Sharm - would you?

[hornetrider]

el stovey said:

All of Africa? You won't go to the entire continent?

Yeah, fk it. I've only ever done Egypt, Mauritius and Kenya but frankly I can't be arsed with it at the moment. Between Boko Haram, Isis, Al Qaeeda (remember them?) carjackings in SA, I just can't be fagged with it at the moment.

Although if you have any safe highlights you'd care to recommend I'd gladly hear them.

[Blown2CV]

think this thread can be summarised into:

• People that won't go, and it's probably a bit racist to conclude that all muslim countries are now dangerous, but who gives a st as people can spend their money how they like
• People that will do anything to save money, and get annoyed at perceived snobbery in others who actually just value their family's safety and security

i am sure sure those that live in bradford would probably get annoyed at snobbery in not wanting to live there too. (that's not a racial connection, just that it's a sthole).

I wouldn't go on holiday to sellafield either, but i am sure you could go there pretty cheaply, and it's cracking flags outside... hmm come on marjorie lets pack the caravan.

[Rosscow]

Leptons said:

Rosscow said:

I have to say that normally I would fly in the face of this kind of crap, but there's no way I'd risk my family by taking them to Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Tunisia etc. at the moment.

Plenty of other places to go on holiday.

Jesus wept. On that basis fk going to Blackpool, Skegness, Whitby in fact barricade yourself inside and don't leave until it's safe.

Just back from a week in Bodrum. I'd go back again tomorrow.

With the exception of Northern Cyprus, it's a Christian country.

Well, bully for you!

[anonymous-user]

hornetrider said:

Yeah, fk it. I've only ever done Egypt, Mauritius and Kenya but frankly I can't be arsed with it at the moment. Between Boko Haram, Isis, Al Qaeeda (remember them?) carjackings in SA, I just can't be fagged with it at the moment.

Although if you have any safe highlights you'd care to recommend I'd gladly hear them.

Yeah you're probably right, I'd still go to Morocco and Zanzibar possibly Cape Town and still Sharm but anyone could easily find security issues with most of those.

I know there are always other places to go but you can find safety issues in most places if you look hard enough.

UK - jihadists, chavs, heat waves or crap weather.
Portugal - child snatchers
France - jihadists, strikes and beheadings
Spain - jihadists, chavs
Italy - Near to Tunisia and Libya
Turkey - Isis departure lounge.
Greece - civil unrest, economic meltdown

[ehonda]

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

[hornetrider]

el stovey said:

Yeah you're probably right, I'd still go to Morocco and Zanzibar possibly Cape Town and still Sharm but anyone could easily find security issues with most of those.

I know there are always other places to go but you can find safety issues in most places if you look hard enough.

UK - jihadists, chavs, heat waves or crap weather.
Portugal - child snatchers
France - jihadists, strikes and beheadings
Spain - jihadists, chavs
Italy - Near to Tunisia and Libya
Turkey - Isis departure lounge.
Greece - civil unrest, economic meltdown

Pembrokeshire is relatively safe this time of year, apart from Stagmageddon in Tenby, might give that a swerve

[Mark-C]

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Sharm is just an airport on the way to Dahab for me

[WinstonWolf]

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Well, apart from the fantastic diving and snorkelling...

Guaranteed sunshine.
Attentive and polite staff, you get drinks bought to your sun lounger on the beach at least every half hour.
Superb clean hotels.
No hawkers on the private beach.
Relatively short flights and quick transfers.

If you want to just go somewhere to sunbathe and wind down it's perfect.

Not everyone wants that kind of holiday but if you do Sharm fits the bill.

[egor110]

el stovey said:

hornetrider said:

Yeah, fk it. I've only ever done Egypt, Mauritius and Kenya but frankly I can't be arsed with it at the moment. Between Boko Haram, Isis, Al Qaeeda (remember them?) carjackings in SA, I just can't be fagged with it at the moment.

Although if you have any safe highlights you'd care to recommend I'd gladly hear them.

Yeah you're probably right, I'd still go to Morocco and Zanzibar possibly Cape Town and still Sharm but anyone could easily find security issues with most of those.

I know there are always other places to go but you can find safety issues in most places if you look hard enough.

UK - jihadists, chavs, heat waves or crap weather.
Portugal - child snatchers
France - jihadists, strikes and beheadings
Spain - jihadists, chavs
Italy - Near to Tunisia and Libya
Turkey - Isis departure lounge.
Greece - civil unrest, economic meltdown

You can take zanzibar off your list of potential destinations.

2014 cathedral and tourist bar bombed
2013 acid attack on holiday makers

[ehonda]

WinstonWolf said:

Stuff

Personally, that wouldn't be enough to tempt me away from a European resort where I can get the same, although I guess I'll be paying more for it. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was a diver.

Thanks for answering anyway.

[Rosscow]

ehonda said:

WinstonWolf said:

Stuff

Personally, that wouldn't be enough to tempt me away from a European resort where I can get the same, although I guess I'll be paying more for it. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was a diver.

Thanks for answering anyway.

I agree! I'm also more than happy to walk several yards to a bar to get a drink, if necessary.

[Timmy40]

WinstonWolf said:

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Well, apart from the fantastic diving and snorkelling...

Guaranteed sunshine.
Attentive and polite staff, you get drinks bought to your sun lounger on the beach at least every half hour.
Superb clean hotels.
No hawkers on the private beach.
Relatively short flights and quick transfers.

If you want to just go somewhere to sunbathe and wind down it's perfect.

Not everyone wants that kind of holiday but if you do Sharm fits the bill.

So does Malta. Minus the lunatic arabs and it's a much shorter flight.

[WinstonWolf]

Timmy40 said:

WinstonWolf said:

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Well, apart from the fantastic diving and snorkelling...

Guaranteed sunshine.
Attentive and polite staff, you get drinks bought to your sun lounger on the beach at least every half hour.
Superb clean hotels.
No hawkers on the private beach.
Relatively short flights and quick transfers.

If you want to just go somewhere to sunbathe and wind down it's perfect.

Not everyone wants that kind of holiday but if you do Sharm fits the bill.

So does Malta. Minus the lunatic arabs and it's a much shorter flight.

We prefer Sharm. Good job we all like different things, it'd be a bloody nightmare if everyone else wanted to go there

[//j17]

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Please read the whole thread before just jumping in with both feet as you'll find your question, "Why would you fo there?" is answered by the post that kicked off this thread:

pincher said:

...the kids quite fancy Sharm again, as we haven't been there for a few years.

Suggest to me they've been there before and liked it enough to go back in the past and at least some members of the pincher household would like to go again. I've no reason to believe pincher intended to invite you so you're personal dislike for Sharm seems to have little relevance.

[ehonda]

//j17 said:

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Please read the whole thread before just jumping in with both feet as you'll find your question, "Why would you fo there?" is answered by the post that kicked off this thread:

pincher said:

...the kids quite fancy Sharm again, as we haven't been there for a few years.

Suggest to me they've been there before and liked it enough to go back in the past and at least some members of the pincher household would like to go again. I've no reason to believe pincher intended to invite you so you're personal dislike for Sharm seems to have little relevance.

Me jumping in with both feet? You need to look a bit more close to home. I politely asked a question and then politely thanked WW for a response. I haven't expressed an opinion of sharm.

[Stevanos]

Personally I would not visit Sharm, it's a bit of a tacky dump.

Also, things hotting up in the area make it a no no I reckon..
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33340458

[popeyewhite]

WinstonWolf said:

Timmy40 said:

WinstonWolf said:

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Well, apart from the fantastic diving and snorkelling...

Guaranteed sunshine.
Attentive and polite staff, you get drinks bought to your sun lounger on the beach at least every half hour.
Superb clean hotels.
No hawkers on the private beach.
Relatively short flights and quick transfers.

If you want to just go somewhere to sunbathe and wind down it's perfect.

Not everyone wants that kind of holiday but if you do Sharm fits the bill.

So does Malta. Minus the lunatic arabs and it's a much shorter flight.

We prefer Sharm. Good job we all like different things, it'd be a bloody nightmare if everyone else wanted to go there

Shame about the the Russians though.

Sharm's a good destination. If you look hard enough I'm sure there's been some atrocity of some kind in most countries around the world over time. Also not all areas of Sharm are the same - Naama Bay is much quieter than the main resort. Other more southern resorts have better diving though Ras Mohammed is stunning.

I'll be considering Egypt for some late summer sun - It's close and still blistering at the end of September, which the Med isn't.

[Jarcy]

We're going to Sharm next month on the suggestion of our travel agent.
This is potentially our last family summer holiday as the lads are 17 & 20, so will want to do their own thing next year.
So we were looking for something a bit different to our normal Greek/French/Spanish holiday - with something for the kids to do.

I'm a qualified diver but with not a lot of experience. I'm doing my PADI Advanced course next week, and at the same time my kids are doing their PADI Open Water. So lots of diving will be on the cards. Snorkling on the off days too as the reef is right up to the hotel beach.

Mrs Jarcy will be happy lying in the (extremely) hot sun in a 5-star hotel. This in itself is something different for us as our holiday accomodation is usually 2 or 3 star. Our first all-inclusive holiday as well, so we're looking forward to being waited on hand and foot. Nice to try the other 5-star trappings - gym, spa, pampering etc.

The plan is to organise internal flights to Cairo to round off the sight seeing (I was considering organising this independently, but I think an organised tour would be wise now). We had also hope to do stuff like jeep safari in the desert, but venturing out into the Sinai Penisula is not a good idea right now. We'll have to try the 3 go-kart tracks in Sharm so that me and the lads can get our petrol-head fix.

We are concerned by recent events, and if we were booking now we may have considered elsewhere. But for the price (4 x adult fares is always expensive) I'm not sure where we'd go. We wanted somewhere out of Europe as that's where we always go. Carribean was considered but too expensive and not the best time of year. Far East also too pricy.
The chances are that resorts such as Sharm are now much safer than before, due to heightened security. I understand that it's sort of ring-fenced from the rest of Sinai. We'll see. Can't wait to go in any case.

[//j17]

ehonda said:

I politely asked a question and then politely thanked WW for a response. I haven't expressed an opinion of sharm.

ehonda said:

I can't think of a single reason to go to Sharm. If I was a diver I might think otherwise.
Serious question - Why would you go there?

Umm...

[pincher]

I'm sure you'll be fine but I've decided against it and have booked some flights to Portugal instead.

You say it's ring-fenced from the rest of Sinai and I'd agree it is by road but by boat is a different matter, as evidenced in Tunisia.

I'm glad I started this thread as it has thrown up some interesting viewpoints and few of the posts have actually been genuinely amusing.

I don't think I've been particularly influenced by anything in particular, other than my general philosophy of self-preservation - I just think that, even though the risk factor is probably small, it's not one worth taking.

I shall miss shelling monkey nuts in the Camel Bar in Naama Bay