I have had a good look around the forum and seen the tips to prevent tummy upsets
Am i right in thinking 10 Egyptians pounds is the right amount to tip?

As we are AI i don't suppose we will need to spend a lot so i assume from read posts that we are best to take out with us 50 egyptian pounds and then roughly £200 in english money to change over there for water park trip and anything else we may want to do?

Hi carol

Cant advise on your particular hotel but if you are not intending to do trips etc you shouldnt need any more than a couple of hundred for maybe water sports , tips , the odd trip in Naama bay etc. Take most of it in sterling and change up what you need there . You get a slightly better rate there anyway. i dont even bother taking any Egyptian currency with us now . I change what I need as we go and for the tips you will need on arrival such as the guys that take your bags to the room 1 or 2 £ coins will be fine . They do prefer Egyptian currency but change the £ coins up with other guests . You can cash some in once you are settled

Other tips you might want to give are the guys that seat you in the restuarant and get drinks etc . That is a couple of £ well spent because they will go that extra bit to give you your favourite table and keep you well stocked with drinks . Also the pool guys will put your towels out in the morning for a small tip every few days and of course the cleaning boys .
We only give small amounts (around 10 egyptian to our £) so no more than 20 -30 Egyptian every couple of days or if you have a few you like to tip spread it around 10-20 at a time but dont feel like you have to take a big wad out with you every night . We usually give a coule of the guys we like every night . Next night it might be someone elses turn .

It will be darn hot out there so take good care of children and keep them well hydrated . If anyone gets tummy upsets drink sprite but you can generally find all that info on the tummy upset pages. .

Anything i've forgotten or you think of just shout.

lyn

Thank you very much Lyn for the advice - Much appreciated.

We have the sun suits plus cap that covers his neck for the little one and very high sun lotion for him plus sun block.

What are the hottest times of the day i'm guessing 1pm-3pm?

I keep reading Egypt is a `dry heat` what exactly does this mean? How long is the transfer from the airport to the resort areas?

We won't be having vaccinations as we did a late booking and go in 3 weeks time - i have seen on other places that people recommend taking a probiotic tablet before and during your stay - will this actually help?

Thank you for helping with my questions

Carol

Well we always go at Easter carol . Temps are 30+ then but the day is shorter and we always find sun is at it's hottest between about 11-1 and the sun is up and strong from very early on . so I'd probably move that on an hour for the summer . Hopefully someone who has been at that time of year will be along soon .

I think when people say a dry heat they mean it is not humid and sweaty . just pure heat . However I think summer you may be sweating

have seen on other places that people recommend taking a probiotic tablet before and during your stay - will this actually help?

hmm not sure , but certainly cant do any harm. Try not to worry too much .Read through the topic , take plenty of remedies with you and if you think you get anything more serious than running to the toilet for a day talk to reception but dont let it ruin your holiday thinking about it .

Thanks Lyn - Spent a lot of time last night reading through the threads and got a lot of useful info. There's nothing worse than booking your holiday then reading things on the www and thinking oh my god what have we done lol

BUT saying that we will take all the care we can - we will only be eating and drinking at our AI hotel - no reviews i have read mention any tummy upsets etc so fingers firmly crossed we have a positive experience and really enjoy Egypt.

Carol

Carload I would ask at your doctors if you can have the jabs still, worth a try. As when my son got I'll over their the first thing the doctors and insurance company asked was did we have them and if we hadn't they would not have helped with our medical cost.

Thank you for your advice - Just rang our Dr's and yes we can all have the jabs and for free too!
We are having them on the 10th August which is 2 weeks 1 day before we fly - this should be okay do you think?

Are the any side effects from the jabs within a few days - week? that we should be aware of.

Once again thank you.

Carol.

Glad to hear you are getting your vaccinations also make sure that your Tetanus vaccination is up to date, there should be no side effects other than perhaps a sore arm.

Remember to keep hydrated, if you are sweating just drinking (bottled) water is not enough, you have to drink fluids that replace your electrolytes, drink some Isotonic sport drinks, something like Gatorade, Powerade, Lucozade Sport, you can even buy powder in some supermarkets in the UK to add to bottles of water.

Re tipping you can exchange money in the airport to Egyptian LE so there is no need to tip in pounds coins.

Yes as a last resort you could tip the staff in £, however banks don't accept £ coins and that then means that the person you tipped will then have to come back around asking tourists to exchange the £ back again in to LE (Egyptian pounds), it is definitely not the best way to tip (plenty info already in the Money Q&A topic regarding tipping in LE only), a better solution would be to exchange your £ at one of the banks in the the airport (where you purchase your visa) when you arrive in Egypt, you will get a better rate when exchanging in Egypt as compared to exchanging here in the UK.

Give roughly 10 -20 LE which is approx £1 or £2 to porters on arrival & room cleaner every couple of days, you can do the same for bar staff or give them 1 or 2 LE (10p / 20p) every couple of rounds, and the same for the pool attendant. We have a great Currency Cheat Sheet you can print off, you can find it in our Holiday Tools section at the top of the page.

If you are not going to leave the Sinai Peninsula and go to places like Luxor or Cairo remember you DO NOT have to buy a Tourist Visa, just write 'Sinai Only' on your Landing Card that will be given to you on the plane, more info in the Visa Topic

Transfers Shouldn't take more than 25 -30 minutes depending on how many drop off's there are that is unless you are waiting on a plane coming in with the reps mother, in which case you will be on the bus for 2 hours which is what happened to us the last time

You can also help avoid stomach upsets by careful use of your rooms Air Conditioning, if you have the room very cold when you come in warm this can cause problems with your body and cause stomach cramps, back pain and Diarrhea, try and acclimatise yourself (cool down) before going in to your room, sit in the shade or lobby for a short period before going to your room and then only use the Air Conditioning to keep you cool.
If you do get a minor case of the runs you can by Antinal cheaply from the hotel shop or it will be cheaper still if you buy it from a chemist.

Regarding the hotel I know that there has been building work going on and there are new / refurbished room which are very nice.
When you return perhaps you could add a review of the hotel for us and if you could take some pictures of it and add them to the Media Gallery (link at top of page) that would be great.

Most importantly........Have a great time and enjoy

Graham

Glad you got your jabs sorted Carol, we had no side effects just sore arms

Thanks Graham for your message and useful info - I will definitely report back and add some photos as a thank you for the help i have been given here.

Have printed off the exchange information too for useful!

I cannot emphasis enough and agree with another member do not always drink water as it acts as a laxative. Sprite is best but not straight away, for it to work, let it go flat. If however you cannot wait for it to do that, drink some, then add some water to it, flattens quicker. Buy dioralate from home (uk) to take with you. Have a sachet a day regardless. Also take buscopan for cramps. If you have runs go immediately to a chemist, they will give you the correct stuff.

I gave a work colleagues daughter all this info, knowing i had been 10 times to egypt she knew i knew my stuff. But would you believe she spent all 2 weeks on the campus running to the loo ! obviously did not listen.

When you are loose, it is an infection not normal diarrhoea, it will not disappear, you have to get as they call it antiseptic, in our language it is antibiotic.

Mind you 3 weeks in sharm last november i was constipated lol, must be too many omlettes at brekkie

Btw Graham, last november the pharmacys hiked up the prices of antinal and strepoquinn to £6 a box I had to get some for a holiday friend. I said no way am i paying more than 50p, he said no, so i walked out the shop (opposite sonesta beach near body shop and 24 hr supermarket) In the end i got my egyptian friend from the Oonas bar, he got me some and told me it was 20p. Its who you know, for a quid, ask the Egyptian guys to get you anything, they will happily do it.

Of course it could be me they like as i am supposed to look like cleopatra with my long black hair and big eyes

Of course it could be me they like as i am supposed to look like cleopatra with my long black hair and big eyes

Or they could be scared of your tatoos Michelle

You know what Lyn, i wish they were, fact is everyone wants photos of them, pretty annoying really, i will start charging, especially the russians

flat coke is also good for upset stomachs.

Yes it is, but i stuck to sprite because lemon acts as an agent to keep stomach from germs (or so they tell me )