OK so as promised in the reply to an earlier post here's my report back from our recent trip to Taba. This was one of our best holidays ever - my wife and two children (12 & 14) all agreed. We travelled with Peltours stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was a beautiful hotel; clean comfortable and the service from everyone was excellent. Here's few highlights and tips:
FOOD: We only dined at the Limoncello where you get the inclusive buffet for the evening meal. If the standard of the food is as good at the A La Carte restaurants then you won't be disappointed. Even the kids (who can be quite fussy eaters thoroughly enjoyed the food). Main courses were varied and replenished frequently so were always hot and fresh. They included things like veal, chicken, beef, different types of casserole, chicken tikka (!), and burgers, pizza, spag. bol., chilli. The desserts were delicious as well. Breakfasts included freshly prepared omelettes, waffles, beautiful fresh bread, cereal etc. For a few of the days there the hotel was at full capacity (some sort of holiday in Israeli which meant that there were many Israeli families there) but we never had to queue long to get seated. When things became really busy they opened up one of the other restaurants to the buffet as well. Lunchtime snacks at the Beach Bar and El Fresco were good and plentiful as well. No signs of any tummy trouble for any of us!
TRIPS: We had 3 days out - Cairo, Petra and the snorkelling trip. The different operators offer more or less the same trips. Trips are not cheap, but then they never are. However, in the past I have paid more for less enjoyable days out. No complaints - if you want to see these places then you have to pay for it.
CAIRO: For Cairo only an overland trip was offered (no flight option which we probably would have taken if there had been a choice). We did the day trip which was long and tiring, but well worth it. It took about 5 hours to get there and 6.5 to get back as we got caught up in the Cairo rush hour, which was an experience in itself! Got back to the hotel at about 12.30 a.m. - they claimed that the coach often arrives back in time to make the restaurant (which closes at 11.00 p.m.), but I find that hard to believe - a snack was provide for the return journey. An excellent buffet lunch is provide at a 5* hotel next to the pyramids. The overnight stay is only an additional $65, inclusive of dinner which would have been good value, but that would have taken up an extra day (this trip arrived back at about 8.30pm the following day) and we would have been too exhausted to make much of the extra evening in Cairo and the trip around old Cairo on the 2nd day wasn't appealing enough to us. Some say that doing the overland one day trip is too much to be enjoyable, the roads are pretty bad and it's not the most exciting of scenery (the novelty of the desolate desert wears off after a couple of hours) - but I feel that if this is likely to be the only chance you'll get to visit the pyramids, then it's worth the effort - one day in Cairo was enough for us - a real experience.
PETRA: again a long day 6.00a.m until about 9.00pm - although again you are told that the coach usually gets back by about 7.30pm. The variable here is the time it takes to cross the borders, which is an experience in itself. This trip is not cheap, about $140 + an additional $70 in exit visa's, tips etc. A few warnings about this one - although you only pass through Israel for about 20mins in each direction, the border security is pretty tight and uncompromising. If you set off the metal detector and don't discover what did it before your next passage through, it is likely that you will be taken off into a cubicle to be strip searched! This happened to about half a dozen on our coach. Secondly you cannot take any food or drink into Jordan. This was not explained to us by the rep. and we (along with many others) wasted a lot of bottled water and snacks. The trees on the Israeli side of the border look well watered! We were also delayed for about an hour on the Jordanian border due to the list of names that the Jordanian tour operator had not tallying with those on the coach. You should all get through on a group visa which is based on details faxed through to Jordan, but may of our names had been jumbled up and we had to be issued with individual visas - e.g. my children's names were on the list, but my wife and I were missing so we had to be issued with individual visas! In all it took nearly 3.5 hours to get from Taba to Aqaba in Jordan (Petra is a further 2.hours away), but 'only' 2.5 hours to cross over back again and on to the hotel. The walk into Petra is long, hot and dusty and certainly an experience you won't forget. Be prepared for this - it may be advertised as a 45min walk through the gorge to get there, but there's still a couple of hours walking until you get through the city to where you get fed. Because of the border delays (which hopefully you will not have to endure) it was nearly 3p.m. before we had lunch, by which time we were starving!! The experience was worth the effort, but be prepared for delays and hassles!
VISAS: Might as well wait until you get there to sort this out if you intend to do the Cairo trip. We got ours in advance from the embassy in London, but there was no real advantage in doing this. Be warned - do the Cairo trip before Petra as your visa becomes invalid once you leave Egypt (unless you have a multiple entry visa). The tour operators seem to organize things so that the Cairo trip is offered before Petra / Jerusalem, but this could be an issue if you are planning to stay for a couple of weeks. A multiple entry visa from the embassy in London is only £3 more (£18) - not sure how easy it would be to explain that you want this at Taba though.
SNORKELLING TRIP: A wonderfully relaxing day after the previous day's trip to Petra. Opportunity for an intro. dive. A brilliant crew who would bend over backwards to help you without being too obtrusive.
Having said that - the snorkelling that you can do from the jetty on the Hyatt beach is quite amazing as well. And for me this is a major plus point for the Hyatt over the other hotels - they all have access to the reef, but not as good as the Hyatt. You can see all types of fish imaginable without the additional cost of taking this boat trip - turtles, lion fish, rays, octopuses, stone fish, parrot fish etc. etc.. A face mask and snorkel from the hotel shop works out at about £25 for what you can get here for about £15. We took our own.
TIPPING/SERVICE: You will have probably read that tipping is expected for nearly everything in Egypt. However this is probably the one place in the world I have travelled where you really want to tip people for the service they provide. The Egyptians we met are the friendliest, most dignified people I have ever come across on holiday and the standard of service you will receive is outstanding. However I must admit that I was a little taken aback when the guy loading our luggage onto the X-ray conveyor belt asked for a tip, as did the guy sticking the baggage labels on a check in! Still, they are so good humoured compared to most airport staff, it gives you an opportunity to off load those remaining Egyption pounds!

That should give you a flavour for what we managed in a most enjoyable week (24th-31st may 2004).

Frazz.