As of a few minutes ago when I booked our flights, I'm pleased to announce that the next installment of my whistle-stop/piecemeal long-weekend tour of the greater Middle East/North Africa region is... SYRIA!
We have Thursday 20 March off work for the Prophet's birthday - coincidentally, it's also Easter Sunday - so Jojo, Mar, and I are peacing out on Wednesday night and coming back on Sunday evening. We'll fly into Damascus and spend two days there, with a day trip to Bosra or Palmyra, and then finish up the trip by stopping off at Krak des Chevaliers on our way to Aleppo, from which we'll fly home.
(LOL, not that I'm in full-throttle Nerdy Travel-Planning Mode or anything...)
But seriously, I'm so excited because Syria has absolutely insane history - we'll see a span of Babylonian, biblical, crusader, and Ottoman sites, all within the course of 4 days - not to mention the fact that Dimashq and Halab (Damascus and Aleppo) are two of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.
Plus... Syrians rock. All the coolness of the Lebanese, with none of the attitude.
Anyhow, the only remaining stitch in our plans is visa issuance for Mar and I (Jojo, traveling on a British passport, has it blissfully easy). There's a lot of drama about needing to get a "no objection" letter from the US consulate here in Dubai, and blah blah blah diplomatic rhetoric, and "ooh Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism, oh no!" but we think we have a flawless back-door plan in the form of Habib, Roommate E's personal travel agent from his 2 previous trips to Syria, who apparently procures quasi-under-the-table visas for Americans and meets you at the airport with them in hand.
Ha. Should be an adventure!
In other news, I've decided that I can Officially Live in Dubai Forever based on last night's discovery of cable channel 80, a dreamy hybrid of E! and the Style Network which shows both "True Hollywood Story" and "Whose Wedding Is It, Anyway?" on a nightly basis. Following on the heels of my realization that channel 48 shows Oprah and Tyra Banks from 9-11 PM, I think Dubai now meets all my needs.
On second thought... Sour Patch Kids. I will still have to move back to America someday to have access to free, unlimited consumption of Sour Patch Kids. There you go, Mom and Dad - don't panic. ;)
