Egypt

Jan 26th - Feb 5th 2015

Monday 26th January 2015 

Home to Marlow

Left home around 11.15 for the drive down to Leigh Delamere Services. We know how to start a holiday in style! 

We were meeting Mum & Dad there - when they got there. Had to go down a junction and then back up to get to the east-bound services. Went in and found a table at Costa and waited for them.

They turned up about 10 minutes after us - so I helped Dad in while Mum went in to say hello to Nikki.

We had toasted sandwiches all round and some coffee before a quick comfort break and then part 2 of the drive.

I drove Mum & Dad’s car while Nikki followed in ours. The M4 wasn’t too bad and it took about an hour and a quarter to get to Marlow.

Very quick check-in. Sorted Mum & Dad’s room first (31) and got them settled and then checked in to ours. They’d upgraded us to a suite (256) after a bit of persuasion. Got the cases in for each room. Nikki and Dad had a nap while me and Mum walked down by the lake to put the world to rights. Nice coffee in the Club Lounge and then back up to the room to start the blog!

Mum & Dad joined us in 256 at about 18.45 and we caught up on the news on the TV in the lounge before heading downstairs for dinner.

Decided to leave the starters and go straight for the main course. I had the smallest soufflé in the world. Thankfully I’d ordered a side-order of chips! Mum had a chicken which came with salad, salsa and chips! Dad had bangers and mash and Nikki had a pumpkin risotto. We all went for desert as well - mostly ice cream - with Dad having a vanilla parfait. Total bill was £109 which, bearing in mind the size of my soufflé, wasn’t really good value for money! Enjoyable though.

By about 21.30 we were ready for bed. Tomorrow is the Gatwick transfer. Let’s hope the M25 is in a benign mood

Tuesday 27th January 2015

Marlow to Gatwick

I nipped down to the Club Lounge for some coffee and then went back down again to drop some off for Mum.

We agreed to meet for breakfast at around 09.45. Me and Nikki got in and got started before Mum & Dad joined us.

After breakfast me and Nikki went up to the garage in Marlow to get some Nescafe for the trip. We had some down time which I filled with coffee and Sky News.

I went down and got all the cases around Midday and got them stowed in the car for part 2 of the journey. Mum went with Nikki in our car while Dad and I went in theirs. Quite a straight-forward drive down to Gatwick. Few idiots on the road but that’s to be expected.

We pulled in to the car park at the Hampton by Hilton Gatwick North around 13.30. Check in took a while as I’d made a mistake on the online check in. But we got there. We were in 523 and 525. Small lift so we needed to make 2 journeys with the wheel-chairs. Mum and me got the bags in - that took 2 trips as well!

Lunch was in the Starbucks in reception. Handmade baguettes with cheese and pickle - not seen handmade food in a Starbucks before! After lunch Dad went for a nap. Me and Nikki dropped the cars around to Purple Parking at 16.00 and walked back into the North Terminal to find somewhere for dinner. They’re re-doing all the food places on the 1st floor so no luck there. We then caught the mono-rail to the South Terminal but there was nothing much on offer there. Back to the hotel for some down-time.

Me and Mum took the cases around to check-in at around 18.30 while Nikki and Dad had a nap. Straight forward enough and they said if we nipped back with the chairs, they’d get them tagged as well. Luckily the hotel is only 3 or 4 minutes away so we grabbed the chairs (and Nikki) and got that sorted.

Dinner was around 19.30 in the hotel restaurant. Not bad at all. Lasagna (meat or veggie) followed by some pudding with ice-cream - or custard in Dad’s case.

By about 21.30 we were ready for bed. So that was Tuesday

Wednesday 28th January 2015

Gatwick to Marsa Alam

D-Day has arrived. We need to be at the gate by 09.25 with sandwiches and ready for the flight.

Me and Nikki woke up around 06.00 so had some coffee before going down for breakfast. Cereal, toast, coffee and juice.

We decided to take Mum & Dad a tray up to the room so they could eat while getting ready. That proved a good idea!

By 08.05 Mum was knocking on our door saying they were ready. We’d planned for 08.20 so we were ahead of the game.

As we were all checked-in we went straight to security and got through with only a slight delay as Mum had some hand sanitizer in her luggage. Checked in with the Special Assistance and they told us we were at Gate 111 which is over the big bridge - so we headed off that way. Quick stop at Boots for some sandwiches and a paper next door at London News and we were all set. It’s a long walk down there but at least we were on-time.

No problem at the gate. We waited for about 10 minutes before we were told to board. Dad managed the transfer from wheelchair to seat with no problems so we got settled before everyone else got on. Watched Gone Girl on the laptop and kept an eye on the flight routing on the map on the screen in the cabin. Out over Dover, over Germany and down to the top of Italy before heading down the Adriatic and over Greece near Heraklion. We came in over the Egyptian coast and followed the Nile down over Cairo before flying over Marsa Alam and turning to land.

Waited until everyone got off and then the Assistance chap arrived. He wasn’t up to much and I ended up helping everyone off - including another chap in a wheelchair. In arrivals we queued for the visas. On previous trips they’ve cost $15 or £10 so I had my 4 tenners ready. But they’ve now gone up to $25. Worked it out with a mixture of GBP and EGP. Got a porter to help with the luggage and he took us out to the cars the Hilton had sent.

We had 2 cars because of the 2 wheelchairs plus all the luggage. After some loading and unloading the 2 chaps figured it out and off we went. Very humid. The drivers were driving like maniacs so I had to tell ours to slow down. He didn’t speak English but I think the tone of my voice gave him a hint.

At the hotel they dropped us in a car park to the right of the entrance. Then a chap came in a golf buggy for our luggage. I asked how the hell we were supposed to get to reception and he pointed out a path. By the time we got there I was VERY unhappy. When the manager arrived to deal with me, I explained my displeasure! It seems for security reasons they’ve stopped vehicles driving up to the front - but as he said, they should have made an exception for people in wheelchairs.

They then walked us down to our rooms. And I mean - walked. The main reception is on a slight hill while the rooms are in separate buildings grouped around the pools. Very picturesque but a pain to get to. By the time we were all checked in we were all hot and bothered!

A quick shower later and we were ready for dinner. Walked up to the main restaurant and were greeted by loads of staff who showed us everything they had on offer. Loads of choice so we managed to have a pretty good dinner.

We then walked down to the rooms and hit the sack around 21.30!

So Gatwick and the flight went very, very well - the Egyptian side, less so!

Thursday 29th January 2015

Marsa Alam

Nikki & I woke up around 07.30 local time - 05.30 in the UK. Not a bad night’s sleep except I’d had the a/c on quite high!

Coffee on the terrace to start us off. Quite a windy morning but nice to be sat outside in my shorts.

Rang Mum around 09.00 and she said Dad was still asleep so we decided to leave him there.

Me and Nikki went for breakfast. Really good spread and the whole complex looks a lot easier in the daylight.

Came back to the room - which had been cleaned - and called Mum again. Breakfast was finishing at 10.30 and it was now 10.15 so we were worried they’d miss out. I called room service and they said they’d bring breakfast down to their room. We walked up and met them coming in the other direction. Went back to their room and sat on the terrace. Breakfast turned up about 10 minutes later. Excellent spread so we left them munching on the terrace in the sun.

We went down to the beach and sat and had a coffee while watching the world go by. Nice setting and with this being all-inclusive, no money was needed.

Came back up on the golf buggy and decided to get our things ready for a snorkel. Rang reception to get a golf buggy and went back down to the beach. As we arrived, we saw Mum walking up the beach so we sat with her and Dad for a coffee before heading across to the sunbeds.

Got ourselves ready and went for a snorkel. Quite a long shallow bit and then it dropped off very sharply with some amazing fish. Saw thousands of them including a huge puffa fish.

Sat on the sunbeds before going back to the beach restaurant for some lunch. It was a falafel burger with chips in a basket. Really tasty. And we then followed it up with some ice-cream and a coffee.

The golf buggy brought us back up to the room for much needed showers - mostly sand! I had a nap for half an hour while Nikki sat outside.

Dinner was around 19.30 - up in the main restaurant. Fair amount of choice.

Back down in the rooms by 21.30 and ready for bed again!

Friday 30th January 2015

Marsa Alam

Bit more of a lie in this morning. Got up in a bad mood about 08.30 and had coffee in the sun. Weather a bit better today with clear blue skies and feeling warm.

Thought we’d ring Mum & Dad at around 09.30. No answer - so that confused us a bit but within minutes there was a knock at the door and there they were! Nice to see Dad in a t-shirt in the sun.

We called a buggy to take us up to breakfast. Staff are excellent and fussed around us when we arrived. Fruit, cereal, omelette, coffee, juice, toast and we were pretty much done! Mum & Dad were going for a walk and Nikki & I were off for a day by the pool.

Went up to the heated pool but they were playing Euro-trash music while some people did aerobics so we went up to the main pool. Sat on some sunbeds for a while before I went back to the heated pool to see if the music had stopped. It had so we nabbed some beds. Very nice indeed. We went in the pool and used the swim-up bar. Nikki had a cocktail and I had a coffee. Club Tropicana drinks are free!

Stayed on the sunbed listening to some music for a couple of hours before thoughts turned to lunch. Went back to the main pool for a veggie panini with chips, coffee and ice-cream.

After lunch it was back to the pool to relax in the sun.