so we get to my house the evening before were due to fly and we get a phonecall from todds mother saying that theres a problem with the hotel. so we ring the company and eventually find out that we've been double booked at our hotel and we have the option to be transferred to another hotel at no extra charge. so this was a massive downer as todd had spent months finding the perfect hotel for us but all we could do was hope it was ok.
so we get to the airport and have a smooth flight to egypt, get in a taxi and eventually arrive at our hotel in sharm el sheikh. so it turns out to be really really nice! the baron palms hotel and grounds are really clean and well presented. they have a few bars(incl. a beach bar, shisha bar-which we used a few nights yum- and piano bar), a few restaurants(incl. an egyptian speciality which ate in one night which was lovely), 2 pools(one which was heated with interrogated jacuzzis and the other with a waterfall), a private beach with jetty(which i got to see some awesome coral and fish from) and a private shopping arcade, etc. basically it was just a lovely hotel with lots of facilities. not too far from the airport or main parts of town so quiet but not too far. our hotel room as very spacious and clean and lovely. the hotel staff were absolutely fantastic and waited on you hand and foot!
at our hotel we mostly spent our time around the pool or on the beach and at the bar. so didnt get much of a tan(impossible as i always tan well) but other than that it was amazing. we travelled into naama bay and did some shopping of an eve, its very busy and everyone wants to sell you something but we got some nice bits. we also travelled into the new soho square in an afternoon which was very clean and not so busy and you got less hassle from shops, it was very stylish but not a lot to do there yet as its not finished yet; there was some nice places there and in the evening there is a great fountain which has a light and water display. so my actual birthday was on the 12th december but neither of us could get the time off work. but our 2yr anniversary did fall on the monday whilst we were there and we had the most romantic candlelit private dinner on the beach! all in all the stay at the hotel was fantastic.
so on the wednesday we were due to fly home, and absolutely everyone was telling us back in england that there was snow and all the airports were closed. we eventually found out the news and got in contact with our hotel rep; who told us that easyjet(who we were flying with) would sort it out all we had to do was go to the airport as if our flight wasnt cancelled so they could see how many people they needed to sort out. so after hours of hanging around the hotel waiting to go to the airport, we eventually left. at the airport easyjet told us they would put us up in a hotel free of charge until we could get a flight all we had to do was rebook our flight either online or over the phone. the earliest flight we could get was monday night arriving in england in the early hours of tuesday morning. i panicked as i was supposed to be back at work on friday, but there was nothing i could do, and when my dad rang to inform them they seemed to understand.
so at the airport we had to wait around for a couple of hours with lots of other stranded holidaymakers. on the coach there was word of mouth there had been shark attacks in sharm(later to find out this was true and we couldnt go in the sea the rest of the week). eventually they put us on a coach and took us to a hotel novotel in naama bay and gave us a room number and said we could have dinner and breakfast. so after spending ages trying to find our hotel room amongst the hundreds of rooms with no direction to where to go, we finally put our bags down and got ready for dinner safe in the knowledge we had a hotel and flight home. so we went to reception and they told us they wasnt sure what was happening with food etc and we had to wait around to find out when we could eat. eventually we got told that we could we could go to dinner and we had basic food, which was horrible. after watch some entertainment after dinner we went back to the room to go to bed. under the door was a letter to our room number from easyjet telling us that they were putting us on a flight home the next morning to gatwick and had to be out of the room by 12.
now this was fine, aside from the fact that we had been in an internet suite and found out that gatwick wasnt open tomorrow, and possibly not for days later. so as we definitely had a flight on monday we decided to book ourselves into the hilton sharks bay, where we were supposed to stay originally. when we checked out in the morning we got told tht apparently our gatwick flight was going to luton instead, where we would have got stranded at that end with nowhere to stay. so after checking out we booked ourselves into the hilton over the internet and got a taxi from our 2nd hotel to the hilton. we got there earlier than check in so walked around seeing the hotel and grounds.
the hotel was seperated into two parts, a new and old part. the old having a small beach and a shisha bar. we eventually checked into our room. it was really stylish and clean and overlooked the pools(which had a swimup bar!!). we spent most of our time around the pool on our side. visiting the shisha bar on the other side in the evening and watching tv in our room with upset tummies. we visited the pool bars for lunch and the restaurant for dinners. the food was average. we made friends with a couple of the hotel animation team which were cool guys and we chatted to them a bit. they had flumes into the pools so we used them a few times. and went to the mini beach a few times and the bar overlooking the sea. on our last night we had a chat with a nice swedish family in the bar before going to the club pacha in naama bay with the animation team and a few our hotel guests from england who we chatted to. it was a nice extra to our holiday as it was a lovely hotel.
our flight home was pretty smooth although it took a little longer. but it was nice to be home. todds mother myra met us at arrivals and drove us home, which i slept all the way. and we got back to todds and had a nice long sleeve. ive probably missed bits out but it was the most amazing holiday ive ever been on and i couldnt thank my todd more for taking me on something so thoughful and special. i love you forever baby!!!xxxxxx
