General Chit Chat

[wayne_harris]

Originally Posted by noushkey

Don't worry Noushkey, Noushkey loves you, just cos not a single person has replied.

Signing off this forum for good......

Oh dont sign off for good!! I am sure someone will reply to you soon, it hasn't been busy on here lately. thats all. We are all friendly on here. What is it you would like to know?

Dawn

[Lsab]

Originally Posted by noushkey

Hi, nothing to do with property (tho I am buying in Hurghada) but I am going on holiday to Sharm in December and I wondered if it was best to take English pounds or US dollars?
When I last went everyone was crying out for pounds but with the current situation I didn't know if it was still the same? Should I take any Egyptian or just change my money out there?

Also, do we need to get a visa at the airport? I read that if you are staying in the resort you don't actually need one (tho you will be persuaded to get one by your rep so they get their cut) but if you plan on the Tiran Island boat trip (which I preferred to Ras Mohammed) then you do need to purchase one?

Any other tips greatly appreciated!

Hi Noushkey

Probably my fault that no-one has replied because I moved a lot of posts from other threads on to this one and yours became a bit lost.

I'm not sure of the answer to the currency question but hopefully someone else will know. Alison returns from Sharm tomorrow and will no doubt be able to answer you more fully.

Best wishes
Linda

[pentax man]

Hi Dawn & Wayne,

We trust you are keeping well. If you are going to learn arabic at the wf maybe a little primer would help-I have aquired a Linguaphone course on 3 cd's can let you borrow if you want-I can always drop it off to Wayne just let me know.
Regards,
Rod & Ann

[wayne_harris]

Originally Posted by pentax man

Hi Dawn & Wayne,

We trust you are keeping well. If you are going to learn arabic at the wf maybe a little primer would help-I have aquired a Linguaphone course on 3 cd's can let you borrow if you want-I can always drop it off to Wayne just let me know.
Regards,
Rod & Ann

Hi Rod & Ann,
We are fine thank you, that would be great if you dont mind. But dont you need them? it takes along time to learn. I have some spanish cd's and I went through them a few times, but then put away in cupboard. I will get them out again sometime. But I would love to learn as much Arabic as I can. I find it easier playing them in the car, although it drove my kids mad at the time, but its also good for them to listen and they may learn something aswell. So yes please if you are not using them at present, Are they easy ones?

Cheers Dawn -x-

[pentax man]

Originally Posted by wayne_harris

Hi Rod & Ann,
We are fine thank you, that would be great if you dont mind. But dont you need them? it takes along time to learn. I have some spanish cd's and I went through them a few times, but then put away in cupboard. I will get them out again sometime. But I would love to learn as much Arabic as I can. I find it easier playing them in the car, although it drove my kids mad at the time, but its also good for them to listen and they may learn something aswell. So yes please if you are not using them at present, Are they easy ones?

Cheers Dawn -x-

Hi Dawn,
Have sent you a pm
Cheers,
Rod

[M Butler]

Originally Posted by noushkey

Hi, nothing to do with property (tho I am buying in Hurghada) but I am going on holiday to Sharm in December and I wondered if it was best to take English pounds or US dollars?
When I last went everyone was crying out for pounds but with the current situation I didn't know if it was still the same? Should I take any Egyptian or just change my money out there?

Also, do we need to get a visa at the airport? I read that if you are staying in the resort you don't actually need one (tho you will be persuaded to get one by your rep so they get their cut) but if you plan on the Tiran Island boat trip (which I preferred to Ras Mohammed) then you do need to purchase one?

Any other tips greatly appreciated!

Hi Noushkey,

Sorry nobody replied to your question. I will ask you another. Why are you taking English pounds or US dollars to Egypt? Sterling has fallen quite a lot against the Egyptian pound recently, don't know about US dollars.
Why don't you do what I have been doing for nearly 3 years and use your debit cart in the autoteller in Sharm. If you have the correct building society debit card (I will pm you with the name) all withdrawals are free and you get the inter bank exhange rate.

I also believe you are correct about not needing a visa for Sharm as long as you stay in Sharm.

Margaret

Originally Posted by noushkey

Hi, nothing to do with property (tho I am buying in Hurghada) but I am going on holiday to Sharm in December and I wondered if it was best to take English pounds or US dollars?
When I last went everyone was crying out for pounds but with the current situation I didn't know if it was still the same? Should I take any Egyptian or just change my money out there?

Also, do we need to get a visa at the airport? I read that if you are staying in the resort you don't actually need one (tho you will be persuaded to get one by your rep so they get their cut) but if you plan on the Tiran Island boat trip (which I preferred to Ras Mohammed) then you do need to purchase one?

Any other tips greatly appreciated!

Hi Noushkey, When we were in Hurghada in July the pound coin came in very handy for tipping. Alison (Queenie) uses US dollars I believe. To the best of my knowledge, it is not necessary to purchase a visa at the airport if you are not planning on leaving Sharm. Although you may be pressured in to purchasing one. If you are going to buy visa, it is cheaper to purchase US dollars and pay with them (you can get a few extra for tipping) as the visa is still charged at $15 US dollars or £10 GBP. For the rest of your holiday it is really a matter of personal choice. I generally purchase some Egyptian pounds prior to leaving the UK for the first couple of days, then I take sterling travellers cheques. I'm really cautious about using debit/credit cards abroad, one of the pitfalls of working for a bank I guess.

[Zeiad Yehia]

Originally Posted by noushkey

Hi, nothing to do with property (tho I am buying in Hurghada) but I am going on holiday to Sharm in December and I wondered if it was best to take English pounds or US dollars?
When I last went everyone was crying out for pounds but with the current situation I didn't know if it was still the same? Should I take any Egyptian or just change my money out there?

Also, do we need to get a visa at the airport? I read that if you are staying in the resort you don't actually need one (tho you will be persuaded to get one by your rep so they get their cut) but if you plan on the Tiran Island boat trip (which I preferred to Ras Mohammed) then you do need to purchase one?

Any other tips greatly appreciated!

noushkey,

I am usually not on this part of the forums, and this is why it's the first time to see your post. Please find the answers below:

Q) I wondered if it was best to take English pounds or US dollars?

A) USD will be better in the current situations, but again, never pay in a ofreign currency anywhere, or you're gonna lose some money. Always exchange whatever currency you have to EGP beforehand. Do it in Thomas Cook or HSBC for best rates, and then pay in EGP while being around.




Q) Also, do we need to get a visa at the airport? I read that if you are staying in the resort you don't actually need one (tho you will be persuaded to get one by your rep so they get their cut) but if you plan on the Tiran Island boat trip (which I preferred to Ras Mohammed) then you do need to purchase one?

A) You get a free single-entry visa at the airport, but you can pay GBP 11 for the mlti-entry visa at the airport also, which allows you to go out of Sharm. Over the boat trip you have mentioned a single-entry via will do.

There is also something called "Residency Visa", which requires obtaining the multi-entry visa beforehand.

You need that latter visa for one of 2 reasons:

1- Getting involved in a legal matter, so you need it to issue the power of attorney to your lawyer.

2- Getting a huge discount on hotel booking being a 'resident'.


All the best,

Zeiad Yehia
Solicitor

[Zeiad Yehia]

By the way, I notice that it is obvious that everyone wants you NOT to sign off the forums. I hope you won't fail them down.


All the best,

Zeiad Yehia
Solicitor

[M Butler]

Originally Posted by lyndsay552

Hi Margaret

Really enjoying it. We are not really having monthly meetings but there is a pub quiz every Sunday night in the Winking Frog and most of the residents are at it.

Last week there was over 60 people here, really good night.

Lyndsay

OK. So we tried again today to find the Winking Frog. Please can someone give me directions as we cannot find it......

Thanks,
Margaret