So after being picked up at the hotel at transported to Nuwaybi we went through customs and were set up in an old fly infested building to wait for our boat to Aqaba Jordan. We got through the process and into the holding area around 1pm and were told that the boat should take off around 2:30… Unfortunately we were later informed that it wouldn’t arrive until 3 and we should depart around 3:30… then every 30 minutes we were told it would be about another 30 minutes… After playing cards until we were couldn’t really play anymore we decided to get up and try and form a line so that we could be one of the first onto the boat since we were tired of sitting in the warehouse of flies and other travelers. Finally, around 5:30 they told us to board the bus and we were taken to the ferry. Departing around 6 pm we finally got into Aqaba around 7:30 and after docking then turning around and docking again we got through customs and set foot on land at about 8 pm….

Luckily, to the amazement of myself and the rest of the crew, our rental car agent was waiting for us just outside of the customs! he picked us up in our car and took us to the office, which was a few miles away to finalize the rental! Such a lucky turn of events since we were all exhausted and I don’t know how we would have gotten there without him. Anyway, about 30 minutes later and GPS device secured we were on our way to our hotel in Petra.

Mandy, our lovely GPS guide was a little quirky and at first gave us a little trouble getting out of the city, but after we figured it out we were on our way. About 2o minutes outside of the city we were stopped at a checkpoint where and were greeted by an officer:

Officer: Hello, Welcome

Me: Hi, Thank you

Officer and Me: Awkward pause and eye contact…

Officer: Welcome, Goodbye.

Me and the rest of the crew: Quite chuckles and we drove away.

So that was a nice comic relief… I assume they are looking for shady characters and we were just too odd to fit the bill.

We drove off and headed down the highway until we hit a detour: It was a little unerving at around 11pm, but we proceeded as told while Mandy threw a fit…

Mandy: Prepare to make a U-turn … Recalculating route … Prepare to make a U-turn … Make a U-turn … Recalculating route…

… and on and on she went until we had finally gone far enough for her to give up on us making a U-turn. Anyway, we finally made it back to the highway, had to turn around head back to a our turn off and then we were on the back roads of Jordan. Mandy finally regained here since of where we were and guided us to our hotel. At just after midnight, and I believe the latest we had stayed up the whole trip, I needed to unwind the nerves after driving on back roads of Jordan at night. Luckily Sue and Kristie has secured me some very delicious “Philadelphia,” Jordanian beer and I was able to settle in to sleep so we could get up at a decent hour and go explore Petra the next day!