We are not planning on taking a cruise. It would have made it tough to visit Abu Simbel and the cruise seems too constraining. I’m not 100% confident in this decision. As much as I look forward to seeing sites I’ve wanted to see for decades, I know it’s going to have its share of hassles and annoyances.

We’ve changed our itinerary and it now looks like this. Plan is to hire guides as day trips, rather than have one company do the whole thing.

Day 1: Arrive CAI in the night at 8:30pm; (probably 50% chance we miss the tight 1hr connection in IST and take the next connection arriving in CAI at 2:30am). Sleep in Conrad Cairo
Day 2: Giza. Sleep in Conrad Cairo.
Day 3: Saqqara; fly CAI-ASW In the evening. Sleep In Mövenpick Aswan
Day 4: Daytrip to Abu Simbel by private car leaving Aswan at 7am (don’t want to do a 4am departure after a night flight); see Philae Temple on way back. Sleep in Mövenpick Aswan
Day 5: Private car to Luxor with stops at Kom Ombu and Edfu. Sleep in Hilton Luxor
Day 6: Valley of Kings, Howard Carter's House, Temple of Hatshepsut, Tombs of the Nobles. Sleep in Hilton Luxor
Day 7: Karnak, Luxor Museum, Luxor Temple. Evening flight to CAI. Stay at Heliopolis Towers
Day 8: Egyptian Museum in the morning; return flight home leaves CAI at 9:25pm.

Not sure the Cairo hotels are ideally located for our itinerary; I picked Hiltons because I’m diamond and for their child policy.