One Last Road Trip

The Chicken has wanted to take a trip into Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula since the moment I told him that I wanted us to move to Jerusalem. The scuba diving is fantastic and cheap and apparently Dahab and its Red Sea coast, a common tourist destination for Israelis, is simply beautiful. You just drive down to Eilat, hop over the border, take a cab for 40 km and there you are. Since our time here is coming to a close and the weather is now a sane 28C, this weekend was the time to go.

But this week there was a terror threat from Al-Qaida on the Sinai and the Israeli government issued a travel warning. Apparently, they want to kidnap some Israelis and smuggle them in to the Gaza Strip to be held for political ransom like Gilad Shalit.

But since we are not Israelis and really can't be mistaken even for any type of middle easterners, we weren't so worried. On top of that, the government travel warnings for Dahab are frequent and perennial, the fear often blooming up right around Jewish holidays. We decided to go anyway.

But our insurance agents won't grant us travel insurance, and I refuse to go to Egypt- or anywhere without health insurance. So we can't go.

I guess that means that insurance agents are worse than Al-Qaida.

Instead were are going to take one last road trip. We'll head to the Ein Gedi nature preserve near the Dead Sea and then on to Eilat to go scuba diving. The diving isn't as good, and our budget wont go as far, but whatever.

Instead of a fancy five-star Egyptian hotel, we will be staying 40 minutes away in Arie's Awesome Guesthouse and Museum of Kitch, on (no kidding) Patio Antenna Road.

At least if I cut open my foot, I won't have to haggle for getting stitches.