1. HOT and sunny in Egypt!

After a fairly civilised,  but still quite early, departure, I made it to the airport with out any issues. Got my car parked, got the bus and got delivered to departures. Bags dropped (well within weight limit this time), I made my way to security. Once there, I was lucky enough to get selected for a random pat down, search and sampling for explosives. This then meant all of my bags got searched too. It was particularly good be I had paid for a wheelie hand luggage bag to avoid carrying too much weight and had a smaller rucksack with me. There was something in the big case that the X-ray machine wasn’t happy with.

Security man: Have you got any prohibited items in here?

Me: No (at this point wondering about exactly what counts as prohibited but thinking it’s probably not the moment to ask).

SM: Have you been given anything by anyone else and asked to carry it though?

Me: No (I chose not to tell him that the dive company we’re doing our boat trip with have sent me some first aid stuff and various bits they can’t get in Egypt so rely on kind guests to bring out with them from the UK. And that I’ve got all of that heading to the hold of the plane anyway!)

SM: Any liquids?

Me: only the ones in that clear plastic bag there (there will almost certainly be a couple of loose lip balms knocking about too but I’ll leave them unmentioned as a fun game)

SM: any iPads or tablets?

Me: only that one that I’ve already got out and put in the tray there.

SM: anything else that might show as liquid?

Me: (genuinely not sure I have got anything else as my water bottle and tea cup are both empty and out already). Erm … I’ve got a tuna a roll. Is that ok? (Now feeling slightly worried that my roll is about to be confiscated)

SM: (rummages about and extracts my roll) this? No, that’s fine.

Me: There’s another one there too (thinking I’m almost certainly going to have the food removed and will have no other option except to buy myself an airport breakfast).

SM: Tuna rolls are allowed

Me: oh good because that’s my breakfast and lunch

After some raised eyebrows, he swabbed everything else in a search for explosive residue - which he didn’t find any of, you’ll be pleased to hear! He eventually allowed me through once I’d repacked everything and still grasping my tuna rolls. I decided to go and buy myself an airport breakfast anyway to recover from the stress of it all! Once I was settled, Liz arrived too and we waited for our flight. As part of my breakfast, I got refillable hot drinks - the price for which is £3.25. Absolutely scandalous given the tiny cup they gave you. I got my money’s worth as I had two lattes, a tea, refilled my tea flask with tea for the plane and then got Liz a coffee once she arrived. Others around were partaking in what is obviously another airport ‘tradition’ of getting drunk pre-flight. By 9.25am the couple next to us had got through 2 double G+Ts for her and two pints for him. Pretty sure they weren’t part of a refillable deal!

As boarding began, we got to go on first because Liz is a wheelchair user so gets proper special assistance. Obviously as soon as the boarding call was made for special assistance, all the excitable tourists leapt up and stood everywhere blocking the way to the door and then had to be moved aside by the ground crew to make way. They’ve all got allocated seats and paid for the bags they’re taking so there will be room for it all. Why the rush? We all regretted the rush after we were then delayed and sat on the plane for almost 2 hours before we took off. The cabin crew seemed to find this something worthy of extreme amounts of moaning and drama about how long they’d been working already, a couple swapped out with new staff so as to avoid going over legal working times etc. They remained exhausted and full of drama throughout the 5 hour flight so decided they would only do one drinks/food service for the entire flight. They later said they couldn’t do another one because they were just too tired. They had to all stand up the front and moan and chat continuously for the other 3 hours. So 7 hours on a plane with only one drink was actually quite rubbish. A lot of people were asking for water, which they were given begrudgingly amid more moaning and drama about tiredness. It was lucky I had my full tea flask and but bottle of water (I’d also got from the Spoons refill station, which had drinking water) with added squash!

We finally arrived to our hotel about 11pm, after a little bit of drama where no one know where it was - including the driver who had been booked a week previously and given the name and address as part of the booking. He attempted to leave us at a random apartment block with a large flight of stairs to get to the door. Once we’d phoned the hotel, we located it back down the bumpy road we’d come up. The man drove the bags down there and then left Liz and I to talk (or wheel!) back down. Not ideal but we made it. The hotel is fully wheelchair accessible, the management proudly confirmed when we checked. There is only one big step in to the main door, a small step on to the terrace, two big steps down to the rooms then a step into the room and also a massive raised threshold between the bedroom and bathroom. Fortunately, Liz is exceptionally able and proficient in her chair and used to and tolerant of the definitions of ‘accessibility’ that some countries have!

Anyway, we managed to locate the hotel that we go to for breakfast, had a coffee (smoothie for me) and have got a kettle and fridge in our room for delicious tea making. Today is to be a day by the pool and on the little beach in front for book reading, trying to stay cool in the 38° Egyptian sunshine and general relaxation!

*****

Turns out staying cool is quite tricky; the breeze off the sea is quite pleasant but when the direction changes, the wind that blew along the land first was roasting. It was a relief whenever the wind dropped. I would liken it to being blasted with a hairdryer on continuous full heat. It would be excellent for drying ones washing really quickly but is less enjoyable to sit in. I think it was a bit like how a fan oven works. I had to go in the sea to cool down a couple of times - I flopped about in the shallows. Liz is terribly brave so she went right out of her depth and swam up and down. I kept a sharp eye out for shark fins in case I needed to perform a rescue (from the safety of the side of the rocks with a life ring obviously - I wouldn’t have been diving in out of my depth. I’m not mad!).

We are just enjoying a delicious cup of tea - Liz is enjoying having her photo taken. This evening will be dinner and drinks somewhere then to bed then a midday collection for the long drive to the port for our boat trip!