Egypt is really not the same
I decided to go on vacation to Egypt after a 10 year break. And it just so happened that I went to the same resort, to the same hotel, and even with the same tour operator as in 2004. so I can compare absolutely impartially, because then I liked the rest as a whole. I will not describe everything for a long time, I will say this. after this trip, there is no desire to go there anymore. The service is just terrible in the hotel though itself. the grounds and the beach are just as pretty. dirty towels that are not changed during cleaning, dirty and washed bed linen, dirty tables and tablecloths in the restaurant, flies fly. As before, I left a tip when cleaning, although there was nothing for it, the swans from dirty towels were somehow not impressive. Once there was no change, so I didn’t leave anything - so the room was not cleaned at all. The staff begs baksheesh for everything, which was not observed before. They say that they were spoiled by our majors who throw money like garbage, but then why didn’t I see this in other countries. Folks, why the hell give them money when settling. You paid for this room with meals. still in a travel agency. and now they expect baksheesh from everyone. I don’t need a room with a sea view, I have 200 meters from the door of the room to it, and the pool was generally 30 meters away, even run out of the door and jump into the water. but why on earth should I still pay extra for this, I paid money for the tour for which I could go to Cyprus and the hotels there are much more expensive. Special thanks to the tour operator - not only are the prices for tours much more expensive, inflation has nothing to do with it, prices in dollars have grown and not in hryvnias, although competition has become tougher and they should essentially fall, but the cost of excursions 'pleasantly surprised me' if then I a tour to Cairo and the Giza Valley laid out $ 50, and Luxor cost 40 from a tour operator (Tez tour), now such a tour costs 100 bucks, and Luxor 90, though the guide at the hotel comforted me if I buy something else from excursions, they will give me a discount. I didn’t bother with this either and bought a trip to Luxor for 55 bucks at the usual local travel agency in the city with meals and a good Russian-speaking guide. True, in Luxor they almost forcibly sold me an excursion to a banana island for 10 bucks, which is not included in the basic package, but where is the guarantee that the native tour operator would not have done the same. when I returned to Hurghada I dashed off a complaint about this. another charm of present-day Egypt, eating at the hotel is just a nightmare, how good it is that I took half board and not all inclusive like last time - I had the opportunity to eat normally in the city and not tie myself to the hotel. Otherwise, I don’t know how I would have endured it, this is heaven and earth compared to what was in the same three-ruble note (El Samaka) 10 years ago. someone will say it was necessary to take a better hotel, but the hotel is not the point, many people who stayed at 4 and 5 are also unhappy. The country itself has changed, and not for the better. Moreover, I have traveled to different countries and I can confirm (I have been to 4 and 5) three stars if you follow the rules quite normally, regardless of the country, just without too much glamor. and now many. 4s have become worse than when they were 3s. and finally, I was very pleased with the air carrier (Vetrov Rose) did not want to fly on their flight, everyone who knew me who flew swore at what the light costs - departure delays of several hours are normal for them. But there was no alternative for a suitable date and I had to agree. I flew many times by plane and over longer distances, but here for the first time I seriously feared for my life, every half an hour when it hit turbulence the plane shook so I thought it would be torn apart, the distance between the seats - like in a city minibus. The management of the a-company clearly does not understand that civil aviation is not an area where young people should be given way. A good pilot is an elderly pilot, experience and knowledge are important here like nowhere else, they graduated from the institute and let them fly as an assistant until they fly the required number of hours, but I am not going to trust my life to a young and inexperienced pilot. but I received the most important gift from the carrier when I found out in the evening at the hotel on the eve of departure that I was leaving Hurghada not at 2330 at night, as was provided by the tour, but at 900 in the morning and at 6 in the morning I was obliged to vacate the room. That is, I just stole 1 day for which I paid. and I also planned to soak up half a day on the beach and then go into town and buy souvenirs and exchange the remaining pounds back. as a result, I brought the Egyptian pounds back, because I still managed to buy souvenirs in the morning at the airport before the flight in a hurry, but with an exchange. . . As it turned out, there are no exchangers in the departure area at the airport, only in the arrival area, and this is a separate building, another charm of present-day Egypt. Private money changers who everywhere are full of tearing up such interest that I basically refused to 'give' them money. trying to complain and look for someone to blame for the fact that they stole one day from me and I didn’t have time to change the currency at a bank in the city, I think it’s useless, the tour operator will blame everything on the carrier, and that one on the operator. But I know one thing - I won’t use the services of either one or the other anymore, fortunately I have something to compare with and I’m unlikely to go to Egypt if I wish, everything for which it’s worth going there - the pyramids, the Luxor temples and the Red Sea, I already had seen. By the way, for those who are leaving, if someone needs pounds in Kyiv, I can sell 327 pounds at the internal exchange rate of banks in Egypt, you won’t buy them cheaper there. This is convenient as money for the first time until you change it yourself in the city, so as not to stand at the airport in a huge queue at the exchanger upon arrival, and if you arrive late, it may be closed or not overpay crazy commissions to private money changers. It is better to tip the porter in pounds and food, it will be much cheaper to buy water. pacific-garden@yandex. ru. Yuri