We did cram a lot of tours and funness in a small amount of time. I don't have the energy to count the number of hours the group of us sat around and waited. My guess is it neared 24 hours. I wanted to see Petra, because Grandpa said it was amazing when he saw it. I wanted to go to the sea and the beach. And I wanted to make some new friends. I got to do all of that! So it was an overall successful trip. I got to relax and sit on my butt and completely forget about classes. I would recommend a two week spring break to anyone! It's lovely.
The first night was in Dahab, Egypt. Truly beautiful and great food, but we didn't stay there long enough to enjoy the beach and the beauty. We needed to catch a ferry (6 hour late ferry) to Aqaba, Jordan. We got to Jordan pretty late but our campsite in Wadi Rum still had food for us! I woke up and watched the sunrise that morning. It was marvelous.
That day was simply epic. Sunrise, Safari Tour, and then Petra!! The Safari Tour was my favorite part. I felt adventurous and wild. Our driver was crazy!! It was basically four-wheeling in the desert of Jordan in Jeeps where we could easily fall out. I even got to climb some rocks and enjoy more geology. I was loving the geology, everywhere we went. Geology rocks! It seemed like a super long walk getting to Petra, but the walk back was fast. Our guide for that was a bit of a nut-case. Oh well, entertaining at least.
That night we slept in Amman, Jordan. Amman is a great city, a little expensive, but gorgeous and clean with some very nice people. I was impressed. We found some nice cafes and uber cheap DVDs that ended up being a little different than we had expected. For instance, the cover says Aladdin but the DVD that plays is actually Return of Jafar. Haha, oops! We spent three nights at the Orchid Hotel in Amman. First day we took a day trip to the Dead Sea and saw some tourist spots along the way. Second day was the trip to Jerash. I thought it was amazing! And that afternoon I found a bakery where I bought myself (and anyone who was willing to share) three pastries in celebration of my birthday. It wasn't my birthday yet but I felt like celebrating!! Sadly, no one wanted to share that evening. They were pooped I guess! We left the next morning at 5am. Way too early. I offered the cakes again, hardly any takers. Maybe it was too early for them.
We had to drive to Aqaba and wait for the ferry to take us to Nuweiba, Egypt. Remember all the waiting for the ferry last time? Well that was partly Egypt being slow and difficult. Everything was smooth on the Jordan side. In fact, we didn't encounter any difficulties until we got to Egypt. A few of us, myself included, needed to get visas in order to come back into Egypt. They took our passports and made us wait. The banks at the port that sell visas were closed. Thankfully, they were closed only temporarily. But it's not pleasant when the Egyptians are holding your passport hostage!! It made us wish we were all studying in Jordan instead of Egypt. We drove t our hotel in Nuweiba in the nicest bus of the entire trip! Working everything, huge seats, fewest people = most space, etc. But this bus ride was probably 5 minutes. I noticed the pattern of the longer the bus ride, the smaller the bus.
The day in Nuweiba was our last. Relaxing. I would have liked to hang around on the beach for longer but it was completely taken over by Russians. No benches or anything. I suppose I could have stayed alone. When my friends wanted to leave, I did too. I went in the water up to my hips (this is the place I got hives last time) for about twenty minutes. I came back to shore without hives! That was a relief. Our final meeting time was 1045. We were all packed and set to go. Unfortunately, no bus or bus driver. We waited until about 215 to finally leave. Precious beach time wasted :(
Nuweiba to New Cairo is about 6 hours. We rolled in at 930pm. Not too bad. We got held up a few hours from 'home' because of a huge petroleum spill. I was nervous for that. Egyptians smoke so much, if someone lit a match or lighter we'd all have been toast! I'm glad to be back.
My birthday was alright. I would have liked it better if I was home and celebrating it and Easter with my family and everyone else. I had ice cream yesterday and it was fantastic! I'm so much happier when I have ice cream in my system. Heehee!! Well I hope everyone had a happy Easter too!! Enjoy the rest of your weeks. I love you bunches! Muah!
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