Trip to Syria

The cab driver to the airport didn't speak any English so the drive was a quiet one -- I may have even nodded off at one point! At the airport, I had an English Toffee Coffee while I waited for time to board and headed over to the gate. There was a flight there already for Tev Aviv and they were boarding very slowly. So... my flight had moved and no one knew where! Finally found it and everything went smoothly. It was about a 90 minute flight after takeoff. No hitches and no problems. Damascus from the air looked like a black ocean with the street lights below forming waves of gold passing under us as we came in for a landing. Immigration was slow but no problems; I traded dollars for Syrian Pounds. Looks like I'll have to re-learn Arabic numbers. A circle is a 5 and a dot is a zero. Omar and his fiancee picked me up at the airport and drove me into town. He lives in a very good part of town. He took me to a fancy bar so we could catch up and then back to his apartment. Everything is fine and very safe.

By email I was notified there was a bomb around 6 pm in Istanbul at a McDonald's but no one was hurt. I can't speak to that; I didn't hear anything about it in Istanbul and I didn't even leave for the airport until 8:30. There are no McDonald's in Syria, so I think I'm OK! :-P

Omar says hello everyone. He has shaved his head but otherwise he looks the same.