Lawrence of Arabia Country

So what have I been up to recently I hear you cry!?Well I have recently been finalising a two-week holiday that I have planned for the first two weeks of June.

Andreas (of www.ginfan.com fame) my great friend from Iceland was originally going to come over for two weeks and we were going to drive over to Oman. The plan was to head down to Salalah on the south coast on the infamous Frankincense route.

Unfortunately it is starting to get warm over here. Typically the thermometer is hitting +40c during the day. This does not make for very comfortable driving.

Secondly getting a visa to allow you to re-enter the UAE within 30 days is impossible. This quite simply meant that Andreas could enter the UAE, leave to tour Oman and not get back into the country. Quite ridiculous really, as I can imagine a lot of people do not bother to meet relations or friends in the UAE anymore. I suppose however they don’t need the money!

With this in mind we have been frantically trying to find something to do and somewhere to go that did not need visas in our passports. Mine is full and I don’t want to exchange it just yet as I have too many valid visas left in it.

Eventually we decided on Beirut in Lebanon and Jordan. They are both easy to get into and only three hours away; preceded with a very brief couple of days in the UAE to see the main sights.

With the aid of a couple of friends on twitter I have generated the following cunning plan (as Baldrick would say)

So here it is:

Day 1. Dubai, Dubai Mall, Burj Kahlifa, Emirates Mall & Gold Souk, drinks pm

Day 2. Abu Dhabi Grand Mosque, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi city & Jebel Hafeet / Al Ain, drinks pm

Day 3. Fly Beirut site see & drinks pm

Day 4. Beirut Site seeing & drinks pm

Day 5. Head out to the Bekaa Valley, Baalbek & Kasara, drinks pm

Day 6. Byblos am, fly to Amman, Jordan pm, followed by drinks pm

Day 7. Amman Site seeing & possibly the castles route, drinks pm

Day 8. Visit Jerash, Ajloun, Mt Nebo & Madaba, head to spa and chill out with drinks pm

Day 9. Drive down to Petra, via Karak & Dead Sea, drinks pm

Day 10. Petra, drinks pm

Day 11. Drive Wadi Rum, 4wd tour, sleep in desert overnight, hopefully drinks pm

Day 12. Camel trek and return to Wadi Rum, Drive to Aqaba for drinks pm

Day 13. Drive back to Airport & return to UAE

It should be an interesting trip, resulting in a fantastic amount of photos and memories. In fact it is my first holiday since Andreas & I drove around Southern Australia, Xmas 2008/9.

The Route