Tours to Egypt and the Nile

Grand Circle Travel has introduced Egypt and the Nile, a 10-day tour for mature travelers that has eight departure dates and includes a four-day cruise down the Nile.

The price, including air fare from the West Coast, runs $2,065 to $2,565 per person, double occupancy. Single supplement is $360. (Grand Circle does its best to match single travelers upon request.)

Prices include round-trip air, using EgyptAir for transatlantic travel, accommodations such as the Ramses Hilton in Cairo, plus three meals daily, transfers, baggage handling and tips.

The Nile cruise will be aboard the Sheraton Nile or Oberoi, depending on departure date. Both are fully air conditioned and have swimming pools; cabins include private bathrooms. The first four days of the tour are in Cairo, where tour members view the Cairo Museum, the Pyramids and Sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara.

During the four-day cruise up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, stops and sightseeing include the Valley of the Kings plus Esra, Edfu Kom Ombo and the Aswan High Dam.

The all-inclusive tour, paced for those age 50 and over, also has one optional trip, a $115-per-person day tour from Aswan to the temples of Abu Simbel.

Four departure dates remain this year, starting in October, with four more in early 1989. Temperatures in Egypt are at their best from December through February.

Grand Circle is a direct marketer for travel and does not work through travel agents. For more information, write to Grand Circle Travel, 347 Congress St., Boston, Mass. 02210, or call toll-free (800) 248-3737, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, or Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-- -- --

The Monterey Plaza, the “Grand Hotel on the Bay,” now provides discounts for mature travelers age 55 and over.

There is a 25% discount off regular weekday rates of $115 to $180 double and $130 to $200 weekends. The hotel also provides mature travelers a 10% discount off several weekend packages.

The 290-room hotel sits atop Monterey Bay and Cannery Row, just a short stroll from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Because this is a new program for the hotel and response is yet to be determined, the offer is made subject to space availability. For more information or reservations, call (800) 334-3999.

-- -- --

Yugotours, now in its eighth year of Prime of Your Life tours for mature travelers, has introduced a program of guaranteed-price departures October through March, 1989, or two- and three-week tours of Yugoslavia beginning at $1,219 per person double from Los Angeles.

Other European destinations can be added to the basic Yugoslav tour, including stays of three nights in Athens, Budapest, Istanbul and Rome. All include air fare, hotels, sightseeing and two meals a day, at modest prices. A seven-day tour to Moscow and Leningrad is another add-on option.

For more information, contact Yugotours, 3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1105, Los Angeles 90010, (213) 383-2438 or (800) 872-8598.

-- -- --

Journeys Etc. Inc., which operates tours for the Los Angeles Community Colleges Education Travel Program, has several fall tours coming up, including two to New England.

Margye Aronson-Wrye of Coastline Community College hosts Fall Foliage in Historic New England-French Canada, set for next Sunday through Oct. 8. Priced at $1,899 per person double, the tour includes round-trip air, first-class or deluxe hotels, most meals and leisurely sightseeing through New England, plus Montreal and Quebec.

Helen Lawton’s Fall Foliage in Historic New England, set for Oct. 1-9 for Los Angeles Harbor, Pierce and Valley colleges, is also for the discriminating mature traveler, using first-class and deluxe hotels. It is priced from Los Angeles at $1,459 per person double and includes stops in Boston, Kennebunkport, Me., Fairlee, Vt., Pittsfield, Mass., Newport, R.I., and Cape Cod, Mass.

A shorter, different type of tour is Carol Leigh’s Photo Journey to the 1988 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, set for Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 and Oct. 7-10.

Priced at $399 per person double from Los Angeles, the trip includes two days in Albuquerque for the balloon fest, at which 500 hot-air balloons will lift off, and then a day along the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe.

The tour includes helpful advice and instruction from Leigh, the author of “The Photographer’s Guide to California.”

For more information on any of the tours, contact Journeys Etc. Inc., 313 Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills 90211, (213) 855-1335 or (213) 655-9549. For the New Mexico photo tour you can also reach Carol Leigh direct at (714) 631-7728.