Israel and the Palestinian Territories

After a week in Jordan, I headed to Israel and the Palestinian Territories for my last week in the Middle East. I will admit that as much as I loved the history and site seeing in Israel, I found it hard to relax due to the intense political situation in the area. Our guide warned…

Dead Sea

Bucket list item: Visit the lowest place on planet Earth. Check! A visit to the Dea Sea (actually a lake not a sea) is a must when you visit either Jordan or Israel. I got to visit twice since I went to both countries. Located 1,400 feet below sea level it is the lowest place…

Petra, Jordan

After spending time in Wadi Rum we headed to the ancient city of Petra. It was named one of the new seven wonders of the world in 2007 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. This ancient city dates back to 3000 BC and was a booming trading site between 400 BC – 100…

Wadi Rum Jordan

From Egypt, I took a short one-hour flight to Amman to start my week-long tour of Jordan. There is a noticeable difference as soon as you land in Jordan after spending some time in Egypt. To name a few things, it’s more expensive, it’s more modern and it’s not as conservative. It was not as…

Luxor, Egypt

My last stop in Egypt was Thebes (now modern-day Luxor) which ended up being my favorite city in Egypt that we toured. I had no idea this was the location of the Valley of the Kings where tombs of multiple pharaohs and noble figures (from the 16th to 11th century BC) have been excavated and…

My night on the Nile

When our time in Aswan came to an end we boarded a felucca (traditional wooden sailboat used in the eastern Mediterranean) to spend 24 hours sailing the Nile river between Aswan and Luxor. We sailed until sunset, docked, and then slept overnight on the boat. It was a really fun experience and it turned out…

Aswan, Egypt

Next up… Aswan! We took a 13-hour overnight sleeper train from Cairo to Aswan which is always an experience in itself to say the least. I’ve ridden on a few overnight sleepers in the past couple of years while traveling abroad and the experience is always about the same for me. I’m a light sleeper…

Cairo, Egypt

Hello! I know I’m very late in sharing my photos from the Middle East trip that I took in December, but I didn’t bring my laptop with me on that trip so I wasn’t able to post in real-time like I did while I was in Japan. Then I got home and needed some time…

Universal Studios Japan

For our second day in Osaka, we headed to Universal Studios to check out the new Super Nintendo World theme park they opened in 2020. Since this park opened during the COVID pandemic we are some of the first foreigners to enter the park which is cool. Joe and I played the Super Mario Bros…

Osaka, Japan

We spent three days in Osaka (the second largest city in Japan) after our time in Kyoto. One day at the aquarium, one day at Universal Studios, and our last day was spent doing some shopping before we headed home. Accommodation We stayed at the Cross Hotel in Osaka, I booked this with Booking.com. I…