We knew the situation in Egypt was tense when we left Jordan for our separate flights to Cairo, but we did not expect things to accelerate as soon as we arrived. After meeting in the airport and having a frustrating time finding a taxi that wouldn’t terribly rip us off we set out for the hotel in a supposedly government guaranteed cab. He was a good and friendly driver, pointing out Ramses Square and even taking a short detour to bring us within safe but viewing distance of Tahrir Square. Everything seemed pretty quiet, people …
Jordan: Dead Sea & Petra
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After my last post we ended up deciding to take the bus to Madaba, a town about 30 km south of Amman which seemed like a good base for the area. We ended up really liking it there. It is small enough that we (he) figured our way around pretty quickly but big enough to spend a couple afternoons poking around.
Our first evening there we visited the site where John the Baptist was supposedly beheaded. There is now a church built over the site and we happened to arrive during Vespers and decided to …
My Birthday Abroad
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The day before my birthday I bid farewell to Kelly, and spent the afternoon in London having a leisurely lunch and treated myself to a pedicure (the Camino has officially claimed half a nail. Not bad). Then a long train ride to the airport where I immediately see my flight is already delayed. Oh no! One more thing!! Normally it wouldn’t bother me at all, except I ended up booking my tickets to Jordan and back with a different airline than I was arriving with in Cairo. And I read online that I may have …
Highlands and Plans
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We made it to the Highlands! Apparently anything north of Perth is considered Highlands, but we did a fair bit of driving on little backroads to get into the good stuff.
One night we stayed in a tipi in the backyard of a guy named Torsten. He is a tourguide in the area, and although we got in too late for a proper tour he filled us in on the good places to go. It was one of my favorite nights on the trip; we learned how to open the top and adjust it for the …
Fife, Angus, Aberdeenshire, & Questions
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So much seeing, thinking, and feeling has happened in the last few days. Without sharing too much, my friend Kelly has decided to return home to Vermont earlier than planned. I am completely supportive of her doing what she needs to, however it has put me in a bit of a pickle with what to do with an extra unplanned week. The easy answer to that would be go join Jonathan in Jordan for his planned itinerary; Jerusalem, Petra, and the Dead Sea. However the current political makes that complicated as well.
In fact I …