Gulf of Aqaba

Corona. Borders closing. Where to go?
In Al Ula I had met a few German Overlanders and we were discussing this matter, tossing up options: returning to the UAE, finding our way home this way, me not knowing what or where home is in the first place. Some were thinking of shipping out to Sudan, leaving to Jordan, and what then? And of course the option to stay put in Saudi, or one could perhaps leave the car here and fly home to return when borders reopened. But what will have happened to the vehicles in the mean time? They can only stay for the duration of the original visa? Or can't they? So many questions.
I decided to stay in Saudi.
However one morning I wrote up and knew, I want to wait it out in Egypt, at RockSea, my little paradise in the Sinai with my cousin and his family. So I took off towards the Jordanian border. 500km to the border. Rex needed another course of vaccination before crossing the border into Jordan and i took the time to wait for the veterinarian to reopen his practice after the afternoon prayer to sort out some other stuff. It got quite late so I did not make it through the border. Lucky!!!
I had just found a place to stay for the night close to the border when I received the news that Egypt has closed its borders, and the ferries from Aqaba to Egypt have been cancelled.
So higher forces have decided about the place to wait until this menace blows over.
So here I am now. On the red sea. Saudi side. When I look across the sea, I can see the mountains of Sinai and RockSea, where I now long to be. I remember very well, when I was at RockSea I used to look across the red sea, longing to be able to go over there and visit Saudi. Now I am longing to be on the other side again, this time in Egypt. I just hesitated a little too long.
Soon I will meet up again with the german travellers, once it gets hot we might rent a house together, with a really good AC.
I had traveled through a lot of countries for nearly a year now, never really time to rest as there were forever visas running out, and so many things to see. Now I will have plenty of time to rest, to digest my impressions, to reflect on my experiences, contemplate a where from here, where to with the years ahead. And pick up on my woefully neglected Find Penguin entries
And I hope to learn some Arabic, so I can communicate with these lovely people. My new found lady friends gifted me today with an Abaya. How shameful that I can only thank them with a little "shokran"!Read more