Petra, Jordan
When your best friend casually says you should join her in Jordan for a long holiday weekend, most people would think she’s crazy. But I guess that’s why we’re friends because after searching for a cheap flight with miles, I booked my 3.5 day trip to the Middle East! Yes, I flew halfway across the globe for a long weekend, but it was worth every second. My biggest travel advice is always to try and travel during holidays because then you don’t have to use PTO days. This was a perfect example of that. I flew to Jordan and only used one day (which technically I could’ve worked from the plane, but wanted to sleep on the flight back).
I flew from NYC to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Amman. I specifically chose this route instead of NYC to Qatar, Qatar to Amman in order to break up the flight legs since I was traveling in Economy. If I had a lie-flat business seat, I would’ve picked the 12.5 hour flight to Doha, but it was only about 7 hours to Frankfurt which was much easier in Economy. I had a short layover in Frankfurt and compared to my layover there in 2020, it was essentially back to normal. All of their COVID restrictions in the airport were lifted so the stores, restaurants, and lounges were actually open. After my 3 hours in Frankfurt, it was on to Amman!
Prior to leaving, I had to have a negative PCR within 48 hours of arrival in Jordan. In addition to that, when I landed in Amman, I then had to get in line with everyone from my flight and we got a PCR test before entering the Customs line. It was such a joke of a test! When I tell you this woman barely stuck the swab up my nose and for all of half a second, I’m not exaggerating. She legit when in and out and said “bye” and sent me on my way. She said I’d get a QR code sent via What’s App in a few hours with my results. I don’t know how that test would’ve detected even the most infected COVID patient. I headed to the Starbucks while I waited for my friends to arrive and got the most delicious iced green tea drink ever and he even wrote my name in Arabic! I love a good touristy moment like this after a long day of traveling 😊
Once my friends landed, it was almost 11pm. We got our rental car and drove to Amman, but as you can guess we didn’t see much at that time of night. I was excited to see what the city looked like in the morning when we woke up. Well, the joke was on us because when we awoke and opened the blinds it was so foggy we could barely see anything. It was essentially straight white outside of our window. You couldn’t see anything (which was actually kind of scary). I was hoping to get a great view of the city, but we got a great view of absolutely nothing! We stayed at the St. Regis Amman, which was a beautiful hotel and included free breakfast. The breakfast setup was amazing. They had so many options, so many stations, and their dessert/sweet selection was top notch. I of course had to try the gold flake red velvet croissant with cream cheese filling. OMG it was delicious!!!
After breakfast we packed up and headed to the car for our drive to Petra! We chose the 5 hour route as opposed to the 3 hour route because we wanted to see the Dead Sea. If you’re that close to the Dead Sea, you have to go. Right?! It was too cold (being February and all) to go in the water, so we didn’t bring swimsuits, but we knew we wanted to see it and put our feet (or at least hands) in the water. As we got close to the coast we started to see the water and I was shocked how blue it was. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was much prettier than I thought. In my mind I think because you always hear about the mud and the salt, I thought that it would be a dark color. In reality the blues were so pretty! We stopped a few times along the drive to get pics from above. Then, as we were driving, we came upon an area where a bunch of cars were parked and we could see people down in the water. We knew this was the spot to stop and we were right. It was a bit of a trek down to the sea, but definitely worth it. Up close, the salt in the water was so cool! And our assumption was right, way too cold to swim. We did witness a brave (crazy?) man though who had his own little photo shoot in the water. He took the obligatory floating photos, but also had a book which was hilarious to watch him “read” his book in the water. His friend taking his pics was highly entertained by his modeling, as were we.
After we left the Dead Sea, we were on a mission to get to our hotel (camp) before the sun set. No more stops, just driving. And the non-coastal part of the drive was so boring! There was just expansive space and nothing to see, short of the occasional traffic jam of dogs and some giant wind turbines. We were very excited as we finally started descending into the area where the camp was. We basically felt like we were entering Mars. The landscape was so creepy! Between the red colors of the rocks and the warm tones from the sunset, there was such a feeling of being on another planet. As we saw our camp come into view, and particularly the igloos, we were so excited! We arrived and checked in just in time to get these shots:
It really is true what they say about the desert though. When the sun goes down it gets COLD! I was traveling with Texans, so you know they were freezing. My northern blood can handle a bit more cold than they could, but even I was pretty cold. They sent us to a tent before dinner for traditional Bedouin tea and it was so good! I am not usually a tea drinker without cream and sugar, but this tea was perfectly sweet and didn’t need any cream. The fireplace in the middle of the tent kept us nice and warm and it was such a relaxing place to sit after a long day of driving. Dinner was nothing special, so we quickly ate and then headed to bed since we needed to get up at 5:15 am. When I say I was cold, it was FREEZING!!! There was a heater above the bed, which you could basically just feel on your head and that was about it. There was a giant 10 pound blanket you could use, so that was on top of the other cover, sheets, multiple layers of clothes, and two pairs of socks. Because the walls of the igloo were a heavy plastic, the insulation was minimal. Getting up for the bathroom was rough! While the igloo was fun and unique, I advise to pack more layers if you decide to stay there 😊
When my alarm went off at 5:15 am, I was so excited to finally get to see what we came for! I was ready to go at 5:45 am, meeting the rest of the group in the lobby to get our bagged breakfast….which was so bizarre, filled with fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, juice, and a piece of bread. We got to Petra by 6:00 am in order to be there when the gates opened. My bestie read a tip online to get there before the gates open and I am so glad we did. We were basically the only people there. You start the journey into Petra by walking through canyons that reminded so much of Antelope Canyon in Arizona. My bestie and I went on ahead from her husband and father-in-law, who took a more leisurely pace with the Tour Guide we hired. We knew that we wanted to get the money shot before the crowds arrived, so we made our way quickly. It took about 20 minutes or so for us to get to what we came for: The Treasury. When I say we had a photo shoot, I am not being funny. I brought multiple outfits because I wasn’t sure what I wanted for my “perfect shot” and I’m so glad I did because even now I can’t pick a favorite! We took advantage of being the only people there (minus the local Bedouin guides standing around), took phots from different vantage points, changed outfits, and even paid $5.00 to hop on some camels for more pictures. I am so glad we arrived as early as we did because we had it to ourselves for almost 45 minutes. It was amazing!
After our photo shoot was over, we waited for the rest of our group and then made our way on through the site. We walked for another hour and saw so many different monuments, tombs, sites where shops used to be, homes, etc. I love how many different colors of rocks there were, the unique stripes and designs of the rocks, and all of the hidden places our Tour Guide pointed out. There was also a theater that was designed like a Roman theater, but had a distinctive Nabataean style (Nabataean were an ancient Arab people). There were also a few monuments/tombs we walked up to, which included so many steps!!! As the day progressed and the sun got hotter, we decided to start heading back to the entrance. We could have walked farther to the Monastery but that was another 2 hours plus 850 stairs, which at that point was a hard no for us. We were exhausted, knew we had to walk back to the entrance, and knew we had a 3 hour drive back to Amman. You could spend 3 full days in Petra to see everything, so while we definitely didn’t see all of it, what we did see what absolutely worth the trip!
To make better time, we drove back on the non-coastal route and it was sooooo boring. And also it was so annoying because it was a highway, but every 10-15 miles there would be a small town which spanned both sides of the highway (there were even crosswalks) and so the speed limited would go from 100km to 40km. That means we were driving 62 miles per hour, then down to 25 miles per hour….on a highway! It was like we were barely moving. Having to continuously do that while driving was beyond frustrating for my bestie. She is used to driving 100mph on Texas highways (I do NOT condone that and she knows it haha), so it was killing her. She was getting such road rage, which in turn was highly amusing for us!
We got back to Amman when the sun was still out and this time there was no fog so we were able to see more of the city. Almost every building was the same shade or various shades of cream/sand color. I’m not sure if there is an ordinance in the city that requires this or if there is some other reason. We got back to the St. Regis and I immediately got online to do my COVID test to return to the US. I am always so nervous when having to do those abroad because the last thing you want is to have to quarantine in a foreign country, especially one where you (a) don’t speak their language and (b) can’t afford 10+ days in the hotel you’re at (OMG I’d be broke!). Luckily it was negative, so I could breathe easier as we headed down to the bar.
A friend of mine has a travel goal to try the signature drink at every St. Regis in the world. She had mentioned this to me before and so this being my first time staying at a St. Regis, I wanted to try theirs. Little did I know that the signature drink is a Bloody Mary, with each hotel having their own unique take on the drink. Wellllll, I am no fan of Blood Marys (tomato juice and vodka? Hard pass!), so that didn’t happen. I went with a Jordanian rosé, which was actually quite delicious. We then went to what we thought was the Jordanian restaurant in the hotel, only to find out the majority of the food was Turkish. I was slightly disappointed as I love to try local cuisine whenever I’m in a new country. Luckily what we got was really good though and a great last meal before heading back.
I got up very early for my flight to London, which was about 4.5 hours. Then I had a short layover in Heathrow before getting to fly the new British Airways Club Europe suite home!!!! Or so I thought…..There was an aircraft switch at the last minute, which meant I was now flying on an older aircraft than the seat map from which I chose my seat. Which meant I was now in a rear facing seat, which was looking face to face with the person next to me, staring at them…aka so incredibly awkward. It ended up being fine once I put the divider up and I slept pretty well, but the older product was not what I used miles for and definitely NOT for what I paid $139 to choose my seat. I ended up complaining to British Airways (all the while praising the amazing in-flight manager who was equally annoyed with the plane switch) and they actually refunded the $139, plus 2 weeks later got an email from BA giving me a credit for $140 to use in the future (expires Dec 31, 2023). I love when customer service comes through and understands the frustration and makes it right! Well done British Airways!!!
All in all, it was a perfect long weekend to Jordan! Insane? Yes, but worth it for what I wanted to see.
سفرة ممتعة
