Lounging around in Dahab is just what I need

Travelling at this pace is gruelling. I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but the sheer amount of planes, trains and automobiles I get on and off is mind boggling at times. So is staying in different places and cities every night. Most travellers I meet say they wouldn’t touch my itinerary and it’s time constraints with a ten foot pole.

Mango smoothies...ice coffee...the waves lapping on the shore...I may never leave

I’m tired and don’t want to burn out, so I need a vacation from my vacation. I heard Dahab, Egypt is a good place to chill, and because of this, and the fact that it falls smack dab in the middle of my trip, I spend 3 precious days there, aware that time is not something I have to spare.

I find the "No camels allowed" sign funny

...and funnier when 5 minutes later I see a camel wandering around

The hostel is only $8 a night and is like a resort. It’s hand’s down the nicest place I have ever stayed at. I meet lots of other travellers which I absolutely love. I don’t eat one single meal alone. I read a ton. I sun tan. I eat the most amazing Middle Eastern food. I hear the waves crash all over the shore. I sip mango smoothies on the beach. I eat some more. I sleep. I indulge in a massage on the beach to help my aching back. I socialize.  I smoke shisha (relax, it’s mild tabacco and nothing narcotic). I love the camraderie of the place and the people I meet and the chilled out atmosphere.

My massage table on the beach

Sigh. This is the life.

I realize something while I’m here, after I have met a lot of great people.

Smoking sheesha at a restaurant (No, it's not a narcotic!) with new friends

I’ve always known that I am a huge extrovert, and people and my connections back home are my lifeline.  But this trip has shown me that I can find awesome connections with people anywhere in the world. I’m really not alone out here. No one is every really alone. There are always people around, waiting to be connected with. I just have to make an effort and reach out and find them. It’s a cool thing.

The view from my hostel window

An uncharacteristic moment on my soapbox…

Want to hear something cool?

Back in the fall of 2005, on my 25th birthday, I was hanging out with some friends. At this piont I hadn’t travelled like I wanted to, and due to my current situation in life, I wasn’t sure how it would ever be feasible. But I said over dinner to my friends, “I want to travel more. I want to go to Egypt and ride a camel. Stuff like that.”

“Ride a camel in Egypt? That’s kind of odd.”

“Yup, ride a camel in Egypt. And go to Asia. And I’ll visit you in South Korea, too.”

I forgot about that conversation until I was on the back of a camel last week. And in 2006 I went to South Korea, and I backpacked around Asia in 2007.

I know I am incredibly blessed to have these opportunities, and I feel it all the time.

But what’s cool is that things I said years ago are actually happening. And that’s an awesome feeling.

Some of you are telling me that you hope to go here or there in the world in the future. Keep it up. I really believe that by verbalizing and writing what you want to happen somehow makes it happen. I’m a testament to that. And hey, if travelling isn’t your thing, don’t ever stop dreaming. Verbalize it and write it. And then let me know when it happens, because it will.

I don’t want to be preachy on my blog, but I want to let you know that I’m a testament that if you dream big, it really can happen. And it’s such a great feeling that I have to share it.

<Denise steps off her soapbox and runs to catch the bus to Jordan>