Sharm advice

[BrianSc]

Hi

Looking for a bit of travel advice.

I'm going for a week diving out of Sharm at the end of July, diving with Ocean College. This'll be my first trip there and I'm wondering about the best way to take money. When travelling I usually take some local currency but rely on using credit cards as much as possible and using a debit card if I run low on cash.

Is this a sensible tactic for my trip??

Brian S

[russthedude]

english to pay for your visa (£15)
euros to settle your dive bill at the end of the week (for a guide, 15 litre cylinder is 5 euros extra, nitrox 5 euros, 3rd dive 25 euros, thistlegorm trip 70 euros supp if done on one of your pre-paid days)
egyptian pounds for food, drinks etc.
if you want duty free on the way back at the airport, take english money. all prices in duty free are in US dollars but if you pay english cash monies they half it, so you get 2:1 exchaneg rate.

food: picasso's bang over the road from the hotel is awesome, but go easy on the ordering cos portions are HUGE!!!
taxi to naama bay, don't pay more than 15 egyptian pounds, and make sure they know its egyptian NOT english, they will try it on, same for coming back from town too.
when you arrive at the airport, as soon as you walk in the door go left to the bank of egypt, or one of the banks to buy your visa, ignore the guy shouting EXPLORERS EXPLORERS, he will send you to a different queue for your visa which will cost more! fill in your landing card properly, stick your visa sticker in your passport and then you wont get shouted at and sent to the back

if you do want to do the thistlegorm they normally go on a thursday or friday, let them know as soon as you get there if you want to do it, and if you do do it, pay the extra for 15's of nitrox, worth every penny/cent/piasta

last tip, if coach is busy and you're travelling as part of a group/couple, as soon as you get to hotel one of you shoot in to hotel to check in, other gets bags, otherwise you might be waiting a long time to check in.

hope this helps, have fun and take lots of pictures.

edit: if you use your credit card at ocean college to pay your bill, they give the price in euros, ass on % for credit card fee, then convert to egyptian pounds to enter to the credit card machine, and then your bank will convert that to british pounds. too many conversions for my liking, so much easier to just give them some euros.

[Arthur Gerla]

english to pay for your visa (£15)

Actually, the visa is US$15, that converts to less than ten UK pounds at the moment. If you pay in euro or UK pounds you get change in Egyptian, so it doesn't really matter. Just make sure you buy your visa sticker from the state bank teller ('banque misr') and not from the travel reps or prepare to be ripped off.

[russthedude]

Actually, the visa is US$15, that converts to less than ten UK pounds at the moment. If you pay in euro or UK pounds you get change in Egyptian, so it doesn't really matter. Just make sure you buy your visa sticker from the state bank teller ('banque misr') and not from the travel reps or prepare to be ripped off.

the two times I've been (in may and june this year) they were charging £11.50, but not accepting coins so you had to pay £15 and get change.