A Peek Into My Mind

Our stay in Israel was ending on Day 10.
We started our day by having mass on the Sea of Galilee. We got on a boat and set sail to hit the open, rough waters!
The boat ride was definitely a thumbs up experience! It was quiet and peaceful. We were asked to reflect on our journey to Israel up to that point.
Here’s another picture of the fisherman I encountered while I was at the Sea of Galilee.
He’s cool and a very nice person. Thanks for the photo opp, sir!
After this, we loaded our bus and traveled for a few hours until we reached the Jordanian/Israeli Border. The border was not a nice, friendly place. I had taken my camera out to take a photo of OUR bus driver when someone yelled at me, saying I wasn’t allowed to do that. It made me sad and very regretful that I did not take a photo of our amazing bus driver, Majit.
And that’s it! Once at the border, we said goodbye to our knowledgeable, patient, Israeli tour guide, Munzur and hello to our Jordanian tour guide, Fatty. Holy Land Day 10

Our 2 days in Jordan were pretty short. Day 11 took us to Petra! If you guys didn’t know, Petra is the site for the number 2 Wonder of the New World. China’s Great Wall was chosen as number 1.

Petra is known for their pink caves. Here’s my mom walking in between the walls.
The walls don’t look too pink though, right?

But what makes Petra and the Pink Caves to “wondrous” is the Treasury. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed there. Don’t tell me what happened in the movie, because I haven’t seen it yet. I may Netflix it, though.
You know what’s cool? Jumping photos! Like this one, especially!
After so many tries, my mom was finally able to get me jumping in the air. Look at the people staring at me in the background. hahah!! And i’m holding my mom umbrella! She almost lost it in Petra!

We were traveling with Senior Citizens, so we couldn’t really go any further than the Treasury. Its okay though. After this, we headed back to the bus and traveled almost 2.5 hours back to our hotel. Holy Land Trip: Day 11

And that’s it, guys! The next day we flew back to Dubai for a 5 hour lay over and then headed back to the United States! After 14 hours in the plane, 2 hours at the LAX immigration & luggage claim, it felt sooo good to finally be home. Sleeping in your own bed is one of the best things in the entire world!

I was wrong about this trip.
I thought we’d be praying all day long… not really talking about anything else. While we DID go to church everyday, and even sang prayer hymns on the bus, we didn’t pray as much as I expected. This wasn’t a vacation for me, because when you’re on vacation you get to sit back and relax. It was a pilgrimage and meant we had to suffer along the way. Each morning we were up by 6am, if not earlier, we’d travel around from place to place, getting on and off the bus, usually not returning to our hotels until 8:45 or 9pm. We’d eat dinner quickly and return to our rooms. We’d sleep and wake up in the morning and do it all over again.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me, and i’m glad i went.
Part of my “Creating 2010″ goals was for me to get to know Mom better. I think I got to know my mom a little better by traveling with her. I hope she had a good time with me as a travel buddy.

My Holy Land Trip- Fin!