Before we get started...

All right, to be honest I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be doing this thing, dead cats and Rebecca Black aside. This is supposed to be documenting my day by day experience working on the American Excavation of Abila of the Decapolis in Jordan. It's purely to act as a bit of a record for me, and hopefully something that's a bit interesting for you lot to read as well. As you'll see, I'm not spending the whole time in Jordan. When faced with the prospect of three weeks of 4am starts, digging in 40 plus degree heat, I thought I might need a bit of pampering in the Emirate first, hence kicking off this trip in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

I don't particular want to turn this into a blow-by-blow-of-everything-I-did travel blog, Lord knows there's enough of those on the Net written by far more intelligent, literary, entertaining people than my good self. Not that I'm trying to re-invent the blog wheel either, I certainly don't have enough imagination for that. Quite frankly I hate the writing process, but enjoy basking in the finished product. Sadly, procrastination and laziness tend to be more constant bedfellows. Not to mention the fact that when you're traveling, the "pressure" to be writing on the go can be a bit of a drag. It's supposed to be a holiday after all!

Still, at the end of the day, this is what it is, so sit back and enjoy...