October 15, 2013 Having wrapped up our hang in Aqaba it was time to get back to Amman, we still had Jerash and the Dead Sea to check out before we left for Greece in a couple of days...hopped the local bus and made it back mid-afternoon, enough time to organize the next day's travels... Settled with a driver who would take us first to Jerash, let us explore for the morning and then drive us through the Jordan Valley to see the Dead Sea in the afternoon...we had chatted with a couple of tour companies who were reluctant to combine these two destinations, telling us that the driver would have to backtrack through Amman to get to the Dead Sea from Jerash and that it would take too long...this is nonsense, if you go and ... read more

October 11, 2013 Our time in Wadi Rum had come to an end (sadly!) so it was off to the southern tip of Jordan and the town of Aqaba...port city on the banks of the Red Sea, didn't really have much of a plan but thought we'd check it out...we had booked two nights there, with a spare third night that we would either spend in Aqaba or keep it as an extra night in Amman...but with the nice weather and more liberal atmosphere (i.e. pints and patios were available!) we decided to stay the three nights...haha... Spent the first day exploring the waterfront...local beach was happening, lots of locals enjoying the sand and water...had our first pint(s) on a patio which was great...we booked a dinner cruise that evening which was fun; cruised the harbor ... read more

October 8th, 2013 After a couple of days of getting oriented in Amman it was time to head out and start exploring the rest of the country, first stop Petra...As mentioned this has been a must-see for K and I was really looking forward to it...so we hopped an early bus and arrived in Wadi Musa (the town where Petra is) and made our way to the hotel, the 7 Wonders hotel in the town centre (hotels nearer the entrance to Petra are fancier and more expensive). We were greeted by the manager Abdullah, and had a great chat with him while we waited for our room to be ready...as we were about to set off for the day to explore Petra, Abdul asked us if we had any plans that night, and as we had ... read more

After a seemingly extra-long and dreary Winter in the Great White North, and a month straight of painting the house we decided it was time for a break and quick one week escape to warmer climes...islands in the Caribbean are typically the easiest/warmest spots to get to from where we are, but as we are not all that keen on the whole "all-inclusive" scene we turned our gaze a little further south to Central America...and after a bit of research discovered this little town on a peninsula in southern Belize called Placencia...okay! So away we went...both the Lovely K and I had been to CA before and really liked it, so a great opportunity to check out another part...my experiences had mostly been on the Pacific side and interior (Nicaragua/Costa Rica) so was looking forward to ... read more

October 1, 2012 Starting Elevation 2680m (8792ft) 4th Camp - Cusco!- Warm Bed and Shower Well here it was, the day we had all been looking forward to: Day 4 Inca Trail and time for some Machu Picchu action! During the briefing the night before we decided to get up even earlier than we had been, 3:30am if memory serves me correctly...the deal with this day is to reach the Sun Gate by sunrise, and with this only being about a 4km hike it wasn't going to take long...plus everyone in the camps is thinking the same thing; dreading the thoughts of traffic jams on the trail for this final leg... So we were up and doing our final packing, saying goodbye to our porters and tents before making our way down to the checkpoint...it was ... read more