Such trips are asking for disappointments. The goal of many travel agencies seems to make the client choose his office and pay. And whether he will be satisfied with the trip is that it is different.
Office brochures usually show the most beautiful hotel rooms and in a way that everything seems bigger, cozier, nicer … Office employees tell the best stories and things while leaving for just enough encouragement.
This was also the case this time.
In the office we were told that in the village where the hotel is located there is a microclimate and it is at least 20 degrees all year round, the water in the pool is heated, so you can bathe in it all year round when the sea is too cold …
In the brochures, beautiful cozy rooms and a nice fragment of the hotel restaurant, people swimming in the pool or sipping various tasty-looking drinks on its shore (all inclusive).
***
Departure was on January 1. To Hurghada. So as to rest in a country with a seemingly completely different culture than Polish holidays, Christmas scream, over a month of continuous rolling Christmas songs in every store and cold (then it was still a harsh winter).
Nothing could be more wrong.
Throughout the week, in an Egyptian hotel full of Christmas decorations (Christmas trees, Santa Clauses, etc.), one CD of American Christmass songs was played over and over again. Jingle bells greeted us and said goodbye after each meal or stay at the reception desk.
Local culture zero. There are only hotels around, possibly some shops, the owners of which were trying to sell us something, usually speaking Russian (many Russians come there), which was already completely driving me crazy.
Air temperature 15-16 degrees, instead of the promised above 20, and windy. Also in the pool. When I asked the residents that the offer was about heated water in swimming pools. I found out that the water is heated to air temperature. And this was out of the question in the brochure. So another example: half truth, whole lie. And I didn’t come there to sea.
As part of the promised unlimited access to alcohol, there was beer, probably diluted with water to such an extent that even people sitting all day drinking mug after mug could not feel alcohol, and colorful drinks – terribly sweet (only chemistry and sugar) and probably never standing next to anything that would have some alcohol (clever, cheap and no problems with drunk guests yet). Of course, the drinks were made on the spot for individual customers, but from bottles in which, apart from the sticker, nothing resembled the original drinks.
The room turned out to be a small room with no resemblance to the room the photo of which was in the brochure. Overlooking some garbage dump (not the sea), concrete floor without even a sidewalk. Here is a room to sleep and leave it as quickly as possible (but where to go?). The resident said that they are not able to put photos of all rooms in the brochure.
The restaurant turned out to be a hideous huge canteen for several hundred people, where many hotel guests, probably for the first time on all inclusive, would put tons of food from Swedish tables, then waiters driving with wheelchairs in the sight of everyone dropped what was left on the plates (not leftovers) into a large plastic bag. Very appetizing. We adopted a strategy to sit close to the window and look at the window, as little around it as possible. Because, after all, man eats with his eyes. Anyway, tasting with the taste buds was not overwhelming either, to say the least.
One-day trips, i.e. battles for good shots for photos and obligatory visits to local traders
Most tourists come to the hotel and never leave it. Whether it’s Egypt or any other country doesn’t really matter. What matters is the swimming pool, lobby, food, drink and company.
But there are those whose boredom of living on a hotel patio or the desire to visit some local tourist attractions (and above all to take pictures to be able to show someone later) pushes many to sign up for various one-day trips. I also went on two of these. How to be in Egypt and not see the Giza pyramids?
I omit the fact that the pyramids themselves were disappointing. Just a few pyramids, practically next to the city (and I had imagined that somewhere in the desert), you can only take pictures from one side so that you can not see buildings in the background). And the obligatory photo with the Great Sphinx – a monolithic statue located in the pyramid complex in Giza. The problem was that everyone wanted to have a photo there (or take a photo for their children), preferably without other tourists, which is difficult, because there are several bus trips on the spot, and the time for a photo is short. And there were fights about who entered the frame to whom, so that someone would not be pushed somewhere, sometimes people even pushed each other, etc. I remember one daddy who, completely disregarding the large group of people waiting for him, decided to take a picture of his family in all configurations and possible shots. The weakest had no chance at all. Nightmare.
And time to visit the pyramids and take a photo with the sphinx, because on the way back to the hotel you had to visit a perfumery with the entire coach. First, everyone sits down, the hosts offer tea to everyone and talk about their wonderful products that are a great opportunity. Then everyone smells everything. Of course, the price falls at the end, not too low (sometimes lowered especially for this group). But always some people buy, because they get stretched, to have the gifts from the trip out of their heads, because it is necessary (as part of the reciprocity rule, they offered us tea and they are so nice) to be able to leave, because the stay in the perfumery will last until the hosts will earn something (after all, they probably pay the organizers of such trips to bring tourists).
Sometimes there are also other stops, e.g. in shops with scarves or jewelery (in Arab countries, carpet shops dominate, which can be sent by post after paying with a credit card). The visit pattern is similar.
These are the most important elements of this trip.
It’s all a matter of comparison and needs
When I was going to Egypt, I already had many trips behind me without the agency of travel agencies, alone, with friends … to distant and exotic places … Maybe that is why this trip was so low in comparison. But there are undoubtedly some people for whom sitting by the pool all day drinking watered-down beer is enough. It was hard for me to bear. But people are different.
