The Long Way to Jordan

This year's vacation took me to Jordan and Egypt. Like last year's trip to Cambodia, I traveled with my friends Stu and Marty.

Our reason for visiting Jordan was to experience the ancient city of Petra. We left on Sunday afternoon and were lucky enough to score Business Class seats to Paris. The plan was to connect with an Air France flight to Amman, but it ended up going out full, so we had to wait until 5pm for a Royal Jordanian flight instead. We ended up getting lots of Paris Airport appreciation time as we walked from Terminal 2A to 2E to 2B. The joys of non-revenue travel never stop!

We landed in Amman around 10:30pm and were met by our driver Ibrahim. The drive to Petra is supposed to take about 3 and a half hours so we had a long night ahead. Ibrahim's English was not the best, but you had to give him credit for trying. As we left the airport, he stopped at a little convenience store and bought us all this strong Jordanian coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, but I did not want to be rude. I ended up covertly dumping most of it, and left the bottom sludge for Stu.

Ibrahim drove like a mad man most of the way to Petra. The speed limit was 100km per hour, but he probably averaged about 160-180. We got stopped twice by the police. They don't have radar, but every couple of kilometers they have check points. They record the time you pass them and then radio ahead to the next checkpoint. If you arrive at the next spot too soon, they make you stop. It was a little unnerving for us the first time, since we did not know what was going on. We also learned that it is against the law for non-Muslims to be out alone after a certain time in the evening, so they have to be accompanied by a Jordanian Muslim. Lucky for us we had Ibrahim.

There was very little traffic. Ibrahim explained that most of the truck drivers were saw were Bedouins. We jammed to the Supremes, Mamas and Papas, and Neil Diamond on Radio Jordan 96.3!

We stopped at a 24 hour truck stop so Marty could use the W.C (that Jordanian coffee goes thru you very fast). While I was waiting, a truck driver pulled up and said "Good Afternoon... I love America!" I think that was all he knew when it came to English.

We arrived at the hotel around 2am. All guests have to go thru metal detectors and their luggage has to be x-rayed. There were also armed police officers guarding the entrance. I would come to learn this is SOP in the Middle East.

We stayed at a Movenpick hotel (a Swiss company) called Nabatean Castle. The property was set at the top of a mountain overlooking the Rif Valley (Wadi Araba). The area is very harsh terrain, but an impressive landscape nonetheless. October temperatures are rather pleasant. Stu and I woke up in time for breakfast and enjoyed a nice meal outside with a spectacular view of the valley.