Luxor was much more what I thought Egypt was going to be like with its tombs and hieroglyphs everywhere. Cairo was mass of energy and anything goes attitude and Luxor seemed like nothing bothered them at all. The main tourist towns like Luxor have their act together a little more because they need the tourists to survive.
Luxor is awesome because its what you came to see when you came to Egypt. Massive temples, ancient tombs, and hieroglyphs and carvings on absolutely everything. Having learned my less about tours in Egypt from Cairo this time I sucked up my pride as a traveler and just paid the $30. The tour was well worth it though since they took us in a mini bus to most of the major sites and covered the ticket costs to get it. Having a tour guide to actually tell you about the places in proper english was also a major plus. I defiantly saw more because of the tour than I would have by my self and considering the state Egypt is in right now I would say you pretty much have to take tours to see anything.
On my second to last day in Egypt I arranged the Aswan tour with the hostel I was at. All I needed todo was get the train tickets to Aswan and they took care of the rest. You pretty much have to take a tour to see the site because its crazy far outside of town and the only way to get there is with the military convoy that runs twice a day. Everyone gets there and leaves at the same time. You take the morning convoy in and the afternoon one out. This massive line of big and mini busses with military escort is the only way to get to the site currently. Aswan is to far south and to close to the border so they are very worried about the safety of the tourists there.
