Planning to travel to Egypt in November 2009 with my 16 year old son. Any recommendations on tour companies? We normally travel without tours but other factors (which I won't go into) mandate that we travel by tour group. Thanks

It's always a shame when politics, disease, natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic ash and tsunamis make travel to a destination undesirable. The good news is that things have a way of settling down and travel and good times prevail once again. We can only hope and pray that this applies to Egypt and that peace will reign shortly. To paraphrase an old adage, war is not healthy for people, pets and tourism.

One of the things that political unrest and natural crises point out is the importance to travelers of having travel insurance. You just don't know when circumstances will erupt that interfere with your plans like snow storms, mud slides, and so many other incidents that have happened in the past year. Those who are clever enough to include buying travel insurance in the cost of their travels, which should cost somewhere between 4% and 8% of the amount you are insuring, into their total trip cost can travel with peace of mind knowing that the insurance plan will cover most or all of the additional costs travelers might incur if they get stuck in a destination or have to cut their trip short and have extra costs as a result or if they can't get to join their cruise or tour and lose money due to penalties because of the of changes in their plans.

As it has happened all over the world, life in Egypt will return to normal and travelers will again be able to explore the many wonders that Egypt has to offer. The only remaining question is when that will happen. In the interim, the world is a big place and other destinations will, for the time being, become the beneficiaries of the visitors who will chose not to go to Egypt until life has returned to normal there for travelers and residents.

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Stephanie Abrams