The staff of the Cleopetra served a simple but nice breakfast and then gave us a complementary ride down to Old Petra. Although we'd walked the same walk the night before, it was completely different by day, and we were amazed at the colors and contours of the canyon walls. Petra is the site of an ancient civilization which served as a trading hub for many kingdoms. They controlled the caravan routes and were formidable businessmen. Because they came into contac...

After a quick breakfast, Barry flagged down a cab, and we went to a hotel to check on accommodations for two nights in Petra. Then, we caught another cab to the Jordanian border (which was a breeze to go through) and then we caught yet another cab to Petra. Our Jordanian driver was excellent, stopping so we could take pictures and happy to have us as customers (he had a 4 month old baby at home and was happy to have a long (1.5 hours) fare). The town of Petra was...

From one of our best days to one of our worst! We had another good breakfast and then left the Bish Bishi Hotel in a new, beautiful mini-bus on our way to the Egypt-Israel border. We thoroughly enjoyed the hour-and-a-half drive which showcased several up-and-coming resorts between Dahab and Taba. If we come to Egypt again in 5 years, it will be amazing to see the changes. However, the moment we left the comfort of our mini-bus to cross the border on foot, events ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TESSA!!! We are now the proud parents of a teenaged daughter! She is such a great girl and we still can't believe she's been as tough as she has on this trip, adapting to everything and being gracious and fun the whole time. We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel, the best breakfast in Egypt so far, and at 11:00 am we headed for the Blue Hole, a world class snorkelling spot, 30 minutes outside of Dahab. The ride there was less than world class, ...

Seventeen hours later…What a trip! Absolutely, our most brutal one so far. We could dwell on it, but what is over, is over. Thank goodness! We were met by a barrage of people in Dahab trying to get our business. Our new agent brought us to our transportation, but when the kids were told to jump into the back of a pickup truck - "It's OK, no worries, we take care of them" - we hesitated. The Chilean girls ended up jumping in, too, after being in the ...