With memories of Rome still lingering in my mind, I recently got together with a friend to make hotel reservations for our trip to the Middle East next month. We’d previously booked our flights — London-Tel Aviv and Amman-London. We’re leaving on the 26th for two weeks. (And two weeks only because I can’t get more than that off work in one go… This is why I’m becoming increasingly envious of long-term travellers.)
Ever since my week in January last year lolling about at a Red Sea resort in Egypt when I took a day trip to Jerusalem, I’ve been itching to get back and spend some time exploring Israel, a place of religious and ancestral significance for me, and step across into Jordan to see rose-red Petra with my own eyes. Every picture I’ve seen of Petra looks breathtaking. I can’t wait to have my breath taken. I had been prepared to do the trip solo, but in this case I’m glad to have someone to share my excitement.
Fingers crossed that the situation in Israel, particularly Jerusalem, remains relatively quiet… last year’s trip was just days after the ceasefire in Gaza and it was a peaceful Sabbath.
Our ambitious, sleepless itinerary looks like this:
- Days 1-6 – Jerusalem, as a base for
Caesarea
Galilee
Bethlehem
Jericho
(In our initial sketched-out plan drawn up over dinner we somehow forgot to allow any time actually in Jerusalem…I blame the cocktails…) - Day 7 – we’ll head down to Masada and stay overnight so that on
- Day 8 – we can explore the fort. That evening we’ll move on to Eilat and
- Day 9 – into Egypt to climb Mt Sinai and watch the sun rise
- Day 10 – Bleary-eyed descent and border crossing to Aqaba
- Day 11 – Wadi Rum, staying at a Bedouin camp overnight
- Days 12-13 – Petra
- Day 14 – Leave Petra for Amman
- Day 15 – Amman
- Day 16 – Flight home, in need of a holiday to get over the holiday.
Hard to believe it is in fact happening next month; I’ve been dreaming of this trip for a long time. It’ll soon be time to start drawing up packing lists and shopping lists and sightseeing lists… I don’t feel prepared if I don’t have a stack of lists telling me not to forget to pack underwear… I’m very good at overpacking outfit variations and completely forgetting underwear… or nightwear.
And a trip with so many amazing, beautiful, historic sights requires I finally bite the bullet and buy a digital SLR camera. I’ve been increasingly nostalgic for the feel of shooting with my film SLR, but without the desire to tote around and develop 835457 rolls of film. I’ll be picking one up in the next few weeks, and will be immediately paranoid that I’ve picked the wrong model. Anyway, more on that later.
More, also, on a ridiculously long-overdue trip to Paris that I’m looking at doing over the August bank holiday.
