Trips away, fabulous family news and lots of social events in the town.

Cheryl has wanted to go to Egypt ever since she studied the Ancient Egyptians at primary school.  This was to be our very first package holiday, booked by a stir crazy Neil in the depths of lockdown. Starting with 4 nights in Cairo, a Nile cruise and then relaxation in an all inclusive resort at The Red Sea.  In Cairo we had an excellent guide for 2 days enjoying the wonders of the Pyramids, Great Sphinx, The Mosque of Mohamed Ali and museums.  It was full on.

We then flew to Luxor to board The Esadora  for a 7 night cruise down The Nile to Aswan.  Every day we had excursions taking us to temples, The Valley of The kings, The Valley of The Queens, the Aswan dam and much, much more. We thought that Cairo was full on but this was exhausting as we were always up very early so that much of the sightseeing could be done in the cool of the mornings.  What made it a lot more heavy going than it need have been, which was self-inflicted, was that we had a very sociable group of fellow travellers which meant a few drinks in the bar each evening. 

There was a surprise awaiting us on our return from excursions as the cabin staff were a dab hand at towel art, and their creations were quite spectacular.  Neil decided he would have a go as well but had to concede he should leave it to the experts.

The next stage of our trip was to be spent on The Red Sea.  We travelled by mini bus across the desert to the resort of Hurghada.  The journey was interesting as we travelled through small towns where life is pretty traditional and in stark contrast to the glitz of the upmarket hotels and holiday resorts.

We had booked 10 nights of R&R which unfortunately wasn’t as pleasant as we had hoped.  The hotel was aimed at families with loud music playing at the beach bar and the swimming pool making reading a book very difficult.  To be fair, all the staff at the hotel were absolutely fantastic so if we weren’t eating or drinking in the bar we were on our balcony reading the books we had brought.  We had a fabulous view and it was good to get back into reading which is something we don’t really do at home.  In the evenings we walked along the track in both directions from the hotel which had been laid for miles in both directions.  Hurghada itself is a strange place, a purpose built resort town, almost Disney like, with hotel after hotel along the seafront.  It had no real soul and many of the hotels were partially built empty shells having been abandoned when Covid hit the world.  Of course, they will get finished at some stage but for now they remain the homes of foxes and other wildlife.  Very sad. 

Our first experience of proper package and all inclusive was mixed – it was great not to have the work of selecting and booking sightseeing and transfers, but not great to have no control when things weren’t to our liking such as the hotel at Hurghada.  On a long stay we would probably have booked a couple of nights and then extended if we liked the place or moved on if it wasn’t for us.

We flew back in early November and spent a couple of days in London with Alex, Freddy and baby Luke.  He is growing fast and is still such a chilled little guy getting more and more aware of what is happening around him.  Then it was back home to Seaton to get back to the gym as the scales weren’t good for Neil, probably something to do with the all-inclusive food and liquor in Egypt!  The social life kicked in with a Marlpit Lane Social Club film night was quickly followed by a wild night at The Gateway with Riviera Dogs, an excellent 80’s tribute band.

Whilst at the gig we bumped into Chris who used to frequent The Hat.  He told us that Gary the bar owner was back in town to renew his passport so Neil contacted him and before we knew where we were we had a impromptu guest.  He had been sharing his old flat with the guy who took it on but things were tense to say the least.  So, we offered Gary a bed for 3 nights and enjoyed his company and tales of his new travelling lifestyle. 

Just before we headed off to Cornwall to celebrate Cheryl’s birthday we went to a get together for the U3A wine appreciation group.  We were most certainly the youngest there, some well into their 80’s but they were a great group and as the wine flowed we had a lot of laughs.  We provided the 3 Reds – all connected to the letter C. It was a fun afternoon and went to prove the point that 80 is the new 60.

Cornwall was just the same as last year, wet ‘n windy, although not quite as windy as last year.  We had a day out at The Eden Project and the second day walking near Padstow along The Camel Trail.  We had the same deal at the hotel, bed, breakfast, evening meal and a bottle of wine, once again not good for the waistline.  For some reason we also had a room was upgrade to The Courtroom which was a huge room with a lounge area containing 2 x 3 seater sofas.

Let’s end this post with some fabulous news about our niece, Anna, who has been receiving treatment for cancer for many months. She’s been unbelievably positive and cheerful despite feeling absolutely shite at times. At the beginning of November she was told that she is in remission! We are so pleased and we’re looking forward to the family celebrations that are to come at Christmas.