Day 1 Dubai and Amman

Saturday February 19^th.

Went to the airport early and hung around there checking out the duty free shops and the like. Flight was with Emirates and left right on time. It was uneventful, but I wasn't able to sleep much, just nodded off a couple of times.

Arrived in Dubai by about 5am and had to wait a couple of hours for the connecting flight to Amman Jordan. The airport in Dubai is very new and modern, not unlike the new terminal in Toronto. Lots of fancy shops with all the new technology, cameras, computers and stuff, all of which I have seen very little of since being in Africa. Really reminded me of what Africa doesn't have. I bought a new 4g memory card for my camera, for about $16. In Africa they wanted about four times that, if you could find them.

The flight to Amman was also uneventful. I sat beside an older woman who I talked to a little bit. She was originally from New Zealand, but met a Canadian Palestinian in Jordan and married him. She has been living in Jordan for 25 years. I asked her about buses from the airport to the city (about 35kms) and whereabouts my hotel was. At the end of the flight she told me that my hotel was about five minutes from where she was going, but she apologized because she couldn't take me there. She is a nurse and her boss is the brother of the past King of Jordan. He lives in a palace and one of his drivers was coming to the airport to pick her up. She said she couldn't bring a 'strange' single man back with her, even if she was just being helpful, because culturally it's forbidden! I told her it must be very hard for a western woman to live by these rules and she said it's amazing what you get used to. It's just not worth the upset it would cause to do it.

I found three episodes of Two and a Half Men on the personal TV on the plane and had to work really hard to control my laughter sitting between two people. Man it was good to see it again.

Arrived in Amman by 10:30am (I think the time went back an hour) and had to get a visa. Every other country I have been to that demands a visa, requires American cash, they won't even take their own currency. So, I had purchased $500US in Nairobi to prepare for that. Well, you guessed it, Jordan wants their own currency, the dinar. There was an ATM there, but it was out of order, so I had to change $100 Us into dinars, and only got 68 of them. So, I'm sure I lost money in those exchanges.

Anyway, got the visa, found the bus and had a pleasant ride into Amman. Initial thoughts about Jordan, as I was on the bus. The country seems much more organized, more prosperous and there is a lot of construction of roads and buildings going on. And unlike Africa, they seem to know how to do it with proper scaffolding, and a good road beside the one they are building, not destroying and rebuilding the existing road. Anyway, very different from the last couple of months. And, oh, yeah, now I am in the land of mosques and wailing. They even had prayer rooms in the Dubai airport, where it was forbidden to “eat or sleep” in them.

When I arrived at the bus station I was met by a taxi driver who took me to my hotel. He was a very friendly man, who welcomed me to Jordan, asked about me and told me a few things about his country. He saw me dressed in safari shorts and shirt and asked me if I was cold. Most of the locals were wearing heavy coats even though it was sunny and warm, about twenty degrees. I told him I'm Canadian and what it is like back home now.

When I got to the hotel, which is quite nice and has wi-fi, I met my Intrepid tour guide, whose name is Jess, from New Zealand. I told her I don't have the visa for Syria, which you are supposed to get from your home country, but I couldn't because I've been travelling too long and it would have expired before I got here. She said it is probably about 50-50 whether they will let me in. It will be what it will be. If I can't get it, I will be flown to Turkey and will meet the group again when they arrive.

Jess introduced me to two trainee guides who will be coming with us, Cemil (pronounced Jemil, the 'c' is 'j'), from Adana Turkey (same city as Atilla) and Megan who is from Australia. Talked to them for a bit and then headed up to my room. I am sharing with Cemil. I had a three hour nap, and woke up groggy. I will catch up the sleep tonight, I hope.

We had a group meeting at 6:00. There are eight tourists and the three guides. I'm not sure of all the names and countries just yet, I'll figure that out tomorrow. One man hasn't arrived yet. I think he arrives at 2am. After our meeting about the itinerary, we all went out to dinner.

We took three taxis to a Lebanese restaurant and had a great meal. Our taxi driver got lost on the way there and had to stop and ask directions. Anyway, we are good to go. The group is together, we've bypassed Egypt and are ready for Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Let's go!