A week in Jordan – Part 1 - Claire Imaginarium

As you probably have guessed by now I love travelling and I love sharing my pictures with you. I do not consider myself a good photographer, as my technical knowledge is fairly limited. However I am a pretty good planner, and I thought I would start sharing with you my travel itineraries so you can make the most of your adventure.

The first itinerary I will be sharing with you is my week in Jordan. I know that at the moment this region of the world is unstable and that a trip to the Syrian border may not be the most tempting, but Jordan is a BEAUTIFUL country and it was honestly one of my favourite trip ever. We never felt in danger and Jordanians are the nicest people, so if/or when you can, please consider visiting, you will not regret it!

Note that because it was a busy trip and I took a million pictures I decided to divide the itinerary into two posts. So here is the first part of our trip – Aqaba and Wadi Rum.

After a 4/5 hours flight from Heathrow to Amman, we landed in the early evening and rushed to the car rental to pick up our ride for the week. Note that driving in Jordan is not considered very safe. Jordanians have a particular driving style that could scare more than one, so if you are not a confident driver I would advise you look at alternative ways to visit the country. Some of the craziest and most unbelievable moments on this trip happened to us while driving, the word ‘adventure’ took a whole new meaning…

We headed south to Aqaba, on the Red Sea coast, where we spent two days relaxing at Movenpick resort. This is where I also had one of the most amazing experience, jet-skiing followed by a huge group of flying fish! The Red Sea is absolutely gorgeous with its indigo colour and has fantastic sea-life.

After 2 days swimming, tanning, and sleeping, we started our road trip with a first stop in Wadi Rum. We parked the car at the National Park entrance and hopped on a 4×4 for two days of desert safari. We booked our guide and stay with Classic Wadi Rum Tours. So far this whole experience was the one time where we felt cultural shock the most.

After heading for a morning camel ride, we stopped for lunch at our guide’s sister tent. Yes, her tent as they were genuine Bedouins. Having lunch sitting on the floor with a panoramic view of the desert in that lady’s ‘home’ was surreal. They were so generous as well, offering us tea and their bed for a little nap.

After our lunch break, we head off for more sight-seeing, absorbing all the beauty of Wadi Rum. The place has been used as inspiration for movies such as Prometheus and you can really understand why. While driving through canyons and between dunes, you really feel like you are on Mars. Just before dinner we also swung by Lawrence of Arabia house.

The evening ended up being very eventful as our host was celebrating his brother engagement. We got invited and were in for another cultural shock – women and men were not allowed to eat together. I, therefore, ended inside with the bride-to-be family dancing and singing, while Andrew was outside enjoying the stars and a shisha or two. After such a busy and exhausting day we headed to our tent in the middle of the desert for more star gazing.