I keep this blog in defiance of the great Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran, who wrote:
Travel and tell no one,
live a true love story and tell no one,
live happily and tell no one,
people ruin beautiful things.
I write to tell everyone who can find this blog how much I love traveling. It’s probably my very American identity that aligns the spirit of this blog with Mark Twain, who wrote:
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.
I travel because I love visiting new places, meeting people, and trying new foods. I love being gobsmacked at how little I know about the world. There is no amount of reading the newspaper or watching documentaries that can ever tell me what the lemonade at Petra tastes like or how quiet the desert in Wadi Rum is at midnight. I guess that is why I always loved the line from Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams’ character says, “I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel.”
This trip was great and quite different for me. We traveled with a lot more people than I am accustomed to and I had to get used to that. When Spencer, Samer, Holly, and I travel we each have a role and one never feels too much burden. This time, Samer and I both were definitely the leads of at least half of the trip. There was some stress with that identity, but nothing I didn’t overcome. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” I guess. Samer had the added responsibility of being the translator.
With all of that being said, this was an excellent trip that I enjoyed. I think 2 weeks is a great way to see Jordan and Lebanon. Jordan and Lebanon could not be more different. Jordan is an Arab country with a fairly cohesive identity to a westerner. Lebanon is an Arab country with a grab bag of identities from all over in it. When you are in Jordan, the language of the country is obviously Arabic. When you are in Lebanon, you never really know what language to choose. Signs are in Arabic, French, and English. Hell, in the right neighborhood you’ll also see Armenian.
An unexpected outcome of this trip was about my career. It’s no shocker, that I have not loved my work for the last couple of years. I left the trip wondering if I could make a business at being a modern-day travel agent. I’d happily research and design an untested itinerary for a trip and sell it to you. I love reading about places, chatting with locals online about unrecorded opportunities, and making a plan for others to follow. Honestly, I think I am pretty good at it. This is not a tenable business plan, but I have fantasized about it since I left. It’s more evidence that it may be time to do something different with my profession.
In order to coordinate everything, we used apps like tripit, travefy, and splitwise. I am sad to see travefy is disappearing. It was a great app to create itineraries. I thought Royal Jordanian was a good airline. I would like to visit Jordan again and explore Amman. I could see myself doing 3 days there before a trip to Lebanon. I will return to Lebanon. There is more to see, more food to try, and more wine to taste.
Everyone should go to these 2 countries. I am not sure I would do anything different. I enjoyed myself at every stop. I really enjoy the Middle East. I struggle to make sure that I am not patronizing or fetishizing the Middle East. I do not understand it, I do not fancy myself an expert in it, but I will continue to humble myself to its people and cultures. It is only then, that I (maybe we) can begin to learn about the Middle East.
Josh
Thanks and best wishes!