Jordan to Israel

  

We woke up the next morning well rested but with aching muscles from overextending our fitness abilities the day before! We had previously arranged with Waleed to pick us up at 8:30am and he was already waiting when we went down for breakfast at eight. We had been told, and it was hard to miss the celebratory preparations for King Abdullah’s visit to Wadi Musa today to speak with the Bedouins in light of recent uprisings in the Arab world. We packed up our things and watched as hundreds of Bedouin soldiers lined the streets to protect their King.

We drove straight to the mid-way castle, a typical tourist trap where we stopped on the way down for overpriced snacks and tourist souvenirs. A young Jordanian man, a bit younger than me, followed Ariana and me around as we checked out the store making joking about giving me a special price, but triple the price for my husband. As we left, he tried to get me to promise that I would return to see him without my husband; I politely declined! On our way out, I noticed a tourist souvenir mapping out the country of “Palestine” known in the western world as Israel. Although the two countries live side by side, it’s no big surprise that most Israeli’s won’t visit here.

We drove to Amman so that Ariana and Omi could see the parts they missed and a few new ones for all of us. We made our way to the roman amphitheatre that is still used today for concerts and performances. I think I have seen roman amphitheatres in over five countries now. Beside the archaeological site we stopped at an antiquities store and bargained for elephants, hanging globes, a compass and sundial. The storeowner thought we drove a hard bargain, but did negotiate in the end and everyone left with an item or two. We then made our way to the Citadel where Ariana and Omi toured while I looked around for my favourite cat. After our sightseeing we stopped for schwarma yet again and headed to the border for the lengthy trip back home to Israel.

I had read online that crossing at the Allenby border (near Jerusalem) was a big hassle, but we confidently hopped people were just exaggerating. We exited Jordan in moments, then were forced to wait for 30 mins for the tourist bus to pick us up. They charged us for the 5 minute ride as well as a per/bag fee which was totally ridiculous. Once we arrived in Israel, our big bags were tagged and taken away and we went through two more slow check and questionings. Ariana, Joe and Omi passed through till the end problem free, while I was left “waiting 5 minutes for my bag.”

Five minutes came and went and I soon discovered that my bag was flagged for further inspection and I had to wait 1.5 hours to get it checked. Not because there were so many people ahead, but because there was only ONE PERSON allowed to check bags “allegedly” and he was busy. I berated all of the English speaking custom workers in the vicinity, which I’m sure didn’t do me any favours (the French woman beside me waited just as long). Finally after the unnecessary wait period, my bag was checked for five minutes and I was able to go free. Apparently, the compass that we had purchased in Jordan looked suspicious. I was so pissed by the three hours it took to clear customs and embarrassed for a country that prides itself on national security whilst holding people hostage for hours waiting for their bags to be checked. You have to hand it to the USA for their efficient checking systems. As a Canadian I do not appreciate being treated like a terrorist and left to wait for hours on end while ten workers walked by doing what appeared to be nothing. I will be writing on the travel blogs about this one...

Once free, we jumped on the bus, followed by a taxi, but we still missed our bus to the Shomron and were forced to wait three hours or take an alternate bus that left us shy of our actual destination. We chose option B and had my cousin pick us up in a city 30 minutes from where they lived. We arrived home around midnight and celebrated before heading to bed.