I have been living in Cairo for just over 2 months and, I must admit, I am loving every minute of it.

My partner flew over recently and I finally had a chance to visit the tourist spots. So, with a fornight's holiday from work all booked, I met Z (my partner) and started the holiday with a bang.

It was our intention to do the Great Pyramids first but an unusual turn of weather convinced us to visit the Egyptian Museum. Wow, what a collection of ancient treasures (even I felt young compared to some of the exhibits on display). We took the option of a private guide (unfortunately, he only spoke English and Arabic). After a bit of negotiation, we managed 2 hours of the guide for 120LE (the original offer was 200LE for 1 hour).

The visit whizzed by until Z overheard a Russian tour guide, at this point we split and I continued my tour with my English speaking guide. Meeting up later that morning we managed to get a couple of numbers for Russian guides and hired one for our trip to the pyramids.

The pyramids were awesome and well worth my 2 month wait. I had seen them in the distance most days, but this was the first time I had been up close to this marvel of ancient engineering. It's amazing to think that we were running about in animal skins when the Egyptians built the pyramids. We even went inside the great pyramid and that was an experience I will never forget. Rounded of the morning with a quick jaunt round the Sphynx before lunch and a drive to the Saqqara site.

The main attraction here is that this site includes the Step Pyramid. I think this was the first of the pyramids and I was impressed by the pyramid itself as well as the infrastructure surrounding it. One of the most extrordinary things about this site is that it is still being excavated. If you scratch the dirt you are likely to uncover items from 2500BC. But be warned, this is frowned upon by the authorities and Egyptian jails are not the most hospitable. Another thing to point out is that it is very bad luck to take anything from a grave into your house (Hammer House of Horrors and all that).

After a few more days in Cairo, we flew down to Aswan for our Nile Cruise. Nothing much to report on this as we didn't partake in as many excursions as we could have. The boat (Princess Odyssey) was a little dated but clean and comfortable. The guide (Mina) was a very friendly chap and we spent a lot of free time with him just chatting (although I suspect Z was more of an attraction to him than me). It turns out Mina lives in Cairo and we are going out for a wet next week (so he's not that bad at all). The crew were very friendly and couldn't do enough. Be warned, think carefully before you complain about the food. I had one bad meal on the trip and asked the waiter to take it away. The Head Chef came out and offered me all sorts of food to apologise for this affront. Finally settled on a basket of fruit for our cabin and he even threw in a couple of free drinks for Z that evening. The only down side was a lack of TV (evening entertainment), this was also an up-side as it forced people to socialise in the evening. My fellow passengers were a good mix and we all enjoyed each other's company late into most nights.

Finished the cruise earlier than intended, but we had to get back to Cairo where we managed another day at the Egyptian Museum (no guide, just a quick visit to see Tut's gold and the mummy room).

As expected, I finished off Z's holiday with a couple of days shopping at City Stars (Cairo's newest shopping mall). A worthwhile stop for all you ladies and the fixed prices take the hassle out of shopping.

On the last day, Z proved that Dr Who's tardis is not the only thing that is bigger on the inside than you would think. I still don't know how she managed to pack everything into the one suitcase that she had brought with her.

All in all, probably the best holiday I have ever had (well, Z was responsible for that). We shall be repeating the Egyptian experience in a couple of months and will probably be trying Sharm or Hurgada (spelling?).

I hope our experience encourages more HT's to try Egypt.

Willie G