Videos of Palistinians throwing rocks and bottles about four blocks from my second Jerusalem hotel was a rude awakening on Monday. I've never discounted the political situation, but I kept hearing phrases like 'longest period of sustained peace in recent memory' and I think I fooled my self a little. It's not going to deter me. If suicide bombers start going off again, I have a feeling Janeen will strongly encourage me to find another destination.
As promised in my last post, here are some more details about my plans for visiting Egypt and Jordan. On Sunday the 23rd of May, I'm going to leave Jerusalem on an early morning bus for Eilat, Israel's southernmost town, on the Gulf of Aqaba, a gulf off the Red Sea. The next morning, I am going to take a cab to the border with Jordan, then once in Jordan, take a cab to Wadi Rum, a desert hamlet of Lawrence of Arabia fame. I hope to do some hiking that day or possibly a camel trek. The next day, the 25th, I am going to the famed ruins of Petra. Anyone who has seen the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has seen Petra. It is that building at the end that is carved into the side of a mountain.
The next day, I will take a cab from my hotel in Wadi Rum to Aqaba, Jordan, where I will catch a fast ferry to Nuweiba, Egypt. This ferry has a decent website, but I have heard lots of stories about it's timetable being unreliable. Worst case scenario would be that I would have to go back to Eilat and the cross to Egypt going through Southern Israel. Assuming the ferry goes as planned, I will catch an afternoon bus to the Egyptian resort town of Dahab. The following morning, I will take the hotel's shuttle to the town of St. Cathrine's in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. In St. Cathrine's I am going to see the monastery of the same name, and then climb Mount Sinai of 10 Commandments and Burning Bush fame for what I hope will be a spectacular round of sunset photos. After a night a the Bedouin Camp in St. Cathrine's, I'll take the hotel shuttle back to my hotel in Dahab for a restful day on the beach. The next morning, I'll head back to Isreal by bus via the border crossing at Taba, Egypt. The following morning, May 30th, I fly from Eilat to Ben-Gurion Airport, and then home via Philadelphia, arriving back on Memorial Day in the afternoon, jet-legged, exhausted and I hope enlightened.
In my next post (Hopefully next weekend) I'm going to lay out my plans for the week I'll have a rental car, another adventure I'm sure.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
It's in the planning
I'm a true travel geek. I admit that I love the planning of a trip almost as much as I like the traveling itself. Read carefully, I said almost.
This trip is a little tough, especially since I haven't been overseas since 2004. The majority of my solo travel has been in Europe and Australia. Australia was easy, especially because everyone spoke English and stuff was so easy to book over the internet. Europe was more difficult, especially because it was 1997-1999 and the internet hadn't completely exploded yet. The lack of good internet resources for this trip has surprised me. Maybe they are there, but I haven't been able to find them yet. Booking hotels has been pretty simple, and so has transportation- renting cars, bus & train timetables. Finding information on tours has been frustrating, and so has looking at the web pages of individual sights that I want to see, as those are out-of-date or don't seem to exist at all. I haven't even begun to look at the sights where fellow travelers share information, like WikiTravel and Trip Adviser. I've been suspicious of those in the past, but I'm sure I'll look into them after I try to find all the other sanctioned sights.
Now as far as the week traveling to Jordan and Egypt, the only resource I trust so far is the emails I've exchanged with the two really helpful ladies at my respective hotels. They have been so helpful, and with the absolute lack of reliable information on this part of the trip, I don't know if I'd even try that part without them. That last week of the trip is going to be the most exotic thing I've ever done by myself. More coming on that in my next post....
This trip is a little tough, especially since I haven't been overseas since 2004. The majority of my solo travel has been in Europe and Australia. Australia was easy, especially because everyone spoke English and stuff was so easy to book over the internet. Europe was more difficult, especially because it was 1997-1999 and the internet hadn't completely exploded yet. The lack of good internet resources for this trip has surprised me. Maybe they are there, but I haven't been able to find them yet. Booking hotels has been pretty simple, and so has transportation- renting cars, bus & train timetables. Finding information on tours has been frustrating, and so has looking at the web pages of individual sights that I want to see, as those are out-of-date or don't seem to exist at all. I haven't even begun to look at the sights where fellow travelers share information, like WikiTravel and Trip Adviser. I've been suspicious of those in the past, but I'm sure I'll look into them after I try to find all the other sanctioned sights.
Now as far as the week traveling to Jordan and Egypt, the only resource I trust so far is the emails I've exchanged with the two really helpful ladies at my respective hotels. They have been so helpful, and with the absolute lack of reliable information on this part of the trip, I don't know if I'd even try that part without them. That last week of the trip is going to be the most exotic thing I've ever done by myself. More coming on that in my next post....
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Flight Booked- On to the itinerary
I booked my flight yesterday morning- so it's on.
I've been thinking about this trip for a while, so I have an itinerary outlined already. I think people who know me won't find it surprising that I have itineraries planned for about 20 different trips, most of which I'll never take!
The plan, for now, is as follows; Five days in Jerusalem. Three days in Galilee & Golan, which will include Nazareth, Armageddon (ruins of an ancient city), Mount Tabor (Transfiguration), Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee, Tsfat (birthplace of Kaballa), and the Golan Heights. Two days in Haifa. Two days in Tel Aviv & Jaffa area. Three more days in Jerusalem, with a side trip to Bethlehem & the West Bank. South to the Red Sea area for 8 days which will include a couple days in Eilat, Israel, a two day trip to Wadi Rum (of Lawrence of Arabia legend) and Petra in Jordan, followed by a ferry boat ride across the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, where I'll climb Mount Sinai, and finish with a couple days in the resort town of Dahab.
I'm sure it will continue to develop. Stay tuned for more details- I leave May 5th.
I've been thinking about this trip for a while, so I have an itinerary outlined already. I think people who know me won't find it surprising that I have itineraries planned for about 20 different trips, most of which I'll never take!
The plan, for now, is as follows; Five days in Jerusalem. Three days in Galilee & Golan, which will include Nazareth, Armageddon (ruins of an ancient city), Mount Tabor (Transfiguration), Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee, Tsfat (birthplace of Kaballa), and the Golan Heights. Two days in Haifa. Two days in Tel Aviv & Jaffa area. Three more days in Jerusalem, with a side trip to Bethlehem & the West Bank. South to the Red Sea area for 8 days which will include a couple days in Eilat, Israel, a two day trip to Wadi Rum (of Lawrence of Arabia legend) and Petra in Jordan, followed by a ferry boat ride across the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, where I'll climb Mount Sinai, and finish with a couple days in the resort town of Dahab.
I'm sure it will continue to develop. Stay tuned for more details- I leave May 5th.
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