Day 1- the journey

I left for Manchester airport to catch the Virgin Little Red flight down to Heathrow. Unbeknown to me, another solo traveller to Luxor was checking in behind me. I went to the gate to wait for the flight and noticed a lady talking to her mother on her phone. I thought nothing more of it until she tapped me on the shoulder as we were about to board and asked me if I had done this route before. I confessed that hadnt but perhaps if we did it together we would muddle through!

We took to each other straight away and ended up having tea at Heathrow before the onward flight to Cairo. She would be meeting up with her husband for the flight down to Luxor.

When we arrived in Cairo her husband had been very concerned as the airport had been closed most of the day because of a severe sandstorm. This explained the fierce wind when we left the aircraft and the state of our luggage when we collected it at Luxor!

The flights were great and we had no problems. I was only thinking that the trip had not been too bad when I realised I might be tempting fate.  I was.

The hotel owner himself collected me from Luxor airport at midnight and it was only a half hour drive to the hotel. That is, it was until he filled the car with fuel and it promptly broke down. It was the middle of the night, on the West Bank road and so he had to contact a friend to come and take me to the hotel whilst her stayed with the car. Not the best of starts!