An Olive Branch to Serge....

[softball]

OK, Serge, you can take it as you choose. This is meant to be honest with no bs.....so here it goes...

You asked about advice on Egypt. I will tell you a few things I know that will make your trip successful and way more enjoyable than any tour.
You get your ass to Cairo. You stay at the Mena House hotel in Gizeh and tour the Pyramids. Hopefully they will be open while you are there. The food in Egypt sucks but the Mena house is ok. If you stay in Cairo, the Sheraton or the Nile Hilton are just fine but boring. If the food drives you nuts, there is a food court in the hilton that is ok. Take a few tours around, but get a private guide and insist he not take you to any papyrus or alabaster museums unless you really want to go. Beware of the touts at the Egyptian museum. After the tour,they will try and get you straight in to a perfume shop. Do not bother. You will get ripped off.
Don't fly to Aswan. Take the overnight sleeper train. You shouldn't miss Cairo station at night. Beware of the shoe shine boys. They quote you a price and only shine one shoe. Snarl at them and they will do the other.
Before you leave book a very high end Nile Cruise. The cheaper ones are awful and avoid faluccas at all cost. Moevenpick I hear does a great cruise. Try and pick up a personal guide at all the stops along the way especially the Valley of the Kings and Queens.
When in Aswan, stay at the Catarac hotel. Its a grand old african hotel like the Mena house. Spend a couple of days and take the early morning flight to Abu Simbal. It is amazing and not to be missed.
When you get to Luxor, have a bite at the best restaurant in town. McDonalds and it is air conditioned. Book the luxury coach...be sure to get the luxury coach...to the boat to take you to Sharm el Shek. Do not stay in Sharm, but take a taxi to Dahab. It is a quiet kind of hippy town on the Red Sea with diving, outdoor movies and pretty good food. Tons of Israeli kids. Do not stay at the luxury hotels here. They are dead as tombs. Get a nice hotel on the beach for no money. This is the kind of place where the less you spend, the more fun you will have. Go visit Santa Katarina if you feel like it otherwise go up to Taba, cross into Eilat....but keep going to Jordan and visit Petra. Book the hotel just at the entrance to the canyon. It is well worth it. Rent a car, go up to Wadi Rum where Laurence travelled and took Aquaba. Head up the Kings Hiway and check out the crusader castles along the way. Drop down to the Dead Sea and stay at the moevenpick hotel for a couple of nights. The finest spa on the dead sea with mud baths, infinity pools, and American steaks. You can go up to Amman and if you do, go to the local museum and see some of the original dead sea scrolls. You can cross over the Allenby bridge across the Jordan to the west bank and take a taxi to Jerusalem. Then I am sure you know what to do.

You can believe it or not, but I hope this helps in your plans.