Aleppo: butchers, tailors and soap makers

We parted company today with Lise and headed north towards Aleppo, the last major city in Syria prior to the Turkish border. Like Damascus, Aleppo has an intricate Old City, one in whose alleys you could lose yourself and probably not find the way out...

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Syria: The country of crooked trees

The border guards did in fact permit. Aside for making us pay yet another $56US for the visa, the whole process took approximately 20 minutes with our taxi driver doing most the talking. So much for the embassies in Canada assuring us that it was impossible...

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Lebanon: The country of surprises

With our itinerary being on constant flux we found ourselves with sufficient time to make a side-trip into Lebanon. The only hesitation was the lack of both a Lebanese visa and the Syrian re-entry visa. Well, sometimes you just have to go into the unknown...

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"Some cities oust or smother their past. Damascus lives in hers." - Colin Thubron

Legend has it that on a journey from Mecca the Prophet Mohammed cast his gaze upon Damascus but refused to enter the city because he wanted to enter paradise only once – when he died. It might be a bit of an overstatement to compare Damascus to paradise...

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Jordan – Lucky Number 50?

I have officially confirmed that Egyptian time really does run at a different rate than everywhere else. But before I go on to explain what I mean by that, did I mention I virtually came face to face with a barracuda while snorkeling? I was following...

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Expenses

The two questions I get asked most often after one of these trips is (a) how in the world can I afford to travel for so long and (b) how much did a trip like this cost. The answer to (a) - i.e. on a shoestring budget to a certain extent answers (b). But for those of you form whom such an answer is too vague, I'm following an example set by a lawschool...

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Camel ride for $50US?

"Camel, camel, wrboad, wrboad", with an occasional correctly pronounced "wielblad" thrown into the mix being repeated over and over is not exactly what I associate with 2am. Add to that the fact that these shouts are coming from the Bedouins surrounding...

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The Red Sea & the Blue Hole

There truly cannot be another diving place like this. The entire coast is lined by coral reefs with an endless choice of dives. The dives we did off of the Mayan Riviera were pathetic in comparison. Maybe then we were simply unlucky and maybe a trip...

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Dahab & Diving

On the one hand Egyptian buses are a vast improvement over our local Greyhound buses. On the other hand, they are noisier than GM Place after the Canucks score a goal. Having been unable to secure a seat on any of the 10 daily flights to Sharm el Sheik,...

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A city in which my profession does not exist

Cairo is a city in which I would officially by unemployed. Despite 22 million inhabitants and nearly the same amount of cars, and what must also be a significant amount of accidents, there is absolutely no compensation for a person’s injuries. Car insurance...

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Amsterdam by Numbers

This entry is essentially Amsterdam by numbers and to start it off I must admit that I have miscounted. With a visit to Scheveningen the official grand total for all the Seas on this trip will be eight. I might have to include a footnote somewhere to add in the North Sea but I refuse to change the wed address or the title. The “Eight Seas” simply doesn’t...

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Amsterdam

Officially this would be my third time to Amsterdam. One could add to that an extra two days for the nice 9 hour long layovers I’ve had here in the past. I must say that it is one of my favorite cities in Europe in terms of its atmosphere and simply...

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Packing

One would think that after 5 trips of this nature I would know how to pack and would know that packing lightly is essential. In prepping for this trip I read a friends post where she was getting ready for a one year round the world journey and intended...

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