6 Week Gap Year

Sunday 13 January
DSCN4761 & 4760
4.15 am and here we go, 5.15 & Andy taking us to Gatwick, then Monarch at 9.30 to Sharm El Sheikh. Why do we book flights for these ungodly hours? To make the most of our limited time in the destinations we choose to go to. Even so with the length of the flight (5 hours) and the time difference of 2 hours we don’t arrive until 16.30 local time and by the time we arrive at our hotel the Rehana Prima Life in Nabq it’s almost dark!
Gatwick was its usual jumble of humanity jostling for a place in a queue but we seemed to strike lucky and found the 12 Monarch check in desks were catering for 3 or 4 flights but hardly anybody had arrived. We went straight to the desk checked in, said goodbye to the luggage (well we might never see it again!) and headed off to passport control. It never ceases to amaze me that despite all the advertising and big signs on your tickets and around the airport people still try to take sharp objects and liquids in excess of 100 mls through in their hand luggage. You have to run the gauntlet of airport staff holding clear plastic bags and reminding you to remove said items and dispose of them or smaller items of liquid to be placed in the plastic bags. And STILL people feign surprise when their hand luggage is x-rayed and they are made to remove all liquids from their cases and forfeit them because they “didn’t realise” or well when we travelled 4 years ago we didn’t have to” or we didn’t have this trouble in Sydney”. Also some people said they wouldn’t take their shoes off! They were asked to follow a member of airport staff security to a comfortable room for an “informal chat”! (I noticed the security guy had surgical gloves in his hip bag…ooooh) We went through and headed upstairs to the food court in Tax free area and the queus for food were horrendous. In the end we settled on the McDonalds queue as being the shortest and against my better judgement made our order. 15 minutes later I’m still waiting for bacon muffin thingy and Ludy‘s finished her bagel. I called the manager over and explained and said I wanted an extra one for having to wait so long. 1 minute later 2 steaming hot fresh bacon muffins were in my hand! Complain with a smile seems to work. We boarded Monarch MON4278 to Sharm on time and took off with only a 20 minute delay. Our flight was fairly uneventful and we were lucky enough to not have anyone sitting next to us in our row of 3 on the Airbus 300.
The descent into Sharm Airport is quite spectacular. We were flying down the Sinai Peninsular to the southern tip and passing over the mountainous central region. The rocks earth and sand are a slightly reddish colour but because the sun had begun to set it cast deep red colours and spectacular shadows over an already impressive landscape. The immediate reaction is to imagine this is probably how Mars must look followed by a feeling of almost spirituality as you remember that this area is also steeped in biblical history. I wonder how many of our fellow passengers realise this or are they mostly the typical English holiday maker looking for sun sand and a skin-full? At the airport we are herded to a number of desks where we have to have a Visa stuck in our passports. These are not obligatory if you only intend to remain in your hotel resort but if you are bound for the Pyramids or Mount Sinai or any other location requiring a journey you must have the Visa. They cost £10 each at the time of our visit. I was told prior to our journey they were US$15 but we were informed at the airport the payment was only accepted in GB£. So in fact day 1, hour 1 we got ripped off! Next time I will buy it before we leave the UK. A word of warning now to anyone visiting Egypt. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet, every step you take (apologies to Sting and the Police) someone will be expecting and will most likely remind you so, BAKSHEESH ! It is impossible to avoid in many cases and the best form of defence on this is to attack immediately with a smallish (to us) tip of around EG£10-20. Approx £1-2. This has a double effect. You immediately receive superior service and you are not bugged for money thereafter. However we did feel slightly guilty half way through the stay and made 2 more baksheesh to Sameh. Any way we queued for our visa for which we didn’t pay at that point then queued again to pass through immigration. From there the Olympus rep herded us to our coach and having checked us as all present & correct then proceeded to fleece us all for £10 each for our Visas! On toward our hotels stopping at the Sharm Hilton and one other then to the Rehana Prima Life. The hotel is very large with an open reception area and friendly front desk staff. Our room was allocated as twin bed and when I requested double we were asked to return in the morning for a change of room. Taken to our room by a helpful porter (baksheesh Eg£20) then we returned for dinner in the restaurant. Large room with all the food laid out buffet style at the far end. Approx 14 choices of main dinner, vegetables and potato or rice. Good choice of starters including soup, salads or cold meats and cheeses. Desserts were mainly Chefs dolce cake selections and to be honest most were pretty tasteless. Occasionally there was jelly or crème caramel also. After dinner we returned to reception and I asked for a room change which was given promptly and without fuss. The new room 540, was same size but with double bed and much larger balcony overlooking the pool area. Much nicer! So to a little unpacking and bed.

Monday 14 January
DSCN4773
A new day in a new country destination. As Ludy said yesterday, “I can’t believe I’m in Egypt!”
Looking out of the balcony doors it ‘s a bright sunny day but awful windy. I venture out on to the balcony and return inside immediately - it’s freezing out there! We have a 10 am briefing from the Olympic rep so we shower and go to breakfast first. The breakfast is in the same restaurant with a wide selection on offer. Rice, tomatoes, hash browns, cold meats and cheeses eggs in all their forms and fresh cooked omelettes. Sausages which are the small frankfurter type and were pretty disgusting, toast, bread, rolls, fruit, cereals, orange or pineapple juice and coffee or tea.
We meet our rep Jenny in an upstairs room which is also the Mongolian Barbecue restaurant. She is very very professional and knowledgeable and a joy to listen to. In her own words she would rather give us the facts, good and bad and let us make up our own minds. She has been in Sharm for 7 years knows what’s what, and in her experience clients prefer the truth not the sales patter. We immediately booked the trip to Cairo and the Pyramids for Tuesday and also one to St Katherines Monastery in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsular for Thursday. The choice for Cairo was by coach for a 300 plus mile journey for 6 to 8 hours leaving at 1.30 am and returning approx 24 hours later or by plane leaving at 4.30am and taking an hour and returning at 9pm! Hmmmm let me see. Also the price difference was less than £50 extra each. By the time we’d finished it was nearly midday so we decided to try and brave the wind and find a place around the pool to relax and sunbathe. Even round the pool there are staff to attend your every whim, collect your towels, find the best remaining sun beds in the most advantageous place for the sun and talk to you about their country and their hopes and ambitions. All for baksheesh of course. We found a reasonably sheltered spot and immediately repaired to the restaurant in search of lunch (well we are on All Inclusive you know) Next to the restaurant there is a little wooden hut containing the Creperie which I have to admit we couldn’t resist. Lunch is very much a smaller version of dinner and whilst we could not fault the quantity some of the quality with all services, breakfast, lunch and dinner, fell a little short.
The hotel has a Spa resort which offers sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, massage, various body treatments and mud and seaweed wraps and a hairdresser and beauty salon. We decided to avail ourselves of the Cleopatra treatment for EG£210 which included unlimited sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi & full body massage & booked for Saturday.
That evening we decided to try the Mongolian Barbecue only to find that it is a reservation only affair. However with Ludy fluttering eyelashes and saying we had only just arrived Muhammed Ali ( I kid you not ) squeezed us into a little table by the window. We then are shown out on to the first floor balcony and are given a small side plate to fill with our selection of ingredients from a chiller unit. Shredded chicken or beef, shredded cabbage, red cabbage, onion, grated carrot and sliced green peppers. You hand your selection to chef with your order of normal medium or hot spicey preparation and he puts it on the hotplate and adds soy sauce, sesame oils and a pot pourrie of spices and herbs. We return to our table inside which is a great deal warmer than outside and await the result. It takes about 10 or so minutes and we collect our food and are shown to the side table where you can add fried rice or flat noodles (or both!) to your meal. This meal was seriously tasty and cooked just right. We will return. Any way early to bed tonight as we have to up at 3.30 for a pick up at 4.20am for Cairo. We can’t wait to see Pyramids, the only remaining wonder of the original 7 wonders of the world.