by Fae Rowen

It's been awhile since I've taken a trip that was more than three weeks long. But when you're paying for airfare halfway around the globe, it makes sense to stay a little longer. More than a year ago I arranged to travel to the Middle East for 24 days. When I woke up this morning I thought, "In three weeks at this time I'll be walking off a plane in Dubai!"

Even though I've been preparing a year for the trip--reading, exercising, getting as healthy as I can--the departure date has crept up with the stealth of a tiger. Two months ago I freaked out about Dubai when reading news articles about British women being thrown in jail for ninety days for bringing hormone therapy drugs into the country. Well, I wouldn't have been packing those, but what about all my other supplements? I can't go twenty-four days without my CoQ10 or Vitamin C. And my protein powders? What will I do for breakfast if I can't take my protein powders?

At least I made it through that terror. Although I have no definitive answers, I do have, courtesy of our US Department of State, the names of three lawyers in case I get thrown in jail. Nothing like preparedness. And I had a long interview with a Navy Captain who served six months in Dubai and gave me several invaluable suggestions about local customs and shopping. "What do you mean you're not planning on shopping in Dubai?" He convinced me it would be worth it. ("Not a normal woman"--see "Three Weeks Ago at Crit Group" blog!) Obviously I need all the help I can get, so if you have first-hand knowledge of Dubai, Egypt or Jordan and are willing to share travel tips with me, I'd love to hear from you!

If my friend and I get through three days on our own in Dubai and one day on our own in Cairo, we're home free. Then we'll join thirty-three other intrepid travelers for an extensive tour of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula and Jordan. But I've already informed my friend that on the "land safari" trip I'm riding in the Land Rover. I already rode a camel years ago, across the steppes of Mongolia. I have no desire to be spat at and bitten again.

I'll send a blog during the trip. That's why I bought my new iPhone--the source of another blog in the Technology Fun file.