New Year's UAE, and a final Cruise for We.

So uh, when did one month of travel suddenly become four?

 Life is a highway

It seems like yesterday I was writing the one month in review post. I can't write a four month in review post because where did the other three go

Free-faaaaaaallin'.

So after the Holy Land Experience for Christmas, New Year's Eve had to be just as special. As the 2013 record-breaker of 'most fireworks in the world', there really could be only one place to celebrate the moment in style.

 Dubai!

New Year's Eve is a special holiday, so getting to do it right in Dubai was satisfying in itself. It's the one evening a year I pretend that dress up is fun. This tradition started back in NYE 2012 with a sojourn with pals into Hong Kong, and I have made it a point to try and keep it ever since.

We stayed in very nice hotel in Downtown Dubai with an excellent view of the Burj Al Khalifa, home to said famous fireworks show. I will say, having viewed the crowded masses below us from our skyscraper, I was particularly glad we were able to view the show from our room.

Stellarness.

After seeing the show, the next few days was seeing Dubai. The city is described as a miracle in the desert, and rightly so. But  it's not simply a desert miracle. It's literally a world miracle.

From the world's tallest buildings:

And largest malls.

And everything else you might not have known you needed to do in the Middle East. In a Mall.

Shop, Ski, See Fish, Ice-skate, see a movie... I mean really.

.
It puts most cities really to shame in terms of 'we just plain got it all.'

If you like retail,  get over to Dubai. You could probably spend a week alone just shopping. And the fact it was 70s in December-January, while the northern hemisphere is stuck in snow? 

What more incentive do you need!?

 But inherently it is a city, and after a few odd days we were ready to depart to see a little more of the UAE itself, because only going to Dubai and saying you've seen the UAE is like going to New York City and saying you've seen the USA.

Your experience may vary.

Our method of travel wasn't unique, but it was very different than what we have done up to this point.

MSC, (Mediocre Sailing Cruises) is an Italian-owned cruise line that briefly stops for the winter season here in the Persian Gulf. They are primarily found in the Caribbean and Mediterranean for the remainder of the year. I can actively avoid them there.

It was nice to travel differently, but I have done few cruises (like...three), and in sailing MSC for a week I have discovered I'm might not be a much of a cruiser.

SAFETY DRILL AT MIDNIGHT.

There's just too many people on a cruise.  I remarked in Greece that I wouldn't have enjoyed Santorini as much as if I'd been with 5,000 of my closest tourist friends. I will go ahead and say it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I am done with buffets. 

But not with tea snacks. This was not on the cruise ship.

We stopped in several ports in the UAE and Oman. And I'm not one to say I'll never come back to any destination (Looking at you Morocco), but I can't say they're on my radar for revisiting. 

My life was not changed in the greater UAE/Oman. I feel as if in travel writing you almost should be 

experiencing some life-changing in every destination. Oops.

Whether it was there was general lack of things to do or see, or just the cruises' way of touring, I can't pinpoint. Maybe it was a little bit of both. But to sum it was a collective meh. The cruise ship itself was meh too. (Read Cruise Critic reviews of MSC for hilarious results.) As we put it, it was a means to an end. But there were a few highlights, which I'll share:

High Tea at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. (though somewhat spoiled by the cruise-ship vibe.)

Just pretend nobody's wearing MSC cruise stickers.

Hanging out at the (terribly touristy, and yet at its heart an authentic cultural experience) Muscat Cultural Village:

I pity the fool who tries to take a tissue.

Seeing a spiffy fort or two or three.

Getting a free fish pedicure.

Why pay when you can have it for freeeeee

And seeing a Batman Musical as a part of the ship's nightly theater show. 

I wish I was kidding.

Ultimately, even a mediocre tour of travel sure beats any day not travelling. But the real highlight of the cruise for me wasn't the cruise so much as it was getting to hang out with this lady for one week more.

And so my stalwart travel companion and did you brush your teeth yet and keeper of several good travel-related inside jokes has departed. Now there's a rather odd void. I've become accustomed to traveling with her these past few months, and so, her absence is strange. It'll take me a few days to re-adjust to solo travel once more.

She's leaving! :(

I'm very grateful that my mom came as long as she did. Four months seems to me a blip on the screen (I just don't get how it went by so quickly), but being that gone that long can be a bit more challenging when there's pets, a house, bills, and friend and family ties waiting across the sea. I'm very lucky to have someone that can and will travel with these obligations.

And I am not the easiest to travel with. Eep.

So a salute to the woman from who I inherited the spirit of adventure whose journey pauses for now. Thanks for coming, traveling, and hanging out with me. I hope you had as much fun  as I did.  And thanks for tolerating the madness.  And remember, it may/may not work, even if you do/don't pay.

But  it's not the last this blog will see of MKFW. Once a backpacker, always a backpacker.

And Spring is coming.

Where is that next stop? Oh that's right, AUSTRALIA!!!

Australia has been a dream trip of mine since I can remember having dreams about trips. Whether it was something to do with Disney's Rescuers Down Under or just a general Kangaroos are freakin' awesome or Crikey! G'day! or 101 species of critters that can and will kill you or Dingo took my baby or shrimp on the barbie or wallabies or:

What Kangaroo obsession?

My first stop is in the rad city of Melbourne where I'll get to meet my distant cousins for the first time.And begin to see all the cool things Australia has to offer.

And it's somewhat surreal in a way to come back to this side of the world and travel through again, though much more extensively than last time. I lived in Korea from 2011-2012, and some of my most memorable travel experiences happened here.

I look forward to creating some new ones.

and you know, finding that purpose/direction/job/winning lottery ticket. one of those.

Guided in a Holy Land

Happy New Year!

Well, for this blog, it didn't quite start off as a Happy New Year, as my Jordan and Israel blog post somehow disappeared.

A visual representation on how Blogger did me in.

Aside from that bit of un-fun, 2015 has been pretty terrific several days in. Well, when you start off the year doing what you love....

You find inner peace!! I think.

There's still a lot of unanswered questions, ( still that burning question of what am I going to do with my life) and still readjusting to spontaneity and uncertainty in regards to my travel. At 20 I wasn't concerned flying off somewhere foreign and figuring it out when I got there, but nearing 27 I've become  acclimated to planning and booking ahead.

what's at the end of this road? how will I get there?  how long should I be on itRRRARARRGHH

So my (New Years') resolution to try and be a little more flexible with my travel is still work in progress. I've booked about the first quarter leg of Australia, so perhaps it will be the immediate future when that 'go with the flow' habit redevelops. I like to pretend I don't want to control every step of my life, but that would be moderately false.

Though I did ride off into the sunset sunrise in Petra, so does that count as steps in the right direction? 

The past few weeks have been fairly regimen, which is a given as Jordan and Israel aren't places you can travel without a tour.

Not even if you try blending in.

While you can show up and find a tour on arrival (it seems more easy to do in Jordan than in Israel), the lack of a 'do it on your own'  option isn't so bad, because a majority of the highlights are only where guide can take you.

Like eating in a Jordanian home with real, local food. This was amazing.

We really lucked out in Jordan, where we were guided by perhaps our best tour guide we've had travelling....ever.

His name was Hisham and he was awesome.

One thing that can make or break a tour is your tour guide. The funny thing about being a tour guide is that a love of travel can't make you great. At minimum, you have to be a.) knowledgeable and b.) a people person.

Can't be denying people, for example.

If you can read people, figure out what they are interested in, and play in on it in, you'll be successful.

I wanna be a Jedi!!@!!2

Our guide made a point to tailor to things we were interested in. Granted, he'd been in the industry nearly twenty years, so experience played a large role, but one thing that stood out from his knowledge was what I think is equivalently important in a tour guide:

Enthusiasm.

8D

Now I'm not saying you have to be smiley and cheery all the time. (Because really, I would never find work if this is the case.) But if you love your work, it's not hard to tell. You unconsciously express it, and it will be received as such.

If you have a passion for mosiacs and history, your audience will definitely pick up on it.

Because I'm sure our guide has seen these views a hundred times. But he made it seem if it was the first.

Jordan as a whole I walked away considerably enlightened. Because it is part of the Holy Land (Jordan River, Moses' view into the Promised Land, Lot's Cave, Red Sea) was why we went there. But the friendly people, ancient architecture, and exotic atmosphere set it apart. I could easily revisit, just to experience its wonder once more.

And doing a roadtrip. Just saying.

Now in comparison was our Israel tour guide.  He was extremely knowledgeable in running the tour. The efficiency of it all was impressive. 

From here:

 To here:

 To here!

All in one day.

Knows his stuff.

But he wasn't very enthusiastic. Mostly, he seemed worn out, as if 20 plus years of leading tours and dealing with tourists had caught up with him.

I hate this.

I'm sure anyone who's worked a job they didn't like can relate. I didn't hold it against him.

'Cuz like, Goodwill and stuff. Towards everybody. Oh and men too.

The views, no matter where we went,in Israel, were spectacular. But perhaps it was more the experience of Israel that made the biggest impression on us. Having set foot in places that shaped modern religion as we know it? Pretty powerful stuff.

I left Israel impressed with what we saw. The Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, the Stations of the Cross, Gethsemane, Bethlehem...these places shaped Christianity. And time travel is always a hit for me, no matter what century it's in. 

Because I'm all about those ruins, bout the ruins, ALL RUBBLE.

But if I chose between the two to revisit, Jordan would win. Because like in tour guiding, the scenery doesn't change.

Going beyond borders.

But the people you meet change you.

From here, the United Arab Emirates and Oman are next on our visit list. And then the turning of the page to the next chapter of Internationally Natalie...

Because really, the best experiences are certainly worth repeating.