Well, I managed to get across the border into Syria. It actually went exactly as I expected so it ended up not being that bad of a day. We woke up at 6:30 am and headed to the bus station. The bus, which cost only about $1 US more than the rest was incredible. We're talking airplane first class status; big, leather seats, tons of legroom. As the driver came took the tickets while we boarded, he ranted in half English something along the lines of, "no visa... USA... I am sure... no chance." I told him I already bought the ticket so I'm testing my luck at the border at this point. I tried to stay awake to catch the scenery on the way up to the border but it was tough. After about 90 ... read more

Patrick and I hired a taxi driver named Moosa to take us from Aqaba to Wadi Rum. He was a really nice guy, but a bit too talkative at times. He took us to his brother's restaurant for breakfast and we ate virtually for free. The drive to Wadi Rum was great. It was through the desert and very scenic. Once we arrived in Wadi Rum, we went into town and Moosa dropped us off at our guide's house. We then met a Swiss brother/sister duo and they joined us for our night into the desert. The four of us rode in the back of a pickup truck for a four hour tour of the desert before arriving at our camp. This is Lawrence of Arabia territory so we saw Lawrence's house (which was nothing more ... read more

I was planning on using my first day in Cairo to catch up to my lack of sleep from a full night of flying with zero leg room (thanks Air Ethiopia), meeting people at the hostel to do some sightseeing with, and generally bumming around adjusting to the heat and the vastly different Egyptian atmosphere. But as you could tell from the last post, the plan ended up changing. Air Ethiopia is notorious for delays and inconveniences but despite a mechanical problem and an hour delay in Sudan, I still got to Cairo on time. I landed, got my visa, cleared immigration, and got my baggage in a surprisingly timely fashion. It was actually when I expected to get here. Then I successfully avoided all the taxi touts, got to the bus station and using my ... read more

On Sunday, we left the hotel early and headed over to the Marangu gate right at the foot of Kili. We sorted out some paperwork and I met my porter, John, and cook, Good Luck. I was unofficially grouped with 5 Japanese people, two of whom were in their 60s, and an Aussie guy named Troy. I'm still not sure what the reason was to group us all together, but it had something to do with making the paperwork more convenient. The first day was a 3 hour hike through a forest with lots of waterfalls and streams. We reached the Mandara camp by about 3 or 4. I slept in a 24 bed dorm that was located above the dining hall. So needless to say, sleep wasn't on the agenda that night. The next day ... read more

We arrived in Nungwi on Saturday and almost immediately went to the dive shop to sign up for a 2 dive package. We then played beach soccer with the locals. That night, we splurged at an amazing seafood restaurant on the beach. I had seafood curry and it was amazing; sort of what I expected from the fish market in Stone Town. Then we had a wild night on the beach. Let's just say that what happens in Zanzibar definitely wouldn't fly at the Jersey shore. We woke up early the next day and went to the dive center. There were 5 of us diving and a couple others snorkeling. Our boat was quite interesting. The keel was made out of a tree trunk. It was a really nice 90 minute ride to Mnemba Atoll, a ... read more