Hello friends!

Well here is my first post on my new blog. Yes, I realize that I am not going to be in Egypt for another month, but I got a bit over-excited. I'm trying to make it pretty too, although I'm not having much luck so far with the web formatting, but it's something to keep me occupied!

Anyway, my adventures begin on January 14th, exactly a month from today! I shall be flying to England then for a few days, &, on the 19th, be hopping on a plane for what I hope to be my life's greatest adventure so far. Yes, that means I will be traveling to Cairo! It's such a dream come true, & as it gets closer & more & more real I just really can't believe that in a few short weeks I will be living in the middle east! Brilliant.

Recently I've been writing out many travel ideas so I don't lose track of them all. The theme of my travels will certainly be seizing each opportunity (or trying to, though I know that time is only so abundant) & soaking it all in. That being said, it's been fun to amalgamate a list of potential places to visit. Here's what I have so far:

-EVERYwhere in Egypt! This is first priority since it WILL, after all, be my home base. I also know that there are so many places to see there that I'll probably never get to everything, but there's a reason this country has been my dream destination since I was a wee child. Anyway, in my research I have so far added to the list the following: Saqqara & Memphis, Bahariya Oasis, Alexandria, Mt. Sinai, Siwa (near the Libyan border), Luxor (where the Valley of the Kings is), Aswan (hopefully to or from here on a felucca!), Sharm El-Shiekh (or anywhere along the Red Sea- & I am planning to go kiteboarding there too!), camping in the Black & White desert, Abu Simbel, Abu Mena, Abydos, Dendera, Rammesseum, Karnak, Philae Island, etc...oh SO many places to discover!
----side note, you don't need to read this part, since none of this has happened, it's more an outlet for me to be excited & have one more reference for my travels :)----
-Israel. Me being the holocaust buff that I am, my first priority here will be Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial/museum. I can't WAIT to go there. Anyway, yes, I plan to travel around Jerusalem for sure, then potentially Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galilee, etc. Oh yeah & the Dead Sea! On the border with Jordan. Add Bethlehem in there too, which is technically in Palestine but right next to Jerusalem. Woop!
-Tunisia- haven't research much into this one yet, but I'd LOVE to go- it looks beautiful, & since I think I might not make it to Morocco this time around I'd still like to travel a bit west of Egypt...
-Jordan- Petra & Amman. Still researching but I'm sure I'll go here by way of Israel!
-Beirut (Lebanon)- This was a recent addition to my list. Despite the recent instability in that area, Beirut is still considered the Paris (& the Provincetown!!) of the Middle East. There might just be too much culture & beauty to be discovered there for me to pass it up!
-Turkey- specifically Istanbul & then (since I don't know much about the other regions of the country) other recommended places there. We all know my fascination with Islam & it will be great to see it from the perspective of a secular country.
-Oman- again, can't remember much of what I read about it a while ago, but it's written down in my notebook & is, from what I understand, possibly the most peaceful, friendly countries on the Persian Gulf. & again, the beauty of it is very attractive to me...

I've definitely been looking into more places too! Totally not making specific plans (since, let's face it, I likely won't have enough money or time to visit ALL of those places & more) at all yet since, knowing me, I'm more the spontaneous type ;). BUT all in all it gives me more & more to be excited about!

AHHHH! Really I hope you haven't read up until this point cause this was quite the ramble! I promise the future blog entries, once I ACTUALLY start travelling, will be much more interesting & I will do my very best to make them as entertaining as possible for you!

OH! I do remember another reason why I listed all of those places! If ANY of you have traveled to any of those destinations or other places in the middle east/Africa, I would LOVE to hear from you about any suggestions! So please let me know!

Right, I should head back to the real world for now- a busy few weeks ahead! Finals week, then spending Christmas in Canada, heading down to New Orleans to visit the maternal side of the family on the 27th ish for a few days (will be attending my first ball!), then to Canada again (& maaaaaaaaaaybe back to New England somewhere in there) to hang out until I leave! I'm flying out of Toronto cause it's cheaper than trying to get to Chicago or New York.

Okey doke, much love to you all, Happy fourth night of Hanukkah, & for those of you in your last week of school before break, good luck on your finals/assignments/everything!

All the best!

Catie XX :)