Since our wedding, David & I have promised to visit one new country every year together. On our 6th wedding anniversary that equaled 20 international countries (21 if you include Palestine).

We enjoy travel probably more than the average person. We enjoy experiencing new things and being out of our comfort zone. As a photographer, everything is exciting and vibrant to my eyes.

Photos help us remember our travels but there is much more to the story than what you see here or on an Instagram feed. Some travel days are amazing, some days you are sick. Some bus rides have vistas for miles, and some travel days we thought we would perish in transit. Each day is part of a thrill and not knowing what will happen.

February 2019 we visited Israel and Jordan.

I've decided to share a few entries from my journal during our trip to Israel and Jordan. I only journal when I travel and it's always funny reading through the passages years later. I imagine I'm pretty witty, others would call it sarcastic, but I know in reality I was probably exhausted that particular day.

We started in St. Louis with a flight to Atlanta, then Paris, then Tel Aviv. Maybe tonight we'll have a normal night of sleep. It's not jet lag per-se, only that we hit the ground running and are tired on arrival. I am really proud of getting the tickets for $550 each and only paying half price airfare. We got to St. Louis with plenty of time to spare and had burgers and beer in the terminal. Airport food is always frustrating- $60 for something that should have been $30 and wasn't even that great.

We had a quick flight to Atlanta and then transfer for an evening flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle. David worried about not having enough time to connect, but honestly everything involving getting to Israel was smooth. My worst and only complaint was having the middle seat between David and another guy. They both wanted the entire armrest and I felt a little cramped. I hoped for an upgrade but it didn't happen.

It was an easy transfer in Paris and we took turns power napping on the floor at the gate. Some sleep helped but just didn't feel long enough. Nothing crazy happened at the Tel Aviv airport. We got our visas on arrival, a "reduce rate taxi," and made it to our AirBnB before 1:00am. I kept anticipating a roadblock or something to go wrong.

Bus from tel aviv to Jerusalem

Sunday afternoon we grabbed a bus to Jerusalem and got here about 1:30pm. All bus stations are the same to me- dingy, sticky, gross floors, and probably haven't been disinfected in decades. The only difference to me is if the bus runs on time or not. How strict are they about the departure schedule?

It was raining when we got to Jerusalem so we took a taxi to the guesthouse. 60 shekels or almost $20 to drive 1 mile! Taxis are so expensive here and some of the food as well. We checked into our guesthouse and mapped out a few sights before going for a walk. We saw Mamilla Mall, the walls of the Old City Jerusalem, and a few overlooks. Then we did a dry run so we know how to get to the Old City later.

I read that it's hard to find traditional food and so far that is true. The options are pizza, deli sandwiches, coffee, or smoothies. We tried pretty hard to find something else and found a little storefront with a buffet. The owner spoke great English and then said he was from Brazil.... All kinds of striking out trying to find "traditional food." We stopped at a market on the way back for bottled water, pita, peanut butter and honey, instant noodles, and juice. David always needs his snacks in case we become stranded!

One day sightseeing in the Old City Jerusalem

Jaffa Gate & Western Wall

I spent the rest of last night planning our route for today since I knew we only had the one day. I focused on the Old City sites and tried to bunch them together. We talked about getting an early start but we were awake at 6:45am anyway. David got up even earlier and was working on our itinerary! This really is the least amount of planning we've ever done for an international trip. No site planning, routes, transportation, logistics- nothing. I say we are either getting sloppy or we are becoming professionals at international travel. (80% of our planning happened in the car on the way to the St. Louis airport. Oops)

We arrived at the Old City Jaffa Gate (with a bunch of detours) by 8:30am and had the whole place to ourselves. The market stalls were not even open yet and no one haggled or bothered us. The first stop from the gate was Maximus Cardo. It's an ancient Roman market street that was buried and then excavated. It took some imagination to think about the road during ancient times, but became easier later in the day.

Our next destination was the Western Wall. We approached our male/ female sides. It was surreal standing with others that either live in Jerusalem or made a pilgrimage. The Western Wall is towering and much larger than I imagined or saw in photos. It was a very cool experience early in the morning and it's incredible to think about what the thousands of tiny paper prayers wedged into the cracks say. I prayed for David and me, gratitude for letting us travel and be together.

Mount Moriah & Via Dolorosa

From the Western Wall we topped Mount Moriah to see the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. The Mosque is the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. The sites are closed to visitors and have been that way for years. I flashback to the Taj Mahal- the top of a hill with a stone platform stretched in every direction. There are pretty views of the walls and outside the city. We were high enough to see the hills and gardens around Jerusalem.

We exited through another gate and started the Via Dolorosa or Way of the Cross. If you space yourself between the tour groups you get the best photo opportunities and can listen to information as you please- travel hack. We saw all 9 exterior stations of the cross. After that stations 10-14 are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

I was a little disappointed that the Via Dolorosa ended in an alley and we couldn't go through. Or maybe I did it wrong? But then we walked around to the entrance of the church. It is believed to be the site of Calvary or Golgotha and Jesus' tomb. However I can guarantee that is was a site of total chaos during our visit.

We waited in line without really knowing what the queue was for. We watched Orthodox priests discipline and knock down people's cameras. People cut lines. People used camera flashes over and over knowing that the photos still would not expose properly. We waited forever but at least it was inside the church and out of the rain.

David and I were separated to view the tomb and herded in and out so quickly that I'm not even sure what I saw. The tomb at the center of the church is Jesus' resting place and where the stone was rolled away from. Also there was a stone slab near the front door where his body was prepared for burial. On the second floor of the church was the location of the cruxifixction. People knelt everywhere, rubbed clothes, souvenirs, Qtips over the surfaces so that it became blessed or sacred.

The church was beautiful and eerie. One thing I love is that 6 branches of Christianity bring their own spin to the church but care for the building together. Priests from each religion rotate mass schedules and crowd control schedules. Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox.

Zion Gate & Mount Zion

At this point I was cold to the bone and ready for lunch. We stopped at a cafe not far from the church- big mistake! We sat and ordered hot drinks, falafel and shwarma. Second mistake- no prices on the menu. Lunch hit the spot and I commented it was the best meal so far. When we paid the waiter said 190 shekels. Over $50 for lunch! We stood gasping and knew he had us. They could make up any price and we all knew that. It's been awhile since David and I have been taken like that and now we are back on point and back to the budget.

We navigated back towards the Jaffa Gate and then turned into the Armenian Quarter. We left the Old City through the Zion Gate and switched from Mount Moriah to Mount Zion. At a little info center, we watched a video about King David and then had a private teaching about the prophecy of salvation, drawing water from the 3000 year old well, and the Jewish commandments.

King David's tomb is in the next courtyard and then one more over is the room of the Last Supper. Again, it's hard to imagine how the area looked during those years, what's been replaced with stone instead of wood, and now there are religious sites built over the top too.

We managed to cover a lot of ground in Jerusalem that day. I am surprised at how close together things are. I thought the Old City would have taken us the whole day but we moved quickly.