No Doubt.

More than a year ago, I wrote about one of the exchange students who lived across the road from me in my third year of college. She and another woman from Kettering, Northamptonshire, England became two of my closest friends, and, somehow, after so many years and miles, we are still connected.

My British friend went on to travel the world, settling here, there, and anywhere for short bits of time. When we reunited about eight years ago, she and her husband were living in Jersey (the one off the coast of France, not the one off the coast of Staten Island). Shortly after, they moved to Abu Dhabi in the UAE and then, most recently, to Dubai.

She repeatedly asked me to visit, and I always politely dodged. While I've always wanted to see the Middle East, I never could muster the interest to visit a modern representation of it, with so little history and so few artifacts to take in.

It wasn't until I watched Sex & the City II the movie (which was horrible beyond belief and it is only for this point that I admit to watching it) that I had a change of attitude. I realized that there was still much to appreciate: the desert, the Persian Gulf, the souks...and old world cities, like Oman, that are close by as well. And, well, there are also camel driven safaris.

The funny thing is, once I was behind the idea of going, I still had so much apprehension about making the trip. I planned and put off, then put off some more. I came to a point of almost forcing myself to go, just because I know that in spite of that fear, this is something I really want.

Today, I bought a guidebook and immersed myself in it for the later part of the afternoon. My fear is now gone. Surprise. And, in early March, I will be on a plane. And, I expect it will be one hell of a ride.