-- by PicPac
Friday 18 November 2016
Monday 25 January 2016
Italy and Israel - 6th-13th January 2016
We had planned to go to Egypt, and because we are great at finding the best flights, we planned to go via Milan, which would make the whole journey about £40 per person. But, Easyjet cancelled the second leg of our flight, so we were left with a flight to Milan only.
Caroline found a cheap flight to Tel Aviv and I found that there was no one-way fee for hiring a car in Israel, so we decided to check out Israel on the way to Egypt.
Summary of what we did.
Bergamo .. beautiful town, put our bags in lockers at the bus station and went up the funicular to the old town. Ate the best pizza for lunch and watched a crazy street performer who shouted at kids. Took the train to Milan, then another train to Milan Malpensa airport where we stayed in Sheraton so it would be easy to catch out early morning flight to Israel.
In Israel hired a car and drove to Airbnb about 30km from Jerusalem. Nice family. It was very relaxed and about £35 per night, less than half what any hotels would cost. We saw wailing wall, old jerusalem and jesus resurrection cave. We went to a very very jewish town with tons of kids and tons of schools. Plain women and traditionally dressed men. We went to Bethlehem, through the wall that separates palestine from Israel. We saw jesus birthplace and had a fantastic palestinian lunch. We went to an amazing stalactite cave. We drove to the dead sea and stayed in 5* hotel and floated in the salty water. Then we drove to Eilat, handed in the car and crossed the border to Egypt.
Caroline found a cheap flight to Tel Aviv and I found that there was no one-way fee for hiring a car in Israel, so we decided to check out Israel on the way to Egypt.
Summary of what we did.
Bergamo .. beautiful town, put our bags in lockers at the bus station and went up the funicular to the old town. Ate the best pizza for lunch and watched a crazy street performer who shouted at kids. Took the train to Milan, then another train to Milan Malpensa airport where we stayed in Sheraton so it would be easy to catch out early morning flight to Israel.
In Israel hired a car and drove to Airbnb about 30km from Jerusalem. Nice family. It was very relaxed and about £35 per night, less than half what any hotels would cost. We saw wailing wall, old jerusalem and jesus resurrection cave. We went to a very very jewish town with tons of kids and tons of schools. Plain women and traditionally dressed men. We went to Bethlehem, through the wall that separates palestine from Israel. We saw jesus birthplace and had a fantastic palestinian lunch. We went to an amazing stalactite cave. We drove to the dead sea and stayed in 5* hotel and floated in the salty water. Then we drove to Eilat, handed in the car and crossed the border to Egypt.
Easy in Egypt - Jan 13th to Feb 1st 2015
We are staying in the 5-star Movenpick in Taba. It is walking distance to the Israel/Egypt border on the Red Sea.
The hotel is empty due to tourists staying away due to recent terrorist attacks. Seems irrational to me. People are not staying away from Paris, or their cars or their stairs for that matter.
Staff have told me that the hotel is at about 5% capacity. This is usually the quiet time of the year, but this year it is even more so. Part of the problem is that flights to Sharm El Sheikh have been cancelled by many airlines. It happened to us too, but it was a bonus to come here via Israel instead.
It costs $64 per night. This is half board and we get a fantastic buffet for breakfast and dinner. They upgraded us to a nice ground floor room that looks out on the pool and has an extra bed, so there is plenty of room for us all to sleep comfortably.
Compare this to living in UK or Sweden. We would spend $300 per week just on food and cook 80% off it at home. Then utility bills, maintenance and property taxes. I reckon it is cheaper here and we have a load more time in the day. They come and clean our room every day. The only small mundanity we have to do is our own laundry in the bath tub. It would be nice to have on site self service laundry facilities like in the Extended Stay America motel we stayed in Florida.
The snorkelling just off the beach is fantastic. The diving is the cheapest in the world. The day before yesterday, we hired a boat with crew and a dive instructor to take us to 2 dive sites. Lunch was included. The total cost for 2 days on a boat with 2 dives on each day and lunch, and a further 2 dives from the shore.... $180 per person (kids free) ! This is including equipment hire.
There is entertainment on every night. We have only been to one show of glass walking and fire eating, and it felt a bit like being Kim Jong Un because the audience was about 4 people... except that you don't get to shoot the performers if they fail to please!
Yesterday we went to Israel to visit the Egyptian Consulate to extend our visa. The whole day was a great example of governments getting in the way of peaceful people .
The hotel is empty due to tourists staying away due to recent terrorist attacks. Seems irrational to me. People are not staying away from Paris, or their cars or their stairs for that matter.
Staff have told me that the hotel is at about 5% capacity. This is usually the quiet time of the year, but this year it is even more so. Part of the problem is that flights to Sharm El Sheikh have been cancelled by many airlines. It happened to us too, but it was a bonus to come here via Israel instead.
It costs $64 per night. This is half board and we get a fantastic buffet for breakfast and dinner. They upgraded us to a nice ground floor room that looks out on the pool and has an extra bed, so there is plenty of room for us all to sleep comfortably.
Compare this to living in UK or Sweden. We would spend $300 per week just on food and cook 80% off it at home. Then utility bills, maintenance and property taxes. I reckon it is cheaper here and we have a load more time in the day. They come and clean our room every day. The only small mundanity we have to do is our own laundry in the bath tub. It would be nice to have on site self service laundry facilities like in the Extended Stay America motel we stayed in Florida.
The snorkelling just off the beach is fantastic. The diving is the cheapest in the world. The day before yesterday, we hired a boat with crew and a dive instructor to take us to 2 dive sites. Lunch was included. The total cost for 2 days on a boat with 2 dives on each day and lunch, and a further 2 dives from the shore.... $180 per person (kids free) ! This is including equipment hire.
There is entertainment on every night. We have only been to one show of glass walking and fire eating, and it felt a bit like being Kim Jong Un because the audience was about 4 people... except that you don't get to shoot the performers if they fail to please!
Yesterday we went to Israel to visit the Egyptian Consulate to extend our visa. The whole day was a great example of governments getting in the way of peaceful people .
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