We had an early flight back to Istanbul at 8:40 AM so our hotel pick up was at 6:30 AM. We got another opportunity to view the hot air balloon again! I will never get tired of this view every morning! Those two really enjoying the view that they were there the whole morning! Do… Read More Mosques and Bazars of Istanbul
At 5:00 AM, I woke up by the blasting sound of hot air balloons, I opened my eyes, ran to the window, opened the curtain and saw hot air balloons raising up the sky!!! I said to Jason: OMG, the balloons are here! I walked over to Judy, Jeffrey, and Peter’s room (next to our… Read More Cappadocia: Sky Filled with Hot Air Balloons and Derinkuyu Underground City
The 1 hour 25 min flight from Istanbul to Kayseri was comfortable and they even served a hot sub with melted cheese and beef! I wish the US domestic flights (those coast to coast 6 hours flights) do that. There are two airports that are in the Cappadocia area – Kayseri and Nevşehir Kapadokya. I… Read More Cappadocia: Valleys of Rock Formations
When I first saw photos of Cappadocia, the sky full of hot air balloons wowed me. Since then, Cappadocia has been on my bucket list so we were super excited and looking forward to this trip. After extensive research and reading through reviews, we picked Royal Balloon because it’s one of the biggest, most experienced,… Read More Cappadocia – Magical Hot Air Balloon Ride with Royal Balloon
Waking up with a view like this, was I still dreaming? After all, I got less than 3 hours of sleep since stargazing. The Mars-like landscape was unbelievable except…for the bulldozer. I was up for the sunrise but the sun was over the mountain on the right side so I didn’t get to see it.… Read More Morning Hike at Memories Aicha Luxury Camp, Wadi Rum
The same drill as yesterday, quick breakfast at 6 and then straight to the Treasury as fast as we could! The camels were there this morning so I took a quick snap. The Bedouins approached us to the “best view” and after rounds of bargaining, we got the price down to 50 JD for the… Read More Early Morning in Petra and Mars-like Landscape of Wadi Rum
How to avoid crowds in Petra? Start early as soon as the gate opens at 6 AM! However, breakfast began at 6 so we grab a quick bite and took water and bananas with us. Breakfast at the hotel wasn’t anything special but I just like having something hot in my tummy to begin my… Read More The Rose City of Petra
The morning sun ray lighted up the Israel side of the Dead Sea into a golden glow. What a view in the early morning! We had a full-day schedule today so we got up and headed straight to breakfast to start early. They had this setup in front of the breakfast room to give an… Read More Jordan: Ma’in Hot Springs is a Scam and Petra Light Festival is a Huge Disappointment!
After a short 3 hours flight from Doha, we landed at Amman at 12:15 PM, Jordan which marked our 50th country milestone after 13 years of travel! Arriving at Amman was so different than in Doha, there was no special line for business class passengers; I think we got spoiled haha. We purchased the Jordan… Read More 50th Country Milestone at Jordan – 1st Stop Dead Sea
Jordan and Turkey have been on my bucket list for a long time and what triggered us to go was the 40% bonus transfer from Amex points to British Airways Avios and Qatar Airways joining the Avios point program so we can redeem just 57,200 points (normally 80,000 Avios) for a one-way business class ticket… Read More A Wonderful Overnight Stay in Doha, Qatar to Check Off the 49th Country
