We left Reno at 6:00 AM on Friday

Trip Start Jul 16, 2009

Trip End Aug 04, 2009

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of United States Reno, Nevada
Friday, July 17, 2009

We left Reno on Frequent Flier tickets thru American Airlines, our ultimate desitination was Amman, Jordan, but when we go to LA the AA ticket counter denied us boarding. We could not prove that we had tickets from Amman to Tel Aviv [this was the city we were returning from]. The only thing that saved us was an Itiniary from Desert Paramour Tours [Petra, Jordan]. It seems that even though Amman and Tel Aviv are less than 75 miles apart, you can not leave for one and return from the other without proving you can get to one from the other. AA never told us of this problem, and I have complained to the FAA over the fiasco. The only thing worse was going thur Israeli security when we left the country at the end of our trip.

We arrived in Jordan at 5:00 PM on Saturday and proceeded to have a great journey. The driver picked us up at Queen Alia airport. A more confused and bustling place you will not find

First Picture taken on the Trip

. It's about 25 miles south of Amman, so they could call it the Petra airport or Aqaba airport just as well. It is way out in the desert. The Hotel we stayed in, the Dove, was in the Embassy district, so we went for a walk. Lots of soldiers that did not want their pictures taken everwhere, especially at night. I asked if I could take pictures at the Palestinian Embassy down the street and was forbidden.

The second night, when my friend from Bethlehem came to visit, I told him about the existance of his embassy and he was incredulous. Palestine is not generally recognized as a country as yet, though it definitely exists. Many people I spoke with in the States insisted that there was no such place, so I made a point to send them postcards from Bethlehem, just to make the point. Unfortunately, its been a couple of weeks since I got back and the postcards have not shown up. Either have the ones I sent from Egypt for that matter.

There is no 110v power to be had in the middle east, not even for shavers, so far as we could tell. Most electronic devices will charge with a 50watt converter, except for computers which take 75-100. We burned out a couple of cheap chargers [2 JD each] until we found a 300 watt unit. This worked well until the Isreali border guards tried to take it apart looking for explosives.

Slideshow