Paul is a very trusting spouse. Whenever I travel, he calmly follows my progress on google maps (we have our phones linked) and relies on my (infrequent) calls to tell him salient information, like when to pick us up from the airport after our return flight. Truthfully, I have carted his three children all around the world and he never bats an eye.
Well, "never" until I set out for the country of Jordan, that is.
Jordan was a challenge. Jordan stretched my abilities and self-confidence. Jordan was the first place where I genuinely felt a twinge of fear for our well-being. Jordan taught me that sometimes, it IS best to stay within the confines of a hotel instead of wandering around an unknown city armed only with my trusty google map app. Jordan reminded me of the value of having local contacts who could help me in ways that my faraway husband couldn't. Jordan reminded me that God is kind and gracious and helps even those who get themselves into maybe, possibly, kind of unsafe situations : )
Jordan was good for me : )
That being said, Jordan was also one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken. And while I probably wouldn't recommend other single women follow my example and drive across the country alone, the experience did offer the kids and me some remarkable memories that wouldn't have occurred had we been part of a larger tour group.
If you aren't super interested in all the explanations and pictures and would just like to watch the video of our first few days...then no hard feelings : ) Here you go!
Days One & Two
The first test of my anxiety level happened as soon as we landed in Istanbul, having flown out of our home city of Izmir. Thanks to a smudged boarding pass we raced through the terminal looking for a flight that didn't appear to exist. Bleh. The next stressful moment happened when trying to check in to our flight from Turkey to Jordan. Stern facial expression must be a hiring requirement for the Jordanian airline, because I had a moment of panic where I thought that they actually won't let us onto the plane. Visions of travel insurance offers being glibbly ignored flitted through my mind : ) But everything ended well and we landed in Jordan and were met by a wonderful Jordanian man who shepherded our tired selfs through the airport and too our rental car.
Ah yes. The rental car. It might be a good moment to stop and say that this trip also reminded me of the truth that "cheap" does not always equal "better," especially in a foreign country where AAA isn't available. I love a manual car (the Jordanian men were impressed by my mad skillz) but I think I should have opted for one that wasn't quite so....well loved. Bare boned. Rattly (is that a word?) I should have just walked away when, in order to sign the rental agreement, I had to promise that I did know how to change a tire! Haha!
We spent our first night in the city of Madaba. Our hotel, The Mosaic City Hotel, was lovely. The owner graciously waited up for us late into the night in order to check us in. In the morning we check out of the hotel and walked down the street in order to see the famous Madaba Map. It was one of the unique places that I was so intrigued by and I was thankful that we were able to visit the church even though it was a Sunday.
We then made the short trip to Mount Nebo. Anyone with a background that included Sunday School and flannel graph figures will remember the bible story centering around Moses's final resting spot. Mount Nebo is the place where God brought Moses in order to show him a view of the Promised Land. If I'm being honest, I wasn't really expecting much.
Wow. Was I in for a treat!! Mount Nebo and it's modern site named "The Memorial to Moses" was incredible!! The Madaba area is internationally famous for the number of masterful mosaic dating back to antiquity. The excavated basilica at Mt Nebo contains some of the most beautiful and well preserved mosaics in all of Jordan. I was amazed by the artistry that I saw. Such intricate and vibrant depictions that were made nearly 1500 years ago. Breathtaking.
Also breathtaking were the views from the top of Mount Nebo. Its true that on a clear day you can see all the way to Jerusalem. I got goosebumps imagining Moses in the same spot, looking out over the land that would become the homeland for the children of Israel
After we finished at Nebo, it was time to travel from the northern part of Jordan down to one of it southernmost cities, Aqaba.
The drive was (blessedly) uneventful. Getting gas was easy (not always the case in foreign countries,) traffic was light (mostly trucks...many with livestock,) and the scenery was beautiful. We reached Aqaba by dinner time and our very friendly hotel clerk was nice enough to help us order food to be delivered right to our hotel. I can't tell you exactly what we ate, but it was yummy. I called Paul, Jack called his friend Ayla (hint: this is foreshadowing!! : ) and we went to bed happy.
The next morning we got up and, even though it was February, we donned our bathing suits! Our wonderful Jordanian tour company had arranged a snorkeling adventure for us and I was SO EXCITED about our chance to swim in the Red Sea. Did you know it's one of the best places to see corral?
Turns out, no one else shared my (winter time) enthusiasm : ) We were the only people on the boat. Eeek. I should point out that it was during the first few moments after pulling away from the dock that I thought, "huh. These men could totally kidnap us! Maybe this isn't such a good idea...."
Ahem. Again. Group activities are probably a better choice in most circumstances....BUT wintertime weather called for desperate measures and I shot off a few texts to Paul, my tour guide operator and anyone else that I thought might be helpful should an international man-hunt need to happen : ) As it turned out, the crew were all so polite and kind (and non-english speaking) that the day was a very pleasant one. They fed us well, showed us the best snorkeling spots and then watched, with bemused expressions on their faces and hands tucked into their hoodies as they worked to stay warm in the low 70 degree weather, as we swam confidently away from the boat.
IT WAS WORTH IT! You guys, I have never seen such amazing corral in all my life. Vibrantly colored with blues and greens and yellows we saw brain corral, fern corral and dozens of types of fish. It was incredible. Pictures (and the video) do not do it justice.
But after a while I saw Meg's lips turning blue and figured that we'd better call it a day and head back to the city.
And that is the conclusion of our first video vlog for our road trip through Jordan!! I hope that you enjoyed it and will follow along as I post more videos and pictures of our time in the City of Ayla, Wadi Rum Desert, Petra and the Dead Sea.
Thanks for reading!
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