bdougherty's VirtualTourist Home Page

If you are not supposed to be somewhere, someone will likely tell you. In the meantime, go where you can and see what no one else sees.

You would be amazed at the adrenaline and the view that you will find at the top of a minaret.

The things you see in pictures are always more awesome and beautiful in person. Take the time to really see them and take it all in. You will remember the details you had not anticipated and you will have a connection that can't be lost.

The Giza Plateau is far more than the pyramids and Sphinx...the place has a lot of archaeology in progress and is more or less open for you to see. It is a place worth many visits - our perspectives came from horseback the first time, foot on several occasions and on camel back on our final visit.

While in Jordan for a week, we planned nothing in detail. We just set out and took it as it came. From Ajloun and Jerash in the north to Amman and the Dead Sea we continued down through Petra, Wadi Rum and on to Aqaba and then returned to Amman to complete the circle.

Petra is an amazing place! Before we explored this valley filled with history and life in the spring of 2005 I thought is was simply a curious spot of no more than a few sites. I was incredibly mistaken. Petra holds everything from the Treasury that has become the icon of this place to the solitary climbs up into the back-country only know by the native Beduoin and a few overly curious explorers.

The combination of colors and hues that are found in the stone, the foliage and the sunlight/shadows makes Petra an everchanging kaleidescope of images that drives you to see what is around the next corner.

Do not be content with seeing this place from the floor of the valley - climb and explore and push yourself to go where it seems no one else will. Petra will always be with you.

This donkey left without his driver and ambled off down the streets of Cairo - I don't know where he expected to go or if he ever made it there but I know that he looked happy. For him, that was quite a day - we need more of those.

We headed off the highway to see what was out there - several hours and wrong turns later we wound our way out of the jugle and back to familiar paths. Don't panic when you end up off the map - you are now seeing what you were meant to see. This is what sets apart the explorer from the tourist.

People are people - the most interesting ones might be the ones who live amongst the places we all want to see. Spend some time looking at the people and you will learn much more about where you are.