The Stress of Vacation

I think that most vacations are a mix of stress and relaxation. When I was growing up, our vacations consisted of an annual trip to the Kansas State Fair. Even though it was a vacation, I can remember my parents being slightly stressed. Were we ready? Was the car packed? Did we have the tickets? We should have left 30 minutes ago. He’s won’t leave me alone. I have to pee.

I’m sure many of you can relate. Vacations can be stressful, and for me, it seems the most stressful parts are getting there and getting home.

This vacation was no different. Jill and I left last Friday for our trip to Taba Heights, Egypt via Amman and Aqaba, Jordan. We both have extensive traveling experience, but I think we can both admit we were nervous about getting through airports in Kuwait and Jordan. Our biggest concern was making sure we could catch the ferry from Aqaba to Taba Heights to prevent us from having to cross through Israel. If we were forced to cross the Israeli border, we were at risk of not being allowed back into Kuwait. While that idea seemed promising, we decided against it.

The flight from Kuwait to Amman was probably the longest two-hour flight I had ever experienced. Many Kuwaitis seem to think rules do not apply to them. They allowed their small children to run up and down the aisle, and before we had even parked at the gate, they were up and moving towards the exit. It didn’t take me long to learn that if I didn’t do my fair share of pushing and shoving, I would never make it off the plane. It was crazy!

After we landed, we swapped some Kuwait Dinars for Jordanian Dinars (JD), and then we headed to the visa line. For once, the Kuwait system looked organized. Jill and I waited in line for over an hour to get our Jordanian visas. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but we definitely received an expedited process because we were Americans. Instead of stacking our passports on the bottom of the ten already in the stack, ours went right to the top.

With our visas in hand, we headed to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. We soon boarded our flight to Aqaba and landed on time or even early. We quickly located a cab to take us to the location where our ferry would depart. Let the stress begin.

The day before we left, I used our AUK-issued cell phone to make a call to Jordan in order to book our ferry across the Red Sea. The nice man asked me to email copies of our passports to insure our seats on the ferry. I was happy to oblige, and it seemed like things were going our way. Oh vacation…how you like to play with my emotions!

We roll up to the dock with our bags in hand, and we show them our passports and let them know we have reservations. Of course, we aren’t on the list. Go figure. Normally, this would not be a problem, except the ferry company has to get their list of passengers to the Egyptian authorities for approval. This takes at least 24 hours. Of course there is only one ferry that leaves Aqaba for Taba Heights per day…the one we can’t get on. Again, being American helped us here. The owner of the boat made several calls to the office in Egypt and miraculously we were able to get on the boat. Hallelujah. Unfortunately, the stress wasn’t over just yet.

We arrive in Egypt with no Egyptian money. None. Zilch. We weren’t quite sure what to do, but “inshallah” it would all work out. We passed the swine flu test and proceeded to get our Egyptian visas. After this, we waited for our cab. We were told that he needed five JD to take us to our resort. I had three, one-JD bills and a 50. Of course, he didn’t have change. We got to our resort, and Jill tried to get change. Imagine that, the hotel didn’t have any Jordanian money. Luckily the nice driver took my three JD, and we finally checked in to our resort.

After that stressful day, the next were relatively stress free. In fact, the biggest decision I had to make on a daily basis was if I should get in the water or not. Our time at the Taba Heights Marriott consisted of sleeping in, eating breakfast, laying on the beach, reading, sleeping, and then getting ready for dinner. It was a nice and relaxing break.

We stayed at Taba Heights until Wednesday. We were scheduled to fly back to Amman at 6:05 p.m. but decided to take a bus to Amman much earlier in the day. Of course there was stress getting back to the ferry, but at that point, it was expected. We made it to the bus station, and bought our ticket for the four-hour drive through Jordan. The bus ride was not bad. It was air-conditioned, and they played a movie (in Arabic) for our viewing pleasure.

We made it to Amman and got to our hostel where we met up with our friends. Emily, Meredith, and Kevin had already checked us into the hostel, and were making plans for our time in Amman.

The rest of the trip was fast and furious. There wasn’t much time for sleeping-in or lying around. We spent a day in Amman, found a happy hour, and we were off to Petra the next day. After a six-hour hike through Petra, we headed back to Amman, floated in the Dea Sea, and then went back to happy hour. Before we knew it, we were on a plane back to Kuwait. Because I’m lazy, instead of writing a lot about Jordan, I’ll just provide some pictures:

A Roman theater in Amman

Standing in front of the Treasury in Petra

A view on the hike to the monestary in Petra

The view from the hostel's balcony near Petra

Read before floating

Second Summer Session- First Week
The first week of our second summer session class has begun. So far, the biggest adjustment has been a change in my daily schedule. This session, I am teaching from 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Jill’s class goes until 5:15 p.m. so our ride home is an hour later each day.

I have eleven students, and it’s hard to tell how things will go after three class periods. Today was their first quiz, and they did much better than the last group on the first quiz. Informative presentations are on Thursday.

Other items of interest
Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s open! Just kidding. Sadly, I have no news to report.

Cabs. I am DONE, OVER, SICK OF having to haggle cabs. I will be so excited to get into my Jeep and drive where I want to go. The cabs like to take advantage of us, and they seem to think that we aren’t familiar with the “going rates” or the quickest ways to get home. After the Sultan Center on Sunday, I offered the cab driver 1KD. He laughed, and said 1 ½ KD. I went to close the door and walk away, and then he changed his mind. Don’t they know we are locals?? This isn’t our first rodeo. He proceeded to take us on the longest trip home since we’ve been here.

Dust Experiment. I have started the experiment. At this point, things don’t seem as dusty. Go figure. It’s just my luck. When I want to get started on an experiment, the conditions change.

Washing Machine. All I wanted to do when I got home from vacation was start doing laundry. I walk into my apartment and notice the washer/dryer is gone. No note, it’s just gone. Justin had left a note saying that it was broken, but the building manager later decided it needed to be repaired. I’m not sure what the current status is. I know that today, there should be a key for another apartment so we can use another machine. It seems like we have major electrical issues in this building. At least four or five machines have been fried since we’ve been here.

Revenge of the Chicken. So, I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve gotten myself another bug/bacteria in my system. This is the second time it’s happened since I’ve been here. I’ll not go into the details, but let’s just say it is not pretty. Good thing my sister does research on shigella.

Getting Close. We have three weeks left in Kuwait. We still have several things to cross off our list before we leave. We had to say goodbye to our new friend Amy before we left for vacation. Amy works full time at AUK and was headed back to the states for awhile. She’s been a saving grace for us here. Not only did she give us a ride home from campus each day, but she’s provided lots of insight to surviving Kuwait. I’ll definitely miss her and wish her the best!