The Challenge for this trip is to travel the Great Circle; to follow a line that runs the circumference of the earth and passes through the Equator, and stop in every country that falls on that Line. We chose our line be determining three places that we desperately wanted to see: Maccu Piccu, Egypt, and Vietnam, and drew our line to encompass those places.

There are a few deviations (side trips) that we have planned along the way, 5 in all. Indonesia and Malaysia have long fascinated us, and as our flights stop off in those countries, we decided to extend our stays, although they are technically off of the Line by about 15º longitude. Also, while the Line goes through the southern part of India, it does not cross Nepal. However, it seemed a shame to bypass this beautiful country, and so we decided to make a slight detour by way of Kathmandu.

The third detour that we have planned is to Istanbul, Turkey. Our flight from India to Israel had a 1 night layover in Istanbul, and so we decided to extend that layover a few days. This amazing gateway between Europe and Asia has been so important throughout history, that it seems a logical step to include it in our travels.

Jordan is the fourth detour to the Great Circle Line. I grew up with wonderful stories of the stark beauty of the Jordanian deserts, and the fascinating spirit of the Jordanian people. Traveling from Israel to Egypt gave us the option of traversing through Jordan, and we couldn't resist the lure of exploring this amazing country.

Finally, our fifth detour will be to Morocco. The Great Circle Line takes us to Mauritania, but crossing the Atlantic requires traveling up to Morocco for our flight, and we just couldn't resist the temptation to spend some time exploring the land.

Along with the detours, there are two countries along the Line that we cannot currently travel to, Iran and Saudi Arabia. As women, we are not allowed to enter those countries without husbands or fathers to accompany us. This is disappointing for us, and we look forward to the day when we can freely travel to those countries.

Following is our itinerary. For some general information on each of the countries that we will be visiting, please follow the links. At the start, I have just included some basic information about each country. As we visit each place, we will update the web pages with more detailed information on what we learned. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Arrivederci!