£1000 for the two of you for a week AND AI? What are you going to do? Buy the pyramids?

Unless you are going to go on trips everyday or buy gold, I wouldn't even take half that.

Someone will probably have a different view of this, but I like being controversial!

Welcome to HT

I didnt even take £600 for two of us and that was eating out 3x a day, also eating 3 courses as well. We were B & B board basis. I bought the shop out on gold as well as going on loads of trips.

I would keep it in your bank and just take out what you need. £1k is far to much. Egypt is really really cheap to eat out, buy luxuries like jewellery and cotton. You barter at least half of any price they are asking. Some of the shops have fixed prices, and some wont come down on price, but even the prices they are asking are cheap.

We did get locked in a perfume shop on day two of our hols, and will never again go to the bazaar on the Sharm main drag (near Mcdonalds)! But i made friends with a load of egyptians whilst in the mall, i take them shopping with me, so i wont get ripped off. I give them a few quid for helping lol....

Bartering can be fun, and they get hurt if you dont try. I wouldnt recommend going there if you dont like it though.Its their way of life, so i except that.

Walking around at night is fine, women do it on their own. There are enough tourist police if you should have problems.

Hi there ,no way will you need that much money.even if you do flights to Cairo etc because there really is nothing to spend your money on.
Regarding the other concerns ,personally i found the people really nice and very polite but since i assume the unpleasant things did really happen then just try not to put yourself in a vunerable position.
Where abouts are you actually staying?

I am staying at Kiroseiz Beach Bungalows, thanks for all your replies, I think we cut back on the cash, i am just a really nervous person. I have read that it is better to get you cash changed there, i was gonna take sterling travellers cheques and just £100 worth of EP, the travel agent does not think it is a good idea to do it that way, they suggested that i should change more over here as £100 woth of EP is not alot!!! What are they on about??

My Hubby will not take a c.card for security reasons and the fact the bank will charge us defeats the object a bit, at least if we do not use the TC we can exchange back to cash at face value.

Must admit I took UK £20 notes and changed them as and when. The rate at the hotel was far better than the banks and travel agents at the time.
You may need to tip the chap who puts your case on the coach a pound per case (use english money to make it as hard for them as possible) , but then you wont need any money until you want to buy something at the hotel shops or elsewhere so there is no need to take Egyptian money bought at inflated UK rates. If you are going out of Sharm on a trip you will need the Visa money as well, but as we didn't, I can't remember if they take the old english as well. FLippers, snorkel and mask for 2 £30 - £50, what else do you need in Sharm?

I wouldnt recommend at all giving tips of English Pound coins, they cannot change them in their own banks, so rely on good natured English people to change it for them, which we did several times in the mall.

I tip a lot if its good service, and the majority do deserve it, they work very hard for pittance.

My husband gave a newspaper lad about £10 English pounds on the last day, that was like a months wages, i was so pleased for him.

I find it totally unacceptable not to tip in their own money.

I find the fiasco at the airport where some chap, not employed by the airline or their carriers (coach co) charges £1 just to pick up a case and put it into a coach a despicable practise.

In Turkey at Izmir the poor porters have to carry the case up and down stairs and walk several hundred yards and yet their fee is only £1 a case.

The travel companies condone this practise in Sharm but I have put in strong complaints about it pointing out it nullifies the baggage insurance.

This chap just stands there by the side of the coach blocking your access and takes the case as though he is an employee of the coach company. We thought he was the driver!. He then demands the £1 per case.
If you argue or put your case on the coach yourself, there is a very strong likelihood it will be offloaded as soon as you turn away.

This is the only chap I suggested tipping in English money as it maximises the chance of your case getting to the hotel, but also gives him a little (unfortunately not much) grief in trying to change it.

As a general principle, tipping in a currency should be what is best for the recipient. I have been to a couple of countries where they can do better deals using foreign money than their own inflationary currency, but then again, I don't tip unless I have to or I want to hence the run in with the airport coach case loader.

Anyway, have a good holiday despite him.

Thanks for your advice Guys, very kind of you all. Tipping should only be used as a nice gesture for a good service you have asked for or expect, i was told that a woman at the airport gave you a peice of toilet paper on your way out to wipe your hands (i think) and then puts out her hand for a tip, if i want a service, i shall ask for it, can you imagine the chaos (never mind beatings) that would occur if the UK had this problem with forced tipping. I also heard that the camel herder demanding money and refused to take people back from an excersion if they didnt cough up, totally wrong. I realise they are poor people, but does that mean you should be on a guilt trip thoughout your holiday? I shall tip very handsomely to those who provide me with a good service, I am not a tightass. But forcing people to tip for nothing is wrong. My mate refused, the camel guy got angry but she still got home eventually!! I really have no choice but to give the case guy a buck, my case means more to me than a quid!! I will make sure it is in Lithuanian currency, saying that, i still have a handful of old pesatas to hand.....

Talking of tipping -

DO NOT tip to go to the toilet in the mall, those guys should not be there, and they charge you an Egyptian pound to give you a sheet of paper, and the loos are disgusting. They are pulling the wool over holiday makers eyes, if the tourist police are around, then tell them.

If you do need the toilet, go to Spaghettismo restaurant, usually clean, or Mcdonalds.

What got me with the tipping fiasco at the airport, was that not only did the guy who gave my Other Half the trolley want a 2 quid tip, when we got near the coach and gave it back to another quy (10 feet later!) he wanted 1 pound to take it back off us.

Those trollys must have paid for themselves over and over.

Thats why i take cases on wheels, no need for trollies

Both my cases have wheels so should not be a problem, us Brits must look like a right pushover, do assertiveness or just walking away not get you anywhere? What the worst that can happen? we should be more assertive to stop them taking the piddle out of us, it makes me laugh as we would not stand for it here, but we let it happen in other countries, how stupid are we looking?? Would you give a guy a quid for passing your Tesco trolley? More fool us i say, stand up for yourself and they will soon get the message that we will not put up with it!! I know they are poor, but we also have poverty in the UK.

what about taking a load of 5p peices and giving them to someone not worthy of a tip?? Afterall, it is money....I wonder if then they would get the message? What do you lot think?

What the worst that can happen?

Your luggage being off-loaded after you've put it on the coach yourself, or refused to give the tip

Last year, I refused to let the man put any of our luggage on the coach, I did it myself.
Having read about people arriving at their hotels only to find their luggage is missing, I'm not going to take the risk next year.

As for the trolley men in the airport, they've got absolutely no chance of receiving a tip from us next year, just as they didn't last year!

Pippy

pubestone

You will be fine if you are assertive, loads of people don't take the trollys, they hang on to their cases like grim death. I couldn't beleive it when my OH took one All the valuable information I gleened from HT gone to waste. I said what did you take that for and he came up with some feeble excuse about feeling sorry for them. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeese!!!

I would say though that we were there for a week and although we just chilled out in our hotel and didn't go out and about much, this was the only time I felt they were taking the pi :swear.

As with yourself we tipped for good service and didn't for bad/indifferent. Have a great holiday.
I'm gonna send my OH to you Pippy for some training,

I am intrigued, what is an OH??

Other half

I must confess we have never got trollies, which stemmed back from visiting Cyprus and they wanted to charge us £2cy for a trolley. We struggled, but managed.

The coach was across the road in Egypt and we never got one then, i am not parting with my GHDs
The only part i hate is the men in the airport trying to force us to buy visas and shoving us in the left line instead of the right one. I am not looking forward to that in 2.5 weeks