Spring Break 2013
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| Me & the Sphinx..in the hotel lobby
As I have several papers to write for grad school, I thought this would be the perfect time to update the ol'blog! Procrastination at its finest!!
I believe I left off with tales of the flu attack on my school and myself....it was a tough week. Having the flu, the end of term with the usual mountain of grading, crying students and bureaucracy.....all added up to this badger being very, very stressed out! So, even though it is quite the misnomer (as it is February and there is still much snow on the ground), Spring Break 2013 was a welcome respite from the chaos.
My friend/ colleague, Deb, was about to celebrate her 25th birthday (I vaguely remember that age) and wanted to do something fabulous that involved the sun and water (she being of Australian stock), so we did like most Czechers do- we booked an all-inclusive. To Egypt!!
Now, I'm not going to lie- the thought of an all-inclusive vacation that involved lots of time lying on lounge chairs either next to a pool or on the beach did NOT appeal to me at all. To be honest, it sounded like my idea of Dante's 7th ring of hell. But I am nothing, if not a good sport. Plus, it was cheap and Egypt. Why not?
So it was that early Saturday morning, after a night of shopping and packing WAY TOO MUCH, that Deb, Steph and I caught the train to Prague. I'm not kidding when I say I packed too much- I ended up being over the weight limit, for a beach vacation! That takes skills people. The three of us met Craig at the airport and started on our journey. If the amount of fun we had at the airport was any indication, this was going to be a good trip. Steph introduced us to a fantastic game to be played while waiting in lines. Basically, it's called "Which one of these jokers is a serial killer?". Yep, you pick out people in line who you feel may be a serial killer and you have to give a reason why. Loads of fun, highly recommended.
Everyone knows how much I enjoy flying...and the gang did not leave things to chance. They decided to distract me during take offs and landings by talking my ears off. The topics included the difference in pouches on the kangaroo vs. wombats and....wow, I can't remember what else, but really what can top wombats as a distractor??
Upon landing in Hurghada, we deplaned and were bused to the terminal. Where it seemed the main order of the day was mass chaos. After paying our $15 US to get a tourist visa, we shuffled through the line and met our van driver. Thinking we had a long drive ahead to the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive only 30 minutes later.
The hotel was.....I won't say beautiful, but it was amazing. Huge lobby, beach, pool with swim-up bar, etc. I can say the rooms were really nice. I shared with Craig- the BEST roommate/ travel partner ever!! We had a balcony and huge bath and closet. Tea and coffee in the room every morning. Nice.
OK- so I'll spare the play-by-play of the entire trip. One because who wants to hear about every detail? But, mainly, because there is not much to tell. We seriously took to heart the "no-stress" vacation mantra. The focus of the trip was to get some sun, relax, enjoy the all-you-can-eat/ drink....just de-stress and re-charge. And we certainly did that.
The first day, Sunday, we headed to the pool in the morning. For someone who doesn't like to lay out, I think I did a commendable job of giving it a go. We laid out, we did water aerobics- which was led by the "animation" team. The "animation" team is the name of the group of people who wander around and try to get people to do stuff. Between them and the other guys trying to get us to do snorkeling, get professional pictures taken and get spa treatments, it was quite annoying. STOP bothering me!!! UGH. Anyway, the guy got us to do the aerobics by his pep talk about joining him for water aerobica, water fantastica, gymnastica....It was quite amusing and we had a good laugh joining in. After that it was time for a cocktail at the swim up bar. Then some more laying out. Just as I was about to burst into flames, it was time to meet up with our travel advisor to set up our side trips to Cairo and Luxor. I was quite proud of how long I lasted outside, and I didn't even get burnt. But then after about 15 minutes inside......my usual symptoms kicked in and I spent the next 4 hours being sick in the room. So, that was that.
 Craig and I planned a trip to Luxor and Deb and Steph planned their trip to Cairo. As there was some unrest in Cairo going on, but mostly because it was a 6 hour bus trip, I decided to forego the pyramids and head to the Valley of the Kings, which was only 4 hours away by bus. Basically, the only to get to these places is with an organized tour. So we paid our extra bucks and got everything scheduled. Monday was Deb's birthday, so she and I set up a "Cleopatra" treatment in the spa for the morning. This was extra as well, but really an almost 3 hour massage??!! Yeah, I was in. My masseuse was quite entertaining. She asked in the beginning if I wanted it to be gentle, medium or hard. Go big or go home, right? Hahaha...she certainly worked me over. At one point, she completely laid on top of my back. She, also, kneeled on the back of my thighs, grabbed my arms, and pulled. It felt very good while it was happening, but later on in the week, I would be barely able to walk. She, also, kept trying to sell me the lotions and potions that she was using. But, shhhhh, it had to be secret as the front desk also sold the goods! Ah, entrepreneurship at it's best. I ended up being "persuaded" to purchase some medicament. Glorified Ben-Gay is what it was!!! On Tuesday, Deb and Steph headed to Cairo. I took the day off from the sun and stayed in the room to write a paper for grad school. I'm quite proud of myself that I finished a bunch of reading AND completed a paper. And even more proud that my professor told me that it was the best paper she had read so far on the topic!!! yay me :) Tuesday night was, also, the night of the "incident" with one of the waiters. Basically, we had our choice of two "restaurants" to eat from. During the day, we ate hot dogs and chips from the outside snack shack, but at night there were buffets. I'll be honest.....I thought the food sucked. BAD. I like to eat. I like to eat WELL when on holiday. This was not that. Lots of rice, goulash, etc. The only thing that was good was the fresh bread. Anyway....this night, we were at the "italian" place. And the basically, long story short, the waiter called me fat!! To my face!! Wow.....it was...interesting to say the least. After that little joyful experience, I felt like it was time to leave and not venture back there again.  The rest of the week went pretty much like this:
While we spent most of time at the pool, we did end up going for a dip in the Red Sea. That was great. And crazy. Just saying that I swam in the Red Sea is so cool to me. I never imagined that this would be a part of my life! It was a bit chilly and very salty, but fun just the same.
  
Soon enough it was time to pack up and head out. The week flew by. So many memories....the constant banter by the employees of the hotel, Craig coming in 2nd place in the Mr. Azul competition, water aerobica, Craig's constant one-liners, etc.
But...I'll be honest. I was ready to go. I don't think all-inclusive vacations are really my thing. Not that I didn't have fun, I had a blast. And the trip was really affordable. BUT I like to get out much more, I don't like to just lay around by the pool, and the food was awful. And did I mention the non-stop techno music playing by the pool?? And the constant haggling whenever you went anywhere??
However.....I was in EGYPT!! Wow :)
PS...we almost died in the taxi on the way from Prague airport to the train station. We only had 20 minutes to get there to catch the train (or wait an ungodly 3 hours in the station) and it takes 26 minutes. The cabbie got us there...but took several years off my life!!!!
*the next post will be about my side trip to Luxor*
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