Mideast tour: tents in which I have slept

As I was leaving on this tour, people asked whether I was scared.

"No," I would say. "I have no problem doing dangerous things. I have little fear of death. What I do fear is discomfort. I'll happily jump out of an airplane, provided at the end of the day there's a chaise lounge and a nice Shiraz."

So, basically I want to be James Bond.

Alas. Instead, try three weeks of very little danger and constant sweaty, buggy, ill-lit, breakfast-skipping, desert-trek-to-the-bathroom, cargo-plane-riding discomfort.

Here you go:


In Qatar...


...and in Djibouti.