I'm new to Luxor4u

Post by **Cyprus100** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:15 pm

Hi everyone

I'm new on this particular forum, only registered officially today but have noseyed around a few times in the past.

Like the rest of you, both me and my husband have a passion for Egypt and our travels first started in 1991 when I surprised him with a 5 night city break to Cairo.

Next stop was 2 weeks in Luxor at the Egotel with his sister, her husband and one of our friends. We spent the first week in and around Luxor on the East & West Bank plus took the overnight train to Cairo with our friend and stayed on Gezira island at the President for 1 night as the train was fully booked for the return journey. This was in the days before the computerised booking system arrived at the railway station!

Two more friends arrived the 2nd week and we all headed off for an early morning trip across the desert for an overnight stay in Hurghada with snorkelling off Giftun island the next day before returning back, nackered but happy the next evening.

A few years later, we did a twin centre with 1 week at the Isis hotel in Luxor and the 2nd at the Isis Island hotel in Aswan. We did the road trip to Abu Simbel early one morning by convoy and managed to kill our minibus and left it with its' prop shaft dragging along behind it somewhere between Abu Simbel and the High Dam!

Another trip was a couple of weeks in Luxor with my stepson when he was 12yrs old and we stayed at the Etap. Again, we took the overnight train to Cairo and stayed this time at a hotel in Giza - the Cateract Pyramids hotel so we could "do" the lot, pyramids, solar boat, sound & light, the bazaar, of course no trip to Cairo would be complete without the museum and spent a couple of happy days just wandering until the return journey back to Luxor.

We've been back again, of course! Last trip we went from our island of Cyprus. We moved here permanently 6yrs or so ago and finally managed a cruise on the Nile. We went with friends in 2007 (before the Euro hit us) and arranged flights from Larnaca to Cairo and onwards to Aswan with 4nts at the Isis, followed by 3 nights cruising to Luxor, 2nts in Luxor at the Sonesta and then the overnight sleeper carriage (makes a change from seated) back to Cairo before flying back to Larnaca. It was even more wonderful as this trip had all been put together by ourselves including sourcing all the info, flights, transport and accommodation. We managed the 10 night trip at 750Gbp per couple.

We're back again in a few weeks with some other friends who are Egypt virgins and this time, we're flying the opposite way with a week in Luxor at the Pavillion Winter Palace. We still have to go through Cairo in each direction but the flights are all only short hops so it's not too bad and the cost is less than EUR700 per couple including all flights and accommodation.

Now, I really cannot wait to get back there and see the changes I've heard so much about. They had paved the area in front of the Luxor Temple on our last visit but I don't recall much else.....

Looking forward to reading up and we do have an inkling this will not be our last visit and know for definitely in the future, we will be looking to try out a long term rental - in the days when we have no animals or baggage to bring with us!

Regards
Shell

Post by **Horus** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:38 pm

Welcome to the forum Cyprus100, you seem to be well at home in Egypt and living so close in Cyprus is a bonus for you

We love Cyprus and have visited many times both before and after the invasion. We did the opposite to yourselves in so much as we were holidaying in Paphos and decided to do the Egypt visit on the 'Marissa' which was an enjoyable but hectic introduction, we have been returning to Egypt ever since.

Post by **Cyprus100** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:51 pm

Hmmmm

It certainly seems to be a case of once been, never forgotton.

I go on holidaytruths forum and it never ceases to amaze me to read about all these people who "love" Egypt and have only ever been to the Red Sea resorts! What's all that about?

Post by **Horus** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:04 pm

I used to contribute on there myself years ago, but it just became the same people talking about taking their holidays with the same hotelier in Sinai, it all became very boring.

Post by **FABlux** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:25 pm

Hi Shell & welcome.

You will certainly see some changes since your last visit. Whether for better or worse is still undecided

Post by **Grandad** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:29 pm

Welcome to the best Luxor forum Cyprus100. You will find many discussions on here about a wide range of subjects and if you need help or advice about upper Egypt (or anything else).....just ask, you will find many members happy to help.

Post by **Cyprus100** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 10:31 am

Thanks for the Welcome!

I was reading Stan's blog yesterday and looking at his photos of Alexandria brought back our daytrip there on our first Egypt trip.....

We missed the Citadel though, so looks like we will just have to go again sometime!

Now, if anyone fancies a trip across to Cyprus in the future - I'm happy to "share" info too

Shell

Post by **BENNU** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:36 am

[face=Comic Sans MS][shadow=cyan]WELCOME ![/shadow][/face]

Welcome to the forum, and soon :cheer: Welcome to Luxor

Post by **Glyphdoctor** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:19 am

Cyprus100 wrote: I go on holidaytruths forum and it never ceases to amaze me to read about all these people who "love" Egypt and have only ever been to the Red Sea resorts! What's all that about?

So what? If they love the resort they love it.

You are planning to move to Egypt longterm and all you have seen are hotels and cruise ships and monuments. That's not much more than those you ask about.

Post by **LovelyLadyLux** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:57 am

Hi Cypress100 - Welcome to L4U (and I feel compelled to apologize for the post above mine as this is not representative of how Members here treat and respond to each other. Please ignore it!)

Your travels sound very interesting and am looking forward to hearing more and hearing of your up-coming travels to and adventures in Egypt! If you're into photography at all we've got some excellent photographers here with keen insights and super wonderful techie knowledge. Swing by and have a visit with us under Hobbies and Passtimes! On behalf of all of us there we'd LOVE to see and experience Cypress through any photos you'd care to share with us!

Welcome, again "apologies" for the post above mine......LovelyLadyLux

Post by **crazycat** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:59 am

Glyph stop being so bloody rude, theres no wonder members are droppoing off and new ones are reluctant to say anything!

Post by **Scott** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:40 am

I have heard that, with the latest version of forum software Keefy hopes to install, each member will be able to completely block the display of all posts, at their computer, from any particular member!

Post by **LivinginLuxor** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:58 am

To allow yourself to see only posts from people you agree with seems like hell to me!

Post by **Scott** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:38 am

Who said agree ?????? Be careful of preconceptions!

Post by **Christine** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:42 am

Welcome Cyprus100(shell)
As you can see already and probably have in the past this forum is diverse to say the least, so ask what ever you want, reply to what ever and who ever you want and simply enjoy it!

Post by **Wills** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 10:59 am

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Post by **Glyphdoctor** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:31 pm

crazycat wrote:Glyph stop being so bloody rude, theres no wonder members are droppoing off and new ones are reluctant to say anything!

I am defending people who aren't here to defend themselves. I consider it in poor taste to bash someone just for loving a place they visited, especially in one's first post here. I don't see anything wrong with someone saying they love Egypt when all they have visited is a resort. Sure they may not know the rest of Egypt but at least they had a positive experience visiting here.

And don't forget what happened with J and L who thought they were ready to move here based on their experience at the Movenpick. I was the first one to point out their pompousness and ridiculousness (and I am not saying the current thread starter is like them necessarily) and I was criticized for that, but it was all the rest of you who eventually saw the light and bashed them mercilessly and put them in their grave here.

Post by **crazycat** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:17 pm

Glyphy, I think you'll find I didn't bash anyone, I don't visit this forum or any others to have a go at people unlike some who frequent forums. I also don't like the nastiness which seems to be developing on this forum by certain members. Enough said!

Post by **Cyprus100** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:43 pm

Don't worry - no offence taken

If you have a thick skin, check out one of our local forums www.cyprus-forum.com

The words rude and aggressive don't even come close. For those who may not be familiar, Cyprus is still a divided island since 1974 after the Turkish invasion.

Some want to move on and resolve their differences, whereas others are quite happy for them to continue and it shows big style on that forum. Strange how they can turn a totally innocent posting back to the "Cyprus Problem" as it often gets referred to.

It's a very sad state of affairs and we cannot see any chance of it being resolved in the immediate future. I would like to think it will be in our lifetime but I really wouldn't want to bet on it.

As for our Egypt travels, yes - we've been around a fair bit and although we have been to the Red Sea (it made a pleasant change to see the sea duirng our 2 weeks), everything felt too contrived and unreal. We do get some great deals for AI breaks to Sharm from Cyprus over the winter and up to April and we've toyed with the idea but always turn away. Luxor has spoiled us, so has Cairo and Aswan.

If I was living there, well - that's a completely different story! I'm sure the sea would beckon from time to time but if I want to spend my life by the sea, we could just continue living in Cyprus....

There are a number of places we wouldn't live in Cyprus, for the same reason I mention the Red Sea resorts. We're in a suburb that is full of Cypriot people and very few ex-pats and we chose it for that reason.

We almost made the mistake of changing tack in the beginning and started to look towards Paphos (we married there) and we know had we chosen there instead of Limassol, we wouldn't still be in Cyprus 6+ years down the line. Paphos has lost a lot of its' "Cypriot" feel.

The Universal area of Paphos looks like Moss Side in Manchester but with brightly coloured building finishings. It's very sad to see it like that as I remember it back the way it was during our first visits to Cyprus and the whole of the island in 1985 when there was no highway, only the coastal road.

I'm sure there will be some big changes when we come to Luxor again but it's the old and the new that still manage to survive side by side that has the appeal there. Who can doubt that when you've got one of the world best situated Macdonalds

I will visit the photos and hobbies pages soon and will see what I can find of my own too.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.