Happy New Year!
Whooooooooooooooooooooooosh!
What was that?
That was 2010… and what an unbelievable year it was for Sunrise Lodge. We got the keys to the place, as it were, in February and started building the place we had envisioned. By May 1, it was ready to open. We welcomed our first guests that week – a lovely Egyptian couple from Cairo here in Dahab on a short holiday. They made off with our towels, but hey, we still love them. They were our first customers after all.
Soon after, we met Alastair and Vivienne from New Zealand, who had been sailing around the world for the last six years on their beautiful yacht, Largo Star. What an amazing life! Their pictures made me almost seasick with jealousy!
May saw not two but four people arrive as couples and leave engaged – Mark proposed to Ruth at the top of Mount Sinai, and Jose proposed to his gorgeous girlfriend underwater, no less, whilst diving at the Canyon! We wish both lovely couples all the very best for the future!
The summer in Dahab had us sweltering in temperatures of up to 48 degrees for a good few weeks so it was mostly spent in the sea, in a pool, in our air-conditioned rooms or enjoying the shade of our arisha. The Lodge remained busy with people coming and going all summer – we had several people stay long-term over July and August whilst they got worked on their dive master qualifications.
We met four lovely Americans, Rachel, Josh, Jakob and Alex who only meant to stay for a night on their way back home but stayed for about four, and Eric who only meant to stay for one but stayed for seven! It was amazing to meet Averlon from Trinidad, an inspirational woman who had some amazing stories of volunteering in Haiti. We were also delighted to meet and host Pieter, a South African trying his hand at some freediving on his first trip outside of his home country. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anyone as happy as Emma when she realised her flight back to the UK was cancelled due to snow causing general chaos on the runways back home, and she and her friends had to endure four more blissful days of sunshine!
Of course, since we’ve been hugely busy all year we have met so many wonderful people. Not only did we enjoy having so many of them to stay, but we arranged pan-Egypt tours for the Hendricks, the Cunninghams, the Kautzes, Jac & Hayley and many more – between them they covered the length and breadth of the county from Siwa (by the Libyan border) and Alexandria (on the Mediterranean coast) to Abu Simbel, on the banks of Lake Nassar, and not far from the Sudanese border.
We also hosted plenty of parties for local kids – summer paddling pool parties in the hot, hot heat and lots of private birthday parties throughout the year. It’s lovely to see our kids’ toys being enjoyed, and parents relaxing!
Kids and parents enjoying Salma's 3rd birthday party
2011 looks set to be another fantastic year for us – we started off well by having a large group of Russian yoga enthusiasts book the Lodge out for themselves. Having seen them prepare for their yoga practice makes me determined to put those New Year Resolutions to good use, and I’ll be joining Birgit for her yoga classes every week…. insha’allah! Whether I stick to that or not, I know that 2011 will keep me busy here at the Lodge as we plan to expand the place a little, to be able to fit just a few more of you lovely people in at a time!!!
Salma, Lodge-dog Foxy and I saying bye to some of the rabble we have to put up with visiting us =)
Have a wonderful year, and we hope to see you at Sunrise Lodge very soon! (Make the most of those New Year flight deals and get yourself out of the cold!!)
(Thanks to Tim for the picture above, as well as to the random taxi driver who got the shot for us!)