There's No Place Like Home

Jordan & Egypt: Tombs, Temples, and Unexpected Turns

Trip Status: Cut short (1 week early)
Weather: Surprisingly Cool (Low 80s°F)

The Abrupt End

It was fun until it wasn't. Two days before I was to board the Red Sea Aggressor, I was hit with a severe case of "Ali Baba's Revenge." Fortunately, I carry a small pharmacy and had the antibiotic to handle that nasty little intestinal bug, but I didn't feel strong enough to do a week of diving in the Red Sea, so I came home a week early. Flying home with a questionable gut wasn't fun. I was wishing for Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers.

Highlights: Stones and Silence

I visited so many tombs, monuments, and temples that they have all run together in my mind, but three top memories stand out:

Petra: Doing the Backdoor Hike to Petra and the Petra by Night light show. It was incredible, even though I was sore for three days afterward.

Cairo: The old Egyptian Museum.

The Red Pyramid: Being the absolute only person inside.

Weather & Logistics

This is the beginning of the high season because the weather is cooler this time of year. I don't think there was a day with temperatures over the low 80s the whole trip. I wasn't expecting the weather to be that cool and didn't pack any warm clothing, so I had to buy a sweatshirt for the cool mornings and evenings.

The Low Points

Street Vendors: My least favorite experience was street vendors that wouldn't take "NO" for an answer, but that is no different than other places I've been.

Animal Welfare: My very least favorite and only truly bad experience was the horse carriage ride to one of the temples. The horse was skin and bones, and the driver was driving the horse hard because he wanted to beat all the other carriages to the temple—I guess to impress me. I was so disgusted that I refused to take the carriage back to the boat and took a Tuk Tuk back instead. It was shortly after that ride that I was hit with the intestinal bug, maybe an old Egyptian curse cast on me by the driver?

Safety & Security

All in all, I felt very safe in both Jordan and Egypt. It's a bit funny; everywhere you go you have to pass through a metal detector and bags go through X-ray. Hotels, museums, monuments—everywhere.

I'm not sure about the efficacy of the metal detectors, though. I set every one of them off because of my titanium knee, but I was never stopped for a rescan or pat-down, except at airports.

I have a plan for returning to dive the Red Sea next year. In the works is a bicycle trip to Germany and Hurghada is only a 5 hour flight from Munich. I shall return...Read more