Wadi Rum is a valley with rocks located in the east of Aqaba. It is one of the most spectacular places which I have seen so far. It is a place which is a must see in Jordan. When we arrived there, my host hired a jeep with a driver and we went for a ride in the sand dunes. Then we drank mint tea in the bedouin market. I borrowed some traditional clothes and dressed myself like a bedouin woman, but it was around 30°C that day so I took it off very soon.

                                                         me in burqua

After visiting Wadi Rum we travelled to Petra where we rented a room in a hotel. I was not fully satisfied with it because I expected to stay in my host's flat, but he said he was living with his family and he couldn't accommodate me there. We bought a ticket for a night show in Petra. We were sitting on the rocks where we climbed (it is not usually allowed but my host was working as a tour guide in Petra so it was ok) and we were listening to music in the dark, the only light was coming from candles. I remember a man playing a flute. I even took a photo there, but it is completely dark with orange spots so I am not going to insert it here.
The following day (it was Thursday) my host had to work and we went together on a tour in Petra. I rode a horse there and then a donkey. We drank mint tea again, but it was so hot that day and the tea was so sweet that it almost made me sick.

Temple in Petra

I left to Amman on Friday to visit another guy there. My host in Petra got other couchsurfers that day and didn't have time for me anymore. I found a taxi driver who took me to Amman. 

I wore shorts and miniclothes during my stay in Jordan. It was fine in the tourist places but it is not recommended in Amman. I had to wear a long skirt there. Although my stay in Aqaba and Petra went smoothly I had some troubles in Amman.

Now I am going to talk about my travels during last 2 years which I would like to describe in detail. After taking my final exam at the Czech university of life sciences I decided to go to Egypt for the third time. I went there in March 2010 and bought a 2 weeks trip from a travel agency, however I decided not to stay in Egypt all the time and I went to explore its neighbor countries.

This time I chose to spend my holidays in Egypt in Nuweiba which is around 65 km far away from Taba border with Israel. I took a flight late at night and arrived to Taba very early in the morning. Then we had to take a bus to Nuweiba and the travel took around one hour. It was around 8am when we got there. It was sunny and warm and I initially hesitated whether I should go to swim or to sleep, but I was tired so I slept till afternoon.

The weather in Egypt was warm, around 27°C. I stayed in the hotel called Helnan Nuweiba which was quite empty at the time. The hotel has its private beach where I was snorkeling. The sea was nice, there were coral reefs and fishes, but it can't be compared with Sharm El Sheikh. I paid for the half board and I used to go to the restaurant in the morning and evening where we could take as much as we wanted from the buffet. The food was tasty, but I usually enjoy overeating so I took so much food that I couldn't even finish it.

I arrived to Egypt on Monday 10th March and I knew quite soon that I didn't want to stay there because I had been there twice before and Nuweiba doesn't offer many opportunities to have fun. I left Egypt on Tuesday afternoon when I took a taxi to the Israeli border and then another one to the Jordanian border. I had already found couchsurfers to stay with before leaving Prague, however I didn't expect to stay in Egypt such a short time. My delegate didn't really appreciate the idea that I would go travelling alone to other countries, but I was adamant so she had to deal with it. 

I crossed both borders very quickly. An Israeli customs officer was questioning me where I was going to and who I would stay with, but she let me go after a few minutes. Nobody asked me anything in the Jordanian border, I just paid for the visa and I waited for my host who was originally from Petra, but had also another flat in Aqaba. We stayed one night in Aqaba and the following day we swam in the Red sea and visited the city and then we travelled to Wadi Rum.

                                                         Fountain in Aqaba

My second trip to Egypt happened during Christmas 2004 when we travelled to Hurghada and this time we didn't like our stay very much. Our hotel was next to the busy road with the noisy traffic during the night. The weather was cold, only around 17°C and very windy. I went to swim in the sea almost every day, but most of the time I was just freezing on the beach in the sweater. This weather would be ideal for windsurfing but not for spending holidays on the beach. The sea was dredged, therefore there were only a few coral reefs left. We were disappointed with Hurghada because there was nothing to see and comparing to Sharm it was much worse place. We were also not satisfied with the delegate who didn't take care of us properly.

Luxor

 We went on a trip to Luxor for one day. It was warmer there and the city was interesting. However, we were dissatisfied with our trip in Hurghada and we don't want to go there again.

My other two trips outside Europe were during Christmas 2003 and 2004 to Egypt. I went there with my mother and we bought a trip from a travel agency. We were staying there around 10 days each time The first time we travelled to Sharm El Sheikh and the second time to Hurghada.

Cairo

Sphinx

Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm El Sheikh

We were lucky with the weather in Sharm El Sheikh because it was around 25°C and sunny. The sea was wonderful with coral reefs and colorful fishes. We saw also a blue spotted ray there. We were staying in the hotel Dive Inn which had a swimming pool. A few days after our arrival we went on a boat trip, where some people were fishing, while I was just swimming and sunbathing. We sailed to Ras Muhammad where I was diving a bit (but just with my glasses, I would be scared to try the scuba diving). I considered Ras Muhammad to be an amazing place and one of the most beautiful places for diving.

We went to Cairo where we visited the National museum, the Alabaster mosque, pyramids and sphinx and also the factory with perfumes and carpets. I rode a camel for the first time in my life. We had two guides there, the first one was an Arabic man who could speak Czech fluently and the second one was a woman who studied Czech at the university and she spent one year in the Czech Republic. Cairo wasn't very warm at that time, only around 20°C and it was raining a little which is quite rare in Egypt. My mother didn't stay in Cairo during the night but I did. I stayed in the hotel Victoria. It was fine but I was woken up early in the morning by a praying muezzin. I met three friends from IRC, one of them joined me in the evening in the hotel and we went for a walk. 

The next day I visited the pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara and the lying statue of Ramses II. Then I returned to Sharm. 

I was satisfied with my trip in Sharm El Sheikh, even though I was sick for some time of my trip because of the Egyptian food. We bought quite a lot of stuff in Egypt in the markets, including perfumes, clothes and other stuff, but later we found out that most of it was shoddy goods.

Only two days after our return to Prague there was a plane crash in Sharm El Sheikh where 148 people on the board died, the majority of them were French tourists. It was very shocking news for me and I was thinking that we might have seen some of those people in Sharm. When I flew to the Martha's Vineyard island another disaster stroke when J.F. Kennedy, Jr. crashed into the Atlantic ocean off Martha's Vineyard just the night I arrived there. 

It is hard for me to describe what happened during my trip to Martha's Vineyard because I am hesitant to reveal details from my privacy. My trip was finished in a bad way and I will try to be as unbiased as possible while explaining the reasons for my short stay in my aunt's house.
First of all, I didn't know my aunt well. I met her only few times and I always spent a few days with her, but we were surrounded by other people all the time and we didn't really get to know each other. When she invited me to Martha's Vineyard to spend summer holidays there and I accepted her invitation we didn't consider the fact that even though we were close relatives we didn't know much about each other.
The Martha's Vineyard island is a wonderful place. It is a holiday resort for rich people. However, there is nothing to do except going to the beach. There are no possibilities to go out in the evening and enjoy the nightlife. All my friends know that I love sea and I am always happy to spend holidays on the beach, but I was a bit disappointed that there was were only small towns, beaches and lighthouses (and skunks).
My aunt used to work as a cleaner in the houses of rich people and I was helping her. She shared her income with me in a fair way as she gave me the half of the money earned. We often went to Thrift shop where she was working too and I chose some clothes there. She lived with her boyfriend in a small house with three rooms and I was sleeping in the living room on the sofa.
As I said, the conflicts between me and my aunt started very soon after my arrival. I felt deprived of my privacy because she and her boyfriend used to get up at 7am and go to sleep at 9pm. When I wanted to use the computer in the evening she told me that I was disturbing her because the house had thin walls and she could hear the noise. I told her I didn't imagine my holidays in this way. I considered myself to be an adult and she considered me to be a disobedient child. My aunt was overbearing and I was stubborn so I didn't want to comply with her requirements.
I sent an e-mail to my mother and told her that my aunt commanded me and I would like to return home. I forgot to delete the e-mail from the computer and my aunt found it and was furious. We had some arguments together but we decided soon that it would be the best solution if I returned back home soon. I think we were all relieved that I left. My stay on the Martha's Vineyard island lasted only 2 weeks.

As I said before, my first travel outside Europe took place in 1995 when I travelled to USA to visit my uncle and his family who emigrated there around 1990. They lived in a small town in New Jersey called Plainsboro. I stayed there around 6 weeks and I had an overall exciting time, we visited many funfairs and relatives and friends who emigrated to USA. There was a swimming pool close to our home and we went there very often. It was very hot there, temperatures were reaching 35-40°C, but I got a bad cold due to the air-conditioner.
I stayed with my uncle, his wife and their two sons who were both older than me (one was 15 and another one 19 at that time). We had a good time but sometimes the relations were tight because my uncle was unemployed and only his wife was working. I visited also my father's sister who emigrated to USA in 1968 and she lived in Florham Park in New Jersey. She has two children, Diana and John. I spent with her maybe 4 or 5 days, we went to the Cornell university where my cousin Diana was studying. We probably crossed Pennsylvania on our way but I don't remember anymore. I met my cousin John at my aunt's place but I didn't see him again ever since. We went to a beach but it wasn't possible to swim there due to the big waves. I saw lifeguards saving two men who decided to go to swim despite of the warning. My cousin Diana took me to the funfair with her friends. We played ping-pong together and we took a bath in jacuzzi which they had at home.
My uncle took me on a trip to New York for one day and we went to the Empire state building. We took a lift on the top of the building. It was exciting to see big skyscrapers for the first time in my life.
My first stay in USA was pleasant in general and I returned home satisfied with my visit. However, I went to USA again in 1999 to visit my aunt who left her husband in between and moved to the Martha's Vineyard island in Massachusetts and this time my trip wasn't finished in a good way.

I just returned home now. It is the Walpurgis Night tonight. I went to the park called Kampa where many people gathered at the bonfire. Someone was playing drums. The weather is unusually warm for this time of the year, even after the midnight it is more than 20°C. Such weather is more typical for summer.
I went for a lunch at the restaurant U Bulinu. I ordered chicken with potatoes, cheese and salad. My mother bought me new shoes as a birthday present. Tomorrow the weather should be nice so we will probably go to swim to the dam called Slapy, but on Thursday it should get colder.