On the road again...

After 15 months on the road, I had no desire to travel for quite some time. I loved being back in San Francisco, using my brain again, and most of all, being settled amongst friends. After a year however, the travel bug reappeared and off I am again, but for only 2 weeks this time. I had planned to go to Syria and then bought a ticket for Laos/Cambodia, but actually ended up in Israel/Jordan. Why there?

Israel has been at the top of my lists to go for quite some time. Not only for the sheer history, the curiosity that's sparked from every news report, the small size of the country, diversity of landscape, but also so I could celebrate Christmas in one of the holiest places in the world. Granted, I'm not exactly the most religious person I know, but spending Christmas in Bethlehem seemed like an unique and special place to be.

Fast forward a month from my decision, and here I am in Israel. I chose first to head to Eilat for the diving. The main city center of Eilat looked like a run down Strip, but under the water, a whole new and wondrous city emerged. The Red Sea has some of the most spectacular coral, now highly protected due to the damage from diving. And diving in Israel is highly regulated. Since I had dived in Kauaii less than 6 months ago, I didn't have to take a refresher course, however, I was expected to put all my gear together by myself, which I hadn't done since I was scuba certified. Thankfully, an Israeli/South African woman named Gaby walked me though the process again. Off I went to explore a ship wreck, my first!