Unexpected tour to Hurghada with surprises
So it turns out that the month of January in our family is full of holidays. This is the New Year, then Christmas, then the birthdays of my sister, wife, my birthday and ends with Epiphany. BUT! There is also the Old New Year. And when, somewhere after Christmas, the body began to resent, and I began to think about how to simply celebrate birthdays without much emphasis on alcoholic drinks, my wife calls and says with joy in her voice that the children have prepared a surprise for us: “in a day we are going for a week in Hurghada, where we will celebrate our birthdays! ". My wife is interested in what to put in a suitcase, I am more interested in where we are going and what is there.
After a few leading questions, the children "split", and it turned out that this is the LiLLyLand 4 * hotel in the south of Hurghada, 18 km from the airport. Further, simply, the study of maps in Google, reviews in several travel sites, pictures and photos on the hotel website.
Reviews vary from "delightful" to "disgusting - a lizard ran across the floor in the room and the towels are not dazzlingly white. " I was glad that the hotel has a reef with living creatures and corals in the sea, that there is a large green and well-groomed area, the rest is not important. My wife was pleased that the departure and arrival in Zaporizhzhia, no need to contact additionally with transfers, the children will be taken to the airport and picked up after arrival. In general, I suggested taking warm clothes in the car and flying light. They didn't listen to me and they were right.
So, documents on hand, greens in the wallet, whiskey and Spanish Muscatel in the suitcase (birthdays, after all! ). Tour operator "JOIN UP", departing by Boeing 15.01. 14 at 13-35 from Zaporozhye, we return from Hurghada on 22.01. 14 (departure from there at 08-50). It’s a little embarrassing that he’s been sneaking for 1.5 days, but ...“they don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”; if I had prepared the trip myself, I would have looked for an early flight to Hurghada and a later flight from Hurghada.
By the way, I suggest that tourists pay attention to these things when buying tickets.
And here is the day of departure, which is also the birthday of his wife, she has calls with congratulations in the morning, flowers are brought, by 11-00 the youngest son arrived with a cake, drank tea with him (both with his son and with cake). My wife dreams that in the evening we will continue the banquet under the palm trees. But for now, luggage in the car and to the airport for check-in and departure.
The airport in Zaporozhye is small, the dressing room in front of the registration desk is small, and a lot of people have already crowded there, in addition to Zaporizhzhya tourists and their mourners, they brought more people from Dnepropetrovsk. What a combined charter! The son left, as a lot of cases, and we are waiting for further. They are silent about registration, even though it is already time, but it is announced that the plane's arrival from Hurghada is delayed by two hours. Then two more! In short, at 17-00, registration and all checks were expedited, and at 18-00 our liner began to taxi to take off to Hurghada.
Here is the first surprise! They tried to find out the reasons for the delays, but it's pointless, someone said that the delay was still from Kyiv. UIA charter scheme - Kyiv-Hurghada-Zaporozhye-Hurghada-Kyiv. Somewhere they slowed down and everything shifted.
The second surprise is row 28, which we got on this plane. This is the row that is in front of the emergency hatch and it is narrower, which is different from row 29, in front of which at least dance. Guys and not only, size after 54 and tall, be careful! Otherwise, you will suffer, in my case, 3 hours of flight. I even offered the stewardess to switch places (she was sitting next to me on a folding chair near the hatch). I don’t know, maybe UIA shoved extra rows during the repair of this liner, or bought it from the Chinese. But ...we flew safely, but not at 16-30, as it should be, but at 21-30. I describe thoroughly so that those who travel for the first time do not get into misunderstandings that tour operators are silent about in their memos.
The host from "JoinUp" in Hurghada - "Flash Tour", its representatives organized a meeting at the airport and transfer to hotels.
And now, according to a memo from the tour operator, tourists were offered to purchase a visa for $17, which was supposed to “speed up the process of going through passport control, since they would not have to wait a long time in line, and the staff would fill out an immigration card for them. ” In fact, the entire crowd from the plane rushed to these employees. Formed two long lines to them to pay $ 17 each. And there was no one in the windows of the bank, we calmly approached, paid for visas for $ 15, they glued them to us. Then we approached this crowd, loudly asked for immigration cards to be handed over to us, we filled them out and were one of the first to pass passport control without hassle. And there, in the crowd, the employees did not have change, they were paid $ 20 without change. Here is such a service! Tourists, don't be fooled! !
We boarded buses and arrived at LiLLyLand around 23:00.
We were greeted with glasses of soft drinks, went to the reception. A company has already formed near us, people have not yet traveled abroad, so again I am an expert. They ask - they were recommended to "give"; I say, do not rush, see what they offer without “give”. They did not listen, they invested $ 20, but our rooms were not far away in the same building and were no different. They scattered things. You should eat. Sandwiches thrown into the mouth, coffee offered by UIA in the form of compensation for the flight delay, and the plane lunch have already been safely dissolved in the stomach. But ...we have information about a late dinner after 23-00 at the Karnak restaurant. Need to find! We went out into the territory, the night is fragrant with blooming jasmine, the paths are illuminated, but it is not known where to go. Somewhere in the distance we see a man from the servants, they explained with difficulty (I had an Egyptian pound from the last time, it turned out to be easier to understand what we want with it).
Dinner was normal for me, edible, coffee, tea tolerable. We walked back through the territory, it is actually very large, flowers, shrubs, and I noticed - there is no wind, it is warm, usually a cold wind at night, and I took off my sports jacket. What is not a surprise? ! We sorted out the luggage, I found my bottle of whiskey, "drank" with my wife a little for her birthday and fell asleep. This is how my wife's birthday was celebrated.
Morning of the next day. On arrival, I always check the condition of the housing in which I will live (plumbing, electrics, air conditioning, etc. ). Already in the evening it turned out that when taking a shower, water splashes anywhere, but not through the shower screen. It turns out that in the bathroom there is a puddle of water from the washbasin (the siphon is flowing, because it is clogged). I catch a rumba, show it all, my wife adds that there is almost no liquid soap in the dispensers. Here appeared, as I understand it, the senior in the corps, I repeat, I ask you to fix the problems and leave for breakfast.
Directly to housing. We got room 535 in the first building next to the reception. It is two-story, it is called King Tut (in Egypt, this pharaoh is chasing me, before that I had a rest in the hotel of the same name more than once). A nice green courtyard inside the building, we are on the first floor, there is a verandah, there is a table, an armchair, another front garden with interesting trees and bushes, a room of at least 25 sq. m, a huge bed, another single bed, a table, armchairs, a dressing table. There will be a photo of the room. It suits me, my wife is delighted that the jasmine bush is near the balcony. I’ll write right away that the building is already a little old, it needs some cosmetic, and some more serious repairs, but it’s clean, during the rest I saw, somewhere they change the tiles, somewhere they tint something in the building, in short, work is going on. For picky people, and I consider myself one of them, it's quite normal. I give it a hard four.
I'm going to breakfast.
What was in the dark now flaunts in the sunlight - a sea of flowers, palm trees, bushes of various colors, paths are washed, everything is watered. I tried to walk on the grass, real turf, not English, but still. Orange trees in fruit. In short, for the territory - excellent. Electric cars drive around the territory, carry tourists and more.
Breakfast in the restaurant "Karnak" is similar to European with oriental notes. Hard-boiled eggs, poached, simple scrambled eggs, with fillers, fried eggs, fried eggs, talker. Next - ham, boiled sausage. Vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, chopped separately and in a salad). Fills nearby. Cheeses of two types, feta cheese. Various pastries, croissants, fried pancakes and pancakes. To them honey, syrups, jam. Tea bags, coffee, several types of juices (not fresh). Fresh separately, for money during the day in a stall. Schaub I so lived at home!
I did not understand why in the reports on this hotel I saw dissatisfaction with the scarcity of food.
Feeling drowsy from the food taken, we go back to the building, see what has been done and removed, and make a decision whether to change the room or not. The room is torn, everything is clean, the shower and washbasin are in order. On the bed, a large heart decorated with flowers is laid out of towels, “my neck” (wife) is softened, she says - we stay. I started to get ready for the beach, and I went out to listen to what the guide from the host company would talk about. Naturally, in addition to the necessary information, there were many fears and horror stories from him about extraneous excursions and walks, from shopping in private shops in Hurghada, and at the end of the sermon he handed out an amazing paper that had to be signed. And many people signed it. Somehow it turned out that there were a lot of gullible newcomers in this race.
I will quote - “we are notified that in case of unpleasant situations, deceit, a fine, deportation as a result of walking around the city without a voucher, purchasing excursions without vouchers on the beach, from representatives of street agencies, as well as from guides of other companies, the host company and the insurance The company is not responsible for us. Signature, date. Further “We will move around Egypt only…. indicate which excursions from the host company. Again, signatures.
Sea beach. Here we are at sea. A huge lagoon, sand, in some places at the entrance to the sea small pebbles. Quite a gentle entrance to the lagoon, it is convenient for children to swim, watch them too. In the center of the lagoon, the depth is about 2.5 meters. On the shore there are umbrellas covered with palm leaves, fences, trestle beds that reminded me of the beaches of the Soviet Sochi and Yalta (not deck chairs! ), The service staff lays out mattresses.
Towels are taken on cards near the outdoor pool, which is not far away, but no one bathes in it, everyone needs the sea. In the center of the lagoon there is an artificial island, I think that in warm weather there are also discos. In the distance there are bridges for swimming in coral reefs, coral reefs are quite good, there is both flora and fauna. I met a turtle, a Napoleon fish swam up (there was nothing to feed), "Picasso", as well as the rest of the coral trifle. Near the stairs to the sea, people saw a small gray moray eel, it did not seem to me. In short, snorkeling can be done, but of course, these reefs are not for connoisseurs of this business, but for beginners and just swim in the corals will do. In the Aqua Club you can rent both fins and a mask with a snorkel, when I asked if they organize trips to Sharm el-Naga (coral reserve), then you could go there for $ 40.
The water temperature in the lagoon was 22-23 degrees, in the sea - 25-26 degrees, air in the shade 23-26 degrees. There were no cold winds from the desert, one day there was a strong wind, but from the sea, I did not even dare to go down to the corals, so as not to be thrown at them by a wave. The red flag hung all the time, even if it was calm, even if there was a wave, most likely they forgot about it.
Nutrition. Organized in the restaurants "Karnak" (breakfasts, dinners, late dinners) and "Neptune" (lunches), in addition, you can have a bite on the beach, drinks and drinks in the "Aqua bar", a bar on the beach, in the Lobby bar - around the clock. Two A la Carte restaurants (Italian and Chinese) - once per check-in for free, French Bistro restaurant - for money. We tried to go to an Italian restaurant, the food is the same as in the main restaurant, only with an order and a waiter. Didn't see the point!
Themed evenings were organized - "Egyptian night", "Italian notes", a seafood evening; on Saturday lunch was organized on the beach with various goodies, like a goat on a spit, chicken according to Arabic recipes, something similar to paella, etc. I really liked the tuna, marinated and grilled. I don't really like fish, but this one was more like a tender chicken. During the days of eating at the hotel, I never repeated my diet. There was a lot of everything - both beef and chicken, and various fish. Potatoes - french fries, mashed potatoes, boiled; raw, baked, canned vegetables (both fresh and spicy); several varieties of rice, pasta, pasta, beef broth, a number of additives - from crackers to all kinds of vegetables, even cook borscht. And of course pastries, cakes, etc. , fruits - dates, oranges, apples, melons. You can still list and list, but it's time to stop.
As for drinking - Egyptian alcoholic drinks are “not a fountain”, having tried what the bars offered, I settled on their brandy, it was still possible to drink it, women completely refused their wines, preferred cocktails, Sphinx beer is light, very good, cola you can drink. And the last thing - it so happened that in addition to our birthdays with my wife, another guy from our group has 16.01. 14 was a birthday. Honors were ordered through the reception. This is a cake, songs and dances of local staff, our alcohol, which we brought; The beginning was in the restaurant, gradually moved to the Lobby bar, dispersed well after midnight.
In the morning, a surprise again - while sleeping after libations, in the bathroom for a couple of centimeters of water all over the floor. I was about to call the reception, my wife screams, the hot water broke and the water gushed like a fountain (the flexible hose from the bidet was torn off). I open the door, stands in a rumba, I say - turn off the water, but he does not know where.
In short, noise, din, they found a plumber, put everything in order. The water didn’t joke with us anymore before we left, but every day a person came and checked the bathroom.
For security. In the city of Hurghada, everything is calm, although I noticed that there are still fewer tourists than in previous years, the hotel is half empty, maybe because the bungalows are empty because there are enough places in the buildings. One evening we decided to go to the Sonesta Pharaoh Hotel, where my daughter-in-law and granddaughter were resting, this is a kilometer from our hotel. We were asked for a long time at the entrance to the hotel what we wanted, contacted the head of security, took our passports and was allowed only to the reception. There we contacted the daughter-in-law by phone, could not get in touch, left a note and returned back. We were not allowed into the territory of the Sonesta. It was the same when the next day the daughter-in-law brought her granddaughter to us. Also check at the entrance to the hotel, communicate only at the reception.
Previously, I went into the territory of other people's hotels and they came to me, that is, the security was strengthened.
I was not interested in shopping, enough souvenirs were brought from past trips. There is a shopping center on site, prices are expensive, there is a second shopping center at the entrance, prices are fixed, you can’t bargain.
The water park is not bad, in the afternoon young people and children move there, the water in the pool is warm, another large pool for the water park is being built nearby, which, I think, will be ready for the high season. New buildings are being completed there, an alley of Karnatic sheep is being reconstructed from the entrance (those who were in Luxor, I understand, there will be a photo).
Animation - the guys are trying very hard, from 10-00 with a crowing of a rooster, entertainment on the beach begins - exercises, yoga, water games, learning salsa and tango and do not stop until lunch. In the evening there is entertainment for children, on the territory there are playgrounds and a kids club.
Later theme evenings for adults - Arabic dances, Mr. Hotel, fakir tricks, snake shows. The animation is excellent.
I won’t say anything about the quality of the bungalow, I didn’t look there.
And here is the last day of rest in this "Land of Lilies" (I translated this way, maybe Lilly, I'm not sure). Everyone is happy, but everyone thinks that it is not enough. At night, the norm is 7 nights, days - only five. In the evening, the announcement - departure from the airport at 08-50, the bus to the airport will be at 04-30, which means that you need to get up at 4 am. It is not clear why the reserve is four hours, then they understood. Request at the reception to wake us up, the last sips of alcohol in the Lobby bar and on the side. Caring guys started to wake us up already at half past three, at 4-00 a man knocked on the door for luggage, we were at the reception on time, managed to drink coffee with local brandy (I remind you, the lobby bar is open around the clock), got on the bus, and went to collect people from other hotels. And it became clear why such a reserve.
For the unorganized: in one hotel a couple of those who were delayed were expected, in another also, and most importantly, the host party at the sweet shop “gave us” half an hour, all of a sudden someone forgot to buy Turkish delight or halva. And this is instead of an extra half an hour of morning sleep. But ...we are already at the airport, we have passed the registration, we are waiting for the plane and landing, we are wandering around the Duty Free. It seemed to me that the prices in it rose both for alcohol and for perfumes. In the kiosk where I last bought the Red Sea photo album for $4 (luxury edition), it is already on sale for $10. But ...they are called to board the plane. The last steps under the already well-heated Hurghada or Hurghada air, we learn from the stewardess that in Ukraine frosts are up to 15 degrees. Takeoff to applause, this time the chair is normal, we fly, eat, drink some water. 10 minutes before landing, it turns out that neither Zaporozhye nor Dnepropetrovsk want to see us because of weather conditions, and we fly to Kyiv. Surprise!
And there - minus 15 degrees, and almost everyone is lightly dressed. My proposal to go to the Maidan, where heaps of warm clothes and food, did not inspire anyone, turned out to be in the minority. Here I remembered that I wanted to leave my jackets in the car at all.
We arrive, trot across to the bus, then - passport control. Wrapped up in a purchased Egyptian scarf, my wife is at the inspector under suspicion that I brought an Egyptian instead of my wife. Several times I had to say that “I carry everything with me back and forth”, Gulchatay opened her face and let us through.
After receiving the luggage, UIA representatives said that how we would be delivered to the destination point would be decided after 16-00, and we would have to transfer by free shuttle to terminal B (domestic lines). The terminal has a cafe, vending machines with tea and coffee, but the prices are hefty. So a small bottle of mineral water without gas -20 hryvnia, coffee in the machine -10 hryvnia.
But UIA did not leave us, they gave out coupons for 75 hryvnias - in a cafe this was enough for a small bowl of borscht (horror as you wanted! ) And a chicken chop without a side dish. For everything else (garnish, salad and a glass of tea) paid extra. At 17-00 we decided, because Zaporozhye still does not want to see us, we fly to Dnepropetrovsk, we wait until 19-30 for the flight, then we will be taken to Zaporozhye by buses. I thought that if the Dnieper did not accept us, maybe they would send a plane to Kharkiv or Donetsk to fly all over Ukraine at the expense of UIA (I didn’t think about Lviv! ).
But we are registering for the Dnieper, everything is fine so far, the plane flies for 40 minutes, the luggage is unloaded for about an hour, and now we are already going by bus home to Zaporozhye. But, as you understand, another surprise! We are not driving along the Dn-sk-Zaporozhye highway further to the airport through the city, but along the Moscow highway to the airport in Zaporozhye, bypassing the city. And that's about an hour longer.
Unsuccessful charters, cheating tourists with unnecessary services with visas, impudently imposing their own excursions, etc.
3. The UIA company fulfilled its flight duties by delivering people to where it took them from, i. e. to Zaporozhye. But how did the airport receive us in Zaporozhye? Probably, they could call the airport management that people are coming and they need to be received. I do not envy those who had a rest from the districts of the region and found themselves in such a situation. And I wonder how they treated the tourists in Hurghada, who were waiting for the arrival of our plane!
That's the whole report, those who wish can count the number of surprises!
