When opportunity knocks....
My mother has made me a tremendous offer. The opportunity of a lifetime. A trip to Jordan AND Egypt next March. Of course, I have to pay her back, but her enthusiasm over me going overrides any immediate financial responsibility. Scott will not go, but admitted he knew this moment would come, when he'd have to give me his blessing to gallivant off to an exotic locale without him - he just didn't expect it to be the Middle East. I wasn't looking for permission from him, but acceptance, and I got it with only a sigh & a long look. Jordan & Egypt are near Bad, Bad & Even Worse, but how can I pass it up? To see the city of Petra carved into the rose-colored rock, the Dead Sea, camping in the desert... funny thing is, is that when Mom first brought it up, she mentioned only Jordan - which I was into right off the bat. This past January, she travelled with the same tour group to Egypt & saw all the requisite Egyptian attractions along with some other things that I can't even begin to fathom. On Saturday she handed me the itinerary and Lo! It visits Egypt, too. Two life's travel goals in one trip? How can I say no?
It's a two week tour beginning in Cairo. It's so impossible to imagine, I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. Scott is certain that after I leave the airport, the next time he'll see me is on CNN on my knees in a blindfold & orange jumpsuit. I told him to take a careful look at my captors because, chances are, they'll have a few teeth knocked out, bloodied nose & because of that, he might only see Mom. Ha! Really, he has to rest assured that the group will be accompanied by an armed guard and a knowledgeable Egyptian guide. It'll open my already gaping mind even more. I'm so excited, yet so.... dazed... about it... it's just surreal.
It makes me ill thinking about leaving Scott for that long, esp. after the last time we were separated, inconveniently when terrorists decided to fly planes into the skyscrapers in NY, not to head to the neutral, low-key Bahamas, but straight into the Middle East. Still, the idea that in March I'll be boarding a flight from JFK into Cairo is pure craziness. I have pictures of Petra that I've chopped out of travel brochures (they're now hanging on my fridge) - it's been on my list-of-things-to-do-before-I-die since I was around 14 or so when I first laid eyes on the first pic & thought it was one of the most mystical things I'd ever seen. It's a helluva opportunity. I can't pass it up. I must go! I might never get the chance again, and, if I don't go, I'll be bitter about my decision for the rest of my life.
Besides, someone's gotta keep Mom from running out in front of a donkey cart. When she went to Egypt, I was fully expecting to get a phone call saying she'd been trampled by a camel.
It's a two week tour beginning in Cairo. It's so impossible to imagine, I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. Scott is certain that after I leave the airport, the next time he'll see me is on CNN on my knees in a blindfold & orange jumpsuit. I told him to take a careful look at my captors because, chances are, they'll have a few teeth knocked out, bloodied nose & because of that, he might only see Mom. Ha! Really, he has to rest assured that the group will be accompanied by an armed guard and a knowledgeable Egyptian guide. It'll open my already gaping mind even more. I'm so excited, yet so.... dazed... about it... it's just surreal.
It makes me ill thinking about leaving Scott for that long, esp. after the last time we were separated, inconveniently when terrorists decided to fly planes into the skyscrapers in NY, not to head to the neutral, low-key Bahamas, but straight into the Middle East. Still, the idea that in March I'll be boarding a flight from JFK into Cairo is pure craziness. I have pictures of Petra that I've chopped out of travel brochures (they're now hanging on my fridge) - it's been on my list-of-things-to-do-before-I-die since I was around 14 or so when I first laid eyes on the first pic & thought it was one of the most mystical things I'd ever seen. It's a helluva opportunity. I can't pass it up. I must go! I might never get the chance again, and, if I don't go, I'll be bitter about my decision for the rest of my life.
Besides, someone's gotta keep Mom from running out in front of a donkey cart. When she went to Egypt, I was fully expecting to get a phone call saying she'd been trampled by a camel.
posted by RCSure | 9:20 AM
3 Comments:
Hooray! Now I'm the jealous one! Don't forget in all this trip planning that you have to have a trip south, company in your world, or a halfway trip before then!
It's funny - Scott said we MUST have internet before Mom & I go - he also said that way if Dawnia decided to go along with us Eric & he could chat it up & bond. Ha! He's a weirdo. It is too strange - the similarities are quite striking. When I read Eric's thing about the fear of heights, I thought, Oh. My. God.
We will definitely have to plan a get-together of sorts very soon - I don't care where, but it needs to be done. Maybe in L.A. at that Gonzo exhibit. :)
The thing is, we'll probably meet & decide we can't stand each other. Heh! Wouldn't that be a bitch?
Nah. We will like each other. Or perhaps we could do a Vegas Gonzo weekend. Ya'll could get trashed while I go lay in the desert and look at stars.
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