A month ago, we'd had no sleep, arrived in Corfu an hour and a half late only to discover that we'd missed our $2.00 bus and had to take a $50.00 cab ride instead! One month later, we should have known it was going to be "one of those days". We started off OK. Annetta had told us that everything in Israel takes three times to get right, so when we were quoted 50 shekels for a cab to the bus station, we ignored the driver, went to the street and got a ride for 40 shekels, instead. We found our platform for the bus and when they changed platforms twice, we still managed to figure it out, by reading the reactions of other passengers and asking what happened. The night before, we'd decided to ignore the advice of our less-than-reliable receptionist and book tickets in advance for $18.00 each. Thank goodness, because we would not have had seats! It was oversold and 4 people sat in the aisle for the 5 hour trip. We got to Eilat, on time, after 2 stops (the stops were 10 minutes apart, which was odd). However, all told, we were doing great!

At this point, we should have also ignored the advice of the Egyptian Embassy in Jordan. After all, what could an Egyptian Embassy know about Egyptian visas for people visiting Egypt? We got to the border and, contrary to what the Embassy had said, we couldn't "officially" get visas there. However, the official called over a man who explained he could get them for us, but it would cost $50.00 US per person (instead of the regular $15.00)! We were horrified, so he dropped it to $40.00 pp, but that really didn't help us much. What could we do? We'd already paid $64.00 in departure taxes to leave Israel and $10.00 for the cab. If we tried to go back to the Egyptian consulate in Eilat, it could be closed, and we'd have to get a hotel, etc., etc! Why, why, had we believed the Embassy? We paid the ridiculous fee and it took the man about a minute and half to stamp our passports and we left, glad to see the last of this border crossing.

The crossing was not finished with us, however. As we stepped into Egypt, we were surrounded by taxi representatives. These people do not actually drive the cabs; they just negotiate the price. They were very aggressive and we hadn't had time to decide on a plan of action so we ended up getting very flustered. Also, Barry had thought that we had paid 60 Egyptian pounds total for our trip from Dahab to the border the week previous, so he was very upset at the inflated prices that were being quoted. Eventually, we settled on a price of 60 Egyptian pounds each, but then we made a vital error and paid up front.

As we headed for Dahab, we had to pay a Port Authority tax of $40.00 US dollars, so our wallet was getting lighter by the kilometre! We were happy to finally arrive at the Bishbishi Hotel; but not for long, as the driver demanded we pay him. We explained that we'd already paid at the border. The driver and his friend got very angry, but Barry held his ground, so when they said they wanted to go to the Tourist Police, Barry agreed and drove away with them. We were horrified, thinking they would just beat him up, but he returned 10 minutes later. The driver had simply driven around and around and hadn't taken him to the Police at all. Obviously, this has happened before. Barry finally gave in a little and offered to pay 80%, even though we were not in the wrong. It was mostly just to get rid of them and put an end to the horrible day.

After the driver and his friend left, we ate a great meal, and went to bed, hoping the next day would go more smoothly.