At 5am without my coffee this is as good as I get with a smile. The plane in this case turned out to be a hot air balloon. Actually turned out to be not too expensive so I just went for it. The ballooning experience was nice comparable to riding on a small scooter instead of in a car. A relaxing time rather than an adventure. The view of the Valley of the Kings was educational as you got a good look at both the tomb entrances and the holes the grave robbers used when they had houses there.
4×4 in the desert was great. A great time and worthy of another mention. Really did their best for us, and were warm honest folks. Too bad not everybody later would be the same.
For me train rides in a sleeper car is always an exotic experience I want to try. The Cairo to Luxor overnight was just great. People complain it’s expensive due to the fact the airfare is about the same. If you fly you miss so much, and you have to buy a room, food etc. The food on board was actually better than airline food. A big thumbs up. The staff were helpful and friendly.
The cabin for 2 before and during dinner was a bit cramped but pretty nice for 2 travellers . 
After dinner presto change! The beds came out, clean and comfortable. Made for a great trip with you waking up to breakfast.
The public ferry in Luxor was definitely the only way to go. We instinctively choose it as our way to cross the river when we needed to. Cheap hassle free and effective.
The Scams. The horse and buggy, offering a cheap fare for a short ride to the ATM. Ok fine. The usual sob story about no work all day, ok we are in a good mood and Bella wanted to sit in one once anyway. Of course the 5 Egyptian pounds the fare was offered at became 5 British pounds at the end. After a unpleasant and contentious discussion the scammer was offered 100 Egyptian to avoid a messy confrontation. That as it turns out was not far off what it should have been according to a local security guy we asked later. It was however a sour taste. Of course the next day we got lazy moving from the hotel to the boat to Aswan and took a private boat across the river. The 10 pounds each became 20. The petty level of getting ripped off becomes annoying and spoils the mood. The good news is we booked a last minute cabin on a 5 star Nile cruise boat for 3 nights with full board for less than $200 to Aswan. The drinks and tips will probably run close to that as well. Stay tuned…..
My Road 