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Adventure Ride Through Wadi Rum Desert
The adventure began the minute our guide Atif turned on the engine and the truck started moving through the desert sand. Pavel and I sat in the back, happily bouncing around, grinning and doing our best to hold on to the metal rails as the truck made its way across Wadi Rum. It seemed as…
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An Unexpected Camel Ride in Wadi Rum
Our adventure in the Wadi Rum desert began with an unexpected camel ride that our guide Atif arranged for us as soon as we arrived at camp. I was surprised when the two young boys who had helped us with our truck earlier that day arrived at camp with their camels to take us for…
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A Day in a Bedouin Camp in Wadi Rum
Our taxi pulled over on the side of the road in Wadi Rum next to the only pickup truck in sight. We were surrounded by orange sand stretching in every direction, broken only by scattered desert bushes and towering gray rock formations. It looked nothing like any landscape I had ever seen before. A man…
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Discovering the Ancient City of Petra
Long before I ever traveled to Jordan, I already knew Petra. At least I thought I did. Like millions of people, I had seen photographs of the Treasury and watched Indiana Jones ride towards its towering façade. For years it was simply one of those places I hoped to see someday. What I didn’t know…
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A Camel, a Shepherd, and the Road to Petra
Traveling through Jordan felt as though we had stepped into a landscape that had remained unchanged for thousands of years. That morning, we crossed the border into Jordan and found a taxi waiting for travelers heading to Petra. The drive would take about two hours. I sat with my face pressed against the window, mesmerized…
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Wandering Through the Ancient Streets of Bethlehem
As Jerusalem disappeared behind us, towns built from pale yellow stone appeared across the hillsides, their light-colored walls and clusters of palm trees glowing in the morning sun. It was our first glimpse of the ancient landscape that awaited us. We had caught a local bus to Bethlehem just outside Damascus Gate for only a…
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The Afternoon I Climbed a Fence in Old Jaffa
I arrived in Israel a few hours before my husband, which gave me the perfect excuse to spend the afternoon wandering through Old Jaffa Port by myself. We hadn’t seen each other for a few days and I wondered if he would recognize me with my new haircut. (As it turned out… he didn’t.) The…
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One Last Evening in Rio
Before heading to the airport, we went back to Ipanema Beach to watch one last sunset. The beach buzzed with conversation. People gathered in small groups, sharing drinks and snacks while waiting for the sky to put on its evening show. It felt less like a quiet beach and more like an enormous open-air café,…
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Exploring Rio’s Historic District
When I think of Rio de Janeiro, I picture Sugarloaf Mountain, the golden beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, and Christ the Redeemer watching over the city. But I realized I knew very little about downtown Rio. So on the last day of our trip, I decided to join a free walking tour and explore its…
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A Typical Day on Ipanema Beach
Most mornings in Rio began the same way. Just after six o’clock, I’d cross the street from my hotel and step onto the sand at Ipanema Beach. The city was only beginning to wake up, and the beach still belonged to the early risers. The air was cool and crisp, the waves rolled gently onto…
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