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Original poster

Anyone planning on going to Egypt?

22 replies

CamperFan · 27/01/2011 12:26

We are supposed to be going to Dahab next Thurs. Haven't booked flights but there are only a few left from our local airport. DH is worried about situation escalating and then having probs getting home (we have 4yo and 3mo). Anyone in a similar situation?.

OP posts:

rockinhippy · 27/01/2011 12:52

No,sorry but check the foreign office website for updates...link www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/middle-east-north-africa/egypt

but having already been to Dahab & I am SOOOO Sooooo jealous

Original poster

CamperFan · 28/01/2011 17:04

Thanks. We are just waiting to see what happens! We went last year too, it was a great family holiday.

OP posts:

stoppinattwo · 28/01/2011 21:45

We have booked for October....hopefully far enough into the future that things will have clamed down but you just dont know...

Deposit is paid and the rest is due in July....Im hanging on to my payments till the bitter end....we are off to Sharm which is 8-10 hours from Cairo so we will judge the situation a bit closer to the time..

mumoverseas · 30/01/2011 13:14

camperfan I wouldn't go. I'm sure I heard on skynews earlier (am in ME) that the US embassy were advising all their citizens to leave. Just not worth taking the risk, particularly if you haven't already paid for flights.

stopping I'm sure things will have calmed down by then and like you say, Sharm is a very long way from Cairo

ednurse · 30/01/2011 13:15

Have a family friend in Sharm at the moment, everything fine. Just annoyed he can't get internet access to keep up with the football.

onimolap · 30/01/2011 13:16

If you book now, then I think you'll find the flights etc are uninsurable as the troubles are underway. Can you live with that?

alittleteapot · 30/01/2011 13:23

we were supposed to be going in march, partly to go to sharm and partly to visit friends in Cairo. We have a dd 3 and a ds 1. We're taking a raincheck! Luckily we hadn't booked flights yet. But now on the hunt for an alternative family break in a sunny clime. Canaries looks possible...

mozette · 30/01/2011 13:25

My mum is in Sharm at the moment and she says everything is fine. However it is now being reported that the President is hiding out there so I will be glad when they are home tomorrow night!

thenightsky · 30/01/2011 13:28

Dahab is in Sinai. Visas are needed to move between Sinai and Egypt itself.

We go to the red sea every year (diving) and I have just looked on our usual tour operator's website's advice. I'm about to book Taba Heights or Dahab for June.

Red Sea is OK

alittleteapot · 30/01/2011 14:40

That info has been updated today - they are now advising British nationals to leave the cities. The US is evacuating!

onimolap · 30/01/2011 16:41

SKY reporting the Red Sea resorts are still OK and flights are still operating. But foreign nationals are being advised to leave main cities if it is safe for them to do so.

GrimmaTheNome · 30/01/2011 16:54

We were booked to go to Luxor at Easter. DH woke up at 5 Friday morning - before the FO travel advice was in force - and started looking for the Thomas Cook terms and conditions (carefully concealed in a dark corner of their website). Having found that we were just in time to rebook without losing too much (£35 per head re-booking fee) he researched alternatives and by 10am we were rebooked to go to Turkey (we'd always wanted to see Ephesus).

Its a volatile situation - we certainly wouldn't go next week with two tinies, personally.

ENormaSnob · 30/01/2011 20:35

Grimma, can I just ask if thomas cook just charged you £35 per person as I have been told that its £35 per person per change

MyAngels · 31/01/2011 09:53

Such a tricky one - I suppose if you haven't booked flights there's the option to go somewhere else.

We just booked last week (!) to go to Luxor on 6 April for my 40th. Was really looking forward to it and a lot can change in 9 weeks, so am reluctant to do a knee jerk change, but don't want to have to go (if flights resumed) and not be able to go out to see the sights. But are taking DD and DS and don't want to take risks obviously.

Hmmmm, what to do for the best...?

CamperFan - what have you decided?

MadreInglese · 31/01/2011 14:14

We're flying to Sharm on Sunday, only booked it a week before everything kicked off over there!

Reassuringly Sharm is 100s of miles from where the trouble is, and until the foreign office advise otherwise we're going, or risking losing all our money. We are insured so if it all gets cancelled we're hoping to go somewhere else for a bit of sun - if we can't book for the same week we can't really go anywhere as I'll be too pregnant to fly

Fingers crossed

WotzNotNot · 31/01/2011 15:10

MadreInglese - The Tour Operator Kuoni have updated their own travel advice and I also noticed the following on Facebook, posted about an hour ago. I expect its 'belt and braces' and they are being extra cautious. Things may change.

From www.facebook.com/kuonitraveluk: Egypt Update: Apologies but anyone travelling to anywhere in Egypt including Sharm and Hurghada now in the next 7 days we will be contacting you shortly to try and offer an alternative holiday for you or if we can't a FOC cancellation.

More on their website.
www.kuoni.co.uk/en/services/about_kuoni/news/travel_news/pages/egypt-demonstrations.aspx

MadreInglese · 31/01/2011 15:28

thanks wotz, we're not with kuoni but I'm keeping an eye on all the websites

MadreInglese · 31/01/2011 15:34

latest from our operator:

"The Red Sea Resorts including Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada are not affected by the demonstrations, and are a considerable distance from Cairo and are served by their own airports.
Our experienced teams on the ground assure us that no tourist areas at the Red Sea have been affected in any way by the recent demonstrations.
They are fully operational and holiday makers are continuing to enjoy these popular resorts.
Flights to Sharm el Sheikh continue to operate as normal"

GrimmaTheNome · 31/01/2011 15:38

Norma - £35 each, so £105 and the new holida y is less expensive than the original so we're getting a refund. DH said it was indeed '£35 per person per change', I'm not sure exactly what 'per change means'. Fortunately we were able to get flights on the same day from the same airport, its the same airline (their own) and I suppose as its a flight+hotel package that is one change.

GrimmaTheNome · 31/01/2011 15:41

And I'll add, the people DH talked to couldn't have been more helpful - I suspect it makes life easier for the tour operators if people rebook early and calmly rather than being forced into it in a rush.

ENormaSnob · 31/01/2011 16:10

Thanks grimma.

We have turkey booked for august but really needed to change it. At 35 pp per change I may as well just lose the deposit

JimmyChoo17 · 01/02/2011 19:36

I'm sticking with my Egypt booking for now.

Egypt will be signing it's own death warrant if it starts affecting the red sea resorts. Tourism is it's bread and butter!!

Mind u tunisia airports had a go at the tour operators for removing it's customers....could you blame them seeing as the riots were affecting the hotels, streets etc right in front of the holiday makers!! I think the tour ops did a good job with it. Whilst I understand why they are upset I do not think they should ruin their main income!! A real shame fo the red sea if it does....

I would hope not tho...Egypt is massive so luckily people are largely unaffected.

I don't travel until April now.

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