Paid up our holiday to Egypt tonight!

MrsE_2

When you pay your holiday, it always give you a good feeling, doesn't it?

Like next step its the tickets through the door:D

We are off to the Reef Oasis Blue Bay in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt on 22 June for 2 weeks.

Very EXCITED:j :j :j :j

WE plan on visiting Cairo for the day, probably by coach, yes I know its a long way, but I'm not a great flyer & an Egyptian internal flight scares me:eek:
Besides, you get to enjoy the sights as you go:rolleyes:

WE may do a half days scuba if our first attempt at snorkeling doesn't freak us out to much.
We may do a day trip to Ras Mohammad-the nature park region.

Anything else we should do?
We usually bring £50 per day when AI - so £700 (actually we probably bring another couple of hundred or so).
Do you think that will be enough, because of Cairo & scuba? I don't really know what either of them cost, does anyone?
No duty free buys, we don't smoke & hardly drink, so don't need to allow for that.
Not planning on any purchases, unless someone knows of something I "really must buy when in Egypt".;)

Any advice gratefully received:beer:

Tojo_Ralph

.....
Nowt much really to buy IMHO, except it would be plain wrong not to pick up a couple of cartons of cigarettes at the Duty Free on entry for folk back home... At £8 a carton they are a steal.

louisa7835

There is not a great deal to spend your money on if you're going AI, you can get a really cheap deal for the Pyramids and Cairo trip if you go into Naama Bay (cant remember how to spell it , sorry!!) and buy from a local tour operator, we paid about £25 each, whereas the reps charge about £75 for the same trip. It is a long long day though.

Murphy_The_Cat

Be very careful that the diving bug doesn't bite you !!!!

If you do a trial dive and you like it, the RedSea is an absolutely wonderful place to learn to dive in.

Good luck.



p.s. I'd fly to/from Cairo and make it a 2 day trip. The coach trip to/from Cairo is long, boring and wasteful of your valuable holiday time IMO.

MrsE_2

louisa7835 wrote: »

There is not a great deal to spend your money on if you're going AI, you can get a really cheap deal for the Pyramids and Cairo trip if you go into Naama Bay (cant remember how to spell it , sorry!!) and buy from a local tour operator, we paid about £25 each, whereas the reps charge about £75 for the same trip. It is a long long day though.

I never book with the reps, always hunt down the local travel agents;) Thanks for the price estimate, I expected it to be a good bit more:D
Even though we are AI, we will still eat out a little for dinner (or the odd lunch if we are out & about). But instead of finding a reasonable priced restaurant every evening like you would if you were self catering, we just go out no & again & go to really special/fabulous/expensive places because we don't need to budget for 14 dinners:D
The hotel has a buffet restaurant & about 3 or 4 different a la cartes. Also in the a la cartes - you can pay a little extra supplement & have a nice steak or similar, I think thats a really good idea. I've read on reviews people complain about this as it flies in the face of the AI concept, but I personally like to have the option of paying the extra to get things not usually on offer at AI's.
I think it has French, Italian, Fish & a 24 hour Bistro in addition to the main buffet restaurant, as well as a few lunch restaurants on the beach:D

Did you have to pay extra for the Museum? the Tutankhamen room? The pyramids? To go in the pyramid? - I've been there before (but DH hasn't) the entrance fees were included (not inside the pyramid - that was an extra) & the only extras I had to pay was to use my camera in the museum.

rainee

The fees for the museum normally are paid by the guide if you've booked a tour
we did it last year with 2 autistic children and it was fab
we couldn't take any cameras in at all into the museum so left them on our mini bus
yes they still charge to go inside the pyramid thats extra plus the giza complex but the guide pays for that one Highly recommened is the solar boat in its airconditioned home its worth the fee to get in just for that

you will get taken to a bazzar and papyrus factory its worth getting a little one with your names on (not like us we've got 2 huge ones that cost an arm and a leg to get framed!!)
all in all flying egyptair from sharm to cairo only takes an hour and like a bus service with a snack box and coffee/juice thrown in
yes its a long day but much nicer and less stressful than the bus but you do pay more
we were very lucky to have a lady guide just for the 4 of us and because we had children she bent over backwards to find things in the museum that were from the childrens point of view
our two loved lunch on the banks of the nile which again was included in the price

It is a fantastic city even with the smog and am hoping next year to take my parents (mum's dream ) to sharm and then do cairo & luxor for the day with them

MrsE_2

What sort of plane is the internal flight on?

When I went before I was allowed to take my camera in, but charged £1 to use it & I got a special sticker off them to put over the flash, because they don't want flashes damaging the artifacts, that was about 6/7 years ago, funny how rules change.

Thanks for your help.

One last question, how much did you pay per person?

Never been in or on the Solar Boat (is it a real boat?). Is that also at Giza? I've been inside the middle pyramid.

rainee

if my memory serves me correct a boeing 757 out 737 back
the solar boat is behind one of the pyramids
it was found in bits had was reconstructed by hand its joined together with rope it is housed in a purpose built air conditioned building where you have to put canvas shoes over your own shoes it is amazing to think it was just a pile of wood found in the ground and now it is back together in its full glory
its fab if its so hot to cool down like last august

for 4 it came to about £600 pounds the flight cost alone was £85 each but we were so lucky just to have a driver and guide all to ourselves and she was fantastic

katies_mum

Mrs E, we are going there on the 22nd May for a week! can`t wait. Just going to be extremely lazy and do nothing for 7 days. It looks wonderful and reviews are great.