Thursday 15th March

We checked in the Gatwick Hilton last night by a receptionist called Elena!! Elena (DD3) was well chuffed, she hadn't met any other Elena's before. We were in the lift together (on the way to our room) and were all laughing about the Simpsons episode where Bart presses all the buttons so the next people would have to visit every floor. Elena asked if she could do it to so we said yes, there weren't any other people in with us so we didn't see any harm in it. As we got to our floor she pressed every button and to our horror 2 people were waiting to use the lift after us. We did a fast walk down the corridor until the lift doors closed and then wet ourselves laughing. Not sure if we should have been let loose in such a posh hotel *lol* we are very isolated on the Isle of Wight and don't get out much *lol*. Didn't sleep that well, hotels always seem to think you need the heating on during the night. We turned the thermostat down as far as possible & put the fan on which was a bit better. Got up at 6am & was eating breakfast by 6:45. Walked to the airport via the hotel and were one of the last ones to check in. By the time we got through the security checks it was time to board the plane. We would have taken off on time (9am) but 4 people decided not to turn up so the airport staff had to remove their luggage from the hold. This made us lose our flight slot so we didn't take off until 10:15.
The flight was OK, quite a lot of turbulence but comfortable. We watched 'Night at the Museum' which was very entertaining.
We flew over the Swiss Alps and Elena managed to take a cracking photo from her window seat. She took another of the sea & sand as we were coming into land at Sharm airport.
We landed at Sharm El Sheikh, the airport was so busy there were no steps available for us to disembark or a bus to take us to the airport terminal. They soon turned up though, the Eqyptians working flat out though, poor things. Although it seemed chaos we got through the airport within an hour and then we were on our way to the Hilton Fayrouz in Naama Bay. We couldn't see a lot as it was dark. After check in and a welcome drink of Hibiscus juice (strange but very nice), we were taken through immaculate gardens to our apartment. It was lovely and the outside space overlooked a small pool and jacuzzi. We were hungry so went to find something to eat. We walked out of the Hilton and along the promenade and found a Chinese restaurant (Elena's choice). We went for a walk after tea but had to return to the hotel to get cost as the wind was quite cold. Elena had had enough so she stayed in and watched TV. We went for another stroll, the promenade reminded me of Blackpool in the 70's. Fairy lights everywhere, music emanating from every outside restaurant & bar. A hive of activity. We were accosted by Ahmed who tried to sell us perfume but we were tired and not in the mood. He did give me a small glass perfume bottle to "remember him" by though which I thought was really pretty :O)