The destination was decided many moons ago and by last summer the flight was already booked. But here we are, 2 1/2 weeks from d-day, and again covid is complicating the situation.

On Jan 11th, a week after receiving my booster shot, the plan is that Gord and I will be on a plane heading for Cairo. We will spend a few weeks in Egypt seeing the sights and limbering up our legs before taking a ferry across the Red Sea to Jordan. From there we will hike approximately 500 kilometers of the Jordan trail through wild desert beauty into Petra. Unless of course we lose our way and miss the water holes in which case we will wander aimlessly until we perish. Wow, that sounds dark. It sounded way funnier in my mind.

Hopefully we will also be able to get into Israel, one of my favorite places in the world. I have wonderful memories there of Jen and I hiking the Israel National Trail in 2015. But at the moment their borders are closed to foreign nationals.

Between covid tests, and border restrictions that change with the tides, the logistics of this three-month trip will be a “take a deep double-masked breath and roll with the quarantines” kind of adventure. As usual I will blog everything from the exquisite to the free fall, as well as a potential change of destination at the last minute.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a hope that the new year brings brighter days.