{"id":39,"date":"2021-07-21T16:54:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T14:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/?p=39"},"modified":"2021-07-21T16:55:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T14:55:35","slug":"and-so-it-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"And so it starts…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first time I travelled to a foreign<\/strong>, non-English speaking country I was excited, of course, but quite naive and had no idea what to expect. This was way-back-when in 1996 and I guess it didn’t really occur to me that I might not be able to read the signs, ask for directions, or even to read a menu and order a meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also happened to land in Tel Aviv, Israel<\/strong>, and with the unsmiling and armed soldiers all over the airport it did not come across as a particularly inviting place to be. Luckily, once out of the airport many of the locals can spot a foreigner a mile away (the backpack might be a giveaway) and seem to sense their confusion and rising panic<\/strong>. Only in retrospect did I realise and appreciate that most people are welcoming, friendly and helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all I spent about three months in Israel, mostly in\u00a0Eilat<\/strong>, and from there I visited Tel Aviv,\u00a0Jerusalem<\/strong>, the\u00a0Dead Sea<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Masada<\/strong>. Their public bus transport system is brilliant, and I soon discovered that their Friday is our Sunday so many things (like public transport) are not available and that the shops are closed. I completed my\u00a0PADI<\/strong>\u00a0Advanced Diver<\/strong>\u00a0certification in Eilat, and I also travelled to Egypt to dive the\u00a0Blue Hole<\/strong>\u00a0in Dahab and to experience Cairo and the pyramids at\u00a0Giza<\/strong>,\u00a0Karnak<\/strong>\u00a0in Luxor, Edfu and a two-day open\u00a0felluca<\/strong>\u00a0trip along the\u00a0Nile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Jewish Passover I went to Jordan (Israel pretty much shuts down for a week) to see one of the most amazing relics of the past – Petra<\/strong>. From Aqaba to Petra I shared a ride with some goats on the back of an open pick-up, which was fine until one of them decided that my jeans were good for lunch. I ended up perched on the top of the driver’s cab hoping the goat might lose interest in my clothing. A trip to Jordan is not complete without going to Wadi Rum<\/strong> where Lawrence of Arabia was based, and I stayed there with some Bedouins<\/strong> for a few days to explore a bit of the surrounding desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the highlights of a visit to Cairo is most certainly the museum, where, amongst other amazing items, they have the mask of Tutankhamen<\/strong>, although sometimes it is on display in other museums around the world. Accommodation in Cairo<\/strong> leaves much to the imagination – ‘hostel’ and ‘hotel’ are one and the same. If you stay at one of the 5-Star hotel chains then I am sure it is up to the expected standard, but if you are on a budget<\/strong>, then the pickings a bit slim so when the receptionist promises you that there is hot water rather just accept that the truth is being stretched, a lot. There might be water, and it might also be tepid<\/strong>, but rather not get your hopes too high for a long, steamy shower to get rid of the Cairo grime, sweat and dust. Their idea of ‘clean’ is not the same as mine, but I was only ever attacked by mosquitoes, and never once by bedbugs. Montezuma’s Revenge struck in Dahab<\/strong> and after a few days of staying within a 10-second dash of a toilet I visited the local Doctor. He could hardly speak English but a few hand signs were all he needed and with a smile and a few pills and instructions to drink lots of water to rehydrate he had me sorted out by the next day. Brilliant! In all my travels, that is the only time I have ever had a stomach bug<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Jerusalem, the\u00a0pyramids<\/strong>\u00a0and Petra are not on your\u00a0bucket-list<\/strong>, please add them now. Believe me, the trip will be well\u00a0worth it<\/strong>. I have been lucky enough to have dived in many places around the world, and the diving in the\u00a0Red Sea<\/strong>\u00a0is of the best so I plan on going back some time to dive in Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada, and others. One of the best dives was the Fish Bowl where we descended into a fissure (the Canyon) which opens into the Fish Bowl – filled with hundreds of glassfish which shimmer and shine as the school twists and turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mt
Mt Sinai<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I travelled to a foreign, non-English speaking country I was excited, of course, but quite naive and had no idea what to expect. This was way-back-when in 1996 and I guess it didn’t really occur to me that I might not be able to read the signs, ask for directions, or even to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstarter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}