Day Zero – Arlanda Hotellby

Maybe I should start by presenting who we were. It was me, my girlfriend Carina and our two friends Emma and Dennis. Since we were flying out early in the morning, we slept at Arlanda Hotellby the night before. Good parking space and not too expensive. Everything went smooth until we got on the plane, where we were told that the flight was delayed by 1 hour due to “no air space” or something like that. So, 1 hour later we set off for Egypt.

Day One – Arrival

The trip went pretty fast, just 4,5 hours. Hurghada airport sucked though. It took like an eternity to get through the passport control. When finally done we got transfered by bus to our hotel – Mövenpick in El Gouna. The bus driver looked like an old version of Eddie Murphy. Who didn’t find his way anywhere. I thought he traveled around almost the whole of El Gouna. As our guide said it would take us about 20 minutes to reach our destination, the truth was more like 1 hour and 20 minutes. But we got to see more pieces of Egypt, so who am I to complain?

As we got to our hotel it had already darkened, even though it wasn’t that late at night. El Gouna is like a little piece of paradise by the Red Sea. Everything is beautiful and clean. You don’t have that real middle eastern high-life in El Gouna; you’re at a tourist paradise.

We started our first night by having a great dinner buffet consisting of like everything imaginable. Really tasty. Had a romantic walk in the hotel area afterwards. And when I say hotel area it’s not like a small hotel with a backyard. It was a fuckin huge area. They had everything. 4 pool areas, spa, gym, health club, hair dresser, tennis & squash courts, 6 restaurants or something, diving/kite surfing/windsurfing stations, a bank, three shops, two cafeterias and lots of other stuff.

Day Two – Feeling It

Our first day we spent completely by the pool and the sea. Carina wasn’t really aware of the fact that we were in Egypt; when I tried waking her up she yelled at me not to wake her up since she thought I was going to work… hehe. Anyways. Pretty cold in the pool since it was not heated, and this is winter time. However, as the clock started to get close to 12-13 the temperature in the ocean was really nice. So we snorkeled a lot, seeing a bunch of stuff like fishes, rays, and other peculiar animals on the bottom of the sea.

Lot of kite-surfers too. I didn’t get the chance to try it, but it looked like fun!

The evening we spent in Downtown El Gouna. Really nice place with maybe not so much stuff to do, but enough for us who just wanted to have a relaxing week not filled with parties. The sun set already around 17 in the afternoon, and after that it was almost completely pitch black. Of course we bought some stuff (mostly the girls, but it was we men who got to haggle for the stuff. Quite fun the first 3 times, but gets tiresome pretty quick). Ate some good food and said hello to the crocodile Oscar (which I also held – pictures are coming later).

Day Three – Quadbikes in Sahara Safari

First half of the day was spent sunbathing and splashing in the pool (this pool was heated). Around 14.30 we got picked up to ride Quadbikes with Alex Safari in the Sahara desert. One of the most fascinating and exciting things I have done in my life, ever! The spread of sand, dust, stones and mountains in every direction is a view that can’t be described – it must be experienced. And the feeling of racing through these enourmos steppeland on these bikes doing around 50 km/h is a fantastic feeling.

Our guide was great and learned us a lot of interesting stuff about the Bedouin life and the desert. We got to see how the Bedouines live, tasted some tea and bread, smoked Argile (water pipe) and got information about their herbal medicines. We got to see a man-made well, tested the sound of echoes in the valleys and finally rounded of with a trip back to the garage in pitch black darkness under the stars. At our final destination we had a BBQ with delicious food and also bought a DVD which they compiled the day after.

As we got home to our hotel we had a chill night on our balcony. A balcony with a great view, I must add.

Day Four – Abo Tig Marina

This day we tried the third pool area. We had breakfast at another place in the hotel (the hotel was so huge – as I mentioned earlier – that they had to split the breakfast area into two places. Same food, but your choice depends on which one you are closest to). More snorkeling this day too.

When the sun went down we went with a cab to the Marina. Lots of big, expensive yachts layed there and waited for me to claim them. I didn’t.  We ate at a place called Papas Bar, Papas Island or something. That was perhaps the worst place ever. Looked pretty neat but the food took an eternity to cook, and Carina even got the wrong food. They served her something she hadn’t ordered, and the thing she ordered wasn’t available. Couldn’t they have mentioned that when she ordered her food? Anyways. Dennis and I played two games of pool, and the result was even. Carina found a pair of shoes with her name on it, but they were too expensive and not good looking enough to buy. (Yeah, I tried to hassle the shop owner but she didn’t lower the price enough).

Day Five – Spa Massage

First part of day = sun and snorkeling and just laying there like lazy bastards as always. Between 14-16 we went to the Spa for some really really good massage. Full body massage + face massage, Thai style. I think I fell asleep a couple of times, and some times it felt as my mind left my body. THE best massage I’ve ever had. No question about that.

During the evening Emma and Dennis went into Hurghada. Me and Carina stayed at the hotel area to enjoy some great Thai food and taking it easy. (I wasn’t feeling all too well in my stomach and a feverish feeling swept over me, so I think we did the right thing to stay relaxed this evening). Emma and Dennis had a both terrible and at the same time kind of interesting experience in Hurghada. I’m just glad I didn’t go there. I’ve already had my fair share of crazy towns, and this vacation I wanted to have as little stress as possible.

Day Six – Swedish?

All day was spent on the beach, playing beach tennis, card games and mostly not doing anything special. A very nice feeling I don’t get so often these days! We went to El Gouna Downtown in the evening, and found a restaurant which was owned by a Swedish family. They even had a swedish head waiter which showed us around. Really classy place and great service. Delicious food to, and this time I got my Bea-sauce (!). Oh yes! Carina bought some stuff which I managed to bargain for some better prices, but I think I could have done a better job on those things.

We went to bed early since Day Seven would bring a lot of adventures out on the Red Sea…

Day Seven – Dolphins and Snorkeling in Coral Reef

Early in the morning we went out with a boat into the Red Sea to an area called the Dolphin House. There we got to see quite a lot of dolphins swimming around, surfacing from time to time, and playing around the boats. Really nice  to see these animals out in the wild – especially for Carina, who loves dolphins so much. I was very happy for her sake.

We went further away to a really big coral reef. There we snorkeled about one hour, and that qualifies in the same league as the quad bike tour in the desert. The water was crystal clear, you got see all 15 meters down to the bottom. It was like a whole new world when you looked down. no sounds, just your own breathing. And a lot of fishes in all various colors. Purple, yellow, green, red, flaming orange – everything on one and the same fish! And the coral reefs; it was magical. We swam around for an hour, and then had lunch on the boat.

Proceeding with the boat to our second snorkeling spot, we had another hour to spend in the sea. And this time there was a lot of fish. Fantastic looking fish in serious large quantities. And jellyfishes too. I touched some jellyfishes, but the fish was impossible to manage to touch. Don’t worry, we weren’t attacked by sharks either.

The snorkeling tour was fantastic; the experience, the scenery under the ocean, the great guides, the funny cameraman who sold us a DVD for practically no money at all, and like… yeah, everything. You will get to see the pictures later, I think they will speak for themselves. I just hope that the underwater pictures will be any good when we process them.

Back at the hotel, Carina got a haircut with a really good result. She looks incredibly cute in her new cut. While she was at the hair dresser, Emma and Dennis and myself played a set of tennis for an hour. Really fun!

Finished of the night by eating at El Sayadin, a fish/oriental restaurant of a higher class (which was noted on the bill…).

Packed our stuff to leave the day after, a trip not so funny since nobody of us was looking forward to return to cold Sweden…

Retrospective

This vacation was one of my best ever. The only bad thing was that it was too short, and that I had some minor issues with my stomach. I wish I could have stayed longer. Much longer. I really enjoyed myself, and seeing that Carina thrived perfectly well I concluded that this gift to her was a good one. I hope she agrees.

Now I have like over 800 pictures I have to sort and publish. I will post them here on my blog, on Flickr and on Facebook as usual. In addition to that there are Emma’s, Dennis’ and Carina’s cameras too. With like a shitload of pictures and movies. But they will come in due time, I promise.

I am browner than I have ever been in November, and I’m filled with positive energy and exciting, thrilling memories from the best vacation ever. I am really grateful for this trip, and if I got the opportunity to do it again I would. I can really recommend El Gouna, and especially the Mövenpick Resort Hotel. There’s so much more I really want to tell you and write, but then this article would never end.

I love you Carina, thanks for spending this wonderful week with me. Emma, Dennis: you are two wonderful friends who I am really grateful to have. Big thanks to mom for taking care of my apartment while I was gone, love you!

This trip was pure euphoria.

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