Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Today was our last day in Aqaba, and we returned home after lunch.

Before lunch, we drove up highway 15 in Jordan in the direction of Amman. Of course, we didn't go anywhere NEAR that far, but we did enjoy the beautiful scenery of the interior of southern Jordan. We then checked out of our hotel and took another drive down the South Coast of Jordan, going a little past the Tala Bay Resort. We returned to the area of our hotel, where there are plenty of restaurants, and ate lunch at one we hadn't yet tried, called Papaya. We split a pizza, which was quite good, and I had their cheese sandwich, which was okay, but not as good as the delicious one I had yesterday.

After lunch, we proceeded to the border, only stopping long enough to buy a couple of sodas to keep ourselves hydrated.

The trip back across the border was a little quicker than the other direction, but we did have to undergo some interrogation by Israeli security folks. I think we were far enough from the typical traveler (non-Israeli-looking Israeli citizens, not speaking Hebrew very well, driving our own car, etc.) to arouse some suspicion, but, of course, in the end there was no problem. It was especially exhausting for David, though, since he gets confused quite a bit these days and they, not surprisingly, wanted to interview us completely separately (in English, though). In any case, it felt very, very good to be back home in Israel!

After a good rest (including a nap for David), we drove over to Ice Park and got our traditional frozen yogurt.

Tomorrow, I'll try to write in more detail about our trip. I have uploaded my pictures from my iPhone to my computer and started editing them, but there's more to do. Here's my broadest feeling about this vacation: in terms of distance, we have surely never vacationed so close to home before, but in terms of culture, we have never traveled so far away. It truly was a trip "abroad"!