Flight to Egypt

MONDAY 25th

It was a rude awakening at 4.45am to depart at 5.30am for the short run to Gatwick South Terminal. The dropping off point was a hike up several stairs and ramps to reach the check in desks. The adjoining clerks were discussing some holiday destination stating "visited it the once don't want to go again". Being me, I asked where they were talking about. Sharm El Sheik! By 5.50am we had cleared security after Keith had once again set off the alarm. This time it was something around his legs and he had to removed his shoes so they could go through the Xray machine. With a very short conveyor belt I collected all his belongs as the trays and bags were beginning to pile up. Julia had told us Gatwick had plenty to offer and she was right. Lots of nice shops, plenty of seating, and several eating places although I was still very full from last night. Keith needed food to take his medication so we eventually settled for the French bar and restaurant. By 7.30am the terminal was very busy. Our flight to Taba Heights in the Red Sea area of Egypt was scheduled to depart at 9am and it was 8am before the gate number came on the departure screen. A very long was to Gate 37 where already most of the seats in the waiting area were occupied. It wasn't a problem as we shall be sitting for the next four and a half hours. This trip we had chosen aisle seats and we were both sat next to nice couples in Row 18. My neighbour was a frequent visitor to the Hyatt Regency hotel at this time of the year. Our journey took us over Dover, on to France, the Alps, down to Thessaloniki, Cyprus and eventually into Egypt and the small airport at Taba Heights, landing on time at 4pm local time, and a temperature of 11C - not quite what we had expected.

This small airport is in the Sinai desert and although the plane was only about 20 yards from the building we all had to pile into airport coaches to be taken to the door. Airport officials greeted us, including a Policeman holding a tray of flowers. From a distance I thought it was a bouquet for someone but it turned out to be single carnations with a bit of greenery, each flower gift wrapped, and handed to the ladies as they passed by. 25th January is Police Day. Nice to receive a flower instead of a motoring ticket! We were requested to apply for our visas here if we wished to go on certain tours so whilst most of us passed through the various official booths there was a delay in departing the airport to our destination in Taba Heights. Sitting in our allocated bus we watched people emerge from the airport, some carrying golfing bags, but it looked as though most of us were here to get some sun on our backs. The team of baggage handlers were busy putting luggage into the coach's storage space once it had been identified by the owner. Holding out their hands in anticipation of a tip Keith said he had placed a £2 coin in one fellow's hand and took £1 back, which caused some laughter among them all.

An hour later as the sun began to set we left the airport.

During our 35km journey, taking approximately one hour, the representative told us that last week Taba had had 42 years of rain in 9 hours! We saw signs of flooded areas by the roadside and fallen rocks, not to mention a large section of road that had fallen away which our driver slowly passed. We were also informed Sharm El Sheik's airport roof collapsed due to the amount of water and the 'Movenpick' hotel, built on a plain, was also badly damaged.

We travelled down the long winding canyon finally coming to the sea and the five hotels in this area known as Taba Heights. Along with 'downtown' a couple of sections of housing for the workers and the 'Three Corners' hotel with a small shopping area behind and a few more houses before the exit to the entrance gate, if you can understand that, sheltered behind the mountains of Sinai. There is also an 18 hole golf course. Some passengers were booked in the 'Sofitel' located next to the 'Hyatt' so we a drop off before the majority of passengers in our coach pulled up in front of an uninspiring 'Hyatt' hotel entrance.

Stepping through an electronic security gate we found arrangements inside the large foyer were well organised. As we had been requested to complete the hotel checking in forms on our journey from the airport we enjoyed a welcome cocktail whilst queueing at the Longwoods' representative desk to receive our room keycard. We also knew which room we had been allocated as this was stated on the hotel form, room A449. On receipt of the keycard we were asked to identify our luggage to the porter and then stand behind the man holding a board with certain letters of the alphabet on. When everyone was ready they would lead us to our rooms. We stood around for some time while this part of the procedure took place noting that on receipt of the keys most of the guests had gone to make their own way to their rooms. At last we were requested to follow a young man who lead us the short distance to block A where he suddenly disappeared. Getting a bit fed up with the hanging around we made our own way to our room. We had requested a high room and as we were guaranteed a sea view was not surprised to find it was on the fourth floor. What we forgot was there would be no lifts - going to get plenty of exercise this holiday!

Opening the first door on this floor just along from the winding staircase we were pleasantly surprised to find a large room with a spacious shower room to the right, a full length mirror opposite the bathroom door, a minibar hidden behind a louvred door with glass shelves above and three different sizes of glasses for our drinks. Through the archway the room opened up with another large shelved cupboard on our left as we walked through the arch, then space for the suitcase stand and a long dressing table with a lamp at one end and the TV at the other. More drawers, one housing the hairdresser permanently wired into the top drawer. There was a huge double bed, bedside cabinets with lamps, plus wall lights above the headboard. The wardrobe space was again very generous plus one panel with a safe and more shelves and drawers. By the balcony window was two comfy chairs and a round table. Out on the balcony we had two teak chairs with well padded cushions and a square teak table. From this point we looked out over the sculpture pool with neat rows of sun beds and umbrellas and across the Red Sea the countries of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Turning right we could still see the coastline of Saudi, the 'Sofitel' , and slightly behind part of the golf course and the buildings of downtown Taba. We would not, as we discovered, have any sun apart from that first thing in the morning.

We would save viewing the hotel grounds until tomorrow but now we had time to check out downstairs before going to eat. We could not believe that the bar was called 'On the Rocks', a dimly lit room with traditional style ceiling lamps. Studying the bar menu was a bit of a problem as the items were printed black on blue card. Seeing my difficulty a young barman brought out his mobile phone and used the flashlight facility to help me decide on which drink I should have. In the end I just settled for a vodka, lime and soda. At 8pm it was happy hour and ran until 10pm with certain drinks such as local beer, wine and cocktails subject to a 25% discount. This wasn't quite 25% as tax and service was deducted before taking off the 25% but anything at these prices was better than nothing.

The main dining room was named the 'Limoncello' where tonight was Mexican night. The choice and quality of food was very good, especially tonight's desserts. I can see there is going to be no weight loss this holiday! I liked the fact that the containers were relatively small for the size of the dining room so fresh supplies were always being delivered from the kitchens. The staff were really friendly but we only saw one female who escorted us to our table during meal times.

Back in the bar the International Cabaret began at 10pm, the resident singer performing before that. She was very loud and not very energetic in her performance. She seemed to be forever looking at her mobile phone but realised it was an Ipod that she was using for her background accompaniment. Any chance of a conversation was almost impossible during this time. The French 'Fram' team introduced the Cabaret and for the next 45 minutes a team of 4 female and 1 male dancers entertained us. As far as hotel entertaiment goes this team was pretty good. I told the old man sitting with his wife and son in front of us to go steady and hoped the scantily clad girls doing a lot of belly dancing movements would not affect his blood pressure. He said he wished he was 25 years younger and would go to sleep tonight with a smile on his face! When the show was over the bar soon cleared as the DJ played thumping music totally unsuitable for guests to dance to. We soon left as well as it had been a long day.