مرحبا بكم في الاردن

Welcome to Jordan!



If you ever have the opportunity to fly Royal Jordanian we would both highly recommend the airline. We were treated like kings on our two hour flight from Istanbul to Jordan. It was what flights used to be like…attentive and friendly staff, a delicious and free meal despite it only being a two-hour flight, and they even played a movie! Why can’t flights still be like this everywhere…?

We arrived in Jordan around 4pm and grabbed a taxi to take us into the heart of Amman. It is incredible how everything just looks like sand…the ground is sand, the sky looks like sand, the buildings are a sandy color…we were in the heart of the desert for sure!




We were extremely lucky to be able to stay at the Amman Marriott, a 5-star luxury hotel, all thanks to Matt’s Aunt Susan. As soon as we arrived, our taxi was searched for bombs, our luggage scanned as though we were boarding a flight, and to enter the hotel we had to pass through metal detectors. Needless to say, though this made us feel safe it also frightened us…but, standard procedure!

The hotel was extremely elegant and posh, men and women flounced about in Islamic robes and beautiful headpieces. Entering the hotel I felt extremely out of place with my little wheely backpack and my casual, bland, travelling clothes that I had been wearing the past two days! If only I had a fancy dress or sharp suit, stilettos and was adorned in expensive jewelry, then maybe I would have felt more comfortable!

Our room was state of the art with the largest most comfortable bed we have slept on and the most incredible view of Amman. The windows reached from the floor to the ceiling, and from 12 stories up we looked out on the city just as the sun was setting. We went to enjoy the spa where many official looking men were discussing serious matters of the world in the hot tub. Oh yes, I forgot to mention the Iraqi World Banking convention was going on! We hopped in and out and hustled out of there careful not to disturb anyone!

We ate dinner in the hotel at Champions Sports Bar, yes just like the ones in the United States. Soccer matches from all over the world played on their maybe 30 different screens. And, though we usually love to try a country’s food, we needed an American fix and ordered a buffalo chicken salad with ranch dressing and a quesadilla!

At dinner we got to talking about what we were going to do for the next week…having planned to see Jordan and Israel in such a short time…we suddenly felt we did not have the time or money to carry out our original plan. It would be better to have a guide, maybe some more time…maybe we should leave for South East Asia tomorrow we pondered?

So, we called George, a contact we had been put in touch with by a friend in Duxbury, John Mattes. George has been doing business in Jordan for a longtime and we wanted to run our thoughts by him before making any drastic changes. He spoke highly of Jordan telling us we had plenty of time to see and do what we wanted in Jordan, maybe cut out Israel though. He said we would be safe, should just rent a car and drive about the country. However, when we mentioned we were heading to Bangkok next he went off praising South East Asia where he had previously lived for 6 years. So, we decided that Jordan would have to wait, called the airline changed our flight and decided we were heading to Bangkok at 2AM the next (well I guess that would be two days later).

We took George’s advice and rented a car the next day. We wanted to see as much of Jordan as possible in the one day we had there. We drove about 45 minutes to the ruins of Jerash, which boasts remarkably well preserved ancient Roman ruins dating back 2000 years.




As we walked through it was incredible to imagine what life would have been like in this ancient civilization – as there were 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants in its prime.




Here I am under Hadrian's Arch built in 129 A.D.!



We got back in the car with no set plan, contemplated for a bit, and decided to drive an hour and a half to the Dead Sea. As we got close, we began going down a steep hill, and for 45 minutes of the drive Matt did not even put his foot on the gas pedal. The Dead Sea is 1,385 feet below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth’s surface on dry land.



We arrived at the Dead Sea Resort & Spa and paid to use their facilities for the afternoon. The Dead Sea was truly a dead place – no boats, no docks, no life. We changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the beach to take part in the rituals of bathing in the Dead Sea.



We entered the water, and not knowing just how buoyant we would be, we attempted to swim, only to find ourselves floating entirely on top of the water. You are unable to sink, it is as if you are wearing swimmies or sitting on a raft.







After our initial jaunt in the sea, we got out showered off (the water stung it was so salty), and rubbed our bodies down with the “free mud” extracted from the bottom of the sea daily.



We allowed the sun to bake the mud onto our bodies for 15 minutes before reentering the sea. We have to admit our skin was silky smooth when the mud was washed off.



We took a dip in the Resort’s pool expecting to float on the surface and much to our disappointment we both immediately sank to the bottom.



After grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the sunset, we tried to go to the Baptism site of Jesus just down the road. Unfortunately we arrived just after its closing…according to the signs we were only 100 meters away! (We took a picture of the 500m one however)



What should have taken us 45 minutes to get to the airport from the Dead Sea ended up being about a 3 hour adventure. Our GPS clearly did not work and took us up some extremely sketchy roads and hills in the pitch black!

Nearly out of gas as we neared the airport, we overshot the exit to the gas station on a major highway. There was a police officer just up the highway, so we stopped to ask him how to get to the gas station, since there were no exit ramps or places to turn around for miles. Without hesitation he suggested we throw the car in reverse and drive backwards about a mile down the busy highway. We thought he was joking and laughed at his advice, only to realize he was completely serious. We decided we did not want to risk our lives to get gas, and drove on until we found a real exit. Can you imagine if a police officer in the US told you to do that? My dad probably would have taken him up on it!

We still made it safely to the airport 3 hours before our flight despite our major detour.

Though our stay in Jordan was cut short by about a week, the taste that we did get of this incredible country has left us both yearning to go back to truly take in all the history, beauty, and culture Jordan has to offer.

Stay Thirsty my Friends,

Matt and Lindsey