The progress was rather slow to Qena as there were lots of traffic intersections and bumps. The bus and first station had no toilets so we were pretty happy we stopped in Qena although that added a bit of time to the trip. After we got on the actual highway heading over the mountains and down to the Red Sea we went along quite well. The bus stopped again for the official break of the journey about half way along those approximately 170 kilometers to the town of Safaga. It was dry as soon as we left the Nile Valley and we saw hardly a bush until getting down to the towns near the sea.
It was another hour heading north to Hurghada. The Upper Egypt bus stopped at the office near downtown at around 12:30 PM. We wouldn't be able to check in to our hotel at that time, so we slowly walked around. Rather than taking a taxi, we found the normal van bus services and checked that it was going to the Sheraton Road. It surely didn't take long before we were at the MinaMark Resort.
We check in at about 1:15 PM and got our all-inclusive wrist bands. The room still wasn't quite ready but rather than eating lunch at that time we just scoped out the place and walked from the reception to the beach. The resort was small by resort standards but it really turned out to be just about the perfect size for us. We knew we'd not spend hours just sitting in the sun, lazing by the pool, nor snorkeling from the pier.
Time to chill and eat a lot. Holiday relaxation time had begun!
