Egypt holiday

[Lilxa89]

Has anyone been on holiday to Egypt? What are your views? We have booked to go to hurghada in may and have heard mixed reviews. Me personally,wasn't my first choice but going with lots of family members who chose there.since being poorly I struggle really bad in the heat and have bad anxiety over thinking things so at the minute I'm finding it hard to be excited and also questioning wether to change to elsewhere

Oh come on. Yes of course you can get sick anywhere, but it's far more likely you'll get sick in Egypt isn't it? It is a very well known fact. If I'm going on holiday, I don't want the worry of getting unwell and it potentially ruining my holiday.

I suppose it depends on what you want from a holiday at the end of the day. If you want to see the pyramids but run the risk of being ill for a few days in the process, it may well be worth it for some people.

It's just something I can't personally understand.

This. Everybody I know who has been to Egypt has been sick. My nephew was hospitalised after he returned with stomach issues.

@Lilxa89 the weather will be good in May and not too hot at all

Ive been thinking about Dahab, if anyone has been and can give me tips.

I am still awaiting the list of thousands of places where you are "safe" and "won't get ill".

it's far more likely you'll get sick in Egypt isn't it?
Evidence? More likely than where? You've never been, have no desire to go and are depending on some tales... if someone gets ill anywhere, they tend to mention it. Oddly, holiday topics rarely include "I didn't get ill once". Have you seen Butlins record?

Your well known fact is based on prejudice.

And nobody would be sick for a few days if they take adequate sensible steps to prevent it.

It may not be where you want to visit. There will be a long list of them I guess. And that is fine. But why the prejudice about people and places you have never and will never experience?

Wow, I've hit a nerve haven't I?

The only evidence I need is pretty much everyone I've spoken to who has been. I've been to Tunisia and experienced it, which isn't that different really. Plenty of people on the internet (not just Mumsnet), and basically common knowledge.

It is incredibly touristy - it isn't "resort land", but don't think of it as Egypt either. St Catherine's monastery and Mount Sinai are the big local visits - if you like history and hiking, a good day out. Also the monasteries of St Paul and St Anthony. Between those three you have the oldest continuously inhabited monasteries in the world, and they couldn't be more welcoming of visitors. Bear in mind they are also very busy as they are sites of pilgrimage, and on high days and holy days they are rammed!

The mountains and wadi's are amazing - there's some incredible geology all around the area. Obviously windsurfing and scuba diving / snorkelling are the big attractions, but that excellent wind for the windsurfing can be cooling at times, especially in the evening, so a light jacket for eveneings at times is a good idea.

Overnight bedouin experience is fun - with the natural spa at Melakot.

I stayed at the Nour, which is amazing!!!

Hope that helps.

You know what they say about "common knowledge"? Much like common sense it is sadly lacking. Since people with the same outlook on life tend to stay together, everyone you have spoken to may say that. Doesn't make it a fact. The vast majority of travellers do not get sick, but taking precautions is sensible, just as having a first aid kit at home is sensible.

BTW, love Tunisia too, have good friends there too.

It's not "hitting a nerve" - it's having a nerve to speak authoritively about things you know nothing about in that "they are all forriners, ain't they" tone. If you don't want to go, fine. If your mates don't want to go, fine. Why come up with outlandish and untrue "facts" though to put people off places you know nothing about? When someone posts "can you give me three reasons not to go somewhere", then have at it. People here posted asking for the views of people who have been.

Some people here need to calm down a bit I think.

Egypt is the only place I've been that I wouldn't be keen to go back to. I love, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey and would go back but not Egypt. We were so ill on the plane on the way back from Cairo it was hideous, we didn't drink the water or eat any street food while there - we only ate at the hotel and tourist restaurants on our tours. The hassle was also at ridiculous levels, nothing was enjoyable with that level of hassle.

I've never been ill abroad before, not during 6 months travelling around Asia and eating anything and everything there. Actually I lie - just remembered I got food poisoning from the stupidity of getting talked into having a McDonalds in Morocco by DS - but that was 24 hours long not a week to 10 days like it was from Egypt.

All that said I'd still go to Hurghada if someone else was paying! But I wouldn't take kids. There are 101 places I'd rather go though.

Are you really suggesting you're not more likely to get food poisoning in countries like Egypt or India for example? I haven't been to India but I'm still aware that there's a high likelihood of food poisoning. If you need to take precautions then it's for that very reason, food hygiene is frequently poor and water quality isn't safe to drink - nobody takes precautions in the UK do they?

I'm not sure why you're being so defensive.

I wouldn't go back to Hurghada even if you paid me. The harassment was awful and non stop, even in the hotel. On one occassion we were dragged into a shop and the shopkeeper wouldn't let us leave until we bought something.

This was almost 20 years ago but sadly it doesn't sound like much has changed.

I am not being defensive - I am being factual. I have travelled throughout Eygypt, India and further afield and never once had food poisoning. And I never suggested drinking the water, but as I pointed out, even clean water in some countries can irritate the system and causes health problems simply because water is different everywhere and contains lots of things that might be "safe" for people used to it, but not for others. That is actually true of UK water too - it may be well treated but that does not mean that someone unused to aspects of it would not react adversely to it. As for food poisoning, same again although as someone else pointed out, heat and sun have exactly the same impacts, as does dehydration. All things that people often forget when abroad, baking on a sun bed and drinking alcohol (with ice cubes?) from the pool bar.

There is a difference between being sensible, and suggesting that these places are awful and that it is "baffling" why anyone would want to go there, because clearly the implication is that it's stupid to want to go there. And that is from someone who hasn't been and doesn't want to. From someone who has been there and hated it, fine. I hated Weymouth. That's life. But it is not everyone's experience.