To ask about a holiday to Egypt

[Iwillnotdancewiththedevil]

First of all - yes, my family holiday is totally insignificant with the events in Israel, but I'm just looking for practical advice and thoughts.

We are due to go to Hurghada at the end of Oct. While the FCDO have advised against travel to other parts of Egypt, Hurghada is still (currently)open for travel.

For now, EasyJet won't commit to any decisions on whether they will cancel the holiday. If they decide it will still run, where do we stand?
Our travel insurance is being helpfully vague and saying wait until the tour operator make a decision.

I feel very uncomfortable travelling to Egypt for a jolly holiday while the region is going through such trauma and as it stands now, I really don't want to go.

So being disinclined to travel is never covered by travel insurance. Sadly not all policies will pay up either if the FCO advises against all but essential travel (but many do). I would advise you not to cancel at the moment. It maybe that things will settle and you will have a great holiday or the FCO or your tour provider will cancel, in which case insurance or your statutory rights kick in. If you cancel you risk getting nothing.

Tbh, I'd wait it out and see what happens in the next week or so.

Gaza is 600 miles and a ferry trip. away from Hurghada. There's nothing yet to suggest tourist resorts in Hurghada will be affected by this - there's been other and much closer issues in Egypt for decades.

Your airline can't predict what will happen so they are waiting for just the same. If they offer the holiday and you choose not to go, you'll forfeit the money and your insurer will not pay out.

Yes, I think we need to just bide our time for now. So hard to know what to do though!

I would definitely not be going by plane to the area where anti-air systems are likely to be on red alert. Just no.

I really would rather take the loss of the holiday tbh.

Just not worth the worry - and what if you get there and the situation escalated?

Nah.

@zendeveloper @BMW6

That's where I am at the moment - too much of a risk. My husband is thinking more about the money and if we can't get the money back, we should go "it'll be fine, it's miles away"!

Look at it from this perspective - the sky is closed now over the whole of Ukraine, even though the active warfare is quite far away from the western border.

Why? Because the anti air defence is on full combat alert across the whole country, and one human, software or hardware error could easily cost a civilian plane full of lives.

And I bet my little finger that Egypt is in full readiness now as well.

Will your holiday company let you transfer to another location for a few?

At the moment no, there's no guidance or options yet so we'll have to wait a while

I'm not a panicker, typically very pragmatic about things but it's not the flight path I'm concerned about. Rather, the whole vicinity could be in a very precarious state over the coming days and weeks - we don't know if and how it's going to escalate, what neighbouring countries are going to be impacted, etc.

I would find it super hard to go in your situation. The chaos and atrocitys feel 'near 'being in egypt even though as others said Hurghuda is miles away. Its volatile big time . What if you go ,will you be every day checking news updates and counting the mins to getting on the plane home???.

For the same reason I would never go to Turkey in case there was a coup while there .
Just too volatile .
Just said to DH yesterday the world travel wise just got a whole lot smaller. I absolutely would not go - thats just me

I've never posted on here before, but I'm in exactly the same position so wanted to sympathise! My partner and I are due to fly out to Egypt for a cruise on Saturday - it already felt like a very high-risk holiday (the Foreign Office's travel advice webpage for Egypt looked pretty daunting even before this!), but this current conflict has just tipped the scales for me. We will likely lose all of our money, but I'm just weighing it up against the feeling of being sat there on this cruise, constantly checking my phone and worrying that if something happened, we wouldn't be able to get out of the country safely. I know a lot of people would be a lot braver but I'm trying to remind myself that everybody has different limits.
And like you said, it feels absolutely dreadful to be complaining about a holiday when this utterly heartbreaking conflict is happening, but I do think it's good to have a place like this to talk through this stuff, even if it feels small.
Anyway, I promise I'm not writing this to try and sway you into not going - I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone!

OP, have you had any update from your travel company? My elderly parents are meant to be going on a cruise from the Med down to the Suez, Red Sea, and round to Dubai in a week's time. I'm unhappy with them going, but their tour operator isn't offering alternative options yet.

@CoQ10 Not yet, I'm going to call them tomorrow and try and get more of an idea.

The travel insurance standpoint, is that Hurghada itself hasn't been listed by FCDO, therefore it's safe to travel and if we cancel, we won't get anything back.

I'm really hoping that EasyJet will allow us to change destination, even if there's a small admin fee.

I know it should be safe, it's far enough away from Gaza... but I think it's just not sounding 'sensible' to travel.

I totally agree.

My parents' cruise is between the green and the amber zone on the FCDO site, so it's ambiguous what the advice is for cruises

But regardless, it's not sensible, as you say.

@CoQ10

I managed to speak to EasyJet today; unfortunately no real news though. They are closely monitoring the situation but for now, it's all going ahead. We can't cancel or change date/destination.

So frustrating! We can't afford to lose all that money but it's definitely not going to be a relaxing getaway... I'll be on edge the whole time.

(And to reiterate from my first post... I know this is just a holiday, and people in the thick of this situation are going through real suffering right now. My moan about a holiday isn't to diminish that in any way)

It's a difficult decision but I don't think you have any choice but to wait and see what happens. Your comment that you "can't afford to lose the money" is concerning, as you will lose it whether you go or not. If you actually can't afford to lose it then you shouldn't be going on holiday in the first place.

I'd take the financial hit. No way would I risk flying to an area a few hundred miles from a war zone as active and unpredictable as the one in Gaza/Israel.

The border with Gaza / the Palestinian territories is about as far from Hurghada as Carlisle to London, so not exactly close in terms of immediate risk.

The risk of marauding attackers - like in Brussels last night - or suicide bombs is higher than anything else, but this isn't news, it's been the case for many years in Egypt.

Egypt is unlikely to flip into a civil war because of this and it's always been an unstable country. The warnings for travel are not much different from a year ago.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt/safety-and-security

We are booked to go beginning of November, not too concerned currently, will monitor situation. I know DP won't be concerned at all frankly.

Thanks for the concern. When I say we can't afford to lose the money, it's more that we'd put aside the money for a half term holiday, we really need the break and couldn't afford to splash out a similar amount on a substitute holiday. If we don't go, we don't have a holiday. (Gosh, again, I feel super insensitive, it feels so trivial!)

That's a really rational response, thank you

It is a tricky one. Apologies too, I realise my comment was a bit harsh. Holidays are important, especially just now when there is so much going on and stuff to worry about.
As others have said, the borders are a long way off, and I hope that if it was deemed to be too risky then Foreign Office advice would change and then the holiday company would cancel the trip, taking the decision out of your hands, and then you could try for somewhere else.
As another person said, there has always been a slight risk in Egypt, but I suppose you could say that about so many places.
I think, weighing everything up, I would still go and try not to worry about the awful stuff in Gaza/Israel. If you do go, have a lovely time. (the hotel staff will really appreciate the support too.)