High risk to Britons in Egypt

pattycake

We returned last night from the Safaga area 45kms outside Hurghada. The hotel was beautiful, the weather amazing and we had a perfectly fantastic time. No sign of trouble in that particular area.

Regarding tipping, we changed sterling at the bank kiosks at Hurghada airport. We asked for small notes and got the whole lot in £E20 notes. That is around £2. Perfect for tips. In our 10 day break we managed to dish out around £60 worth in tips but the staff were worth it. We did not "flash the cash" but rewarded the outstanding service we received.

I feel as if I have come back to earth with a bump today. The temperature this morning was roughly 30 degrees C less than what we were enjoying yesterday morning.

WolfSong2000

budgetflyer wrote: »

It is surrounded by civil war and unrest.
It is bordered by Greece,Syria, Iran, Iraq Georgia and also has its own problems with Kurd Terrorists (freedom fighters ? )

For me, Sharm, Marmaris, Antalya, Agadir , Hammamet, Dubai, Gambia are as safe as anywhere and probably safer than downtown Orlando, Miami or Tampa.

The scariest place I've been was "THE BOGSIDE" in Derry/Londonderry. Family day out. Wrong turning, British numberplate. Not welcome. Very scary

Can't speak to the other places you mention, but as for Gambia - there are issues. Nothing to overly concern tourists at the moment, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

As for the FCO website and its recommendations...I do wonder sometimes. I was planning on taking a trip to Somaliland, which, according to the international community is part of Somalia (utter BS!). Sure, Somaliland isn't the safest country in the world, and it's borders with Puntland (an autonomous region of Somalia) are definitely no-go regions, but the rest of the country - especially the 2 main cities, Hargeisa and Berbera - are fairly safe. Somaliland itself has been peaceful, stable, democratic, etc for the past 20 odd years (unlike Somalia), but because the international community wont recognise the country's (legitimate) claim to sovereignty, they're lumped in with Somalia - in other words, put down as a total, no-go area/don't travel there under any circumstances/etc. This may well be true for Somalia (you couldn't pay me to set foot in that country as it's *not* safe), but doesn't hold for Somaliland.

My point is, it seems Sharm is safe. Just because one part of a country is experiencing unrest doesn't necessarily mean the entire country is a no-go area. Play it by ear.

On_My_Lonesome

Last time I came back from Egypt in May (Im a regular) I had £75 in pound coins, they do like them but would be just as happy with anything and like many have said before they can't change them so have to wait for someone to be willing to change them for them.
Im going again in a few weeks and have no concerns at all about the security. You stay alert same as would anyway but as long as stay in Sharm should be fine. Can't spend life worrying about what ifs and if did would do nothing at all. I am more vervous in London than have ever been in Sharm.

dave_howard_2

Thank you all for the replies.
We feel a lot better with all the positive points and are now looking forward to a more relaxing time in Sharm.
Only 8 weeks to go now and this weather makes wearing t-shirts and shorts more attractive in Egypt.(i know its cold at night though)
I will update when we come back.

pulliptears

Just got back and Sharm is business as usual. No protests, no trouble at all.
We were told by a friend we met there last time that the Egyptians would fight to protect the tourists in Sharm because its their livelihoods at stake and they need us to keep going.

With that in mind we went buggy driving and quad biking in the desert and it was great. I think in all honesty I have felt more unsafe in my local town than I have in Nabq this last week.

vegasvisitor

Well, we decided to go to Sharm after all, we go in January. Hopefully all continues to be settled over there.

Tojo_Ralph

Given that this thread was started in response to concerns of a Mumbai style terror attack In Sharm el-Sheikh, it is interesting to see how things panned out.

PompeyPete

pulliptears wrote: »

Just got back and Sharm is business as usual. No protests, no trouble at all.
We were told by a friend we met there last time that the Egyptians would fight to protect the tourists in Sharm because its their livelihoods at stake and they need us to keep going.

Well said!
Just got back too, after a week in Na'ama Bay, and then a week on Thomson Celebration sailing the Red Sea.
Na'ama Bay was buzzing on the beach during the day, and ultra buzzing after dark in the resort.
Celebration was great, all excursions went off as scheduled. Never heard any complaints or safety concerns.
Weather was great, no problems whatsoever.

rusty_frog

You should go!
We, like Pattycake were in Makadi Bay at the end of Feb/early March 2011 when there were riots on the streets of Cairo.
The Russian and German Governments stopped their people going and there were only Brits and a few Dutch there.
We were treated like Royalty.
There are no unemployment benefits in Egypt so both the staff and management really appreciated us being there.
Although hotels were nowhere near full, there were enough of us to keep most of them going.
Trouble?
Absolutely none!

On_My_Lonesome

I go again 3 weeks tomorrow for New Year go every New Year as well as a couple of other times a year.
Spoke to some friends out there today and as others have said no problems at all there.