It’s been nearly two months since my last budget post, and we have visited Morocco (twice), Spain, Jordan, Switzerland, Italy, and Israel before flying back to Detroit on December 9th. During these 42 days, we spent a total of $5,780, giving us at a weekly spend rate of $963. This is much better than my […]
Tel Aviv During Hanukah
Hooked on study abroad after my semester in Rome, I jumped at the opportunity to study abroad again during graduate school. The University of Chicago offers a handful of short-term study abroad programs for its part-time MBA students, and my employer was kind enough to let me take two and a half weeks off in […]
Joyful in Jordan
How much do we love Jordan? Let me count the ways. The joyful buoyancy of the Dead Sea. The ancient masterpiece of Petra. The unearthly beauty of Wadi Rum. The seaside destination of Aqaba. The cosmopolitan capital of Amman. It has stunning natural beauty, some of the best Roman ruins outside of Italy, medieval castles […]
Lauren of Arabia and the Best Day Ever in Wadi Rum
After Petra, we were next looking forward to visiting Wadi Rum, an inhospitable desert made famous as the setting for Lawrence of Arabia (both the real guy, T.E. Lawrence, and also the movie) and, more recently, The Martian. Chris had found a highly-reviewed Bedouin guide company early on, and we planned to spend the full day in […]
Petra at Dawn
Visiting Petra—one of the Seven New Wonders of the World—was one of the top five things Chris and I were looking forward to most on our RTW trip. This ancient city was built by the Nabataean people more than 2000 years ago as their capital and spiritual center during the height of their trading prosperity and […]