I got to the airport, and it was a scene of chaos. I wish I had taken a picture, but honestly, I couldn’t think to do so, and who knows if Israeli security would have taken me down for “casing the joint”. Imagine about 4,000 people in a small room. It felt like a security risk, honestly. And this was the line at Air Canada. Wow. I got into what I was TOLD was the right line (Line #1). I …

Dina and I left dad at the hotel, and went out to dinner, to celebrate her birthday. We went to this hamburger place, which was really cool – the burgers could be custom built with a plethora of options. When they showed up, my eyes lit up. This was the spice!! Amazing! The burger was heaven on a plate, and my quest was at an end. (Well, kinda – I still have NO idea what the spices are, and would …

Today we were gonna go back to Tel Aviv, and planned on leaving shortly after breakfast. Unfortunately, we discovered that dad left his credit card at the restaurant last night. So, we went to get it – and had to wait an hour for them to open. As we left the city, the temperature started to rise. It was hot. Damn hot. We drove north, and made a pit stop at Yotvata again – gotta love it! Further on down …

For dinner, we went to The Last Refuge, a seafood (surprised?) restaurant that was supposed to be one of the best places in Eilat, without being absurdly expensive. The place was packed, but there was outdoor seating, right on the pier. Sounded good, but it was so windy we had to use everything on the table to prevent the tablecloth from flying away! It made eating a challenge, and at one point the pepper shaker became a casualty of the …

Getting into Jordan from Israel wasn’t so bad. We were asked some questions, and left the country. Getting into Israel from Jordan, on the other hand, was a rather interesting case of 20-questions. Not only was I asked about everything from my sister’s immigration status to why I didn’t stay in Israel, but I was also slightly ridiculed about why I didn’t have Israeli citizenship myself! (The border guard was cute; I’m sure she was being flirtatious.) Finally we made …

We then started the winding journey up the mountainside to get to the King’s Road. From the top, we had an amazing view of the mountains surrounding Petra – you can even see the Siq leading through into the valley. Any invading forces would certainly NOT know the city was there. Smart Nabateans! The drive back was long, and rather uneventful. I even got a chance to nap (all that walking is tiring). There was a point where the highway …

To get to the ancient site at Petra, you have to walk about a mile down a path, to the old dam, which takes you into the Siq, which is a very tight canyon leading through the mountains. As you walk along this path, you occasionally see bits of the original road, as well as the cisterns and pipes used to transport water to the city. It was hot, so the occasional shade was welcome, and as we got closer …

The drive to Petra takes a few hours, so we did a quick drive through the eastern side of Akabah, and got to see Eilat and Egypt from a vantage point I never had seen it from before in my life. We then got on the King’s Road, a route that is (literally) 5,000 years old, although the pavement is much newer, and headed up north. As it was Friday, the holy day of rest, the roads weren’t as crowded …

After another delicious breakfast at the hotel, we were picked up by our Israeli guide – whose sole job would be to explain what is going to happen to us in Jordan, get us across the border, and then leave us in the hands of our Jordanian tour guide. The border crossing was pretty empty; it was just after 8am and we were the first to show up to cross. After going through the usual security questions (a little more …

We were told that we had to do this camel ride thing where they take you into the desert, and you have dinner with the bedouhins. Okay, that sounded kinda cool. I hadn’t ridden a camel in forever, so it sounded like it might be fun. Then I heard it would be a four hour tour. Okay, not so bad, I could probably deal with it alright. We got to the Camel Ranch after passing the tiny dirt road that …