Our Breakaway To Hurghada (Red Sea) in Egypt

[2006-08-31] Our RYA sailing course was cancelled at the last minute, so we booked a last minute trip to Hurghada, on the Red Sea in Egypt. We snorkelled, scuba dived, quad biked and visited Luxor including Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple.

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This was the first "last-minute" all-in booking that we've made. And we can see what the fuss is about. We'd booked a week from 28/08 until 05/09 in 2006 through a Dutch online travel agency, Sky International, at the Hilton Hurghada Long Beach in Egypt.

The Hilton has a five-star rating, but the rating system in Egypt isn't the same as in other places. A five-star hotel in Egypt is more like a 3-star hotel in Europe. Our room was clean, looked like what you'd expect a hotel room to look like, but the bathroom was really tired.

Sky International has got Dutch-speaking Egyptian guides who give all newcomers a briefing about Egypt and the various day tours that can be enjoyed. We'd agreed beforehand to enjoy a typical sun holiday, lying by the pool, soaking up the sun, and just relaxing. Well, after our briefing, it was impossible. We're in Egypt right? Why not make the most of it?

So we booked a day's snorkelling, a refresher course in scuba diving (it had been five years since our last dive), quad biking in the desert and a bus trip to Luxor, to see the Valley of the Kings. And we're very happy with our choices.

The scuba diving was fab, with the second dive being better than the first (once the nerves had settled down). The visibility was amazing, but the water is much saltier than in South Africa (where we earned our stripes). My dry mouth missed the apple lollipops that our SA divemasters used to give us. We did learn that sucking a lime is excellent for curing sea-sickness.

For a more relaxing time in the water, nothing beats snorkelling. You don't have to worry about the bends or running out of time (or air) and you can swim at your own pace. Putting suntan lotion on regularly is essential. With the water trickling over your back, you don't feel yourself burning.

Oh yes, a tip ... we're avid fans of SPF 30 waterproof suntan lotion. But, on our second last day, we decided to try the suntan oil option. We'd figured that the lilly-white skins that had taken on a golden hue were ready for a deeper tan. The bottle said it was 30 SPF, so we thought, "Cool!". Not a good idea, we came home looking and feeling like boiled lobsters.

Through our various day-trips, we visited different hotels and were quite shocked with the hygiene in some of them, especially their outdoor non-public ablution areas.

It was fun seeing camels up close, not too close, because they can get very cranky. It was less fun watching European ladies trying to pull off teensy bathing suits that Muslim men were scoffing at.

Our bus trip to see King Tut's grave was long (4,5 hour trip) but it was amazing to see the desert and the odd oasis. It was quite a surprise to see how small the bedouin people are. But it seemed sad that tourism had converted their way of life to apparent begging. We were also warned about the local merchants who try to peddle their wares on you, while you're walking from the bus. Just keep your wits about you!

The security was quite a big issue. We were escorted everywhere we went, sometimes with armed guard. Tousling between thinking it's a good thing, but actually it's a bad thing, we decided that we'd rather stay alive, so we welcomed the rituals of drivers handing over ID-cards and retrieving them when they left again.

Our highlights were the sun, the turqoiuse water, friendly, relaxed people, riding a camel in the desert (#15 on my list of things to do before I die), riding a quad bike for the first time and seeing the Valley of the Kings. Didn't Karnak Temple feature in one of the James Bond movies? And remembering our dusty scuba diving skills was like saying hello to a dear, old friend.

© Written for Tours and Tales by Marcel and Victoria Koning (Marvic). We promote responsible tourism and love nature and wildlife, discovering new places and different cultures.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." ~ Lao Tzu