My wife had always wanted to go to Egypt but I was a little hesitant because of things that have happened there in the past and all of the unrest. This was our third trip to Africa. I wanted to do Southern Africa my wife said wanted to do Egypt… so we did both!

And I’m so glad we did.

It’s hard to explain how good Egypt is. I think it’s something you have to experience yourself because it’s really hard to put it into words. It’s very soulful.

You feel the history the moment you arrive. I remember walking through the Karnak Temple in Luxor. There’s a massive hall filled with gigantic stone columns that are probably a metre and a half in diameter and reach up to 24 metres high. They’ve all been intricately carved and have stone blocks sitting on top of them, and I just kept thinking, ‘I don’t know how we would make these today with all our cranes and machinery, let alone back then!’. You just can’t comprehend how they did it. You go, ‘Hang on, they did all this 4,000 years ago?’ It blows your mind.

We started in Cairo, where Encompass Africa had organised the most amazing guide for us. Mustafa is an archaeologist, an Egyptologist, and he lectures in universities around the world. After he finished with us he was going to host 25 people from National Geographic. We were so lucky to have him; his knowledge was just ridiculous. He took us to places such as the Pyramids, Sakkara, Mohamed Ali Palace, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel, the Khan el-Khalili bazaar and souq, and Cairo Tower where you can see pretty much all of the city from the top. Mustafa was so good. And he loved us too; we became great mates. We still keep in touch on WhatsApp!

After Cairo, we did a three-night cruise down the Nile in a luxury river yacht, the Merit Dahabiya. There are hundreds of cruise boats on the Nile and a lot of them look pretty dodgy, but this one was beautiful: new, modern, and with a pool on the top deck where you could enjoy a beer and a chat. I was so surprised at the quality of the boat: when we boarded, I said, ‘I didn’t think it’d be like this!’. And it wasn’t full at the time so there were only eight people on board, including us. Yet again, we got really lucky.

We cruised from Aswan down to Luxor. If you’re planning to visit Egypt of course you have to see the pyramids, and you have to explore the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. But another thing I’d really recommend is the day trip in Aswan that takes you on a tour of a Nubian village. It was a fantastic day and we even got to go swimming in the Nile, which is not something you can do in most places.

You often hear stories about people hassling you in Egypt, especially around the pyramids, but we found that not only were we kind of buffered from all that by our guide, but the people were actually very respectful. Yes, they’d hassle you – and they’d hassle you pretty hard! – but we just kept saying, ‘No, thanks,’ and at the end of it all they’d say, ‘Okay, bye, have a nice day!’ They weren’t aggressive and we didn’t feel threatened at all.

I think a lot of people are scared about going to Egypt, but the people are unreal. I’d go for a walk every morning and encounter all these old guys dressed in their gallibayas and turbans, and when I said hello to them their faces would just light up. They’d say, ‘Hello, are you having a good day?’ Everywhere we went, as soon as we said something to them, the people were so friendly.