Egypt, Get ready, Set, Go?

As expected this proved to be somewhat challenging. Actually, the challenges with booking our trip went way beyond our expectations. We used a travel agent in Kiev that came highly recommended. She knew some English so we managed to communicate with each other well enough to figure out the trip details (which resort, when we wanted to leave, how long….). We used email too and it helped fill in the details; although we were making our choices only 3 weeks before we were supposed to leave. This felt a little tight for me, but it sounded quite normal for the locals. The first big challenge came when we had to pay. We have been planning this trip since late July and the whole time we planned on paying with our credit card….nope, we needed cash! What…? We have the cash, yes, but getting to it is not an easy or quick option. Back and forth, asking and finagling, debating and nearly canceling we finally found enough cash for the trip. Thanks too many friends who helped us out! We thought that was going to be the hard part, riiiiight. Apparently getting our cash from Slavutich to our agent in Kiev was a whole other matter. Even with drivers going to Kiev daily it was not as easy as one, two, three! It starts with leaving a large sum of cash sitting on a window sill in the receptionists’ office where everyone checks in for the day (apparently this is normal)….not a comfortable feeling for us. We had many other misunderstandings, missed delivery points and flat out refusals to drop off the money; we started to think this trip would never happen.
…Long story short, we are currently sitting on our balcony looking out at the Red Sea and feeling the warm breezy Egypt air! So far, it appears that the hard part of the trip is over……