Jordan Update-Number 1

It is my second day in Jordan, though it feels like more. Unfortunately, I can't share pictures yet as, in Jordan, the wifi works the way data does on your phones. So this post will only be on the flight and then the first day, which I have no photos for.

The First Leg
On the way to Jordan, I flew from Knoxville to New Jersey and then had to take a shuttle to JFK before flying on to Istanbul and Aqaba (the city we are staying in). I thought I was going to die on the shuttle; our driver was cutting into traffic, driving way faster than he should have, and there were probably too many people in the car.

The flight to Istanbul was not all that eventful. The one thing I can says is that if you are flying international, Turkish Airlines is great. On my 11 hour flight, they gave us two meals, practically drowned us in beverages, and they started the flight by giving everyone a little travel kit and a piece of Turkish delight.

The Long Haul
I had a 12 hour layover in Istanbul, which was about the most boring thing I have ever done as I couldn't get on the wifi and had no way to call and talk to anyone. I sat there, by myself, until midnight when our flight left. At that point, I had finally found out what gate I needed and gone there. A Muslim woman sat next to me with her daughter who played model for us, taking pictures with her Minnie Mouse luggage and striking different poses. I think they were the only people there to actually acknowledge my presence, and they gave me candy.

At last we were able to go to the plane, which we had to be bused to. We got to enter the plane president PR style (minus the waving and secret service). Again, Turkish Airlines fed us, even though it was only a 2 hour flight. Unfortunately, this was the worst of the flights. When I would have liked to be sleeping, I instead had a four year old kicking the back of my chair the whole flight and had beer knocked over into my lap by the woman across the asile.

The Arrival
Once we landed in Aqaba (there were now four of us who had met up as we were boarding the plane), we waited for half an hour in the visa line for someone to actually show up and run the booth. At that point, we went to the hotel, where greeted by a rooster and some stray cats, before collapsing in our rooms.


I hope you got through that story! Sorry again that there are no photos. I plan to upload some for you next friday, but who knows in Jordan (so inshallah). I hope you have enjoyed the guest posts and giveaways so far. Hope to hear from you in the comments!


Bookishqueen
Rebekah


P.S. Right now I am watching the hotel staff (it is family owned so these are like teenagers) mop the floor by scoping water out of the pool and then throwing it on the floor. Interesting to see the different perspective as to the usefulness of pool water.