Egypt Day 15: Suite Sharm El Sheikh

We awoke feeling a certain listlessness. We hadn't anticipated that the Nile cruise would actually take us to any sights in Luxor; as such, we were left with the realization that we'd already seen everything in Luxor we really wanted to see. As we had the room until 9 PM that night, we resolved to make the least of our situation and spend the entire day loafing about the pool.

Sadly, we were only partially successful in this. By mid-afternoon I'd had about as much sun as I could handle for a day and proposed a change of venue. We retired to the hotel room and spent the afternoon reviewing our dive instruction materials in preparation for the adventure ahead (time well spent, in my opinion - I'd forgotten any number of niggling little details in the year since our last dive). After that, there was nothing left to do but pack and while away the remaining hours reading and otherwise entertaining ourselves.

Omar showed up promptly at 9 PM in the lobby and escorted us to the waiting van. Omar breezed us though airport security, even going so far as to handle our interaction with the ticketing agent and getting us our boarding cards. He said farewell to us at the security checkpoint (not the one entering the airport, but the one entering the boarding area - I'm convinced security checkpoints are some sort of work program here in Egypt) and we settled into the departure lounge to await our flight.

Once again, fate decided to deal us a few glancing blows. For one thing, our flight was delayed for an hour. No problem, we'll just, um, well, we'll just sit here. Luxor's airport is surprisingly modern, and the departure lounge was air-conditioned and quite pleasant. Once the bus arrived to take us to the plane (no gantry here, sissy-boy travelers), Mel made an unpleasant discovery - her boarding pass was quite clearly made out to a 'Bright, P'. Despite a moment's panic, a quick analysis of the boarding procedure clearly showed that no one was checking any I.D. and we boarded without a hitch. I referred to Mel as 'Ms. Pearl Bright' for the remainder of the flight - can't be too careful.

Upon arrival to Sharm El Sheikh, we claimed our luggage without incident and wandered out to the curb to look for our transport. (Side note: the landing was one of the worst side-wind conditions I've ever experienced - the pilot must've been 50 meters right of the runway for most of the approach. Upon touchdown the right wing dipped to such an extent that I thought he was trying to bleed off speed by dragging it on the ground. Still, we arrived in one piece, so no complaints here.) Sadly, we'd been mis-informed about the status of ground transport to the hotel and a painfully expensive phone call to the resort (by way of a call center in the U.S.) was require to secure a shuttle. Still, we learned the second magic word to ward off taxi drivers: 'transfer'. (Only works at airports and train stations.)

The ride to the hotel was revelatory and showed the contrasts between Sharm El Sheikh and the rest of Egypt. There was very little to see for most of the ride, but what little we could see was essentially strip malls and resort hotels. These observations were borne out by later experience as well. We turned down a mostly-dark driveway and found ourselves at the Ritz-Carlton, Sharm El Sheikh. The lobby was suitably ostentatious and opulent, though not overly so, perhaps because they were cleaning the wall-sized golden trickling fountain at the time. We were checked in without incident and given a golf cart ride to our room.

About the golf cart. Yes, we have a bit of baggage (you try traveling for three weeks!), but the hotel is enormous and sprawling, encompassing at least a dozen large two-story buildings set on several acres of hills sloping down to the ocean. In a word, spectacular, though we wouldn't appreciate the sweep and scale of the place until the following day. We arrived at our room to discover that we'd been upgraded to a Club suite of the Ramsis variety at no charge. Our room was palatial - in looking at the hotel it was clear that they'd combined two standard rooms into a single suite. Two balconies overlooked the fabulous pool, with the waters of the Red Sea glimmering in the moonlight just beyond. We had a dining and sitting area, a King size bed and two fabulous bathrooms, all coated in marble and discreetly sumptious fabrics and fixtures. Yow.

(Come to find out, we're in the smallest of the luxe suites here. The Red Sea suites appear to take up the space of four normal rooms on two floors and have a spiral staircase connecting their balconies; the Imperial suites are so large they look like Italianate villas.)

After giggling for a few minutes, we set about unpacking and then succumbed to exhaustion. It was the best night's sleep I'd had in two weeks. Check out Mel's blog for the next installment: You Have a House Reef?