travelenvelope: 11

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!

You have a standing reservation to see it all!

Feb 25, 2011

Zamzam

The zamzam well is located in the holy city of Mecca. When Hagar and the infant Ishmael were in the desert, they were desperatley looking for water. Ishmael kicked at the sand with his feet and this well sprang up. It is said that this well has never run dry and there are all kinds of miracles surrounding this well.

Feb 23, 2011

The Red Sea

Although Saudi Arabia has no permanent lakes or rivers, it does have the Red Sea. And boy oh boy, the Red Sea is nothing like my concept of the Red Sea. My concept comes straight from the old movie The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. Plus, since the movie is biblical, I thought of the red sea being as devoid of life as the Dead Sea. Wrong Wrong Wrong.

The RED sea sounds gorgeous. It's HUGE it's an inlet of the ocean and thus contains FISH. A whole lot of fish--1,200 species according to Wikipedia. Among the fish are 44 different kinds of sharks. It has big shallow coral reefs and is a wonderful place to snorkel.

Feb 22, 2011

Tallest Fountain

The world's tallest fountain is in Saudi Arabia.

This is the King Fahd fountain. It gets it's water from the Red Sea and shoots it more than 1000 ft. high. Millions of people get to see it because it is the primary gateway to Mecca.

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