бочка меда с ложкой дегтя!!!...))) a barrel of honey with a fly in the ointment!!!...)))

I just returned from a trip and immediately decided to write my impressions, while they are fresh and there is inspiration)). Traveled with my husband and fourteen year old son. For the first time, everyone managed to escape together on vacation, so they were happy about everything, were in a great mood and tried not to pay attention to minor troubles. Yes, we are not stupid people anyway and we understand that nothing is perfect... especially in Egypt for ridiculous money. Perhaps the most unpleasant thing we had was a camera breakdown at the very beginning of the journey (((, we dreamed of bringing a bunch of videos and photos as a keepsake, but it didn’t work out. The tour company was Pegasus, we read on the Internet that this company often does not do well with its tourists, but we were lucky, nothing terrible happened, the days were not stolen from us, the transfer was comfortable, the hotel guide was normal. The hotel was chosen by Hyatt, it took a long time to choose, but in the end they poked a finger at random... after all, there are such conflicting reviews for every hotel, that it is not realistic to decide. . Apparently, each person judges based on personal tastes, and everyone does not always like the same thing.
We flew from Kyiv to Sharm, the flight was delayed by two hours, but it's not terrible, charter flights are often postponed and delayed, so we were mentally prepared for this, and two hours is not much. The flight itself was wonderful, there were no turbulence at all, pleasant flight attendants, delicious food (only the portions are very tiny - for children).
Upon arrival at the airport, they quickly passed control, even unexpectedly quickly. We were met by representatives of Pegasus, everyone was promptly seated on buses, without overlays. The journey to Taba was about three hours, but it didn’t seem tedious to me, I admired the unusual - the Martian landscape. Such beautiful pink mountains, so unusual!

Settled in the hotel too quickly, no money at the reception did not give.
We really liked the spacious room with balconies, high ceiling like a dome. I was impressed by the large territory of the hotel, it's just a magical oasis in the desert! The whole hotel is buried in exotic greenery, all the architecture is in oriental style, there are many arches, the hotel itself is a lot of cottages of two and three floors, and they are all different, although they are designed in the same style, but thanks to this, the eye does not get tired of monotony. It seemed that we were in a fairy tale "a thousand and one nights" and we would certainly meet the Sultan with his retinue and concubines)).
But first of all we went to the beach. He's just huge! There is enough space for everyone, and the distance between the sunbeds is more than sufficient. How I love clean and sandy beaches! And what a coral reef! I was amazed by the clear water. We saw not only corals and fish swimming in them, but also turtles and rays. On one side of the beach there are mountains, we climbed them from the heart, there are already paths trodden by other tourists. From the top there is a panoramic view of the hotel and the sea - beauty, romance! The opposite shore is close and after sunset you can clearly see the flickering of thousands of lights. There is also a salt water lagoon and a bunch of beautiful pools at different levels on the territory. My husband was glad that there is a lot of things for sports lovers. There was an opportunity to play football, volleyball, do fitness.
Pleasant emotions aroused by the staff. He is trained! Everyone was quite friendly with us. Our wariness quickly passed, because before the trip we read that Russians are not liked there. But it turned out not to be about us. We realized that such reviews are written by those who themselves do not behave very attractively. Some of ours don't even know the most common English phrases. We also, of course, do not know English thoroughly, but we tried to communicate with both the British and the French.

I personally fell in love with this hotel and I want to return there tomorrow! I will recommend to everyone! Well, except for the party-goers, I guess. It is quiet, calm, peaceful, everything for the rest of the soul and body! Sometimes it seems that there is no one in the hotel except you, there is so much space there!
We also decided to go to Israel, but not as a group on an excursion, but once in a lifetime to allow ourselves an individual, calmly, without hurrying anywhere and without shops to see Israel. Having agreed with a local firm in advance on the Internet about all the little things, we hit the road. The worst thing at the very beginning is the passage of the Egyptian-Israeli border. I was probably overly worried, but everything is so serious there, the customs officers have such stern faces, strange questions. Most importantly, we went to the border later than the buses with groups of tourists left, but when we arrived, we realized that we would still stand in line for a long time - the darkness wants to get to the Holy Land. Small children and the elderly are not able to cross the border. Long and dreary moving along the centimeter can go crazy. There is nowhere to sit down, it is impossible to leave.
Some tourists start drinking alcohol out of grief right at the border....Moreover, the customs officers and the upcoming trip to the Holy Land did not discourage them from drinking. Right in front of us in line was a company of six people, so the head of the family kissed right on the neck at the border, not embarrassed by customs officers, and exclaimed that he was going to make wine from water in Jerusalem! Shame! Everyone passed the Egyptian checkpoint quickly and without problems. But with Israeli customs officers, many of whom are young Israeli girls, it didn’t work out quickly. I saw from a distance how long and carefully they literally interrogate every tourist. As if they see a potential danger in everyone. But it's probably right. And they noticed the drinking tourist from afar, it was evident, since he was very loud and, to be honest, already drunk. When this company finally got the turn to check, we thought that this customs torment would soon end. But, as it turned out, not soon... they were interrogated and checked for 1 hour!! ! The queue was already groaning . . , as were we. And what is most interesting, these people were not allowed to enter Israel. Why, I didn’t understand exactly, but they found fault with the passports, they didn’t like something there... I don’t know what exactly. Although I suppose that they personally didn’t like it, because their behavior at the border aroused indignation among everyone. They were deployed... although, if I were the customs officers, I would also have detained them, because something like this began... the man behaved extremely inappropriately - obscenities, screams, screams. I started calling the company by phone (as I found out later, the same one where we booked the tour) and demanded that they immediately contact the head of the Israeli customs and influence him... He yelled that they would let the company go around the world, he had connections... I can only explain such an inadequate decision not by sobriety of mind. I think customs is right when they don't let drunk tourists through. Absurd, in my opinion, what impact can an Egyptian firm have on Israeli customs? I heard that it happens that the Israeli customs can not let you into its territory without explanation...
After these comrades, it seemed to us that they did not check for a long time. Several, in my opinion, strange questions were asked... but in general, everything was fast and not very scary, the wait was worse.

And finally, we got out of the stuffy tunnel . . cheers!! ! Gone! A KIA car with a driver was waiting for us. We thumped into the car with pleasure, stretched our stiff legs and fell asleep! The driver woke us up when we drove up to the Dead Sea, said in Russian: “smoke break”, the tourists apparently taught))). It was already dawn, but it was too early to swim, we wandered a little near the Dead Sea, wet our feet, admired the dawn and drove on. (On the way back we already swam in the sea for two hours). The guide was waiting for us in Jerusalem - Russian emigrant Alexander. He is a good fellow, a very competent guide, a professional in his field, you can immediately see! Probably I won’t describe the whole excursion here, I’ll write a separate review on the excursion later, because there are so many impressions! In principle, we were everywhere, as well as on a group tour, but the guide was only ours, increased comfort, without fussing, slowly saw many Biblical places!