Nutshell

How can I capture a holiday like Egypt - a holiday with no typical day, no typical sight and where the wonder of it all is so very visual?

Well, I can start by saying that the days in Egypt are long. Typically they start with an early wake up call, just when you start to think that the alarm was wrong. We meet the other guests at breakfast like zombies, dishing out croissants and pancakes while other boats pass by our windows, the waiters serving tea all too slowly for our bleary heads. Perhaps we meet in the hotel reception, a rag-tag mixture of travellers from all different ages and all different parts of the UK. We wear walking sandals and carry hats and bottles of water. Every single person is equipped with a camera, the only difference is the size of the equipment and the relative skills of the photographer.

Next we all head out to the waiting coach, modern and air conditioned albeit with the most ghastly green and yellow interior. We journey for 30 minutes, across Luxor with its lush palms and wide tarmacked roads. Or we take the pink minibus across Cairo, fighting through the crazy, dusty, beeping traffic, six lanes of traffic squeezed into three lanes. We pass along streets lined with umbrella sheltered barrow-stalls selling bright red fresh dates and artfully stacked pears next to others selling fresh breads.

When we disembark, parked among a small group of other similar tourist buses our guide reminds us not to speak to or make eye contact with the hawkers. We cross the car pack to somewhere amazing and diligently follow the guide around as interesting things are pointed out to us. We take photos. Lots of photos.

Mum and I at the pyramids, Giza

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Luxor

Also at Hatshepsut's Temple

Kom Ombo by night

Philae Temple

Hieroglyphics at Philae

Ram headed sphinxes, Karnak Temple, Luxor

After the day in the sun, our minds filled with stories and images we return to the cool comfort of the bus and return to the hotel or the boat. On the boat the staff wait for us with hot flannels and hot drinks to refresh us after the long day. At the hotel we hop on the back of the waiting golf buggy and return to our room across the garden. We wash up and prepare for dinner and start to relax after our exertions. After all, tomorrow is another day.