New guy here but many experiences

[LAman]

Hi Guys,
  Stumbled in here but always have an ear for experiences of others.

[Johnny2009]

Hi

I am also quite new to this forum, and looking forward to sharing a few stories to. Also its great to debate with people with things in common, and also with different opinions.

Take it easy!

[Shadow]

Welcome, and keep stumbling around.

There are basic sections to read, and if you are already buzzing with where to start, you might buy the e-book and get the shortcut.

[Gator]

Welcome Johnny2009 and LAman   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Johnny, I see that you are married.  Congratulations!  We have many married members here and just one sex tourist disguised as a cautious seeker.  More important, we are an extremly diverse group of personalities, which makes for some interesting discussion. 

There are many serious men taking their first steps and they could use some advice and encouragement.

LAman, what's happening with you?

[LAman]

Hey Johnny2009...yes, it is great to share stories...the good, the bad and the utter bitter tasting ugly!!!!
 I do have my opinions on things but I know there is no right or wrong...only my way and your way!!!

Hey Shadow...I will stumble around a bit and hope not to fall on my face!!! ;-))  Just checking things out for now.

Hey Gator... Wat's happening.....well next month it is back to ukraine for my, let's see, 8th tour of duty ;-)) .
I am actually meeting with the GF for our third time and will spend a week in Sharm el Sheikh relaxing out on the Red Sea. My way is to take things slow with girls.....
Main thing I have learned is to concentrate in an area( mine is Odessa and Chisinau) make friends there and not to be seen as a foreigner.

[Shadow]

Hey Gator... Wat's happening.....well next month it is back to ukraine for my, let's see, 8th tour of duty ;-)) .
I am actually meeting with the GF for our third time and will spend a week in Sharm el Sheikh relaxing out on the Red Sea. My way is to take things slow with girls.....
Main thing I have learned is to concentrate in an area( mine is Odessa and Chisinau) make friends there and not to be seen as a foreigner.

Ukraine has annexed Sharm el Sheikh ? 

[Johnny2009]

Hi Guys

Gator, thanks for congratulations, myself and Tanya got married in July in Vladivostok she is the sweetest and most lovely girl I have ever met!! I am very lucky 

Looking forward to many conversations, have a good day to all!

[Gator]

Hi Guys

Gator, thanks for congratulations, myself and Tanya got married in July in Vladivostok she is the sweetest and most lovely girl I have ever met!! I am very lucky 

Looking forward to many conversations, have a good day to all!

Vladivostok!  That is a long way from the UK.  I know of only one other RWD member married to a woman from there.  His name is Muckrucker (or something close) and has an interesting trip report in the archives.

 

[Gator]

I am actually meeting with the GF for our third time and will spend a week in Sharm el Sheikh relaxing out on the Red Sea. My way is to take things slow with girls.....
Main thing I have learned is to concentrate in an area( mine is Odessa and Chisinau) make friends there and not to be seen as a foreigner.

Smart approach.  You will have fun diving in those waters.  Colors are brilliant and saturated, both on land and in water.

[Johnny2009]

Vladivostok!  That is a long way from the UK.  I know of only one other RWD member married to a woman from there.  His name is Muckrucker (or something close) and has an interesting trip report in the archives.

 

Gator, I will read the trip report sometime this weekend. Yes, its a really long haul with a massive waiting time in SVO for the connecting flight.

Also I don't live anywhere near an airport, so it takes about 4 hours to get to Heathrow airport. So with connections and other delays the journey takes about 36 hours from leaving my home! This is not including the 10 hour time zone difference!

The things us guys do for love!  

[Gator]

Ukraine has annexed Sharm el Sheikh ? 

First Sandro, an Italian, corrects our writing in English, and now a wooden necked Frieslander.  We must stay on our toes around such critics.

[LAman]

Ukraine has annexed Sharm el Sheikh ? 

Funny...I thought Ukraine had annexed Antalya...........................

[Taz]

Russia has definitely annexed Antalya and the surrounding environs. If you know where to go, you won't encounter as many Russians in Sharm though Antalya they are every where. I think I spoke more Russian in Antalya than I did either Russian or Turkish. 

Best thing about Sharm is definitely the coral reefs. Take the day trip to Cairo or Luxor if you get a chance. Now is a great time of year to go. If you can go over the next few weeks. Water is still warm but temps aren't brutal and are in the high 30's instead of the 40's!

Be careful of where you book too as some hotels definitely leave a lot to be desired when it comes to sanitation and preparing food. Pharaoh's revenge isn't too fun on holiday. It might even be worse than Montezuma's revenge based on what my friends have experienced. Fortunately I seem to have a stainless steel stomach and seem to not have any issues with most of these types of stomach bus. 

[LAman]

Hi Taz.....thanks for info. Girl made arrangements with travel agent in ukraine, staying at dreams I think but best part is direct chartered flight.........not easy to get from Uraine to Sharm.

 I did read about the coral reefs a must and snorkeling. Will be there is a couple weeks!!!

 I got lots of info from travel advisor site and well definately have my medications in order(Pharaoh's revenge). Too bad I am far from Giza but maybe next time I will stay in alexandria. Is the day trip to Cairo or Luxor by bus? I know flying is an hour but can get expensive.
One thing, if you stay only in Sharm, do you still need to get a visa at airport?

[Taz]

If you don't leave the Sinai peninsula, you don't need a visa. If you even remotely think you will go on an excursion outside of Sharm you better get it. If you go the national park there (Ras Mo), you will need the visa.

I did the chartered flight from UA to Sharm. It was VERY EARLY in the morning. Then you sometimes get so early to the hotel that your room isn't ready so your stuff sits outside all day until your room is ready.

FYI- if your woman dresses less than pretty much covered up while outside the hotel grounds, the men will stare and  whistle disapprovingly in many places. Get used to the men at the hotel leering at your woman as well.

Don't take the bus to Giza, too long of a trip. Book Egypt Air and you can do it somewhat cost effectively IF you book in advance. The bus eats up too much of your time and it is a LONG ride there and back. I did both Cairo and Luxor that way (long day trip). Had a close call on the way about almost missing the flight because Cairo traffic and be terrible. I tipped our drive about $40 US for getting us back on time. You gotta see the pyramid laser light show at night. Definitely worth the trip. It is in many languages. I had ours arranged for Russian as a surprise for my lady but it didn't exactly pan out as planned. We ended up seeing it in English though I would have understood most of it in Russian.

If you go to Cairo, I know a great guide. PM me for the info. I can't recommend this person highly enough. I'd go back to Cairo just to socialize with them. Even my woman was impressed. 

Make sure you take along an underwater capable camera. Even a few meters will be pretty amazing. Good reefs around Hilton Shark's Bay and Marriott's Renaissance.

[Mars]

 I got lots of info from travel advisor site and well definitely have my medications in order(Pharaoh's revenge). Too bad I am far from Giza but maybe next time I will stay in Alexandria. Is the day trip to Cairo or Luxor by bus? I know flying is an hour but can get expensive.
One thing, if you stay only in Sharm, do you still need to get a visa at airport?

I have been to Sharm twice.

You do not need Egyptian visa if you only stay in Sharm.  But the immigration guys at airport will give you a hard time and try to convince you otherwise.  Just be firm that you don't want.  They will then snarl and stamp your passport with words to the effect that you can't leave Sinai.  But be aware that your FSUW may insist on getting the visa anyway as they like to pile up those things in their passport with the idea that it will help later when they try to get into more difficult places in Europe, etc.  May be some truth to that; i.e. some indication that they have travelled outside their country and returned.

On another trip I did get the visa because we wanted to go to Cairo.  Don't think of taking the bus as its too long timewise as others noted.  Best I think to go on a package tour deal which includes the plane, bus around Cairo area, lunch on a boat on Nile, tour guide, etc.  Tut's death mask in the main museum is a must see.  One of most fascinating things I have ever laid eyes on.  Pyramids and Sphinx good also, of course.  If you get tour package at your Sharm hotel, most likely the guide will only speak Russian.  If your gal can understand English, better to take trip into Sharm town and line up an English tour.

And be sure to take Cipro with you.  This is strongest antibiotic available to combat the stomach problems that you will likely get.  Your FSUW will think you are crazy to carry such - - - and then she will want to use your Cipro when she gets sick.  Immodium is OK for slight problems, but Cipro best for the more serious situations.  Cipro now available in generic form, so you can get it for the $4.00 deal at WalMart and many other pharmacies.  Need a prescription from the Doc though.

[myrddin]

You do not need Egyptian visa if you only stay in Sharm.  But the immigration guys at airport will give you a hard time and try to convince you otherwise.  Just be firm that you don't want. 

Our visas for the country were only $20 each, and if you're as close to Cairo as Sharm, you will probably end up there :-)  Well worth it.

And be sure to take Cipro with you. 

Ditto.  Even if you normally have no stomach problems when traveling, bring Cipro.

[LAman]

Thanks for info, Taz, Mars and Myrddin....

 Funny, I am taking Cipro at moment for a possible infection in my jar area. Will have to talk to my Doctor friend on resupplying me for trip.
What are the prices paid for travel packages to cairo from sharm? My ukrainian girl speaks english pretty good so she can interpret fairly well if russian is spoken.
 Our hotel was changed by travel agent from Dreams Beach to Hilton Waterfalls, supposedly a nicer hotel.
 Will meet up with a friend in Kiev for a day or two, then off to Odessa to meet up with several friends before trip
to Egypt. It is so much nicer to see/visit friends when I am in that city, kind of takes the 'edge' off from meeting with girls. You just never know what will/might happen. This is our make or break meeting......I just think a relationship should always be going forward...it's a bad thing if it stalls....just a thought!!!

[Taz]

The packages very in price depending on the agency used. You can pay less and have an ok guide and get stuck on a bus with a lot of other people or you can go the more customized/more expensive route with a customized itinerary, private guide (for just your own group) and your own mini bus. I went the latter route. We had a great guide, avoided a lot of the tourist trap stuff (just sales/commission opportunities for the guide) and ate at an amazing restaurant in Cairo.

If you are interested in this route, PM me and I'll send you the contact info of our guide who helped with the arrangements. I'd highly recommend this route if you have the time/budget to do it. We left very early in the morning and came back on the last flight from Cairo to Sharm. I regret not spending more time in Cairo but I didn't really want to throw away 2 relatively expensive days at the Marriott to see Cairo again. I think it was about $375 US per person to go this route. I don't remember exactly and of course exchange rates have an effect as well. That did not include the cost of lunch but it wasn't that expensive but the ambiance was amazing. It was a great restaurant that was very popular with the locals and very few foreigners were there.

I can't recommend our guide highly enough. Rasha has been doing this for a long time and its obvious. Not so long however as to have killed her enthusiasm for her work. She loves her country and loves what she does. Rahs has the right balance of enthusiasm and experience to make it a memorable experience. She has very good English ability and I found I didn't have to translate nears as much into Russian as I thought I would since Rasha's style and cadence was about the perfect match for the RW I was with.

The Hilton Waterfalls is a decent hotel. It was very close to where we stayed. The Renaissance Golden View (RGV) is practically its neighbor. I went snorkeling off the reef at the Hilton and it is nice but make the swim on down to the Renaissance. The is definitely better by RGV but you might realize it until you see it. If you never leave the reef by the Hilton you'd probably be quite happy. I just wanted to swim about a bit and see if there could be an even better view so I swam a long ways up and down the coast without finding anything better. FYI - be careful not to touch the fish. I know that should go without saying but there are some venomous fish there. I saw a black lionfish for example. I saw a few tourists actually trying to pet some of the fish.

[SANDRO43]

I went snorkeling off the reef at the Hilton and it is nice but make the swim on down to the Renaissance. The is definitely better by RGV but you might realize it until you see it. If you never leave the reef by the Hilton you'd probably be quite happy. I just wanted to swim about a bit and see if there could be an even better view so I swam a long ways up and down the coast without finding anything better.

And if you're new to snorkelling on a tropical coral reef, wear a T-shirt while doing it . While you're spending an hour or so on the sea surface, looking down at the amazing show below, the sun is doing its work on your back , but you'll only notice that a few hours later, when it'll look like a lobster's .

[Mars]

What are the prices paid for travel packages to Cairo from sharm? My Ukrainian girl speaks English pretty good so she can interpret fairly well if Russian is spoken.
Our hotel was changed by travel agent from Dreams Beach to Hilton Waterfalls, supposedly a nicer hotel.

Our package from Sharm to Cairo (as I described in earlier post) was around $230 each.  Maybe 30 people on the tour; that size did not bother me at all.

The Russian to English is better than nothing, but still not as good as tour in English if both parties understand English.  Problem with your gal translating for you is she is missing the guides next words while translating for you.  Plus the guide can be throwing some glares toward you two since may interfere with others hearing.