I am home :)

What an amazing experience, and I am glad to be home. Being gone for 28 days is a LONG time.

I don't even know where to start - every country we visited was very different from the other, despite them all being Muslim. Egypt, the country I most wanted to see, was actually my least favourite. It was so chaotic, dirty, noisy, overpopulated and extremely hot - up to 55C in the southern parts like Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel. The pyramids, sphinx and other historical places were the highlights.

I was pleasantly pleased with Jordan, less populated, less extreme in its treatment of women. The highlights in Jordan included Petra (simply amazing!) and 'swimming' in the Dead Sea - which is 33% salt (sea water is only 4-5%), so you float, it was a bizarre feeling, you could NOT sink!

Syria was so interesting and the place with the most extreme treatment of women. We saw women in just head scarves to TOTAL and complete coverage in black: veils and gloves so you could not see on inch of flesh - it was disturbing. Damascus was my favourite city, such a contrast between the modern and the old. I was surprised at how modern and metropolitan it felt, as well as the old part. Damascus is the OLDEST currently inhabited city in the world, dating back to the ninth milenium!!!!

Turkey, the final country, was the most "European", the most relaxed and the most different from the other three. Women did not wear head scarves and they worked outside the home and they were visible, as in walking on the streets. We saw mostly men in the other countries, very strange.

Getting in and out of Syria was one of the worst parts of the tour - it was completely disorganized, chaotic and scary! We did all border crossing without tour leaders (each country had its own tour leader).

Our tour consisted of 13 people, then only 10 after Egypt. Seven of us were Canadians!! I think I will miss the people in the tour, they were all so great.

We have about 4000 pictures to get through, yes THOUSANDS of them! I bought just a few souveniors, as I had little room in my back pack.

It's nice to be home!

...we are on the plane to Cairo!! Friday I picked up passports with visas to Syria and all the vouchers and information for the tour.

This is happening boys and girls!!

I am starting to get excited :) Now that the graduation is over, all that remains is getting everything together and packing. There are only a few small things left to buy.

Wow, it's been a LOT of work organizing but I am on the home stretch :)