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Published: September 14th 2009
With hindsight we could have seen that our entry into Jordan would be an indication that all wasn't going to go as smoothly as planned!! Plane was delayed, there were long queues for entry visas, and the rep meeting us with our rental car wasn't hugely organised. All of which meant that instead of being nicely tucked up in our hotel at about 10pm, we had the kids still bouncing off the walls gone midnight!
The next day we had to head into Amman as Joe had somehow decided to pack BOTH camera chargers into the pickup so we had no way of chargingnow midday before we set off properly. And that's where the fun started!! A number of factors combined to make driving in Jordan a real headache.
1) No Map! (we naively assumed the rental company would provide one, when they didn't we decided to use the ones in our guidebook, after all they only have 3 roads going north-south so how hard could it be?!)
2) No idea of the distances - how was I supposed to know that the "scenic route" would add 3 hours to the trip?!
3) Appalling road signs - the Jordanian
government obviously think playing "Guess the Road" would be a funny game for tourists. Bearing in mind we were travelling on one of their three main highways and at most junctions there were simply no signs, and the main road was not at all obvious
Add to that the lack of any kind of road rules (ie stopping at red lights is optional) and you begin to see how our journey panned out! Being blissfully unaware of all this when we started out, we decided to divert to visit Mount Nebo and look out over Israel (much as Moses would have done, although he probably had a clearer day!) and take a dip in the Dead Sea. This was the first major mistake as despite warnings, Bella splased about, swallowed some of the really salty water, screamed and refused to go back in! At this point it was about 5pm but we still thought we'd be in Petra by dinner! I wanted to head for the Kings Highway as this is the most scenic route. It was a little bit more winding than I thought but was absolutely spectacular, especially the bit around Wadi Mujib, stunning. There was a
sharp intake of breath from Joe and I simultaneously when we realised we would be driving over a dam as well - wow!
It was starting to get really late, and dark though. And this was when the "Guess the Road" game really stopped being fun. We actually spent an hour in one town trying to find the main road, stopping and asking different people only to be sent from one end to the other (English not being so good here). Fortunately the kids slept through most of the journey, but even so we were all extremely relieved to arrive at the hotel at about 11pm!
The next morning, I was all ready to visit Petra, the number one place on my itinerary, but that was when Bella was sick. After spending the morning saying "I'll just wait and see if she's better in another hour" I finally gave in to Joe's suggestion that I go on my own as it was my no 1 thing to see. And that's when Adventure number 2 started!! Will try to write that one up tomorrow...
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Sally Wilton
non-member comment
Poor you!
Hi Esther, Joe, Bella and Charlie! Sorry to hear of your travel difficulties and I hope you are all well now. However it sounds like you are all seeing some amazing sights. I loved Bella's comment on the diamond in Istanbul. I am following all your posts with interest. Eve went back to school a week ago and Alfie starts at Nelson next Monday. I did a wedding fayre on Sunday but attendance was very poor. Bryony's mum is expecting a baby in January! Love, Sally