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Karolina’s Coincidence
When we first met Karolina, she was upside down. Looking out across the spectacular desert scenery of Jordan as the sunset swathed the rock formations in ochre shades, but upside down nonetheless. But then yoga people do seem to spend large parts of their day in positions which are fairly alien to the rest of us. Karolina isn’t just a lover of yoga, she is an exponent of acroyoga, a somewhat more exotic and expansive yoga form – and, what’s more, she’s a big fan of yoga-ing in exotic locations around the world and posting beautiful photographs on her Instagram site @acro_yoga_engineer After a brief and slightly disconcerting chat with…
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When I’m 64…..
Will you still need me, will you still feed me…so went the Beatles lyric. Well, I’m about to find out whether Michaela will still need and feed, birthday greetings, bottle of wine, and all of those things, because I am actually 64 today, and “celebrating” (if that’s the right word) a second successive lockdown birthday. I don’t think we really thought, on my 63rd, that we would be back in the same situation a year later. There have been some rather more exotic locations for our previous birthdays, most notably the year before COVID, on the occasion of my 62nd, when we were staying with a Bedouin family in their…
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Photographic Memories #8
As every traveller knows, when you look back through old travel photos, many of them trigger wonderful memories. With no current prospect of travel even domestically let alone worldwide, we will have no new adventures to blog, but we do have many such memories….. Photo #8: Desert Life Desert life goes on with the Bedouin minding his camels in the midday sun, the battered truck displaying all the telltale signs of the demands of the unforgiving environment. Some perspective is given to this photograph by the pick up truck in the far distance, dwarfed by its surroundings yet still some way from the mountains beyond. Here, we are out in…
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From the mountains to the desert: 3 days in Wadi Rum
3 Days living the life of a Bedouin in Wadi Rum
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Petra, and a birthday like no other
Walking through the lost City of Petra and experiencing the renowned hospitality of the Bedouins
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Petra: A Day Of Wonder
The intrigue of Petra starts way before you visit, the story of its creation and existence matched by the romance of its re-discovery from its true status as a Lost City. Built by the Nabataean people around 2,600 years ago, this city of 30,000 people, built into and from the surrounding mountains and outcrops, must have been one of the World’s most thriving metropoles of those ancient times. A city full of major sites built into the rock faces, colossal facades and tomb structures; so-called “high places”, places of worship and sacrifice way above the ground; entire streets of frontages hewn into the vertical rock; ornate carvings on impossibly grand…
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From Amman to Wadi Musa: seeking the real Jordan.
So the plan starts well, a fairly leisurely breakfast and a quick shuttle back to the airport terminal to collect the hire car, obviously nothing can go wrong. Except that a slightly surreal misunderstanding means that our bodies and our car are some 90 minutes apart, with our car, bizarrely, waiting for us at a military airport instead of the main one. We only know this because a guy from the same hire company spots the paperwork in our hands, and asks who we are! But the guy, and his company, Omaish Rental, are just so helpful and so eager to please that they find a replacement car and get…
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The adventure begins
This is unusual for us, normally our adventures start in the dark early hours and a pre-dawn drive to an early flight, so it’s odd to find ourselves kicking our heels at home waiting for the time to leave. But this journey is a 4pm flight, so it’s a train to London and tube across to Heathrow, a bite and a couple of beers in Terminal 5, and we’re away. We’re flying with BA this time, which is also unusual. The flight is fine, the only items worthy of comment being the quality of the food (good!), and the amusing fact that dinner and air turbulence arrive at precisely the…
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Into The Unknown. A bit.
Well it’s April 1st 2019 and only a few days now until our next adventure, as on Friday (5th) we head off to Jordan. This will be our first time in the Middle East, and promises to be just a bit different. This one isn’t a true backpacking trip as we have booked all our accommodation ahead this time, mainly because the region is unfamiliar to us. We have a planned itinerary which goes something like this:- Arrive Amman late Friday Drive to Petra Saturday 3 days & 3 nights in Petra, staying in a village close to Wadi Musa, in a one bedroom Bedouin house 3 days & 3…
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Next up: Jordan
Preparing for our next trip to Jordan
