Today we had to get ourselves from Luxor to Muscat, surviving a 6 hour layover in Doha (Qatar). Our flight was not until late in the morning, so we basically doodled around the hotel and a local market while waiting. There was not enough time to see anything interesting, so we just sort of messed around. We drove to the airport, cleared security and check in, hung around a bit, and hopped on the plane. There were very few people, apparently, flying from Luxor to Doha. We arrived in Doha and basically then spent 6 hours walking around and talking about various things, and I read an article in Newsweek that essentially said that America is in decline, and we had better get back on the innovative track. We then boarded our next flight, from Doha ... read more

Today, we awoke heinously early, in order to catch our 7:45 flight from Cairo to Luxor. In case you don’t know what heinously early is, that is 5:45. In the morning. We left for the airport, and arrived early enough to have to wait an hour and a half for the flight. In that time, we had breakfast, and chatted about our lives, and, invariably, politics. The flight itself was fine, the part of it I was awake. I had the window seat, but all there was to see was desert and more desert. We arrived in Luxor, and took a taxi to the hotel. From the drive, and from later explorations, we decided that Luxor is indeed much nicer than Cairo. For one, it is far greener, and has much more agriculture. Secondly, the Nile ... read more

Today, as always, we started out with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, omelets, and toast. We then started out for a long day driving to Amman, the capital city of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The drive was supposed to take 5 hours, and believe me, 5 hours is a long time when all there is to see is desert. We learned first hand that Jordan is mostly flat desert. However, there were several high points. For one, we were able to see an old Crusader castle, built to help defend Jerusalem from the Muslims in the east. It was well preserved, and we saw the moat, barracks, bakery, dining room, kitchen, stables, and larger living quarters. We also went through a museum about the Crusaders and the region in general, that was situated in one ... read more

We started our day with a quick breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Our stay in Israel was ending. On schedule, we were met by a driver who took us to the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv for our flight to Eilat. Eilat is a resort town on the Red Sea adjacent to Aqaba in Jordan, and near to Egypt as well. We were met at the airport by another driver who took us to the Jordanian border to clear customs and immigration. We walked across the border, and were met by our Jordanian guide, Khalipha. We then hopped in the car for a driver to Wadi Rum, site of the filming of the movie, Lawrence of Arabia. Wadi Rum is strikingly beautiful. Picture a very large open area, bordered by nearly vertical cliffs. ... read more

Today, we journeyed to the ancient fort of Masada and to the Dead Sea. We started out the day with a breakfast of eggs, chocolate bready stuff, bran flakes, juice, and 2 cups of coffee. While we were enjoying our respective meals, we chatted with a representative of the travel company we are using about modern Israeli politics. We still seem unable to get a satisfactory answer to the question, ‘why does almost every nation often vote against Israel in the UN, except for the United States?’. The standard Israeli answer seems to be, “The Arab states are very powerful”. That may be true, but why does almost EVERY country disapprove of the way Israel conducts its affairs? When we finished our breakfast, we met a small shuttle at the hotel entrance, which transported us over ... read more