Cairo/abu Simbel Options

[Guest_b8th_*]

I have been to Luxor and Aswan and completely adored it - Luxor is MAGICAL. My mother was born in Gezira outside Cairo and we are looking at a trip to Egypt later in the year/early next year. Ideally, I would like to spend about 14 days, flying into Cairo and visiting Gezira, then training it down to Luxor overnight if poss, 7 days in Luxor to cope with all the early mornings and then go to Aswan for a few days incorporating Abu Simbel. I realise this is a very tight schedule.

I have a number of questions:

(1) I went from Aswan to Luxor on the train and it was fine but this was in first class (this was included in the tour) and only three hours - however, whilst my brother and I are in our twenties, my parents are in their sixties - firstly, is it possible and feasible to get an overnight train from Cairo to Luxor? Secondly, has anyone done this? What advice do people have?

(2) When I went to Luxor I got a package and paid the full whack for all the hotel tours. I realised there that it was perfectly possible to arrange some of these things oneself. I think it is perfectly possible to get a taxi and find a tour guide at Karnak/Luxor temple - ditto West Bank. Does anyone have some advice/bad stories/adivce against doing this?

(3) I went to Aswan on an expensive tour - tour guide was fantastic, but we didn't go to Philae, just drove past it (weep!). I understand about having to travel in the convoys, but I got the impression that there were much cheaper tours bookable off your own bat and equivalent once you got there, rather than paying whatever the hell mark up hotels make you pay. Is this possible to book directly before you leave the UK? Are there horror stories?

(4) Been reading about getting to Abu Simbel - tried googling costs of flying and they are quite high - how difficult is the bus trip and how long does it take?