Hurghada to Zurich - Flying During a Pandemic

 

Arriving into Egypt

Whoops, sorry, I forgot about last week’s blog. I flew back to Zurich early Monday, meant to write it as soon as I got back, but in the end I was just too tired.

Anyway, I booked my flight to Zurich with a plan to stay there for ten days. As soon as my taxi arrived at Hurghada airport, a porter took my trolley and pushed it to the airport building (maybe 200m). Then he asked for a 50LE tip! I ended up giving him 20LE, which I still thought was quite generous, given I didn’t even want him to provide me with the service in the first place.

My luggage was scanned; I don’t think distancing was too much enforced (but not too huddled either), but everyone was wearing masks (compulsory). I checked in, then had my luggage scanned again. They made me take my laptop to an additional desk where it was swabbed for bomb detection (that was new!) and then I had to sign my name on a list.

Once into the gate area, I was thirsty and thought I’d buy myself some water. However, when I went to the café I usually go to, their water was on “special offer”, down from 90LE to 60LE for 500ml, if I recall correctly. The normal price is about 5LE, at the very most 20LE if you’re dining out somewhere expensive. There was no way I was paying those prices, so I decided to remain thirsty and grab a drink on the plane (I was in Business, so it was all included anyway). A cup of coffee would have been cheaper, but I didn’t want coffee.

On the plane, I had two free seats next to me, an aisle, then two free seats, then another person. Two people were sitting in the row directly behind me. I felt pretty safe, and we had to wear masks whenever we weren’t eating or drinking (Business class still served hot meals and as much as you wanted to drink). They gave a nice explanation that the air wasn’t being recirculated, so with that and the mask wearing, experts had deemed risk of infection as very low. I found this very comforting and felt very safe during the flight.

Before they showed the safety video, they added that if the oxygen masks come down, you should take off your face mask! All these little things they have to think about.

For some reason, I took my mask off to go to the toilet. The air stewardess looked at me a bit strangely, but didn’t say anything. Afterwards, I read that someone got infected by not wearing a mask in an airplane toilet, but I don’t actually believe that (my theory is that the person didn’t adhere to quarantine strictly; they didn’t show symptoms until day 14 of quarantine). Anyway, I do think I should have kept my mask on, so that’s something to bear in mind if you are going to fly!

Wearing the mask didn’t bother me too much. I was wearing my summer clothes and I’d forgotten that sometimes planes can be cold, so I fretted for a while about that, but in the end I was fine. Over here, wearing the mask makes me ridiculously hot and I find it very uncomfortable because of that, but that wasn’t a problem on the plane as I wasn’t in a 40 degree heat.

On my return trip, my flight was very early (06:45), so the business lounge wasn’t even open. I was delighted to see that a Pret A Manger had opened in D gates and was open, so even though I’d had breakfast, I took a coffee and a chocolate croissant. I’d forgotten just how heavenly that combination was; I’m so glad I added that into my culinary experience of being in Switzerland!

The return flight was fuller since in the mean time Egypt had brought out a ruling that from September 1^st, everyone entering Egypt had to have a PCR test to show negative for coronavirus. The regulations are continually changing with countries changing (mostly adding) countries on their quarantine lists daily, it feels. That’s a major stress of travelling just now; will you be able to get back? My return flight was 31^st August, so I was extremely lucky with my timing. I guess many people rebooked to my flght to avoid the expense of having the test done. I did feel less safe with more people on the flight (particularly since the woman (next to one) beside me kept on shouting back to her husband behind her – I’m sure her breath must have been coming out that mask!), but it was fine. Again, everyone wore masks, of course.

On arrival into Hurghada, I was proud of Egypt, since they sanitized all the luggage handles as the bags dropped onto the conveyor belt. I got a wet hand grabbing my luggage, but I’m happy that it was a safe hand and a safe piece of baggage.

I’d ordered a taxi and requested the driver wear a mask. He was there waiting for me and wearing a mask with the company logo, so, again, I was impressed.

All in all, traveling wasn’t such a bad experience. The uncertainty of constantly changing regulations is probably the biggest stress.

El Andalous - Hair Cut

 

Old and New Hair Style 

I finally plucked up the courage to get my hair cut. The pandemic struck just as I’d been avoiding making the effort to go the hairdressers, so my hair was already needing a cut before all this lockdown malarkey began.

I’ve been cutting my own fringe, but my hair was starting to annoy me as it had got down to my shoulders and each time it brushed against me, I thought it was a mosquito trying to bite me. I’d got quite used to having it longer though, so for a while I delayed going to the hairdresser just out of sheer indecision about what to do with my hair. In the end, I thought I’d go for something similar to my passport photograph but a little bit longer. It was also taking quite some time to push all my hair up into my swimming cap, and it would float around and get in the way when I was snorkeling. So, shorter was definitely more practical.

Since coronavirus, I haven’t really been into Hurghada, so I was a bit nervous about it. We have a new taxi service in Sahl Hasheesh, which is reasonably priced and pretty good, so I used them to go there and then wait for me. The charge for waiting is only 10LE for half an hour (50p), so it was nice not to have to worry about phoning and waiting for a taxi once I was finished.

It was all very safe and I needn’t have worried. They were allowing only one hair customer in and one nail customer in at a time (and there wasn’t anyone there for nails when I was there). I wore a mask throughout, as did my hairdresser. I was rather astonished to find out that they’d been open since about April. I could have gone so much sooner!

I was so emboldened that I even decided to undertake two errands at the same time. I’ve been here almost seven years and have never done that before. I asked the driver to take me to the bank and then wait while I enquired about a savings certificate. Usually, I don’t like doing two things at once because it opens the door for you to be overcharged by the taxi driver and I start to worry. However, this car had fixed prices and I was going only up the road, so I knew the fare shouldn’t be that much. And the waiting fees were fixed, so that wasn’t a worry either.

The bank required masks to be worn as well with limited people inside, so I had to sit on a chair outside until I was served. Fortunately, there was some shade. I kept on jumping up to see if my number was called and then worrying that someone would take my chair, but I was being over-neurotic. Again, it all felt very safe and well-organised.

Anyway, it was all very successful and so much cheaper to do both errands at once (and saved me time, of course). The driver was very transparent and split up the costs for each part of the journey and waiting times for my agreement. He looked a bit as if he thought I was going to argue with him, but it was all within the range of what I was expecting and I had no argument at all.

All in all, it was a pretty good experience of going out again in the wider world!

El Andalous - Visa Recap

My Identity Card

Time flies and regulations change weekly; it’s hard to keep up. Actually, since things have started to relax, there haven’t been so many changes. Nevertheless, it’s back to thinking about my visa yet again (oh how I long for a year’s visa!).

I think I never updated on my visa situation last time. Anyway, after applying, I went back to collect my visa on the allotted day only it wasn’t yet ready. We were told the post had been delayed and to come back in the afternoon. This isn’t really practical when you live half an hour’s drive away.

I ended up going back two days’ later and it was very quick. I am now the proud owner of an Egyptian identity card of sorts. It has my visa expiry on the back and my photo on the front and each person is given their own unique identification number. You don’t need to carry your passport with you now; your visa card is enough. It’s a good thing as the old visa stamp took up a lot of room in the passport and before you know it, you’ve run out of pages. I had to renew my last passport about five years early.

A few people reported that their photographs were refused because their hair had grown so much during the coronavirus (and they’d not been able to get it cut to how it used to be). Fortunately, because I was there on the first day, the woman merely laughed at the photograph of me with short hair but didn’t turn me away because of it. Anyway, they took a separate photo for the visa card, so my visa card has me with long hair.

And now, already, it’s time to think about renewing it. It’s due on 5^th October and I have to exit the country this time in order to renew it. I didn’t really want to travel during the pandemic, but in the end decided that maybe sooner would be better than later.

I believe Hurghada flies direct only to Ukraine, Belarus, and Zurich just now, although Istanbul has recently been added. Anyway, because there was a direct flight to Zurich, and because both Egypt and Zurich aren’t too bad for coronavirus (touch wood!), I thought I’d go while I could. It was also a chance to escape the very hot weather over here (I can’t use my balcony at all just now). I’ve somehow got less nervous after booking – not sure why. I did contemplate doing what they call a visa run to Istanbul – where you fly in one day, stay in the airport, come back the next day, just to have the exit and entry stamps in your passport to enable you to renew your visa – but going to Zurich will let me get quite a bit of admin done. And I can visit friends, and see some cultural stuff, and have some proper coffee.

I didn’t want to leave it until late September, in case there’s a second wave of the virus and airports close again; also I wanted to go to Zurich while there’s a chance of good weather and I can miss the hottest weather over here. And I need to be back before October 1^st as that’s when my maintenance money is due (and if I go to Zurich, I’ll be able to get some Euros). So, it’s a quick dash over for ten days. I’ve rented a studio in town. I had 40% discount, but it’s still pretty expensive. However, it’ll be nice to have my own place. I’m flying business so that I can have the seat next to me free on the plane and hopefully drink enough alcohol to kill any virus floating about.

Having to go through all the rigmarole of getting the visa again makes me feel tired, but I suppose it’s a small price to pay for the joy of living over here!

El Andalous - Re-opening of Restaurants

 

Dining at Sailor's, Sahl Hasheesh

Restaurants here re-opened a while ago at 25% capacity (it may be 50% now as it was scheduled to increase at some point). I’ve missed eating out every now and then, but even now there’s always the anxiety of coronavirus on the table close to you.

Anyway, I’ve eaten out twice since the rules relaxed. 

The first time was for Independence Day when Sandy was here (she’s from the USA, so it did make kind of sense for us to celebrate!). We went down to Sailor’s. It’s a bit expensive for what it is, but the location is great. At the time, it was about the only place in Sahl Hasheesh that had opened up.

We booked, but it turned out that we were the only people there, so safety worries were zero. The restaurant is on the beach and the moon was shining on the sea; it was pretty magical. Due to coronavirus, they’re using plastic knives and forks these days to avoid contact (the virus isn’t doing much for the planet in terms of reduction in plastic use!). The menu was also severely reduced, which isn’t surprising, given that we were the only customers. We all had beefburgers, although Sandy insisted on calling them hamburgers. For the sake of authenticity, perhaps I’ll concede for this one occasion. Anyway, the hamburgers were served in a polystyrene box rather than on a plate. So it was like having a McDonalds in a setting worthy of a Michelin-star restaurant! It was a fun evening and a stunning location.

The other time that I’ve eaten out fairly recently was for a birthday celebration (not mine!). A group of us went out to Bus Stop, which has only just opened again. The food at Bus Stop is pretty good and they seemed to be keeping a full menu. Again, we booked.

Well, at least, I went in to book the table and then realized they hadn’t asked me what time. Amanda volunteered to double-check the booking for me and they recognized her as Madam Fiona, saying that they knew about the booking because she’d been in the other day (but that was me! We look quite different – I’m brunette and she’s blonde – although we are about the same age, so maybe that’s enough). She asked for balloons to be tied to the table, which they said they’d happily do.

Anyway, as in Sailor’s, we got there and actually, since no-one else was there, we could have sat anywhere we liked (as we did, since none of the tables said they were reserved). However, this time, as the evening drew on, Bus Stop actually got quite busy. We were sitting outside, so from a safety perspective, we were fine. I had their steak, which is their signature dish. It was the usual great standard. About half-way through they remembered the balloons (or maybe they were reminded, I’m not sure). This is so typical of Egypt; it all come out okay in the end, but it’s never quite what you expect.

This time, we’d brought proper cutlery with us, but it wasn’t needed as they provided metal knives and forks (and  proper plates). It was another lovely evening; wonderful not to have to cook or wash up, great to socialize with friends, and a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.

Life is slowly starting to feel a bit more normal (famous last words…).

El Andalous - Chick Flick

Chick Flick - Preparing to Open

As things start to function again, there’s a bit of a kick towards new business opening up. BestWay will likely forever remain my most exciting new business entrant in Sahl Hasheesh (after all, it enabled me to obtain most of my needs without having to get a taxi into Hurghada), but Chick Flick, opened just this last weekend, must come a close second.

It doesn’t sell films for women to rent so that they can weep at home in private; it’s a fried chicken place! You can imagine my excitement after months of no KFC. It does chicken pieces with fries, chicken burgers, popcorn chicken... Yum, yum. The prices are pretty good – cheaper than KFC at any rate. They deliver for 20LE (around a quid).

It’s where a coffee shop, Bake and Sweet, used to be. They did good coffee, and cakes, well, they’re always good wherever they are. The best thing is, Chick Flick is run by the people who ran Bake and Sweet. Consequently, they still serve coffee and cake during the day (or any time, I guess). Nothing’s lost, everything’s gained. I am in heaven.

Anyway, four of us tried it out this weekend. It’s Eid this weekend (big Eid as opposed to the smaller Eid after Ramadan), so we didn’t want to eat out and risk being among a lot of people. Sahl Hasheesh is pretty busy this weekend. Therefore, we decided to experiment with the home delivery.

I actually asked John to phone as I don’t like the phone (in case you’d forgotten) and ordering for four people in Egypt was bound to be stressful and full of misunderstandings. I gave him my phone, but it turned out (I found out the following day) that I had no credit. This is rather mysterious as I topped it up on Tuesday and hadn’t used it, but I really haven’t a clue how this phone operates.

Anyway, John went upstairs to get his phone and ordered from there, giving his name as Madam Fiona. Oh how we laughed! He said he had to repeat the order three times, which is pretty standard over here. We waited in anticipation of what we’d actually get.

I’d been preparing myself for disappointment. I’ve bought some breaded chicken over here and not liked it and suspected it may just be that (BestWay is just next door, so they could just pop along, buy what they need, and cook it). We psyched ourselves up to receiving something different from what we’d ordered. We wondered if it would even arrive.

They said it would take twenty minutes and twenty minutes later, it arrived, all nicely packaged up. The portions were huge. I had three pieces of chicken and French fries (58 LE, around 3 GBP) and it was almost too much for me to eat. There was rather a lot of covering on the chicken, but it was quite spicy and tasty and the chicken was good. The others had chicken burgers and chicken strips (called chicken stripes on the menu); all portions were huge and everyone was satisfied. The only thing that was wrong was that we got charged too much for one of the items; we suspect there was some kind of confusion as they’ve only just opened. We were probably their first ever delivery.

I should have taken a photo, but I haven’t got round to it yet. The photo is from a few days before it opened and is by Amanda, not me. I hope she doesn’t mind me using it!

El Andalous - Back to Snorkeling

Racoon Butterflyfish

Coronavirus cases here are decreasing (for now, at any rate) and things are opening up a little. I’m now able to snorkel again.

I’ve missed being able to intersperse swimming days with snorkeling days and it’s surprising how much difference just a little change in your schedule can make to helping you feel a bit more refreshed and back to normal.

So far, I’ve been twice to my “private” snorkeling spot by Paradise Gardens in Sahl Hasheesh. Their beach isn’t yet open, so only the bins are there where the sunbeds used to be. Because Sahl Hasheesh is one of the few places with operational beaches just now, it’s actually pretty busy in the publically accessible areas. The resort is definitely starting to come back to life.

It’s not too far to cycle, so even though it’s hot, it’s manageable; at least there’s a bit of a breeze as you cycle along. The second time I brought, and drank, a diet coke, but I think I could have survived easily without it. I do remember other summers where I’ve needed to stop and drink, so I’m wondering if hotter weather is yet to come.

My snorkeling place had two other couples there when I went the first time and in normal times I very often have it to myself, so that’s a sign of how it’s getting busier. Fortunately, I didn’t need to go anywhere near the others, but I always feel nervous when people are about as I’m always fretting that they’ll tread on the coral or do something else equally stupid. I’m also aware that I probably look as if I’m too close, but I’ve come to be able to judge my distance pretty well over the years and I can manoeuvre myself back and forwards without needing to put my legs down, so I’m confident that I’m not near enough to damage anything or, indeed, myself. However, I understand that I may be setting a bad example, so then I get all worried about whether I should pull back a bit. But then I won’t get such good photographs!

The sea seems to be warmer at this point of the beach than anywhere else. It must be thirty degrees, I would think, at least in the shallow area as you get in. As usual, I have to choose a day with little wind for the best experience, although nowadays my view can be obscured by the heat haze in the water.

The fish are still there. There’s a whole group of Picasso fish right at the end just now, which is pretty unusual to see and the last time I went there was also a shoal of raccoon butterflyfish. They are stunning when you see them en masse. I also saw two grey moray eels in the shallow grass area as I was walking back out of the water. There’s life everywhere you look in the sea. The sea stars’ tentacles are always waving out of the sand in the shallows.

Horrifyingly, I spotted something that looked like secateurs lying on top of one bit of coral, so I hope that isn’t someone coming out with the deliberate intention of cutting it and taking it away (which is illegal, but when did that stop people?). I feel sure some of it looks like it’s been trodden on, but maybe I’m just worrying too much.

Anyway, it’s good to be back!

El Andalous - Neti Pot

Neti Pot

I thought I’d have a bit of a change of topic this week. It’s slowly getting to summer here; daytime temperatures range between 35-42 degrees, nighttime temperatures are around 27 degrees. It’s got to the stage now where I need the air conditioning on to cool my bedroom – either before I go to sleep or as I sleep. Sometimes, I wake up and I’m too cold with the air conditioning on, so my nights can be a bit restless as I turn the air conditioning on and off throughout the night.

Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s due to the air conditioning, but my nose has been feeling blocked. I have some nose spray I use to clear my passages, but recently I needed it three nights’ running and that’s the maximum dosage. Apparently, it can be addictive, and I can see why because my nose always feels so wonderfully open after I use it and I just want to return to that state. My prohibition to use the spray any longer inspired me to go back to using my neti pot.

If you don’t know what a neti pot is, it’s a small pot, almost like a teapot, that you use to irrigate your nose. You pour salt water from the pot into one nostril and the water comes out of the other nostril. In the process, the saline solution gives your nasal passages some moisture, removes allergens and bacteria, and clears any blockage.

When I first read about using a neti pot years ago, it looked pretty crazy. I couldn’t quite believe that the water would run out your other nostril like that, but I must have been desperate enough to give it a go. I can’t even remember if I was successful when I did it before, since my memories are of the water not coming out of the other nostril and then having visions of needing to have an operation to unblock my nose or some other horrible scenario. But I also remember laughing a lot as I tried and failed. At any rate, that ceramic neti pot survived and came to Egypt with me. I have a vague memory of thinking that if I ever needed one again, it might be hard to come by. 

Anyway, all these years later I returned to giving the neti pot another try. At first, I had the same problem I had before; I couldn’t get the water to run out the other side of my nose. After quite a bit of trial and error over a few nights, I’ve found that there’s a definite angle you need. There are loads of YouTube videos, but although people report it being easy, there’s a definite knack to it. I think it was the NIH website that even had someone demonstrating it and, like me, there was no water coming out the other nostril.

On the whole (in case this is useful for anyone else), my head needed to be more upright than I was expecting (looking at myself in the mirror helps; if I can look myself in the eye, I’m getting closer to the right position). I can now identify the sensation in my nose as to when the water is likely to come through my other nostril; it’s not immediate. Although you need your head tilted for the water to pour down, your head also needs to have a slight back tilt; maybe it’s different for each individual?

However, even when I’ve got the position right and the water is successfully running out my other nostril, half-way through, the water will suddenly decide to take a different course and start dribbling down my neck. It’s not a very elegant look! I wear a bib now when I’m doing it, otherwise my clothes get soaked. I don’t know why it suddenly decides to trickle down my neck as I don’t change anything I’m doing. One website says it may be because you have an inefficient neti pot, but I don’t like to blame my little pot.

It also took me a while to realize that I needed to do one potful for one nostril and another potful for the second nostril. Before that, I was using just half a pot for each. It’s taking me a while each evening, so I’m having to prepare to get to bed much earlier, but it is doing the job of making me able to breathe at night. I’m not sure now when I will feel able not to use it anymore; it won’t be practical to use the neti pot if I go on holiday, so at some point, I’ll have to live without it again. For now, I’m just grateful that it’s working.