New Year's Eve dinner was wonderful; the Marriott pulled out all the stops. The whole lamb was placed in the middle of the buffet line; one of the chefs would slice off a piece for you if you wanted. We didn't make it until the belly dancer arrived let alone midnight as we have had early mornings every day.

Today was our last touring day of the trip. We had an early start so that we could go to Wadi Rum. We switched to a four wheel drive, driven by a Bedouin, for the tour. We had to go down the highway around 10 miles before we hit the desert. I noticed that the spedometer was not working and he had no tach. He must be related to Louis Hamilton as he was very efficient going through the gears. We had a two hour tour of Wadi Rum but 20 minutes each way were taken up getting to and from the desert. Wadi Rum is fantastic. I recommend a longer tour. I think it would be better to get the 4x4 at Wadi Rum Visitor Center or Village. Some of the sites are a couple of hours just to get to them. We saw Lawrence's Spring and the Seven Pillars of Wisdom but didn't get to some of the other sites where Lawrence had travelled.

To continue the Lawrence of Arabia tour, we asked the guide to drive us through Aqaba before heading to the border. Aqaba was beautiful; very clean.

The border crossing was relatively easy. The Jordanian guards searched all of our bags even though we were leaving the country. We then had to pay an exit tax and walk across "no man's land" to the Israeli side where we went through three separate checks. Then, a short taxi ride to Eilat airport where we were interviewed for a while and had our bags searched again. We were able to get an earlier flight so we were at our hotel in Tel Aviv by 1500. Arlene will write later about what happened then. ;)

This has been a wonderful trip. It has been very difficult. Seven different hotel rooms and six days in apartment. All days except two we were up and out no later than 0830. Middle easterners, whether Jews or Arabs, are a different type of people. It is not exactly a relaxing place.

I asked Arlene to write a review of the whole trip when we get home. Although this is my third trip to Israel (and I have spent a little time in Arab countries), this is Arlene's first. I think other's would appreciate her impressions.

Tomorrow we head home so this is it for Sandmail.