Let the travels begin

The beginning of my traveling adventures began yesterday…New York City. A friend from the area who let me stay at her house picked me up at the airport and we took a train into the city. I’d never been out of the airport in New York so I was happy to have a day to spend seeing the sites. What did I think of our nation’s marquee city? Big buildings, people, expensive shopping, restaurants and subways…lots of all of these things. We visited the popular tourist spots, kept an eye out for celebrities, wandered the foreign streets of Chinatown, and had coffee in a pleasant little park and pizza in Little Italy. I found some amazing deals at Saks 5^th Avenue. It’s really incredible how much you can save from a sale on a $1500 blouse or a $700 wallet. Personally I couldn’t resist the deals and bought 2 t-shirts and a pair of socks on a 30% off rack and saved over 1000 bucks. How could anyone resist such a deal (that’s a joke…I make $300 a month)

Anyway, I’m at JFK airport now, waiting to check in. Next on the list is a 13 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, where I might be stuck for a few days. As of now, the flight I was hoping to catch from Abu Dhabi to Beirut is overbooked by 15 people. No complaints from me on the standby tickets though, an angelic friend who works for an airline got me the tickets for 10% of the total cost, which means I could spend a week in Abu Dhabi or Dubai and still come out ahead on the price.

Eventually I’ll end up in Beirut and there are plans for a short trip to Damascus, Syria the following week-end. So, I’m managing to visit New York City, Abu Dhabi, maybe Dubai, Beirut, and Damascus, all within a 10 day period. There are some perks to my job, you know? Once I’m in Beirut, though, aside from the trip to Damascus, it’s down to business. I’ve got 1 month to cram lots of Arabic into what little space is left in my brain. Then it’s off to Sudan where the real work begins, along with continued Arabic studies.