29th December
Today’ main aim was a trip to the Indian embassy to sort out of visas, this proved to be a touch simpler than the Saudi process. Within two hours we had arranged for our visas to be couriered to Dubai in 5 days time. This left the afternoon free to relax, we discovered that our hotel partnered with the Radisson next door, so we went off to enjoy a sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi-lush! The area was filled with relaxing aromatherapy oils and the music was so calming, a million miles away from the busy stressful Cairo we left the day before.
In the evening some great news came through – the hospitality in Dubai for 8 days was confirmed by City Seasons hotel. We couldn’t wait!
28th December
Finally left the hotel in Cairo after a week and a great cost failing to get our Saudi visas. Our friend (who we thought was our friend) presented us with a list of things we owed him money for – like scotch tape, and EGP25 a metre for micky mouse cardboard packaging, that wouldn’t even be suitable for a cereal packet. I’d had enough of Cairo and Egypt, I was really looking forward to leaving, but it wasn’t going to be the end. At the airport, every Egyptian man and his dog wanted tips from fetching trolleys to pointing where to go. I eventually lost it with one cheeky f@*ker and told him in no uncertain terms to “do one!”.
This actually broke the ice with some other English fellas who were travelling to India and asking all sorts of questions about our challenge.
It was so nice to arrive in Abu Dhabi – a civilised, clean society, although I was still in Egypt mode as I tried to negotiate the price of a fixed price taxi. The cheapest 3* hotel we could find (more like an Egyptian 25* hotel!) was situated in a stunning position overlooking the F1 race track in Yas Marina, and even then we still managed to drive the price down further.
