I've taken virtually no holiday this year (a fact which probably shows...) and have booked off a bunch of time at the end of December to take a break. I was looking forward to a rest, but I was also secretly dreading going away somewhere on my own.

So I've been hunting for something suitable to do - I wanted a group trip, with a bit of adventure and activity, nothing too extreme (because I only have 10 days and I really want to relax too). As usual I fancy somewhere a bit off the beaten track which will test me and push me outside of what feels comfortable. I want stories to tell on my return.

Having discarded the Everest Base Camp trek (at 26 days, slightly over budget) and various spectacular but rather far-flung trekking destinations (Peru, Nepal and Borneo) because it takes far too long to get to them and back in a ten day trip, I finally settled on something which caught my interest - a trip to Jordan and Egypt.

I've never been to the Middle East before and, despite the obvious tension there right now, felt it was high time I did. So I'm off on the 10th December for ten days. It'll involve a fair bit of jeep driving through the Sinai desert, a hike up Mt Sinai and a night out under canvas in the sand. Petra itself looks pretty impressive - an ancient city carved out of the rocks. I'm definitely going to be taking lots of photos.

I'm hoping there'll be a decent group of us - could be anything from 6 to 12 people. Mostly Australians I think since it's being organised through an Australian company. It will be good to meet some new people and just have a laugh. Now very much looking forward to it.