Me and my boyfriend decided earlier this year that now we can finally afford to go on a 'proper holiday'. He's 21 and I'm 19, and we were both working full time, so we thought 'Why not?'. Camping in Winsford, Blackpool and a couple of other places was fun, but now I wanted sun, sea, pool etc. So, off we went to the travel agent, and said our budget was around £600 for both of us, two weeks, somewhere sunny around May. They suggested Sol Y Mar Sea Star in Taba, Egypt. The hotel is all inclusive

-----Location-----
Taba is located right up in the North East on Egypt, close to Israel and Jordan. It's a great place to stay if you wanted to visit a few different countries as you are not far from Israel, Jordan and also Saudi Arabia. It really is in a fantastic location for visiting all these countries, and the tour operator that we went with (Thomas Cook) offered excursions to all these places via boat or coach. You can also, of course, visit other places in Egypt. However, to get to Cairo or the pyramids does take a long time; many of the tour operators offer trips involving flights there, as it would be a long way to travel across on a coach etc.

If you're not looking to travel much whilst there, then to be honest there isn't much to do. It's great if you're happy lying in the sun next to the pool, as we were. But, if you like to be out and about, you may find it boring.

There are a few local trips to go snorkelling, diving, or in a boat to see sealife (there's amazing coral nearby).

Other than that, there's also 'Taba Heights', located next to the sea. It is a short drive from Sol y Mar. This is like a small town, with a few big hotels around twenty shops/stalls, places to eat and a golf course. We went for a day, and, to be honest, I wouldn't go back. There was a supermarket, which was useful, but the other shops were disappointing - we bought nearly nothing and I am a shopaholic! They weren't all open, and when I went in some of them, I felt as though I was being pushed into buying something. There were very few people in the town. It did have some nice-looking restaurants; we stopped at a pizza place, but the food was awful, and the owner made me feel very uncomfortable (leering etc). But, I have only tried one restaurant there - the others did look lovely. But the town as a whole was a disappointment. By all means visit, but I wouldn't plan a whole day there - an hour maximum would be fine.

The hotel is a very short walk from its own private beach, around 100 metres or so. But, other than that, there is nothing outside the hotel. Literally nothing. There's a long road; you couldn't walk to anywhere though. And it didn't feel particularly safe outside the hotel in the evening. If you walk 200 metres one way, you go out of sight of the hotel, and it's very quiet, with the occasional beggar. It's not a peaceful quiet - it does feel unsafe. In the other direction, 200 metres and you reach a checkpoint where there are armed guards, checking coaches/vehicles travelling past. It probably is safe, but it does make you feel a little uncomfortable when the only people you can see are armed.

The airport is around 40 minutes away by coach.

Being in Egypt, Taba obviously has very nice weather. It can rise to 35/40 degrees in the summer, and is still warm during winter. We went in May and after ten or so days it was getting a bit much. But if you want a tan, it's perfect.

------Facilities------
POOL
The hotel has two lovely large pools, and also a small one for children. These were lovely, very clean; one tends to have children near, whereas one doesn't. One of the pools is fairly near the bar, but there is also a poolside bar. The poolside bar is only open when it's busy though. There are plenty of loungers - you really cannot fault the pools etc.

BAR
As said above, there's a bar inside the hotel, not far from the pool, and also a pool-side bar which opens when it's busy. There's not usually much of a queue. They have the usual drinks, but not a huge selection. They are mostly Egyptian brands, and I found the whisky, vodka and gin to all have quite an unpleasant taste. The beer was pretty standard, but seemed quite watery and in a small glass. They did have cocktails, but due to the taste of the spirits, I did not drink many. The cold juices were very nice, but coca cola was often served warm and flat. I personally found with the spirits that the measures were too large for me. They would automatically serve you a double/triple, which I'm not keen on. When I asked them for just a small measure, it still was a double. It'll suit some people, though! There is quite a large seating area near the bar, which is air-conditioned.

CLUB
The hotel has its own club/pub which hosts specific nights (Quiz, Egyptian etc), and this is quite nice. The music is pretty typical; I'd certainly recommend you try it, but it is fairly quite in low season, so you may find there's only a handful of people there.

-----Shops etc-----
There are a few shops within the hotel, selling usual pool items, some food, and also souvenirs/postcards but I found these to be very expensive. They also did not sell newspapers.

There is a cash machine in the hotel which charges a small fee. There are also two computers with internet access. There is also a pool table and a table tennis table.

-----Food-----
I absolutely hated the food. This is the one massive downfall of this hotel. We were there for two weeks, and in the second week, I really wanted some food from home. They have a combination of British and Egyptian food, buffet style, but the choice was limited and some of the food was pretty bad. I'm vegetarian, but my boyfriend is pretty easy-to-please with food, and he also struggled. In the morning, they have some traditional English food, and some Egyptian, which was alright. But the lunch and evening meals were awful. They had a variety of meat and seafood, most of which didn't taste nice. They also had soup, which was average at best. The desserts were terrible. They had specific food for children which was usually chips and one other thing eg chicken. Sometimes it was pasta, but whichever, it wasn't nice. You could request an omelette though, and have it made specially for you with specific ingredients. And you could also request pasta with a tomato sauce. This suited my boyfriend who ate this quite often, but really we were both looking forward to getting some nice food when we got home.

The hotel also offers two restaurants which you pay for. We tried one of these restaurants one night. You need to make a booking before 3pm that afternoon and then also choose your food at this time. We were the only ones in the restaurant and I never saw more than one couple in there at any point during our stay. The food was, again, not good, and it was pretty awkward with just two of us sat there. Not recommended at all.

-----Staff-----
The staff are brilliant. They are really friendly, and will happily go out of their way for you. The pool staff, bar staff and restaurant staff really build up a rapport with the guests and do a brilliant job. I didn't meet a single member of staff who wasn't working hard but also really happy to help.

-----Beach-----
The beach is lovely and secluded - it belongs to the hotel. There is a bar on the beach, and drinks here are included with the all inclusive. You get free loungers and towels and it just couldn't be more lovely.

-----Rooms-----
The room was very nice; fairly typical set-up with a bed, tv, sofa, bedroom, balcony, fridge etc. The cleaners were excellent and friendly. We found the fridge useful as there was room to store extra items in there. Cannot fault the rooms at all.

-----Animation team-----
The animation team are a few people who work for the hotel who run activities such as water aerobics and darts and try to get people involved. It's great for kids and adults who want to have fun. We just wanted to relax though, and found it quite annoying when they kept trying to get us to join in with things - I want to lie in the sun all day, not play darts!!! They really wouldn't take no for an answer sometimes.

There's not much else I can think of to say, but if you have any questions, please ask.