Changing Hotels

Dec 8, Saturday – Switching Hotels Sharm el Sheikh

I was so exhausted and sore from two long, early and days of travelling that all I wanted to do on Saturday was rest, but it was time to switch hotels. I was glad of this as well, as I’d had enough of the environment and people. Before I left I took a taxi trip to the Post Office to mail some things off…..that was quite an excursion with a taxi driver who ripped me off, but a lesson well learned, so much so that I’ve been avoiding taxi’s ever since. (Except for the one who brought me to my new hotel.)

My new hotel is fabulous…a five star resort, actually, courtesy of an exchange with my time share in Mexico…at last I am able to use that dumb purchase to my advantage. I have a heated pool just outside my patio doors and down a small hill. The place reminds me so totally of the one in Puerto Vallarta with all the complexes, pools, restaurants, walkways, etc. I’m about as far back in a corner as one can get from the main hotel and reception area, but the 1 km walk (one way) is good for me. I’m also within a ten minute walking distance of the major shops and restaurants, where I hear there are some much better prices for meals than here in the hotel. I’ll be more adventurous later in the week. Tonight I head off for a Bedouin dinner and on Wednesday I will be in Luxor. The time is going so quickly.

I was going to go to Jerusalem…thinking I had a great deal at $150 US for a round trip, but it turned out that it was a bus trip, not a flight. Apparently no flights are allowed into Jerusalem from Egypt (and perhaps other countries too, I don’t know.) Any way, I managed to get my money back. There was no way I was going to do a 6 hour bus ride (one way) to Jerusalem, nor spend an entire 22 hours touring about on a bus. It just wasn’t worth it to me. (Next time I’ll make sure of the mode of transport….the tour operator just assumed I knew there were no flights to Israel.)

I decided to go on the glass-bottomed boat tour and the Luxor tour instead.

I have one of those chamber guys who likes to design things with towels and flowers. Luckily, I have twin beds in my room, so I slept in the other one last night. I never know what to do with the stuff and it's a real pain dismantling them....I realize they are trying to get tips, and they are impressive, but I wish they would be around to get rid of them too.