Part 3 will take me from the world class resort city of Hurghada to Cairo on Egyptair , but this time the flight routing will take us over the Red sea so there will be a lot of pictures of the beautiful colors of the red sea .
I asked the reception at the resort to get a taxicab for me , then my journey started on a beautiful and sunny Hurghada day .
The road to HRG international Airport
We arrived at the Airport at 9:30 AM , and again in Egypt you screen your luggage and your hand bags then you go through a metal detector and get your ticket checked before even getting inside the Airport building .
We immediately proceeded to the check in counter which was not busy at all at that time , check in was a breeze . The agent wasn't as nice and chatty as the one in CAI but he was helpful and just doing his job . Although upon booking the tickets on Egyptair website it clearly stated that I would be asked to show an ID , but nobody asked for ID at the check in counter , however you had to show an ID upon entering the Airport building .
10 minutes later , we were going through another security check at the gate . This time the nice security officer noticed that we had 2 bottles of water in the hand bag , he nicely asked me to take the bottle out of the bag and just take a few sips which i gladly did cause i was a very thirsty .
The domestic departure hall area at HRG is clean and bright , but upon entering the waiting area at the gate ( which was by the way very spacious and clean ) I encountered the first inconvenience at HRG : The Air conditioning .
The a/c was acting weird , it gets so hot that you swim in your sweat then suddenly a nice breeze of cold air comes out of nowhere and so on until it was time to be bussed to the plane .
Some Egyptair crew were waiting with us at the gate , but they were bussed before us to the airplane . But the funny thing is I never saw them again on the plane , so I am not sure if they were on duty or not although wearing their uniform .
At 10:25 boarding started with buses coming to pick us up to the A/C .
Upon getting off the bus , I started taking pics of the plane
Boarding the plane
Philae
Suddenly , I was approached by an Egyptair employee who was dressed up in a very nice black suit ( he looked like a CEO ) . I expected the worst , but then he smiled at me and offered to take us a pic in front of the Airplane , an offer i gladly accepted so i gave him my camera . He bent down on his knees to take a nice picture with the full frame of the B735 in the background , and he did a great job indeed .
A view of the plane
The baby engine of the baby Boeing
A Lebanese lady with her 2 young sons were taking pictures too ( may be she is an A.NET member ) and they even allowed them inside the cockpit to take more pics . I thought for a second to go inside the cockpit too , but it was crowded and i was getting a little tired from swimming in my sweat at the gate so i just went to find my seat .
The Aircraft that will carry me to Cairo today is a B735 (SU-GBJ)PHILAE .
I heard a lot about the ageing Egyptair baby Boeings , and i read some trip reports saying how bad and old they are and that they are a disgrace to the MS fleet , so i was kind of expecting an A/C in a very bad shape, not being taken care of , worn out seats and with shabby interior .
But , to my surprise , what I found was completely the opposite : The A/C was in an excellent shape , very clean , with an enviable seat pitch with foot rests , spotless interior , very comfy and soft seats in a beautiful light blue color . Although the A/C is about 16 years old but it looks like Egyptair is taking very good care of their Aircraft ( maintenance wise ) , great job indeed MS .
Business class on MS B735
Economy class
Economy class shot from my seat
Excellent seat pitch
The baby wing of the baby Boeing
Because the A/C doesn't have TV monitors , the safety and emergency measures had to be done by the FA's , something I haven't seen in a long time .
The flight today is 100% full , before pushing back , the captain came on the PA and welcomed us on board on Egyptair's , his and the F/O ( who was a female ) behalf . He gave us some info regarding our flight : We will be flying on FL240 , outside Temp is 25c , the flight will take 55 minutes and will be a little bumpy ...etc . Then he wished us a pleasant flight on board of Egyptair and thanked us for choosing Egyptair ( do we have a choice ?) .
Exactly at 10:50 we started pushing back . After a short taxiing to the runway , we took off after a Tui Fly B737 .
Czech Airlines B737
Lotus Air A320
Take off
The last look at HRG international Airport
The vicinity of the Airport
Downtown Hurghada
Some Red sea resorts
Our routing will take us over the red sea then to the Gulf of Suez and the Western coast of south Sinai Peninsula then to Egypt mainland then East of Cairo .
Immediately after take off we made a right turn ( Eastbound ) towards the red sea then another left turn (Northbound) towards the Gulf of Suez . Now i will let you enjoy the colors of the red sea with little comments from my part...
The southwestern coast of Sinai Peninsula ( the entrance of the Gulf of Suez )
High mountains in Sinai
During the flight , we got the same snack as the outbound flight , the only difference is an exotic Guava juice instead of the boring apple juice .
Then we made a sharp left turn saying bye to Sinai
Sinai on the right , mainland Egypt on the left and Gulf of Suez in between
Mainland Egypt's East coast
A short flight over the Eastern desert
The first sign of life minutes before flying over Cairo
Overflying the great river Nile
Residential towers in the upscale neighborhood of Maadi
Minutes before landing
We arrived at CAI 2 minutes early
Slowing down
Egyptair A320
The Airport building
Then we were bussed to the Terminal
Baggage claim was a breeze and about 25 minutes after landing , we were again in the streets of busy yet sunny and beautiful Cairo .
Conclusion :
Taxicab from the resort to HRG airport...$4.00
Taxicab from the Airport to the resort...$10.00
Air ticket from CAI to HRG return...$59.00
Visiting Hurghada...Priceless
AV8AJET From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 1195 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 19431 times:
Nice report...I would love to visit Egypt! Enjoy the rest of the trip!
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1433 posts, RR: 28 Reply 2, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 19419 times:
Excellent report and photos! When I traveled to Egypt in 1996, we traveled on a 737 between Abu Simbel and Cairo. Looking forward to the next part!
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 5119 posts, RR: 80 Reply 3, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 19274 times:
Very nice report with great pictures! I wasn't really impressed by HRG some years ago, one of thw worst airports I have ever seen. Good to see SU-GBJ's cabin is in good shape - and I have never seen footrests on a B737.
TurkishWings From Turkey, joined May 2006, 1294 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 19202 times:
Great report as usual... Thanks for sharing.. Will there be a part 4?
Quoting MSYYZ (Thread starter): Taxicab from the resort to HRG airport...$4.00
Taxicab from the Airport to the resort...$10.00
Air ticket from CAI to HRG return...$59.00
Visiting Hurghada...Priceless
How much did MasterCard pay you for this?
Your ticket was incredibly cheap... When I visited SSH last winter I paid 110 Euros SSH-CAI. Beginning of December, not around Xmas. Back in IST, I was quoted 103 Euros return. Thinking I could get a better deal in Egypt, I didn't buy it... What a mistake
Quoting MSYYZ (Thread starter): very comfy and soft seats in a beautiful light blue color
- Hmm. not so keen on the colours myself.
Quoting MSYYZ (Thread starter): Taxicab from the resort to HRG airport...$4.00
Taxicab from the Airport to the resort...$10.00
Air ticket from CAI to HRG return...$59.00
Visiting Hurghada...Priceless
Ndebele From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 2893 posts, RR: 34 Reply 8, posted (4 years 8 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 18776 times:
Some really nice pics, taken in a region that is not covered by a.net reports too much. Really enjoyable report!
Quoting MSYYZ (Thread starter): Because the A/C doesn't have TV monitors , the safety and emergency measures had to be done by the FA's , something I haven't seen in a long time
Really? I'd say on about 50% of my recent flights, the safety demonstration was done manually due to lack of monitors.
As you saw in the pics , People in Cairo mainly live in buildings , there are some houses (called Villas in Egypt) , but found mainly in upscale neighborhoods and new in the developments around Cairo .
Quoting TurkishWings (Reply 5): Great report as usual... Thanks for sharing.. Will there be a part 4?
Thanks TurkishWings , yes there will be part 4 that will cover my CAI-MXP-YYZ trip .
MSYYZ From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 839 posts, RR: 12 Reply 11, posted (4 years 8 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 18429 times:
Quoting Ndebele (Reply 8): Some really nice pics, taken in a region that is not covered by a.net reports too much. Really enjoyable report!
Thanks Ndebele for your kind words
Quoting Ndebele (Reply 8): Really? I'd say on about 50% of my recent flights, the safety demonstration was done manually due to lack of monitors.
In the last 10 years of flying , I haven't encountered any live safety demonstration until recently with Egyptair's B737 , but that could be because mainly I fly on newer planes that are fitted with TV monitors .
Hei MS ! I was in Egypt during "sham el nassim" but now after your amazing report I really want to go back.By the way Alitalia's hostesses are hot and the MEA and EL AL side by side are so cute
EGYPT IS AMAZING
Alex!!!
A quien le importa lo que yo haga? a quien le importa lo que yo diga? yo soy asi, y asi seguire, nunca cambiare
Cedars747 From Norway, joined Dec 2005, 2665 posts, RR: 27 Reply 17, posted (4 years 7 months 3 weeks 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 17632 times:
Quoting MSYYZ (Reply 16): Have you "shameit el nesseem" then ? . How was your trip to the Northern coast ?
I "shameit el nassin at maximum"It was a wonderfull trip.I visited Alexandria,Al Alamein,Agami,Mersa matruh and Sidi Abd el Rahman
But the effect of Sham el Nasim is over...I need some more
Alex!!!
A quien le importa lo que yo haga? a quien le importa lo que yo diga? yo soy asi, y asi seguire, nunca cambiare
SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 1721 posts, RR: 21 Reply 20, posted (3 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 16622 times:
MSYYZ
Great TR- it certainly gives you an interesting perspective of the Egypt Air 735. I must ask you though what were your first impressions when you saw/ went into this plane, as she can use a bit of a makeover, but I am sure thats what the definition of the term "work horse" means
Heres what she could have looked like!!
Tried sending it to you MSYYZ but I don't think it worked.
[Edited 2008-05-18 18:39:59]
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
Great TR- it certainly gives you an interesting perspective of the Egypt Air 735. I must ask you though what were your first impressions when you saw/ went into this plane
Thanks SXDFC..
The airplane looked a bit tired on the outside , but it was nice and comfortable inside the cabin .
My first impression when i boarded the plane was that the interior looked fresh .
Quoting SXDFC (Reply 20): as she can use a bit of a makeover
Very nice impression and thanks a lot for the effort and the great job .
FutureFO From New Caledonia, joined Oct 2001, 3065 posts, RR: 29 Reply 22, posted (3 years 7 months 3 weeks 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 15218 times:
Maadi has really changed. I lived there form 1979-1983. Would not expect the towers and everything else. I miss living there and hope one day to take my wife and kids over and show them where I grew up.
Aleksandar From Serbia, joined Jul 2000, 3158 posts, RR: 39 Reply 23, posted (3 years 7 months 3 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 14881 times:
Great TR! I really loved the pics and the texxt and it's great that Egyptair employee even helped you taking a pic. Great! I saw Egyptair's 735 two year back in BUD and I really liked that little bird but was curious to find out how the interior looks like. Thanks to you, I know it now
MSYYZ From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 839 posts, RR: 12 Reply 24, posted (3 years 7 months 1 week 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 14497 times:
Quoting FutureFO (Reply 22): Maadi has really changed. I lived there form 1979-1983. Would not expect the towers and everything else. I miss living there and hope one day to take my wife and kids over and show them where I grew up
Actually , all of Egypt had dramatically changed in the last 10 years alone , let alone since 1979 .
Maadi is still an upscale neighborhood , but it lost a lot of its quietness .But it is still my favorite place in Cairo with its villas , green streets and diverse inhabitants .
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