A friend who'd done Egypt the year before told me to bring a roll of small euro notes and hand them out without overthinking it. Every queue has a price, every ten minutes someone's done you a small favour you didn't ask for. Go with it rather than against it. Good advice.
Flew into Cairo and connected down to Luxor. At Cairo airport there are people moving quietly through the queues asking if you want VIP. Handed one of them €20 and was through to the gate in about eight minutes.
Stayed at the Winter Palace, which I'd booked mainly because Howard Carter announced the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb from the hotel terrace in 1922. The room is old and some of it shows. But the gardens are lovely and the location puts you about five minutes walk from Luxor Temple.
Go to Luxor Temple at night. They light the whole thing up and it's a different place entirely. The Avenue of Sphinxes, the enormous statues of Ramses at the entrance. I spent a couple of hours just walking around slowly and it never felt overwhelming.
Karnak the next morning. Much bigger than you're expecting. Picked up a local guide at the gate for about €15 for two hours and he was worth it. You'd walk straight past things that are extraordinary without someone pointing them out. Being on my own helped here too. The touts at the gate moved past me towards the families and groups, so I got in without much hassle.
Valley of the Kings is a short drive across the river on the west bank. Get there early. By 9am it was packed and the heat inside some of the smaller tombs was intense.
One evening I did a sunset felucca ride on the Nile, about an hour out and back. Ended up sharing the boat with two other solo travellers who'd just arrived that day. The captain made tea on board. We got dinner together after. That's solo travel.
On tipping: have small notes ready at all times and just do it. I left Luxor having spent maybe €60 extra over four days and every bit of it made things run more smoothly.
Would go back for longer.