This has probably been asked before but am under time pressure.

Have to travel to Dubai for work next week. Today boss tells me that I can have some leave when I get back and that starts the brain working on a little side trip to warmer and windier climes.
Thinking that I could jump a flight down to egypt as it is only 4 hours south of Dubai and go to Dahab for a few days.
Can anyone advise of a good travel agent/booking service to assist with my nefarious plan (not telling the trouble and strife about this adventure). Also had a look at the websites of the Club Vass and Club Mistral and was looking for some advice on where to stay.

Thanks in advance...

A lot of the flights into Dahab (SSH) are run by charter companies direct from the UK, Germany, and other parts of Europe. They seem to be cheaper as they are just for the windsurfing trips.

I guess flying from Dubai will mean flying to Cairo and then to Sharm El Sheik, which will be Egypt Air. I think someone told me it is much cheaper to book the flights outside of Egypt than in.

I think planetwindsurf(?) and those sort of companies are setup to specialize in these sort of trips. They seem to be generally focused on the UK, German, and Russian markets, so you should look at the Boards.co.uk website for some hints.

As for places to stay. I stayed at the Coralia the first week and a half. I stayed in their cheapest accommodation which didn't even have a working radio let alone a TV. It's greatest advantage was that the Harry Nass centre is part of the hotel and is the easiest part of the bay to launch from (less wind shadow there). Harry Nass have JP and Neil Pryde, plus a few other brand boards (Tabou and some Mistral). You can book the accommodation direct over the internet, through the Accor hotels website.

I reserved my board at the Harry Nass centre via an internet/email booking. It was pretty relaxed, but it turned out fine.

The next week and a half I stayed at the Hilton and it was much more upmarket. We used the windsurf centre there (Club Dahab?) that had North and Mistral sails and boards. I preferred the North Sails just because they had more cammed sails in larger sizes to suit f@t people like me, whereas Harry Nass had a lot of wave sails and only cammed sails in 8.0 and 8.5m.

There is nothing stopping you using any of the hire centres no matter where you stay.

I think if you are in that part of the world, a side trip to Dahab would be great. Try and avoid flying via Cairo if you can, and fly direct to SSH, it avoids a few hassles, but I think in your case there are no options. When I went the schedules meant I had to stay overnight in Cairo before flying out early the next morning.

Also try and get picked up from the airport by a tour company or someone organised by the hotel as it will be heaps cheaper and more likely to have airconditioning. The Taxis from the airport are not easy to negotiate with (no competition) and they don't have aircon. It is about an hours drive from Sharm to Dahab, so it makes it more comfortable in a minibus with aircon than a crazy taxi.

I think in a lot of respects the organised trips are better as they bypass a lot of the hassles and everything is handled for you.

As a last thought, the instructor at the Harry Nass centre was trying to run holidays for people not from the UK, so that may help some, although I haven't heard anything since.

Oh, yeah, and my final tip is to make sure that you only eat the hotel food if you are there just for a week. The local bugs in the water can make your stomach a bit touchy, which is a shame as the food in town looks fantastic.