Day 248 – Luxor to Hurghada
From the Nile to the Red Sea
Today, in the wee hours of the morning, we woke up to say good bye to the in-laws. We were surprised to see that the airport transfer from Sunset Hotel to Luxor Airport, would be done by the manager of the tour company. It all went without a hitch. After which, we went back to sleep.
We woke up again to we pack and check out of the hotel. We had bought a bus ticket with Go Bus to travel from Luxor to Hurghada. We actually bought the tickets directly from the office in Luxor yesterday, but you can also buy the tickets online at https://go-bus.com/en. The tickets cost us 110 EGP / $9.36 AUD per person.
In the morning, we wanted to see if we could catch a taxi instead of walking the 1.3 km to the bus stop. The main reason was so we could grab a bite to eat. When we asked a taxi driver he asked for 100 EGP / $8.51 AUD. When we kept walking away, the price dropped down to 40 EGP / $3.40 AUD.
The conversation was strange for a man, who just tried to rip us off. He was talking about his family and his car in broken English with a thick accent. Half the time I had no idea what he was on about, which led him to ask if I understand English…my only response was yes.
The Go Bus arrived 10 minutes before the departure time to the bus stop. We gave our bags to a worker to place the bags in the below bus storage compartment. He then asked for a tip for doing his job…no smile, no hi, just put the bag under the bus and ask for a tip.
The bus was surprisingly full of what looked like tourists. The bus actually has a toilet, which I’m not a fan of since they always smell after a few people use them. Besides that the only other negative feedback would be the lack of overhead room to fit our day packs. My wife placed the bags near her feet for the entire ride. The bus stopped a few times, along the way to pick up and drop of people, mainly locals.
Around 10am, there was a toilet and cafe stop. When asking how much a tea cost, we were told 30 EGP / $2.56 AUD. We just walked away and the guy dropped the price to 15 EGP / $1.28 AUD. The shameless attempts to get as much money out of you as possible does grow old.
Once we arrived in Hurghada we were able to catch a taxi to our hotel, Villamar Red Sea View, which was 4.1 km away. I already like the people more in Hurghada, as the driver only charged us 40 EGP/ $ 3.40 AUD (which was the same price we were charged for 1.3 km in Luxor).
Villamar Red Sea View is essentially a house that has been converted into a hotel. Our room was upgraded (we found out later due to over booking) and dayum, it was a massive room with a equally massive bathroom.
We walked back close to town to find something to eat. The closest restaurant that didn’t look shady was a pizza place called Papa Dimos. The staff were really friendly and the food was tasty. After eating, we took our leftovers back to the hotel for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the day.
