Return to Cairo

Our airport pick up was scheduled for 7.15 this morning so I set my alarm for 6.15 to give us plenty of time to do the last minute packing and get ready. Imagine, then, how annoyed we were when the hotel gave us a wake-up call 📞 at 4.15am!!! We explained that they were too early and tried to get back to sleep 😴. Just as we were nodding off, there was a loud knock at the door! It was the guy coming to collect our cases! It was still only 4 31am!!! Mark was as polite as he could be under the circumstances 😂

It took us ages to get back to sleep but we must have managed it eventually as we got a rude awakening when our alarm ⏰ went off at the correct time!

We quickly got ready. We were too early for the hotel breakfast so we tried, for the first time, to make a coffee using the kettle in our room. This is when we discovered it didn't work!! 😂

We took our cases down to reception at just before 7. The guy there was apologetic for waking us up early, but showed us his list to prove he was just doing as he was told 😀. It's no big deal - if that's the worst thing that happens on this trip, we'll be happy.

Our transport to the airport arrived just 4 minutes late. Nabil had just messaged to check they had arrived. How good is that? He's not even our guide anymore!

The hotel insisted on giving us huge breakfast bags. We left them with the transfer driver!

Hurghada airport is only 20 minutes from the hotel so we were there in plenty of time for our 8.40 flight. It turns out that today is orthodox Christmas not yesterday as I had thought - so we still had wall-to-wall Christmas music throughout the airport!

Once we were airside, we had time for a very welcome coffee ☕ before boarding. The plane was an ATR 72-600 - a smallish propeller plane- which Mark delighted in telling me was the same model that we aquaplaned in when we landed in Koh Samui many years ago 😂. Luckily, today was very dry and the flight passed without incident.

At Cairo, we were met by Osema, the same guy who met us off our flight ✈ from Athens. He made sure we got to our transfer transport quickly and easily. Then, it was a matter of a 45-minute drive back to the Oasis Hotel. This time, we were making the journey in daylight so were able to see all the sights of Cairo city.

It was nice to get back at the Oasis. Romani explained the programme for the next couple of days and we asked him to arrange a couple of extra things for us - the sound and light show at the Pyramids, and a day trip to Alexandria.

During the afternoon he organised both of these while we had something to eat by the pool and I finished my Florence Nightingale book (a brilliant read!)

Sorry about the quality of these photos 📸. Most of them were taken through a dirty window!Read more