Birthdays come and go and we don’t usually do too much apart from enjoy wherever we are. My birthday this year coincided with our trip to Egypt so Jonno spent a few days relentlessly tormenting me about things he may or may not have booked. Parascending and a spa treatment were amongst the things mentioned but thankfully neither of which came to anything.

What I did have was a very special day with my man. It went a bit like this:

5.10am – wake up alarm. We had we decided that there was only one chance in life to watch the sun rise over the Red Sea on my birthday. So it was that we hastily jumped out of bed, threw on some shorts and headed for the beach. We were so early that there were no towels strategically placed on sunbeds. A crazy holiday activity that I have never quite understood.

We found two sun loungers and positioned ourselves at the right angle to see the golden globe peeping over the horizon. Totally peaceful with only the odd sea bird in sight. Before we knew it, we had been there an hour and a half and we saw the purposeful walk of which only meant one thing – the towel brigade were starting to emerge.

7.30am – We headed off the beach to our resort and the 24 hour bar called Vanilla. The overnight staff usually only get asked for early morning coffees at this time of the day but how could we not start the day with a cocktail. Two Red Sea Specials were ordered and went down a treat. I couldn’t tell you the contents the name just seemed right and it beats fruit juice any day. We were good and only had the one.

8.30am – Breakfast in The Cove. This was a small restaurant where a buffet style breakfast was served daily. I had a three egg omelette cooked for me and Jon tucked into some Danish pastries all washed down with some coffee.

10.00am – Chilled by the pool and went for a refreshing early morning dip. Most other guests were putting their toes in and then hastily withdrawing so we enjoyed having the whole of the infinity pool to ourselves. Perfect.

12 noon – We walked along to the pier and decided that now was the time to do some snorkelling and admire some of the reef. By this time the wind had got up a bit and it was a bit choppy but the views beneath the surface were impressive, only slightly spoilt by a moon jelly fish getting up close and personal. Moon jelly fish are quite tame really and don’t puncture the skin so I only had a few bruises to show for my marine life encounter.

We walked back via the edge of the resort and took some photos of the luna like landscape.

1.30pm – Lunch of grilled fish, chicken and koftas with loads of salad.

2.00pm – Short walk to the German a la carte restaurant for Apfel Strudel and Vanilla Sauce. I had promised myself a hazelnut ice cream but was too full to even attempt that.

3.00pm – All our early morning cocktails, swimming and eating had caught up on us so we headed back to our air-conditioned haven for a siesta.

Evening – The evening began with a cocktail before dinner, a cocktail after dinner and a cocktail nightcap. As it was Easter weekend for most guests (the Egyptians celebrate a week later than us ), the desserts were arranged wishing everyone “Happy Ester“. The Ester/birthday nightcap was in a very small bar called the Americano more or less next to our room. A very charismatic bar tender called Alex who wore a very un-Egyptian trilby but was a whizz at mixing several cocktails at once.

So to sum up. I didn’t get to parascend, get pampered in a fluffy white robe, get a diamond ring or bottle of champagne but anyone who knows me knows that moments in time are more important. I do have the promise of a necklace from the market just so we can haggle but that can wait for another day. Apart from seeing our sons which is always a gift, to be with the love of my life as the sun rises followed by a day doing simple yet memorable things beats any fluffy, blingy material thing – although the cocktails are a must.

21/04/2019