Jordan

May 2013: All teachers in Kuwait needed to get medical tests done in Jordan in order to get a visa (unless they got testing in their home country before arriving in Kuwait). Trevor was sent in September, and Lisa didn't get sent until May (like a month before the end of the school year...yes this was normal for Kuwait). So Trevor came a day later and we extended the trip to include the weekend (so I was there around 4 days). I highly recommend visiting here...Jordan is beautiful and has so much to offer. 

highlights

. Dead Sea . Wadi Rum . Petra . Olive trees . 

lowlights

. Amman . Awkward couple photos . Perma heat rash .

dead sea

While staying in Amman, we took a day trip to the Dead Sea, which is about a 30 minute drive. This is a major tourist destination in Jordan (with hotels in the area as well), so you can really spend the whole day here if you wanted. Apart from the sea, there is a restaurant, pool, and the beach of course. Not to mention the endless hours you can spend in the Dead Sea floating around while reading a book (many people do that). I recommend doing the mud treatment. I do not recommend getting your face wet (it hurts), as well as if you have any cuts or excema, the Dead Sea might not be for you. 

wadi rum

We loved our trip to Wadi Rum. Perfect sand, beautiful views of the valley, and neat carvings on the rocks. We drove from Amman (about 4 hours), but it is pretty close to Petra. So if you're staying there, I recommend visiting Wadi Rum. We didn't have a lot of time, so we spent a couple hours touring Wadi Rum, then we drove to Petra that night. If we had more time I would've loved to have done an overnight trip and camped there. A lot of our friends have and they've said such great things about it. Anyways, Wadi Rum tours are run by the Bedouin people. So our guide (super awesome) drove us in a 4x4 to a few spots, starting at an old train station (where he insisted on taking a bunch of uncomfortable couple photos). He even let us drive a little on the sand (Lisa's first time driving standard...maybe not a great first experience). We stopped at a tent with a little gift shop and had some tea. Lisa tried on some traditional garments, then overheated pretty quickly! The area is so big that you don't really run into too many tourist groups, and other activities include camel rides and camping. We were so impressed with Wadi Rum, do NOT skip this when in Jordan!

petra

I'm not sure what we were expecting before we got here, but we were blown away by the size of Petra. It is absolutely massive. We left early in the morning from our hotel (it had a shuttle to the site), and spent all day walking around. We were exhausted, burnt, and Lisa had heat rash all over her legs by the end of it. But it was so worth it. You start out walking a narrow path in a gorge, and then all of a sudden BAM, you're at the Treasury. From there, it opens up into this wide space with structures built into the mountains all around. There are so many directions you can go...we were pretty overwhelmed. We climbed up one way, came back down and went another way, and just spent the day wandering wherever we wanted. We found a restaurant somewhere in the middle with a delicious buffet, after getting completely lost. We had no idea where we were on the map (probably because we were off the map), and it was so damn hot. One thing you have to do in Petra is walk up to the Monastery (El Deir). It is incredible. I could have sat and stared at it all day, it was so big. It's quite the hike up, but so worth it, and there is a little shop where you can buy a cold drink or two. Don't skip it! 

amman

Amman was our start and finish city for our trip. We didn't spend a ton of time here, so we didn't get to explore too much, which is why it wasn't a big highlight. But there are ancient Roman ruins around, as well as temples, mosques, Mount Nebo and the baptism site of Jesus (if you are religious). As well, the city of Jerash is a short drive.

getting around

On the advice of some other teachers in Kuwait, we hired a driver to take us everywhere around Jordan. Hani was the man! All of the teachers hired him when they went to Jordan, and he was seriously the best. Our friends and us split up after Amman (they had already been to Wadi Rum and wanted to go straight to Petra), so Hani called up Waleed to take us to Wadi Rum, and Petra from there. He was amazing. Great car (with powerful AC), and he spoke perfect English and was able to tell us so much about Jordan on our day trips. Oh, and what they charged us at the end? Peanuts. We were so lucky to have Hani and Waleed take us around. No stress, and just so comfortable. I can probably give you Hani's contact if you would like to use him for your Jordan travels!