Divemaster Job in Aqaba, Jordan 1st September 2015 - ?

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I didn’t even arrive at my accommodation and already obviously things went tits up. I’ll start from the top. I realised that I left my badass sunglasses and my diving boots when I arrived at Manchester. I did not tell my dad as he was already in a tiff because I ‘only’ printed my tickets off the morning I was due to fly. But if that was the extent of my worries then I would have had a splendid journey.

On the plane to Istanbul there were a fantastic array of movies #thanksturkishairlines. I ended up watching United Passions and the Kingsman. The flight to Aqaba from Istanbul I met a nice girl from Finland who was visiting her boyfriend in Amman, apparently the flights to Aqaba were £200 cheaper to Aqaba and her boyfriends whipped so he was going to pick her up at 2:55am from Aqaba. It was also excellent because the plane was half full (I was feeling optimistic at this point) which meant I could lie down and stretch out! Well when I say stretch out I mean lie down in the foetal position. If I did fully stretch out I would have taken up 4 seats and the aisle.

Upon arriving to Aqaba the airport was small, meaning a quick and speedy exit. The passport control, luggage claim and exit point could have taken me literally 20 seconds to walk through (providing that it wasn’t an airport, but of course it was). My Finnish friend was complaining to me that her boyfriend wasn’t replying to her, I of course listened with great interest. She ended up getting to luggage claim and leaving the airport without even a goodbye, I gave her one of my caramel bars! Meanwhile I was stuck behind a couple, one from the USA and the other from the UK. They were having problems getting through passport control. I chose poorly (Indiana Jones reference) in regards to the queue.

After I whizzed through security my bag was there waiting for me on the conveyor belt. I grabbed it and proceeded near the exit to call Muhammed (the son of the guy who owns the Dive Centre) to come and collect me. I thought I would wait outside as the warm humidity was a welcome change when getting off the plane compared to the British weather. But I was immediately approached by two men, one of them asking me if I wanted a taxi in a creepy voice that I can only describe as the Child Snatchers voice in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I immediately about turned and headed back towards air conditioning.

I was trying to call Muhammed but there was no response. (Yeah sorry mum I didn’t tell you this bit on the text that I sent you saying ‘Hi mum I landed got my case everything is fine Ahmed is on his way J’, what the truth would have been was ‘Hi mum I’ve landed safe, everything isn’t fine, I can’t get a hold of Ahmed and they’re about the close the airport because we were the only flight and I’m about forced to go outside and be approached by a Child Snatcher L ‘. But of course I did not say this as you would have had a heart attack). So my only option was to wait and hope Muhammed would turn up. My friends who were a couple ended up getting in to the non-Child Snatchers voice’s taxi but obviously the Child Snatcher wanted their fare because they were the only people on our flight who wanted a taxi. Both of the taxi men were in a full blown argument within seconds after the Child Snatcher taking the suit cases out of the taxi and beginning to wheel them towards his own taxi. Causing the airport security to run over and separate the two. Still shouting at each other, of course I had no idea what they were saying. A couple of minutes later a Police Officer arrived at the airport to diffuse to situation. It wasn’t working. Then after that a Police Jeep showed up with 3 more Police Officers inside. Crazy, but they all sorted it out and made friends. The couple then proceeded to get in their original taxi. I then realised I had a choice. I could either wait here for Muhammed to arrive (bear in mind that it was over 45 minutes after I originally called him and nearly an hour after the original landing time which Muhammed knew about) and if he didn’t arrive then get a taxi with the Child Snatcher, or I could get in the taxi with the couple and find a hotel to stay the night. Then go to the Dive Centre in the morning. I chose the latter, but just before I left the free Wi-Fi zone of the airport I text Muhammed saying ‘Hi Muhammed I’m going to leave the airport and look for a hotel near the marina’ Then another text saying ‘I may not have Wi-Fi until the morning’.

But the night of fiascos didn’t end there! The couple were heading to the Royal Jordanian Yacht Club by the marina. So they said ‘Do you mind if we go there first and then drop you off at a hotel?’ I agreed. So the taxi driver pulled up at The Marina. As in The Mariner hotel. Which wasn’t even close to the Marina, we couldn’t even see any water. All the while I couldn’t help but think of Muhammed if he arrived at the airport expecting me to be there, and me not being there what a great first impression that would be… I prayed that he was asleep and wasn’t en route to the airport. The taxi driver meanwhile continued and pulled up outside the Double Tree Hilton hotel to ask the concierge directions. The hotel looks swanky and so instead of getting back in the cramped cab I thought I would treat myself and stay the night here! Maybe go the rooftop pool in the morning! So I gave the woman from the States 10 Dinar as the taxi man agreed to a 20 Dinar fee to the marina. I then exited the taxi and explained to the taxi driver what I was doing. He then asked for 20 Dinar’s from me. I said I gave 10 Dinars to the woman. He still demanded 20 Dinar’s from me. I didn’t want to give it to him. The taxi driver then went into a mad frenzy of speaking Arabic causing the concierge to get involved to translate for us. I stayed calm as I didn’t want to go from spending a night in one of the best hotels in Aqaba to staying in a Police Cell. I could see the concierge was getting pretty pissed off by this point and the woman was getting involved now, bear in mind she’s American so she’s giving it all to him.

In the end the taxi driver was outnumbered and gave in, got in his cab and sped off hoping to find The Royal Jordanian Yacht Club. I was then taking inside the lovely hotel but as soon as I smelled the popery I thought to myself ‘how much is this actually going to cost me’. I asked. He said 99 Dinar. It works out at £99, I don’t earn a lot here so to see my response to that check the photo I uploaded. I arrived at the check in desk and was given a complimentary cookie! I think I earnt that damn cookie (Again check photo I uploaded). I then enquired about the Wi-Fi password to see if Muhammed text me. The receptionist gave it to me, I typed it in. I checked my WhatsApp’s to only one unread message saying ‘Where are you now?’ from Muhammed. I felt sick! I rang him and it rung out, I tried again, it rung out, and I rang 2 more times, still no answer. I then messaged him and said ‘I’m in the Double Tree Hilton, the airport people sent me out of airport’ (trying desperately to make him feel bad for me even though I made him wake up at 3am to pick up nobody from the airport). I received a text 1 minute later saying ‘200m far, we are coming. 10 minutes only’. Muhammed pulled up in his car and I jumped in. OH MY GOD I MADE IT. I was so relieved. The time was 4:30am, so a bit later than expected but I was in the car, safe. Muhammed sad that he had to show his ID at the airport security and he didn’t have it because they never check, so he had to go back, that’s why he didn’t arrive when he was supposed to, but I didn’t care!

I then arrived at my apartment, which is just below Muhammad’s apartment which also his kids live in and Ahmad (the owner of the Dive Centre, who was actually Jordan’s first Scuba Diver and has worked in the British Military as Diver in no place other than Liverpool in 1964!). Muhammed told me to be ready at 11am and I said ok no problem. But by the time I unpacked and got everything sorted it was 6am urgh. I fell asleep, but I was soon woken up by my roommate. Oh didn’t I mention him? Yeah he paid me a visit at about 8am by tickling me! Specifically on my armpit hair. The cheeky bugger! Yes, yes it was a little cockroach. You see I foolishly left the window open… I then couldn’t get back to sleep until 9am as after it ran away I couldn’t find it again. Someone’s gonna be a sleepy lion tomorrow!

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