And what else happened on June 25th in history…?

MY BIRTHDAY!! Indeed, a good day 😛 Here’s a little time line:

June 25th in History

What I was doing when Michael Jackson died

[click on any picture to enlarge]

The day Michael Jackson died, I was celebrating my 22nd birthday in Aswan, Egypt visiting the Philae Temple during the day & starting a 4-day sailing trip on a felucca on the Nile at sunset. Thus, I did not receive the news until a couple of days later, thanks to a Spanish tourist’s loud sobs “¡ay tío, mi papa me ha dicho que se ha muerto el Rey del Pop!” on a bus trip through the desert, en-route to Luxor. I couldn’t help but look back & ask “Michael Jackson died?”

Philae temple

This story reminds me of how disconnected I can really get whenever I travel. At the time, I was on an epic Middle Eastern road trip that took me all over Egypt, Sinai, Israel & Jordan. The best part? I mostly hitchhiked & couchsurfed during my 3 weeks in Israel; while I only took local buses (read: Only speaking Arabic will help you find these); “brokered” direct tours with felucca captains, and asked by local bystanders about the best eats in town all through Aswan & Luxor.

You always meet amazing people

Just got a couple of flashbacks…I remember getting lost for 2 hours in a bananas plantation by the Galilee Sea, just a couple of kilometers away from Tabgha Church of Multiplication where, according to Christians, Jesus fed the five thousand. I remember getting rides with a tourist guide, a kibbutz dweller & a grandpa on different occasions, all who recounted peculiar stories, my favorite being the grandpa’s full historic background of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict on the way back from Rosh Hanikra. These, my friends, are the kinds of experiences that stay with you and you never forget. To me, these are reminders of why I travel the way I travel–on a budget.

Jerusalem, Israel

Budget travel really pushes you to experience a place, delve into the culture, smell scents & taste flavors that are simply impossible to encounter on all-inclusive package tours or glitzy 5-star hotels. *sigh* I miss this. I miss traveling. I wish that I were spending my 24th birthday somewhere remote, getting lost again in someone’s plantation, just enjoying the moment & getting lost in nature. But my time will come again soon enough. For now? Let me hit the beach 😀

What’s the “Today in History” like on your birthday?