Heading to Hurghada!!

So, after our late-night sight-seeing expedition in historic Brno, we caught the earliest bus from the train station to the airport, at 6:30 a.m.  By the time we reached our destination, we were the last remaining passengers on the bus, and we went through the sliding glass doors into the completely empty airport.  There was absolutely NO ONE there - not one other passenger, not one worker at the café, not one security worker, not one agent at the ticket counters or rental car areas - the place was completely deserted, so we were surprised it was even open!  But thankfully, the very clean restrooms were open, so we brushed our teeth, used the facilities, and then stretched out across seats in the waiting area to take a nap for a couple of hours.  About 8:30 someone started cleaning the floor, some workers came in to open the café, and gradually the place got busier.  How crazy!!  

After our Brno airport nap and breakfast we had brought from home to go with hot tea from the café, we were ready to get in line for our boarding passes.  

Ready to walk outside and board our waiting charter plane, with all the Czech travelers on their way to resorts in Hurghada.

This palm tree put us in the mood for a tropical destination!    :-) 

And away we go!!  We had really good seats a couple of rows behind first class.  

The captain was great about telling us where we were, in both Czech and English.  This is a Greek island we passed over.  

And here is the Egyptian coastline on the west edge of the Red Sea.

As we approached Hurghada, we were wondering if we had made a good choice.  The day looked cloudy, gray, and overcast, and the town seemed just as colorless and lifeless as the surrounding desert.  

The Czech tour company did a great job of greeting us after we went through Customs, and everyone was assigned to a bus for the ride to our various resorts.  The agent for our bus spoke great English and was delightful in explaining everything.  He came inside with us at the hotel and made sure everything was all fine with our check-in, and he set up appointments to visit with us on Sun., Tues., and Thurs. in our hotel lobby.  Unfortunately, it was dark by the time we arrived, but the place looked pretty nice, and we were looking forward to seeing it by daylight in the morning.  

After being a little sleep-deprived after our night in Brno, we slept very soundly that first night, then woke up eager to check out the resort outside.  Of course our first destination was the beach!!  

And we immediately knew that we had indeed made a wonderful choice for our spring break travel destination!!  The resort, the beach, and the sea were all gorgeous!!  Each and every day was certainly a 'magical' one this spring break.  

A view of the sea from our hotel room balcony.  The brown tent in the foreground was one of the specialty restaurants, the Beduin Tent, which served authentic Egyptian food.  

There were several swimming pools, and this one was just outside our room.  

Our room was on the second floor a little to the right of the picture .  When we booked the trip, I wasn't sure how nice the resort would be considering how low the price was, but our expectations were definitely exceeded!!   We think the great bargains were a result of the recent decline in tourists due to the political unrest in Egypt in past months. 

The layout of the resort as well as the vegetation, style of rooms, and atmosphere in general really reminded us of Cancun resorts.  It was very similar to Playa del Carmen, and we really felt like we were in a tropical hide-away.  

Marko, our tour company representative, was awesome all week.  

What a wonderful place to spend a week in Egypt!!  

The moon was beautiful Sunday night, but my camera couldn't quite capture it.  In person is was quite romantic!  

So that brings us up to Sunday evening, when we went to bed early to be ready for a very early wake-up call the next morning.  Excursion time to Luxor on Monday!!