Budget Fares from New York to Egypt

by Grant Martin on

Airfare Watchdog is reporting the latest in a string of strange USA-LON-XXX flights that are remarkably cheap for this time of year. This week, the Egyptian port of Sharm el-Sheikh is on sale from New York City for the paltry sum of about 600USD.

Availability appears to be anywhere between November and March, and AFWD has created a series of handy dandy links to help you search throughout an entire month of availability. The trick with booking this flight is to be flexible. Most dirt-cheap tickets are going to require a little bit of leeway on your part — leaving on a weekday or flying out of your way to get to where you need to be. Just remember that you’re getting a steal on airline tickets and any deal you can work out and book is a gift.

Another thing to remember is that deals like this often don’t last long. Gadling readers searching for this fare on Wednesday may already be too late; often times you may have a few hours to research, book and confirm your tickets. I won’t advocate making any snap decisions on international travel, but it may be a good idea to check the cancellation policy on your favorite booking engine’s FAQ. Many have a clause where you can cancel a ticket within 24 hours without penalty. That way you can book a ticket for you and your girlfriend from work right now and ask for her permission when you get home.

Trans-Atlantic legs appear to be mostly on British Airways, a oneworld alliance member earning you miles on American, British, Cathay and Quantas among others.

With regard to Egyptian travel, you can pay for a visa at the border (nifty postage stamp visas that you can paste into your passport yourself) for a reasonable price. Sharm el-Sheikh is a fabulous city at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula well known as a tourist destination and home to excellent scuba diving and western hobnobbery.

Don’t forget your Cipro.

Take a Dip in the World’s Deepest Indoor Pool

by Jonathon Morgan on

Scuba diving in a pool seems a little pointless, right? Maybe not, if the pool is 33 meters deep.

That’s what you’ll find at NEMO 33 — the world’s largest indoor pool. Not only is it an exceptionally long distance from the surface to the bottom, once you get down there, you’ll find a number of interesting rooms and passageways to explore.

The pool, located in Brussels, was designed by John Beernaerts, a diving expert, both as a unique space for Belgian divers, and also as an underwater film set.

These days, anyone can hop in and take a dive for €10 to €20 (depending on when you dive). You don’t even need your wetsuit — as NEMO 33 provides suits, masks and fins. After the first 15 minutes or snorkeling or freediving, you’re set loose to explore.

If you do end up checking it out, take an inside tip from blogger Amy at Wolfstad.com: “Get in the water fast and descend to your maximum depth quickly, before it gets too crowded.”

Sounds like a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

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SUBIOS, Seychelles’ Annual Underwater Film and Image Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

If you love the ocean, scuba diving, movies, island living and luxury than here is the perfect place for you. From March 19-25, SUBIOS, Seychelles’ annual underwater film festival will take visitors on a unique excursion to the deep.

Expert cinematographers and photographers from around the world will guest speak about the work they do to capture underwater images in documentaries and exhibitions. This is a chance to be awestruck and inspired to do your own work–or simply marvel at other people’s.

A photography and video competition are also part of this event. Unfortunately, the deadline for this year’s entries was yesterday, but you can keep this in mind for a next year possibility as a way to showcase your talents. Use this year to get an idea of what kind of talent you are up against. From the looks of the photos on the website, the competion looks steep. Did I say breathtakingly gorgeous?

If you can’t make it to the Seychelles in the next few weeks, April/May and October/November are the best months for swimming, snorkelling and diving.

Australia’s Open Water

by Iva Skoch on

Sleeping under the stars, with the magic of the underwater world beneath you is about as cleansing of an experience as you can get. Far from civilization, the stars are amazingly bright and–but for the waves breaking over the boat–it would be almost unbearably quiet.

The best way to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is definitely a live-on-board scuba diving trip. Because in most places, the GBR is some 2-3 hours from shore, it is really not worth it to just do a day trip. In Cairns, a gateway town to the GBR, there are numerous establishments offering just that. We went with Scuba Pro and would recommend them to anybody. A three-day trip is about $400/pp, all-inclusive: boat trip, two nights on the boat (there are private rooms, but some people choose the sleep-on-the-deck option to enjoy the stars), food and drinks, equipment rental and 11 dives, including 2 night dives. All in, it’s a pretty good deal. This is also a good way to get certified, although after diving the GBR, you’ll be spoiled and other places will seem like a cold pool of muddy water.

Needless to say, the diving is incredible. Turtles, sharks, lobsters, dolphins…all in water so warm you don’t actually need a wetsuits, if it weren’t for the damn jellyfish.