1. Egypt: child care, taxi negotiations & the ocean’s finest!

My first experience of Luton airport was quite favourable - cheaper parking than Gatwick and also the ‘new’ rule where you don’t have to get your liquids or anything out of your bag anymore. Seems to just be Heathrow we haven’t modernised to that system yet! After a deliciously overpriced airport breakfast, I persuaded the waitress to fill my flask with boiling water, despite her confusion at the request and of course then set about adding my own teabag and milk sachet. Much better than paying the outrageous £3.55 they wanted to charge for a tea. Then I went to WHSmith and purchased a small packet of hula hoops for £2.79, which of course seemed terribly reasonable!

Good news for England’s teachers, I’m fairly sure the majority of the country’s kids were at the airport and on my flight, bunking off the final week of school. When I first got on, in my excellently diving themed Christmas jumper, the plan was quiet. But it soon filled up! My seat row flight companions were a mum with her 1yr old and 3rd old. I was filled with impending horror when they sat down but they were actually incredibly well behaved and polite kids. Just as well since the mum mostly slept through the flight! The older boy had a tablet and some headphones and it started well. When he decided then to share with his brother, the headphones were removed so we could all enjoy 3 repetitive hours of dreadful cartoons complete with songs. The Mum woke up long enough to hand them both a little bag of popcorn, which they proceeded to eat, drop everywhere then cough, mouths open, and splatter everything in range with small projectile popcorn pieces. A friend of the family who was further up the plane with her daughter visited us often and leant over me and talked to the mum she’d rouse awake. I learnt that she has a nasty nerve condition and struggles with the pain of sitting still. She had also packed all her painkillers & medication into her hold baggage (absolute madness - what a huge rookie error!). I  packed her back off down the aisle with a couple each of paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Mid-flight, the air stewards brought round the landing cards that Egypt require as part of their ‘pay cash for a visa on entry’ scam. No one around me had a pen - not one between any of them! I lent mine to the lady next to me, who then lent it to the friend with the nerve pain, and I supplied a second pen to the other family across the aisle from me too. I bet these people don’t even travel with tea bags or their own set of cutlery either! What on earth have they all packed in the wheelie cases they all haul onto the plane? I’ve got enough in my hand-luggage to live almost self-sufficiently for a minimum of 3 days.

On arrival at the airport, I found my best laid plans of pre booking a hotel airport shuttle didn’t work out so I had to haggle and argue with the group of fairly horrid Egyptian taxi drivers that congregate in packs by the airport exit then verbally attack and hassle any non-Muslim white women who aren’t at least travelling with a man. I knew a bit better how to cope and stubbornly stuck to what I was willing to pay (and also the denomination of note I had!) for a fare in English pounds, as I know they are worth more to them than euros or their own currency out here! It worked out despite the classically hair raising, often not-quite-death-defying driving that the Egyptians partake in. This still includes keeping their headlights off almost all the time due the widely held but entirely incorrect belief that headlights on, while driving, wear the car batteries out (despite campaigns to educate to the contrary on this matter from the government). Nonetheless, I made it to my hotel. The manager at the desk was so terribly sorry my pick up didn’t materialise that he gave me a complimentary late checkout,which I’m thrilled about as my pick up for my boat isn’t until 3pm. He also congratulated himself endlessly on how he’d picked me an ‘excellent view’ room and proudly showed me how the balcony overlooks the pool and sea. I exclaimed at how pretty it was and decided it was best not to rock the boat by reminding him that I had opted for that view option when I’d booked and even paid the marginally additional price to have it! I told him he was terribly kind but did let him leave without a tip since I’d already reassured him I could make it to my room independently.

Once at my hotel, I had a lovely dinner then the following day by the pool, which was made even better when I realised the buffet breakfast was included in the room price and some feathered friends joined me (when I fed them a bit of my pastry!).

After some time by the pool, I was collected and delivered to my boat, The Ghazala Adventurer. If full, it can have 24 divers but there are just 15 of us this week (with 17 crew!!) so it’s a nice group and lots of space. My single cabin is bigger than most twin cabins I’ve been in and the bathroom is easily bigger than my little single cabin I’ve had on some boats! This boat is 6 months old and has been really well designed for space and diving comfort. Of the 15 divers , 2 are a couple, 2 are a pair of friends and the rest of us are all travelling solo so they’re all chatty and friendly.

Today (Wednesday) is our second day of diving and first full day. We’ve already been to some great places and the pretties have been about in abundance. Some of the ocean’s absolute very best of treats joined us on our very first dive. The internet and WiFi is dreadful - and apparently it’s the best today that it will be all week - so I haven’t managed to label the fishes for you, Mum. You can ask me about all their names on my return! I suspect you will be able to identify the ones in here which I think were the most exciting of dive marine companions even without a label! …. I shall return with instalment 2 at the end of my trip once I’m back to the hotel and stronger WiFi but for now, I shall leave you with these …