I made the decision to go to Jordan about six months into the trip. I figured that if I was ever going to visit the middle east, this was the time to go…I’d be a $350 plane ticket away in Turkey v.s. a $3,000 plane ticket from the States. Jordan’s a pretty expensive country, so Kelly decided it wasn’t in her budget and headed off to Prague to meet up with an old friend. Since I would be traveling alone in a region I knew very little about (and to ease my boyfriend and parents’ worries) I decided to do an organized tour through GAP Adventures instead making the trek solo. It would be nice to not have to worry about planning where to sleep, where to eat, and how to get from Point A to Point B myself…I was happy to pay someone else to do it for a change. I’ll discuss the specifics and compare an organized tour to traveling independently in my Jordan wrap up, so I’ll skip over those details for now.
I arrived in the capital city of Amman and caught a taxi to my hotel, checked in, and headed downstairs to meet the other members of my group, which consisted of 1 Brit, 2 Americans, 4 Belgians, 2 Irish, and 5 Canadians (most of them married couples…yay). Our guide, Haymen, was a half Jordanian, half Croatian guy in his forties who smiled, laughed, and smoked A LOT of cigarrettes. Our first full day, we traveled to check out the ruins of Jerash, one of the best preserved Roman cities in the Near East.
Arch of Hadrian - One of the main gates to the city
The Forum
The Temple of Artemis
We then made the hour or so drive to the Dead Sea, one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world that lies between Jordan and Israel. It’s so salty, that no life can thrive in it (thus, the name) AND this makes the water so buoyant, you literally float on top of the water. Seriously, you’d have to try REALLY hard to drown in it…I tried diving down to touch the bottom with no luck. Ladies, a word of advice: DO NOT shave the night before/morning of your visit…the salt will make your skin burn like hell.
We spent hours floating around, taking photos, and lounging on the beach. Several of us also rubbed the black sand all over our bodies for a spa-like treatment, which felt nice, but was a pain in the ass to wash off. Overall, a very cool day.
- The Dead Sea
Floatin'
Sisters Astray 