Note: I’m posting this on behalf of the lovely and talented Anna, who took it upon herself to write the wrapup when it became apparent, after only two months or so, that I wasn’t going to. She originally wrote and posted this as a Facebook note, and I’m reposting it here for those who didn’t see it there. -Brooks
We hit London after a couple days in beautiful Croatia. It was hard to believe we had only a couple days left in our trip and it was surreal to hear English being spoken after not hearing much of it for the previous six weeks. I’ve wanted to go to London *forever*. Really. Some of my favorite things are from England, so I was super excited to “mind the gap”, ride the odd looking taxis, watch the double-decker busses pass and check out the nifty red phone booths. It turns out that the phone booths are generally covered in porn business cards. And No, I didn’t take any. Brooks and I were both really excited by the prospect of eating in a real British Indian Curry House. More on that later.
As excited as I was to see London, I was most excited to meet my friend Simon. Yes, meet. Simon and I “met” several years ago (egad this is geeky) playing online cribbage. Somehow this turned into a real friendship. We turn to each other for advice, to chat, or for no reason at all. Never mind that we hadn’t yet met in person.
It was truly wonderful to meet Simon. We were immediately talking a mile a minute and could have talked all night, except that Simon had to catch the last train home. We decided to meet the next day at Piccadilly Circus. Simon and I met up in the morning and started walking. And walking. And walking. I have no idea what we saw, besides damn near everything. Highlights included the bridge that got blown up in the last Harry Potter movie, walking along the Thames, and a bunch of old stuff. Much of London is really quite old. Oh yeah, I also skipped rocks on the river. It’s a bit of an obsession for me. I try to skip rocks whenever I can.
So after our epic walk, Simon and I split up for a couple hours. I needed to rest a bit because I was sick again. Ugh. I caught a terrible cold that ended up taking about three weeks and a round of antibiotics to fight off. Apparently, my superpower is not my immune system. Brooks has that one. Nope. I’m not jealous at all.
So dinner. Curry. London is known for it’s Indian food. Probably because actual British food is terrible. Brooks and I met up with Simon, his wife Jane and their friend Tree. We trooped to a randomly chosen curry house and happily stuffed ourselves. It was a wonderful evening of conversation, laughter and food. We were very happy to eat tasty food. Brooks and I were so happy that we went to curry the next night, too.
Sadly, my second day in London was spent almost entirely in the hotel room. I was just too sick to do much at all. I made it to Marks & Spencer, where I bought a sweater and lunch. I like a store that has both clothes AND quite good food in a little mini-grocery store containing almost entirely lunch-y stuff. Brooks went out on his own, including to the theatre in the evening. He very much enjoyed the play and I was sorry to have missed it. But at least I had my Kleenex.
We said goodbye to London and boarded the uber-posh business class of British Airways. I was happy to not be right on top of other people since I was a snot factory. I honestly thought I was going to blow an eardrum on the descent. It was extraordinarily painful. I took as much medication as I could get in me, but it certainly wasn’t enough.
Overall it was an amazing trip. As some time has passed, certain things have crystallized in our minds as highlights. The Sinai trek by far had the most meaning. I treasure the opportunity I had to see how another culture really lives. I also realize that I am very lucky to be a woman in a secular country.
I fell in love with the city of Istanbul. It was the only city on the trip (besides London) that I felt like I could move to. I’d most like to return to Turkey and Jordan, although I want to wait about 10 years before going back to Amman. I want to see how it changes, because we could tell that the changes will be massive.
A few snapshots that will stay with me forever:
* Rounding a corner and suddenly seeing the first large façade of Petra. It gave me butterflies.
* Snorkling in the Red Sea and then floating the Dead Sea in the same day.
* The many military check point soldiers draped in automatic weapons saying “Welcome to Jordan!” with a huge (and genuine) smile.
* Playing with the Bedouin children in the Sinai.
* Our Sinai guide, Fraij, giving us the itinerary for each day: “We walk over zare… and zare… we eat… we rest… we walk… eez good.”
* Coming out of the Sinai and suddenly being on the Red Sea. Then add the happiness we felt to see an inch of foam mattress to sleep upon and gorgeous water to swim in. (Although Lars and I learned that it doesn’t work to wash your hair in cold salt water.)
* Having the waiters sing Happy Birthday to me at the Yalla Bar in Dahab.
* Lounging on the felucca in the Nile. And swimming in the Nile, for that matter.
* Punning continuously with Lars, Brooks and Luke.
* Feeling happy about the fact that I could be with Luke and Lars for over two weeks and still like them.
* Being even happier about still liking Brooks after over six weeks of constant togetherness. Heck, I’d so far as to say that we still love each other. But the liking part can be a lot more difficult that the loving part, if I were to tell the truth.
* Walking through the blue blue blue city of Chefchouen, Morocco.
* The mosques, markets and general mood of the city in Istanbul.
* Hanging out on the beach with Brooks and Fred in Hvar, Croatia.
* Wandering through London with Simon.
The Rock Skip Report:
• Red Sea (in Jordan & Egypt)
• Dead Sea (Jordan side)
• A spring in the Sinai
• Nile River
• Adriatic Sea (Croatia)
• Danube River (Budapest)
• Thames River (London)
By The Numbers:
• Countries: 9
• Continents: 4
• Flights: 12
• Days: 38
• Air miles: 19,000
• Types of transport: 11 (plane, train, taxi, ferry, felucca, foot, camel, bus, rental car, range rover, back of pickup)
• Books read by Anna: 23
• Books read by Brooks: 2
• Rounds of antibiotics: 2 (both Anna’s)
• Flies: 8 trillion
• Pitas: 8 billion
• Bottles of wine: not nearly enough
The Sinai trek was the original reason for the trip. I’m so thankful the rest of it got added in as well. We saw people and places that very few Americans see. It was a trip of a lifetime and now I want to travel even more. I want to meet more people, see more things, explore new (hopefully tasty) foods, and experience more of life. I’m thinking next stop… Thailand. And possibly Vietnam.