I have wanted to visit Egypt ever since I read (at primary school), about the plans to save the temple of Rameses II from the rising waters of the newly formed Lake Nasser, and also seeing pictures of the treasures from King Tut's tomb.
Yes I really am that old!
Somehow I never seemed to get around to making the trip until finally last August 2016, I decided that it was time to go.
When I said to friends that that I was thinking about Egypt the instant response was ''Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh?''
Neither I replied, ''Cairo, a Nile cruise, and maybe some extra time in Luxor and Aswan.''
''You can't do that,'' they said, ''It's not safe''.
Well three weeks later I am back home after one of the most enjoyable, and interesting holidays I have ever had.
So let's get rid of a few myths to start off with...
Egypt isn't safe - Well if you walk down unlit back alleys in the middle of the night nowhere is ''safe''.
You will get robbed - As ever, walking around dripping in jewellery, flaunting expensive designer clothes is always a draw anywhere you go.
There are children who will approach you begging for money - Occasionally
People will try to sell you things you don't want - Then don't buy them.
You have to bribe everyone - Well no not really, but an occasional bit of ''baksheesh'' never hurts anywhere you go. Just look upon it as a tip but a lot less than you have to pay in other countries.
You have to travel in convoys with armed guards - Well actually no you don't.
Unfortunately since ''the revolution'' in 2011, which was mainly centred around Cairo and Alexandria many would be visitors have been put off, and with reports of the occasional shooting by extremists at some archaeological sites 20 (yes 20) years ago, it is still more than likely true to say that you will get on the wrong end of a shooting in the USA rather than in Egypt.
Take a look at this web site if you don't believe me, http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ and then tell me how many reports there have been of tourist being shot in Egypt, and rest assured you would have heard about it if there had been!
So minor rant over and let's get down to business. Of course these are only my findings, and it was after all my holiday, but I do like to ask questions and I don't always ''follow the herd''.
Egypt is majority a Muslim country. Not all Muslims are extremists or terrorists, that is only what the press (and possibly your government) make them out to be. Some of them are devout Muslims, and some are not. Just like Christians of which there are a fair amount too. And look all of them manage to live together!
As for Egyptians themselves? Well they are ready to smile, you smile at them they return the smile without imagining that you are some kind of nutter, not only that but they have a great sense of humour too.
They are polite and helpful, and expect you to be the same.
They will walk past you in the street and say ''Welcome to Egypt''. And they mean it. And they will help you to cross the street too, and boy, will you need the help in Cairo!
They are incredibly impressed if you can read Arabic numbers if nothing else, even though, like everywhere these days, all the bills and cash registers print out everything in Latin characters. And virtually all them speak English.
So there is your xenophobia gone for a start.....
Many people still go to the Red Sea resorts, but all inclusive hotels resorts are not Egypt.
To see Egypt you have to travel and this is what this blog is about.
Us English are a strange lot, apparently. Or so one of my tour guides seemed to think. Well I think that he thought that because we have an author called Agatha Christie, who wrote a book called Death On The Nile.
Agatha, bless her, travelled around a bit, and she went to Egypt, to Cairo, Aswan, and down the Nile and was inspired to write the book, and ever since armchair travellers have followed her. Of course you have to remember that the English (rightly or wrongly) have had a close relationship with many parts of Africa not only with Egypt and Sudan, but many other parts of it too.
My inspiration comes not from her book, but from things I read so many years ago and I don't like things that are too organised and like to do a fair amount of things on my own, with the help of the internet of course. But of course I would like to follow a little bit in Poirot's footsteps so on the list of things to do is visit Karnak, the Aswan Dams, and Abu Simbel, and stay at The Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, and The Winter Palace in Luxor, so naturally the Nile cruise is going to be the way to go.
But I also want to see The Great Pyramid, THE Sphinx, (as opposed to any other sphinxes there may be) and Fayoum Oasis which not so many people go to.
So at ''the core'' of my trip is a Nile cruise with bits bolted on to visit other things away from the Nile. There are about 280 Nile cruise ships in existence, only about 80 of them are actually running because of the current downturn in visitors to Egypt which for those tourists that are visiting, (and there are many of them), makes the whole experience mush more enjoyable as you are not vieing with hoards of other people everywhere you go. (Although it does not do a lot for the Egyptian tourist industry).
This makes the choice of cruises a bit more limited especially as I do not want a flight from the UK included in the package because I live on Crete, and surprisingly some of the tour companies do not want to know you unless you are taking the whole package. So by the time I have added on the single supplement, (which I personally think should be dropped), moved my cabin up a deck, and taken the ''included drinks package'', the price came out about the same, a shade short of £900, as if I had had the flights included.
Having booked a 7 night cruise I have to look at the other things I want to see so I started with 6 nights in Cairo, my original plan of taking the train from Cairo to Luxor to join the ship was changed to flying so that I got a full extra day in Luxor so that I had time to visit the Temples at Abydos and Dendera, and also booked a 2 day guided tour around Cairo, a bit extravagant that might seem but so much easier logistically than doing it my own. Further investigation produced the overall feeling that guided tours were definitely the way to go, you certainly don't want to be driving a rental car in Egypt!
The prices of guided tours are quite reasonable, most of them include lunch and you get a guide and a driver both of whom are licensed.
And here's Tim's Top Tip Of The Day - Car registration plates are colour coded in Egypt. Private cars have a blue stripe along the top, taxis have an orange stripe, tourist vehicles (cars and minibuses) have a cream coloured stripe along the top, and public transport/freight have a red stripe.
So if you are told by someone that they are a licensed tour guide and they put you in a car with a blue stripe then they are no such thing, similarly the man that asks you if you want a taxi, grabs your bags and puts them in a car with a blue strips is not a taxi driver.
Most of the important sites are already included in the cruise itinerary, but the trip to Abu Simbel is an extra, and from the cruise itinerary it is fairly obvious that to take the optional trip to Abu Simbel means getting up at 3am!
I am on holiday so there is no way I am getting up at 3am, which is the reason for backtracking to Aswan so that I can take a 10.30am departure!
The final night in Egypt is going to be spent in Cairo again, and as I always like to have at least one train trip I am taking the overnight sleeper train from Aswan arriving back in Cairo (well Giza actually) at around 9am which gives me another whole day to look round Cairo some more but there is an oddity here because although I can book the sleeper train on the Web, I cannot book the day train from Luxor to Aswan, but we will cross that bridge a little later.
And the last thing to do is hit Ebay for a second hand guide book with small maps of Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan. And to get an Egyptian Arabic phrasebbok and dictionary which turned out to be completely unnecessary!
So armed with my trusty Panama hat (a real one that you can roll up and put in your hand luggage), that everyone says make me look the part of the traditional English archaeologist, and bottle of insect repellent and a tube of sting cream, I am ready to go.
Well nearly because three days before I am due to leave I realise that my typhoid jab has expired, not time to get one now, but there is not that much risk if I avoid drinking Nile water and stick to bottles.