Gaili of all Trades

Losing the normalcy. I think, that's how I would describe the current situation. Nothing that used to be taken for granted, normal and daily, is it not anymore. And I'm not talking about not being able to travel or that the economy is f*cked up or we can't go to H&M anymore. I don't think Netflix is human right. But what I do consider human right to go outside. And it's not the newly found sports enthusiast in me talking, but I've always preferred walking over taking the bus or just walks, hikes. I've always sort of disliked sports - I can still remember how much I hated the dodge ball in school and how until this day I'm not able to climb the rope to the ceiling or do a somersault or cartwheel. But 3,5 years ago, when I moved to Munich I started to run. Which has become a habit now. Mostly 2-4 times a week with the exception of October, when it happened 5 times a week. And now my only option to go for a run is early morning, in the hope that all the people walking dogs or pushing baby carriages are still asleep. Where did all of them suddenly come from? Where did they keep their dogs and babies until now? Merely few weeks ago I could run whatever time I wanted to and saw one dog, if even. Now, during my 35-minute morning run I see around 6 baby carriers and 8 dogs. The later it gets, the higher the number. Also, most of them don't understand the rule of two meters.

We are still trying to go for a walk once a day. Usually around 8-9pm to see as little people as possible. And it still feels like trespassing. Our usual long leisurely walks have turned into speedy nordic walks (just without sticks), where the route is decided on every street corner and the street with least people will be chosen. And it's not until we're back home that I can breathe out again. It would be a great deal better, if the rest of the people would also keep the two meters distance and not saunter around with Saku six pack in hand in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk! And then there are the kids with scooters and bikes. A little older ones (so like 10yrs maybe) hang around in groups and do their tricks and the younger ones are just escaping their parents, who are not the least worried about the kids getting too close to other people.

Considering all that I should adjust my daily step goal. At the moment instead of the usual 11.000 steps 800 seem like a decent challenge.

Once all of this crap started, most of the people were saying that "Your grandparents went to the war and you tell me that you can't spend two weeks in your home, on your couch with Netflix and wifi to save the world?" Well, as of today, the two weeks are over, can I return to the regular life? And as a side note - during those two weeks there are still people, who have not understood the difference between quarantine and isolation. It seems like most of them have recently returned from trips or are having some symptoms, because according to their social media, they are all quarantined. Although isolation and 2-meter distance should be enough for them. And frustratingly big number of people are still in guarantine...

And suddenly everyone is a world famous virologist. All those who used to be politicians or real estate lawyers. Now they all know for sure that the virus doesn't reach beyond 2, 3,5 and 6 meters. Or it sticks to the surface for 72 hours, a week or 17 days. There have been miraculous recovering among MMS consumers and according to them everyone in Estonian Health Organisation should be fired and way more competent Jacks and Janes put in place.

I was putting on some make-up yesterday morning (some mascara and eyebrows that is) and felt myself like a decent muslim woman, getting herself all fancy just to stay home and please the husband. Didn't bother with any jewellery tho.

I ordered a package from Apollo to be delivered to the first floor Smartpost lockers. Since I didn't pay attention to their text that those lockers are full and they'll bring my package to the second floor lockers, a few hours later that's exactly what they did. Just so nobody would think that I'm trying to split the hair here, because how far can the second floor be from the first one, I'd like to point out that from the first floor one I can collect my stuff until 11pm, but to the second floor one the access will be closed at 9pm and currently I have no desire to go into a shopping centre that early. Anyway, I called Smartpost and asked to bring my package to the first floor lockers:
Girl from Smartpost: It's already been delivered to the locker, we can't bring it somewhere else.
Me: Yes, but unfortunately I can't pick it up there, because I don't go to the shopping centre before 9pm.
Girl from Smartpost: The we have to contact the company.
Me: Which company?
Girl from Smartpost: The seller, Apollo.
Silence in my end, because it's difficult to talk when you're speechless.
Girl from Smartpost: We will contact Apollo then.
Me: Ok.
Girl from Smartpost: But it will all take more time. Once they confirm it, we can pick up the package from the second floor, bring it to our warehouse and once there is an available locker on the first floor, we can deliver it. At the moment they become available very slowly, because people are not picking up their stuff and extend the storage.
Since I was in no hurry, I kindly approved the process. All the while not being able to understand, why now, when online shopping has been skyrocketing, they even allow extending. I'd say it would be more reasonable to bring those overdue items to their warehouse and not delay new shippings.

And I also have a package coming via Omniva. I got a paper notification that I can pick it up in their post office in Kristiine. In the light of the current situation the post office is open Mon to Fri from 10am to 6pm and on Sat from 10am to 3pm. Also known as the time, when I definitely won't be visiting the shopping center. And I can't also see any possibility to keep 2 meters distance there. So I asked them to reroute it to the lockers. Omniva informed me that under current circumstances it will take more time than usual, but will be done. So, now I'm waiting.

And actually we should be in Georgia right now. Hiking in the mountains around Khutaisi and eat all the gourmet there. Honestly, if we would have been able to get there, considering the current situation, we would have stayed there until the crap is over. Seems more reasonable than on the western front. But instead we are enjoying the beautiful sunny spring through the window and make plans, what time would be the best to go out to see as few people as possible. Dear reader, can you recall when it was the last time that we had such a nice sunny spring?

Boring sand and empty field. Guest of the Day.

Check out was supposed to be at 11:30am and the bus to the airport at 7pm. Since we had no desire to spend Saturday in the hotel lobby sitting on our luggage, the convenience travellers as we are, we had booked the late check out and could use the room until 8pm. During our trip to wifi I found an empty picture frame in lobby "Guest of the Day". For a second I thought that we should go and have our picture taken with the frame, but then remembered how we raised no issue having to change our door card three times a day, or when they closed the beach at 5pm, or how the quality of the food was more like a roadside motel one than Hilton and was certain that they'll bring out the "Guest of the Week" anytime soon too.

For the lunch we decided to choose fresh pasta form a la Counter. We had the choice of two sauces: red tomato sauce and white, sorry transparent, probably no-fat milk sauce. There were also different veggies, you could add to your sauce, like tomato, onion, parsley, garlic. And without even having to ask, every portion got two generous tablespoons of oil. One to heat the sauce and the other one as garnish on the ready food. The pasta was already cooked and right before serving they threw the portion into boiling water again and mixed with the sauce after that. Considering my impressive reaction time I got away with just half a tablespoon of oil and the pasta ended up pretty good.

We spent some more time on our balcony, napped a little and at around 6pm made our way to the lobby to spend some time in wifi, check out and wait for the bus. As planned, the bus arrived at 6:45pm, but not as planned, one of the couples was still in the Italian restaurant. Probably enjoying the creamless Creme Brulee. At 7pm we finally were ready to leave.

After we had picked up the rest of the tourists, the drive to the airport started. On the way there our tour guide introduced us the local traditions. Apparently they have this "beautiful tradition" here to tip the bus driver. And to make it really easy for the tourist, who wants to throw money left and right, the jar is right next to the exit door. We thought that there must be more beautiful traditions in the world and didn't follow this one.

First document and ticket check was on the entrance to airport, because no-one without the ticket should be able to get in. We showed our passport and ticket, got in and took a place in the waiting line for the first security inspection. According to the best practice of the Islam country they had different security checks for men and women. And since there were 3 for men and only one for women, the waiting line was dragging like the slobber of a cow on a hot summer day out of a bottleneck. At some point it seemed that we can start moving to our check, when a guy stopped us to see our passport. Probably to double-check the gender. After that it was straight to our checkpoint. Bag and shoes on the scanner belt, myself through the detector. The lady patted me down, asked to remove the belt and walk through again. Next time it was my watch that had to be removed and through the detector again. It seemed that now I had removed all the dangerous items, the lady touched me more thoroughly than the newlywed spouse his wife on the wedding night last century and I could start collecting my stuff. The security guy yelled in Russian that we have to bring the boxes back. Since Helena replied that he can do it himself, thank you very much, she was called aside and could unpack all of her luggage for the Ahmeds to inspect. Luckily my Russian skills are lacking, so I didn't bother responding and walked away.

We collected our boarding passes in check in and could move to the next step. Right before passport control we had to fill our a form with our name and nationality and few more things. Passport check, got our passports stamped and on the way to the final security check. However, before that, right 5 meters after the passport check, there was a guy standing, who, what a surprise! wanted to see our passports. Next security check, bag, shoes, belt and watch on the scanner belt, another rehearsal of the wedding night of the 19th century, the security guy yelling to put the boxes back and already we were in the waiting hall.

Luckily we had grabbed few bananas from the hotel, because the second biggest airport in Egypt had to offer one waiting hall, a smoke corner without walls and two bakery joints, where you could choose croissants or slices of very sad looking pizza for 5 euros. No wifi. But at least the passport control was up to the standards and we could fly out from the second biggest airport...

Boarding started, we took our seats and looked around very pleased seeing all those empty seats in our row, because the steward had just announced boarding being completed, everyone's onboard and we can close the doors and take off. Lovely, we can use all three seats again and have a decent nap. And then, the other steward told that half the passengers are missing. Damn, had the pilot been a bit quicker, we'd have had so much more space on the way home. Anyway, I was slightly puzzled on what were all those people still doing in that amazing airport. Chewing on those stale pizza slices? Anyway, we still managed to take off before official departure time and turned out that some passengers were somewhat confused regarding the type of the vehicle. Namely they had decided to stand in the aisle during the whole flight, like it was a tram in rush hour. We made it home an hour earlier than scheduled.

Boring sand and empty field. More sand.

We woke up with the ring of the wind chimes. Looking out of the window it became clear that the noise wasn’t caused by wind chimes but by metal that rattled on the next property because of the huge wind. I guess, the sun was rising as well, but with all the haze and sand, you couldn’t see it. We went for breakfast and retired to our balcony that was the least windy place in the all resort. At 10:30am I made an attempt to go for a run, but running against such a wind was like running on a treadmill - you keep running, but won’t get any further. With that minor exception that every few steps sand hit bare legs and eyes. I turned around and ran back to the resort. Meanwhile the cleaning guy had created scorpion, scarabeus or two-tailed crocodile from towels, bottle caps and remote on my bed.

Before lunch I jumped in the sea again, which had even bigger variety of colourful fish than last time. Each bigger and braver than other.

In the afternoon we walked to Mango Market again to buy some KitKat. On the way there we discovered a potato field in our resort and apparently some guests can enjoy the beautiful organic view from their balconies. We decided to take the path next to the field to see, if we can exit that way as well. We ended up by a fence with a clear feeling that it’s not a way out. Before we managed to turn around and start walking back, there was an Omar standing right behind us and clearly invading our private space. He pointed to the substation that was the reason for us not being able to further and told us that he works there. He also offered to show us his work place. We decided to exit through the usual main gate. First time this all week a security guy was on duty who asked our room number and where we’re from. We instantly felt how life got so much more safe in the resort.

Due to the heavy wind they cancelled the dinner grill outside, but at least they had hummus on the menu again, and without considering any other guests, we ate most of it.

Boring sand and empty field. Angry Bird.

They have added rice pudding into the breakfast menu. Lack of cream they have replaced with sugar. So the usually creamy pudding tastes here like sugar cooked in water with a touch of rice.

Lunch we had in Paradise Reef again. We were about to finish when a local hotel guy stopped by our table. He had a menu in hand and apparently wanted to sell us some kind of fish dinner. We were not interested. That caused a conversation between him and Helena:
Local rude person: "Why you so angry?"
Helena: "I'm not angry, I'm eating"
Local rude person: "You look so angry, you should smile more"
I was just speechless. I would have wanted to tell him, what I think of it that he joined our table without invitation and started to speak his mind. What guests wouldn't be irritated when someone just crashes their lunch and starts insulting them?

In the afternoon we visited another pompeus shopping center that was full of souvenir and diving shops, and also some cafes and a McDonald's. We bought some local chocolate and had coffee in Einstein Cafe.

Getting back to the resort I saw that I have exactly 15 minutes to get down to the beach and take few pictures before 5pm. I ran down and at 4:50pm had my feet in sand. There was no other person in the water at that time anymore. I walked to the water, took my phone to take the pics and then three Russians walked right in fornt of my camera and remained standing in ankle deep water. There was whole empty beach and sea behind me, where they could have gone... I walked a bit further to find some other angle without the Russians on my sunset pictures and already a local Ahmed Hasselhoff ran to me, speaking Russian, most likely telling me that the beach is "Zakrõta" (closed). I asked in English and found out that "Finish!" Yes, it seemed that at 5pm they closed pools and apparently also the beach. It was 4:54pm and I pointed out that there are other people on the beach. That didn't impress him and he most likely also didn't understand it. But he did understand that I didn't have a plan to go anywhere so he repeated "Finish!". At 5pm when I left the beach, he remained there photographing a little Russian girl.

While waiting in line to get some grilled meat in the dinner, a Russian lady walked up to us, looked what was being offered and informed us then that she'll go grab a plate and will take a place in front of us in the line then. Veni, vidi, vici! When she returned with the plate, she didn't get her chosen spot in front of us.

Boring sand and empty field. Mister Hilton.

The day started as usual - after the breakfast we made our way to the main pool, where at 10am they turned on the music and had a quick dance workout. After that the  couches walked around and advertised their stretching that was about to start any minute. An hour later they were still advertising it and we couldn't see anyone stretching. We decided to jump in the pool. Now I know, how the ice swimmers feel. We jumped back out.

Seems like another group of tourists from a nearby country has arrived. Unexpectadly the percentage of Russians had gone down from 95% to a lame 92%. The mentioned 3% are tourists from some muslim countries. Hair and face covered with hijabs or niqabs, often also a mask and wearing beige or black burkas. Despite the dress code signs near the pools they also jump in the water wearing that outfit.

During the lunch it turned out that Helena is not drinking enough. As always the waiter came to ask what we would like to drink with our gourmet meal. I already had a water on the table (you get the water here in a shot glass), so I didn't order anything and also Helena said she doesn't want anything.
"Why you don't drink?"
"I don't want to, thank you!"
"But something? Maybe water then?"
"Ok, I'll have a water"
A short moment later the guy returned with three glasses of water and did set two in front of Helena and one more in front of me.
10 minutes later, after we had taken some dessert, the enthusiastic young guy returned and I asked for a coffee. Helena still didn't want anything. Two minutes later both of us had coffee in front of us.

In the afternoon we decided to go to the Mango Market. On the way there a camel was walking towards us and the local guy riding the camel wanted us to take a picture of or with the camel. We didn't. I took a picture of a store front that thad the sign of "Gena and Tsheburashka" (famous Russian cartoon characters). The owner of the shop told me that it's not allowed to take pictures of his shop.

Mango Market is a well equipped supermarket - you can get diet jams there, viagra tea, the newest of Michael Kors and Prada as well as more than 10 different types of KitKat.

Best parts of the dinner table were grilled burgers and hot donut holes. We had them with a lot of powdered sugar. Donut holes that is, not the burgers. During the dinner they advertised the entertainment program that'll take place later in the evening. And today they will have Mister Hiltn competition. They also promised some padaroks (gifts in Russian). Imagining all the not too silm, but hairy and overburned guysmwho walk around in strings and flash their pink butts to everyone who wants or doesn't want to see, we decided to skip watching the competition. Who needs the gifts anyway.

Boring sand and empty field. Italian gourmet.

Morning went past in eatery, by the pool, in the sea and in the eatery again. In the afternoon the life got way more exciting. We had decided to visit the town. Naama Center is 7km away and the easiest option for a tourist to get there would be taxi. There are also buses driving, but since they have no certain route, they just drive, where the passengers want to go. Should several passengers want to go to different directions, it might cause some misunderstandings and we didn't feel like dealing with those. So we walked to our entrance, where taxis were waiting in line and asked for the price. The taxis are using meter here, but you still need to agree a price before getting in. That system didn't seem very easily understandable at first. Any how, the first guy wanted to charge us 10USD. We offered 3 euros. They tried to sell us the return ride as well, but since we had no idea, how long we want to spend in the metropol, we decided to get one way only. On the way there the driver tried to communicate with us in an Arabic-Russian language mix and once he realized that it doesn't work, he got out his pocket translator (also known as iPhone) and tried to continue with the help of that. Turned out he wanted to know, how long the madams plan to spend in the city so that they can take his blessed taxi back to the resort. The madams let him know that they have no idea yet, they plan to shop as long as Allah wants them to and then take some other blessed vehicle back. That didn't impress the driver much and he started to raise his voice. And tried at least to get us adding a tip to already agreed price. Having realized that those frugal Eastern Europeans won't cough any money out, he dropped us on the first possible street corner and continued his road to share Allah's blessing to other tourists, who knew to value it.

Helena stepped into the first silver store and walked out an hour later with an amount of jewellary that she would need to declare in the airport customs. We also got some magnets and browsed so new models of Victoria's Secret and Tommy Hilfiger  that even Tommy and Victoria probably weren't aware yet that they had gotten from factory to the Naama market.

I fully understand that I spend my vacation in an artificial town built for tourists, but I also know that the town is in islamic country. Their own women have to cover their hair and aren't even allowed to look at random men, then why on Earth do those local Ahmeds think that me as tourist would want to talk to all of them, share my name and origin? While Helena was negotiating the length of the necklace I walked to the souvenir shop next door. And of course the owner came to make acquitance. Told me his name and reached his hand out. I told him that I'm also extremely glad to meet, but didn't shake his hand. Half a minute later I was in a situation where I could either walk out the door or shake his hand. That I haven't covered my hair with hijab, doesn't mean that I'm looking forward to any kind of contact. Fkng hypocracy, tell you that! And later he had the nerve to ask, why we shopped next door not from him. I failed the words to explain him that Helena was buying silver and he was selling fridge magnets and little camels.

Our hopes were high regarding the dinner. We had made a reservation in an Italian restaurant and were looking forward to three courses of mediterranian gourmet. For the appetizers we chose tomato soup (me) and fried mozzarella sticks, for main course chicken milanese (me) and calzone and for the dessert creme brulee (me) and ice cream trio. Before the appetizers they served us some of the most soft and lightweight buns I've ever seen with tomato salsa. The soup and mozzarella were good. But after that it seemed thaty had some difficulties finding the right  page in cookbook. The calzone didn't look any different thatn regular pizza. Nor tasted, as I understood. Thin pizza crust was covered with tomato souce and and mozzarella and on top if they had sliced half of a mushroom and cut a slice of chicken ham. My chicken breast was sliced paperthin and then fried. Tasted probably better than KFC that I've never tried. There isn't much point of telling about ice cream (I mean, it's ice cream), but my creme brulee was clearly a wet dream of a dieter. They had totally missed the creme part and replaced creme with no-fat milk. That dessert tasted like yellow jello covered with a thin layer of caramel. Well, I ate the caramel. However, looking at the average guest here, their weight and size, it's of course welcome that they offer some healthier options.

Boring sand and empty field. Upgrade.

I planned to start with breakfast, because what could be more important topic to share with my dear readers than the gourmet experience, even if it hasn't been a delicious experience, but truth be told, there are more matter-of-fact problems to share. Which are language skills. Or the lack there of. Long story short - besides me and Helena nobody speaks English here. But everyone speaks Russian. The tourists, which are 95% Russians as well as all the customer service in resort and out of it. Once they learn that we are from Estonia, they can also say "Tere-tere!" or "Kuidas läheb?" But every other conversation is in Russian. Fellow tourists ask for direction in Russian, inquire about food ingredients in Russian (apparently I carry a sign on my forehead that states that I offer dietary consultations in Russian) and ask about at least 10 other things that I'm unable to understand. The service keeps greeting us with cheerful Zdrastje and doesn't seem bothered by my reply in English. They must consider me some kind of Russian social claim berlin, who considers herself higher than speaking mother tongue. But there's also a positive note to all that - today afternoon we were considered Swedes by a local taxi driver and then Danish. So, there seemed to be a slight upgrade. But I still plan to buy a t-shirt that states that "Ja ne gavarju po russki" (I don't speak Russian).

And now about food. I gave the oatmeal second chance. Turned out that this bland joke of a meal can't be saved even with salt and apricot jam. So I had some bread and fruits. I also noticed on the board that yesterday again they wasted 8kg of food. I promised that tomorrow I won't keep doing my tests with oatmeal.

We spent the morning on the beach, the wind had slowed down and it already felt much more relaxing. I also went for a run and while doing so, got a good overview of nearby shopping options.

For the lunch we had booked the table in Paradise Reef and instead of buffee they had a la carte options. I went for chicken strips with french fries. Totally appropriate change for all the rice and watery veggies.

After lunch we made another trip to wifi - there's wifi here only in the main building and by the main pool. And since by the main pool there is a constant party from 10am until late (with very loud music and whoop-whoop screams they try to get all the ladies to join them in dance and some other acts), we usually prefer to spend our sunbath time by the Chillax pool.

Next to the neighbouring resort there is a spot on the map marked as very picturesque. We were hoping to see some breathtaking sunsets views from there. We walked there and while standing on the abandoned gravel grounds the view we took in, was lovely indeed. Few other tourists joined us and one couple asked us in Russian (Do I actually need to spell the language out every time? It's not that anyone is using any other language to approach us here) what hotel is there? Slightly confused I looked around to see what other hotel could there be on this abandoned ground than something that's called like "Camping Ground for everyone" or "Oasis of Tents" or "Hilton Tent". So they elaborated their inquiry and asked, if we know, where Grand Hotel might be. Unfortunately we couldn't help them.

Boring sand and empty field. How we went to the beach without permission.

By 8am in the morning we were ready to eat the best samples of the Egyptian cuisine and have some well-known famous arabian coffee. Having the best interest of the European tourist in mind they had also covered the tables with grains - Egyptian wheat cooked in milk and oat meal. You could also order omelette, there were pancakes, at least 28 different types of bread, some fruits and coffee. Since their egg cooking method seemed to be drowning them in oil, I opted for the porridge. They also offered diet apricot jam and diet strawberry jam. Let me tell you that even those didn't save the day. Or rather the porridge, because it was the most tasteless porridge that I've ever had the misfortune to taste. Also the most bland and fatless.
Right next to the eatery there is a sign telling us that yesterday 8kg of food was wasted in this restaurant. The guests are forbidden to waste food and should they still, they can be fined 100 EGP (appr. 6-7 EUR). Considering that this hotel has hundreds of rooms, they have three buffee meals every day and already while I was having my breakfast, they did throw away at least 1kg of leftovers from the next table, I would think that only 8kg foodwaste for the all day, several hundreds of tourists and three buffee meals can be seen as a great result. Well done! Especially when you see how some people just keep loading their plates so full that they have difficulties carrying them...
After fairly unsuccsessful breakfast we got our bikinis on, grabbed the beach towels and books and made our way to the pools. We watched Russian ladies leaning on the reiling and taking pics in approximately 18 different poses, tried to cover ourselves from the wind and when the wind wanted to lift us up with our towels, we retreated to the room to get ready for the lunch. Turned out that lunch choice was even less appealing than the breakfast, but rice and some salads were not too bad. Add the bread section and to have everything well balanced, also the cake section with 20 different cakes.
In the afternoon we made our way to the local village and shopping centre. The shopping, as it turned out, was few souvenirs covered with dust and some bakeries. We had some not so bad coffee and walked back.
In the morning, when we thought we could relax and sunbath, at least 10 sales dudes were stopping by to offer us massage, mani-pedi, snorkeling and so on for very good price. To avoid the same situation in the afternoon, we got us a "Do not disturb" sign and same second our sunbathing was upgraded. When I was walking with the sign to our seats, one guy was trying to make some sales ("Before you put the sign up!"), but didn't really suckseed.
After dinner that wasn't too bad, we walked down to the beach. Both staircases were closed with chains, but as we all know, the locks are for animals and if a Sowjet woman wants to get to the beach, there's nothing stopping her.
After getting back to the room, when Helena told me at 8:30pm that she'll just close her eyes for a second, I can spoil you the end and tell that on Sunday she did not open those eyes again.

The excitment started in Tallinn, once I discovered that my long-searched fragrance is available in Non-Schengen area for half the price. Since there was no option buying it with the same price there on the way back, it will accompany me on the trip to Egypt.

Next moment getting the adrenaline all high, was seeing the ambulance waiting by the doors of our incoming flight. The crew, all in haz mats stepped in the plane and returned with two ladies. Spoiler: all corona tests from February 29th are negative. The incoming flight itself came from Bergamo, also known as the crises area in Italy.

And once again I ended up flying with people, for whom it was the first time to see an aircraft from inside. The man in front of me had placed his backpack under his seat and when I asked him to remove it from my legspace and put in the overhead lockeris, the only thing, he was capable doing was to look at each other with his wife and roll their eyes. The bag remined. Five minutes later, when the stewardess told him the same, he jumped up and stoved the bag away. Autorit, tell you that!

With the Egyptian efficiency we had our first contacts already in Sharm airport - first thing to do was to stand in line to get a little paper to fill uout with your name and place to stay. After that we took the papers and went to stand in line for the immigration. Passport stamp, we got into the bus, having gotten an envelope from our travel guides with all the possible daytrips we can buy from them during our stay. And only a short hour later all our group was in the bus and the family who had missed the guides on the way and hadn't gotten their envelope, had to listen to the lecture, how the guides were waiting for them.

On the way to the hotels we were listening to the guide giving us an overview of the traffic (chaos!), tipping and her personal opinion of the corona virus (media has blown it out of proportsionaalselt, in case you're interested). Getting into the hotel was through security check, we made it to the reception, showed our passport, found out that the late dinner, we were promised, was not available anymore and after getting the door cards we were asked to sit down on those greasy, sorry soft and comfy couches until they pick us up in golf carts and bring to our room. Near us, there was an extremely chatty Russian lady sitting, whose husband and daughter very wisely had left her alone. For the next 35 minutes we were listening how they as smart tourists had packed their own sandwiches and don't need to starve to death now and how it's her third time in Egypt (for two weeks this time) and has been 7 times in Turkey as well. Her daughter was working in travel agency and oh, do they know, how clean the rooms need to be. First thing they always walk into the bathroom and use their foot to kick up the lid and seat. Should there be any kind of dirty, they call for the cleaning crew. They are no simple birdies. They know, how things must be!

At 1:05am I was not able to listen to the mostly one-sided discussion of the madam and Helena (Helena seemed to be so taken with all the new and useful information that she had hard time getting a word out, she probably was also making plans on how to put the information in good use) and walked to the reception, where I asked the   guy to bring us to our room or show me the direct on, where I can find it, because by that time we had been spending over an hour in the reception and lobby and I wanted to get to the bed. The guy looked at me slightly disapprovingly, asked then, if really no-one has picked us up yet (oh, for sure they tried to pick us up, we just preferred to keep sitting in the lobby!) and started a golfcart then to bring us to the room.

The room is bigger than I expected, but I've seen better 3 star hotels than this 5 star one is.