“We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and X never ever marks the spot.”
Jordan
Dryden: Lawrence, only two kinds of creatures get fun in the desert: Bedouins and gods, and you're neither. Take it from me, for ordinary men, it's a burning, fiery furnace.
Lawrence: No, Dryden, it's going to be fun.
Dryden: It is recognized that you have a funny sense of fun.
—Lawrence of Arabia
tl;dr: Jordan was one of the surprise highlights of my trip so far. The people are amazing. It’s very safe. Wadi Rum and Petra are unmissable. Visit Jordan!
Even though Jordan and Israel are on “friendly” terms and direct travel between the two countries is allowed, there’s only one commercial flight from Israel to Jordan. It takes roughly 45 minutes, arriving in Amman at 1:15am and costs close to $400. I was determined to find another way to get to Jordan. Enter Abraham Tours (their motto: “Abraham was the original backpacker”) which operates a number of hostels in Israel, private shuttles that run between the major cities in Israel, and they act as a ticket broker for the internet impaired bus company that runs a service between Israel and Amman.
This is how I ended up going into Jordan by land, for about 1/10th the cost of flying.
The only catch was that I had to get to Nazareth the day before my bus to Amman. On a public holiday which means no regular buses. Abraham saves the day! One of their private minibus shuttles runs between Tel Aviv and Nazareth, thereby saving me a $200 taxi ride.
On the bus to Nazareth, I met Belle, a smart and interesting 17 year old American girl traveling on her own. She’d been living in Hebron (West Bank) studying Arabic for the last two months. She was dragging two suitcases, and when I teased that she might have overpacked, she explained that one of them belonged to her friend who would be meeting her in Nazareth. Somehow in the shuffle of her going to her hostel and me going to my airbnb, I lost track of her without trading contact info, but I was so impressed by how brave and independent she is that I would have liked to have stayed in touch.
The following morning, while boarding the bus to Amman, I noticed a young woman with the colorful suitcase I’d seen Belle with on the previous day. Turns out she’s Belle’s friend Sharon, age 21 from Singapore, also just wrapping up two months in Hebron. She smartly opted to exit Israel by land to avoid the likely hours of questions about why she’d been in the West Bank that she would have faced at the airport.
Not sure what to expect at the border crossing, we decided to stick together for what turned out to be nearly three hours of queuing up, getting various stamps and paying exit and entry fees (which are largely inaccurately documented online). Upon arrival in Amman, we quickly realized (1) that the bus dropped us very far from the center and (2) that Amman traffic is no effing joke. Not trusting the swarming taxi drivers, I ordered an Uber which meant a fixed price (hooray) and allowed me to send Sharon onto her hostel safely given she didn’t have cell connection there. (Note to travelers: when you have the opportunity to help out younger or less experienced travelers, just do it. Also, thanks to Sharon, Belle and I reconnected online.)
Amman
After a lot of deliberation and a minor identity crisis, I ended up outsourcing my travel planning for Jordan and Egypt. It started with Egypt since several people had suggested I would be safer or at least less harassed if I were in a group. Once that was booked and seemed so easy, I took a gamble and booked the same tour company for Jordan. As a long time solo traveler, as a career producer, and being particular about hotels and food, this took me out of my comfort zone, but letting go of my reservations has often worked out for the best…(spoiler alert: not sure I would say that about group travel).
As I mentioned, Amman traffic is intense. Picture Saigon with no scooters - just that many more cars. Only dirtier. And with more aggressive use of horns. And no crosswalks. At least none that I saw. Suffice to say it’s not a particularly pedestrian-friendly city, but I did go on several long walks and always felt safe being out on my own (well, apart from the cars).
In Amman, I met a fascinating American guy who works for the UN in Jordan and his take on the aggressive driving and honking is that it stems from the lack of other outlets for young Jordanian men. They can’t date. Pre-marital sex is illegal. They live with their parents until they get married. They don’t drink. So, they’re, shall we say, pent up. And so they smoke like chimneys and drive and honk like madmen.
I don’t want to paint the wrong picture of Amman though. It is big and chaotic, but it’s also incredibly safe and there are women out by themselves and women driving. It feels progressive and there’s a visible expat community of NGO workers and diplomats. The three nights I went out with folks who live in Amman (one American and one Jordanian/Syrian) made the city feel livable and proved that there’s a lively nightlife, decent bars, and good food.
But that’s in the capital. In much of the rest of the country, it’s clearer that you’re in a Muslim country and alcohol is only served in international hotels. A fact I wish I’d been aware of when I was passing through duty free. Not that I need to drink everywhere, but after 21+ miles of hiking, I deserved a cold glass of wine. We’ll come back to that later.
Wadi Rum
From Amman, we headed to Wadi Rum which I had seen photos of, and of course—like everyone—I’ve seen half a dozen movies that were filmed there, but nothing prepared me for the vastness of the desert or the vibrance of its many colors. It’s one of the most stunning natural landscapes I’ve ever seen, vaguely resembling parts of the American West, and alternately looking like the surface of Mars. As the sun lowers in the sky, the light changes completely, and again at sunrise, a whole new set of colors are revealed.
We drove in the back of old Toyota trucks across the sand—past sand dunes and sheer cliffs, past a dozen Bedouin camps with their semi-permanent tents made of colorful blankets (allegedly woven from camel hair), past scores of camels, eventually arriving at the Bedouin camp where we would spend the night. These stays are pretty standardized and include a Bedouin dinner which was actually one of the better dinners I had in Jordan. (I blame the tour for the bad food we had, not Jordanian cuisine which was quite good when I managed to break away from the group).
As you’d expect, the stars in the desert were incredible, both bright and infinite. I sat outside staring up at the sky from sundown until a light layer of cloud cover rolled in disrupting my view.
If you know me, you know that I don’t camp. So I was more than a little anxious about how I would sleep in this desert tent, but it was really more “glamping” than camping and I actually slept really well. If you want new blackout curtains, I recommend Bedouin blankets. Those tents are pitch dark.
The next morning, I got up in time to watch the sun come up and light the valley. Those moments of silence before the rest of the camp was up were magical. I also enjoyed being chilly and bundled up in my jacket which wasn’t of much use the rest of the time in Jordan. After breakfast, we mounted camels and rode out of the desert. Note: riding a camel isn’t hard, but it does make you aware of those same bones at the bottom of your pelvis that get sore when you ride a bicycle for the first time in years.
Aqaba and the Red Sea
From the alien landscape of Wadi Rum, we hightailed it to Aqaba which is Jordan’s only slice of beach on the Red Sea. It’s also where the cruise ships dock for the hordes to visit Petra. The main dive sites on the Red Sea are on the Egyptian side, but there’s snorkeling and swimming off the shore of Aqaba so we hopped on a boat which took us out way past the cruise ships to clear water, nearly at the Saudi Arabian border. I snorkeled for 10 minutes before deciding to relax and just float (alternately swimming back toward the boat whenever I floated off too far). The water is stunning, the weather was dreamy, and just laying there I could hear my breath slowing down and my body relaxing. Lifting my head up, I could see Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. And I had no idea what day or date it was. And it felt like I’d finally let go of all of the stress and bullshit of the last three+ years of work. It hit me that this isn’t vacation. This is what I am doing with my life for now. It doesn’t have a hard end date. I don’t have the same things to go back and pick up when it’s done. I’ve never felt more free.
Petra
I don’t know where to begin writing about Petra. It’s one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been—so much more expansive than I had previously imagined. I had a similar feeling at Angkor Wat. All you ever see beforehand is the one most famous structure, but when you get there, you find an entire city—this one built by the Nabateans around 300BC. Archaeologists estimate that they’ve only uncovered 15% of the structures to date. That doesn’t mean you should wait to go visit. I’m not convinced that all of the trails we were able to hike will still be open in a few more years. They seem at once too fragile and too dangerous in places. Also, to get to the best views, the climbs are pretty intense. I was glad to be doing them now and not when I am 75.
The building we’ve all seen so many times is the Treasury, located at the end of an amazing walk through the Siq, which is a narrow path through the rocks. The Nabateans love a big reveal, and this one is unbeatable.
Beyond the Treasury, there are many other intricate tombs, homes, churches, and theaters. And at the end of an intense uneven 700 steps up while dodging donkeys and Bedouins (who the locals call “Jack Sparrows”), the Nabateans offer yet another grand reveal, this time of the Monastery, which is at least as beautiful as the Treasury, but given the effort to reach it, it seemed like the most beautiful structure I’d ever seen.
At the end of two days, I’d logged over 21 miles of hiking around Petra and I would have happily gone back for a third day if time had allowed for it. Instead, I found a delicious local meal on the top floor of a restaurant called My Mom's Kitchen and later finally got that well-deserved drink at the fancy Movenpick hotel bar
Jerash
Jerash is kind of the underdog of major historical sites in Jordan. If they didn’t have Petra, you’d probably hear a lot more about it. The Greco-Roman ruins date from the 2nd century and are surprisingly well preserved in spite of various eras and qualities of restoration. Walking around you get a sense of a real city - large enough for two amphitheaters and an arena for racing and fighting. There are multiple main arteries with impressive columns, several intricate archways, the most impressive of which is Hadrian’s arch, and a beautiful temple to Artemis. I wish our guide had been more informative here and that we’d had more time to explore.
Final notes
I mentioned before that I was apprehensive about group travel. I was concerned about being “trapped” with people I wouldn’t want to travel with. It was clear from the first full day together that I was mistaken about that aspect. Our group was outstanding. I’m even planning to visit some of the lovely Aussies later in my journey and the delightful Brits next time I’m in Blighty. What I wasn’t expecting was how unacceptable the hotels and food were. I was also disappointed by our guide which I won’t get into here. Those elements left me very wary about the group I had booked for Egypt. Net net: I loved being in Jordan. If I were to go again, I would travel independently and stay in better places.
The best meals I had were when I broke away from the group and met up with folks who live in Amman. If you go, check out these spots:
Shams El Balad - Great food in an attractive setting
Copas - Lively atmosphere, fun place to spend time drinking on the patio.
I don’t have any hotel recommendations as our lodging was part of the tour and it was consistently pretty terrible. However, I spoke with people who stayed at the UFO hotel in Wadi Rum and they said it was amazing. I’ll check that out if I go back.