very early for my 2:40pm flight but breezed right through – just in time, because the line grew to more than 50 people as I finished checking in.  I cleared security and skirted around a very creepy AI robot agent “helper” in the shopping area, then hung out in the EgyptAir lounge for a couple of hours.

The gate was completely empty when I arrived, but the waiting area filled up quickly. I had a nice chat with a lovely German lady who had been a tour guide in Egypt for 25 years. She was on her way to Luxor to house-sit for a friend’s cats while the friend traveled to Berlin for the Christmas markets.

We were late to board, but the plane left on time – flight attendants started the safety demonstration while passengers were still in the aisle.  It was a cloudy day, so limited sight-seeing from my window seat.

We arrived in Luxor to a gorgeous sunset. I was met at baggage claim by a rep from Golden Gates Travel, and found that our guide, Amr El Helly, had been on the same flight. I came to deeply admire Amr’s abilities over the course of the tour. He is personable, organized and knowledgeable with a. great sense of humor – good traits for someone charged with herding our hard-to-herd cats over enticing and difficult terrain.

Check in was easy at the Pavillon Winter Palace, the newer wing of this grande dame of colonial hotels.

The room was very comfortable, with a balcony overlooking the Winter Palace’s majestic gardens.

The Winter Palace is located on Luxor’s Corniche and virtually next door to Luxor Temple. So I dumped my bags and went for a wander past the Temple and along the Nile. It was a lively evening, tourists and locals much in evidence with the Nile cruise boat flotilla docked along the quay.

I enjoyed an excellent tajin dinner at the friendly El-Kababgy Restaurant, located right on the Nile across the street from the Winter Palace.

And then it was time to go back to the hotel for a long hot bath and an early night in preparation for our 7:30 am departure next day.