We left Wadi Rum to head back to Amman for our flight home at 3:25 am Monday. It’s a solid 6 hour drive so we stopped in Madaba to see an ancient mosaic map in a Greek Orthodox church. It was basically a road map for Christians from the first century AD. Anything on the outskirts of town were desolate and high poverty. We have been heartbroken by the number of stray dogs and cats throughout all the countries. Turkey, at least, tags their ears to show that they have been seen and had shots.
Next stop was Mount Nebo or the high mountain where Moses was able to view the holy land but never made it. One can see the dead sea, the Jordan river valley and beyond. It is believed that Moses died here. The roads are insane and Malek did a great job of keeping us from sailing over the side of many cliffs. Driving is not for the faint of heart.
Onward to Amman to a hotel for 6 hours. Check in at 6pm and checkout at midnight to get to the airport for a 3:25am flight. While we were resting, we tried to get caught up on news, but anytime CNN was an option, within 2 minutes it went dark. Hmmmmm. We wanted to go early and Ziad kept telling us not to worry. We insisted and then found out why we didn’t need to worry. The tour company had arranged for a VIP assist which basically meant a professional “Budger”. Wael (Wah el), with a twisted sense of humor, escorted us to the front of every line; for check in, to the fast line for security, to the diplomat passport check. At the bag check, Tim asked “to JFK yes?” to which Wael said “no, to my house”. We were done with 2 hours to spare. Who knew??? Apparently Ziad did.
The captain told us that they needed to adjust the flight plan to avoid the area of conflict, which was ok with us. We survived Frankfurt and the travel Gods were with us. I had made a flight reservation to Syracuse AND a rental car reservation. Global entry, priority bag check, running from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 and we accomplished this in 40 minutes and made our flight. 30 hours of travel and back in the US- I haven’t allowed myself to register how close we came to being stuck in Israel. God is good.
2025-02-07