A change in latitude, does wonders to my attitude.

Glamorous in cairo From Amman in Jordan, it was a just a short 50 minutes flight to Cairo on EgyptAir. Being part of the Star Alliance group means that the airline has to maintain a certain standard of service and safety, which is reassuring, and I bumped up my ff miles too. For some strange reason, I was under the impression that the dress code for females in Cairo would be less conservative compared to Jerusalem. So I wore out all my long sleeve blouses and trousers in Jerusalem and putting aside the shorts and tee shirts for Cairo. Luckily, I had a big shawl that I could cover my shoulders and bare arms with. View of the Nile from hotel room The streets of Cairo can be quite a tricky affair especially when you're female and foreign. On the first day of my arrival, my companion and I were chatted up by two men who offered to guide us to our destination. After about 15 minutes of friendly chatting we realised that we did not want anymore to follow them. At this st

With sizzling temperatures of 35 plus degrees, we left Jerusalem in an armoured 4x4 vehicle to the Israeli-Jordan border at Allenby crossing With the help of our guide who assisted us through the Israeli border control, we cleared immigration  rather quickly and smoothly. We then bade him farewell and continued on foot to the departure terminal. From there we were bussed to the Jordanian border control some hundred metres away. At one point a border guard boarded the bus and took our passports, followed by another guy who came to collect the bus fares. We each had to pay 18 Jordanian dinar ( 23 euros ) for the bus fare, which I found was very high. I checked later with the young Italian couple who had sat behind us, and they said that the bus driver had told them that the bus fare was 2 JD ( 2.52 euros ) each, which sounded reasonable. The Italian guy had complained to the bus driver and after an exchange of words between the driver and the bus fare collector, a few dinars were hastil

Visiting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is an experience that affects you no matter what your religious and political affinities are. Here history goes back to about 4500 BC, where the bedrock of monotheistic religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity have their beginnings. Archeological digs have and continue to unearth ancient cities and structures as we know from Biblical scriptures. It is exhilarating to see The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran caves, King Hezekiah's tunnel,  Pool of Bethesda, Apostle Peter's house, the Sea of Galilee and many more. Tel Aviv Mediterranean sea I started my trip in Tel Aviv, a modern city on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline. There are 16 beaches along the coastline favoured by locals and tourists. There is Nordau Beach ( Separation Beach ) for men only and women only on separate and alternate days, Jerusalem beach and Tel Aviv beach with nice surf, clean sand and popular with families. So liberal is Tel Aviv that even the LGBT community has th