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Jan 6, 2009 • January 6, 2009, Eilat, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel (notes from my journal) Even though we had a bit of a mishap with Israir, we finally arrived at Tel Aviv’s Sde Dov airport at about 2:30 PM (as opposed to the original 9:30 AM). The flight was short and we got a glimpse of the...
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Jan 6, 2009 • After two days of pure relaxation in Eilat, we were ready to take on Jerusalem, like many who had before us! At 8:00 AM January 6, 2009 we are at Eilat airport ready to board our hour-long flight to Tel Aviv (from where we would take a train to Jerusalem). Sounds easy right? So we...
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Jan 5, 2009 • January 3 – January 6, 2009: Eilat, Israel. (notes from my journal) January 3, 2009: After the immigration and customs, we got a cab to our hotel! The cab driver asked us about where we were from and in turn I asked him his origins. He mentioned his last name and told me that he...
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rahul
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Jan 3, 2009 • Aqaba-Arava Border crossing, Jordan & Israel After the Wadi Rum tour, we decided to skip lunch and headed straight to the border. Anna had to catch a bus to Jerusalem and we wanted to get to Israel ASAP. It was a Saturday and we were concerned that the border might close early because of Sabbath....
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rahul
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Jan 3, 2009 • January 3, 2009: Wadi Rum, Jordan (notes from my journal) When we got to our room, we took our cold/cough medications, a shower and went to sleep. I woke up at 2 AM and tried to sleep until 5 AM with no luck. At 5 AM, we both were up for good. Since dawn had...
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Jan 2, 2009 • January 2, 2009, Wadi Musa/Petra, Jordan (notes from my journal) I woke up 4 hours later at 7:30 AM. The antibiotics were finally working and my throat did not ache as much. Heena was absolutely fine – which means she had enough energy to make up for the time we spent sick. We ate a...
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Jan 1, 2009 • The route to the Monastery is uphill on stone steps carved into the rock. The climb to the Monastery is arduous. Bedouin kids all along the way will try to sweet talk you into giving them 1 JD for a few postcards. These kids run up and down the hill all day long! Where do...
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rahul
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Jan 1, 2009 • January 1, 2009. Wadi Musa and Petra, Jordan (notes from my journal) We started our day at 6 AM. After a quick breakfast, Atta, the owner of the hotel dropped us off at the Petra visitors center. We wanted to get an early start so we avoid the busloads of tourists. We got tickets (26...
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Dec 31, 2008 • December 31, 2008. Petra, Jordan. (notes from my journal) At 8 PM, Qasam, the manager of the guesthouse, dropped us off at the Petra visitors center. We were going to do the Petra By Night tour. There were quite a few people. The tour started promptly at 8:30 PM. The tickets need to be pre-arranged...
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rahul
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Dec 31, 2008 • (notes from my journal) Our day started pretty early. I was up at 4 AM and Heena at 5. We left the hotel at 5:45 to head to the JETT office. The only cab driver around charged us a princely sum of 5 JD for a 3 minute ride. JETT is a company in Jordan...
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rahul
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Dec 30, 2008 • Amman, Jordan (notes from my journal) December 30th, 2009 I woke up at 2:45 AM. After tossing and turning for the next three hours I decided I’ve had enough and got out of bed, made some coffee and decided to just start the day. Heena got up as well. As we sipped our coffee (nescafe...
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rahul
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Dec 28, 2008 • Or Philadelphia! No! We did not catch the wrong plane or think that Amman and Philly are the same city! Amman, was once called Philadelphia by Ptolemey II Philadelphius. Over the years the name changed to Amman – how you get from Philadelphia to Amman (as in the name), I have no idea. We arrived...
