Days Inn Hotel Aqab Aqaba

Today we started a bit later after the long day in Petra the previous day. Stopped by the markets to get food for lunch then headed for Wadi Rum. Short 2 hr trip took us to the Wadi Rum visitor centre where we transferred to 4WDs for our trip out into the desert.Rattly old Landcruisers, but still functional and our driver in traditional Bedouin dress and talking non-stop on his ...

We decided to only stay a few nights in Aqaba, mostly to give us 1 full day so we could head to the Red Sea and do some smorkeling and relaxing.<br><br>It was so beautiful and we spent hours out in the water only about 50-100 meters from the shore exploring the coral and looking at all the colourful fish. It was such a relaxing day and the water was ...

... Red Sea across to Jordan. We had not eaten since breakfast except a few sweet biscuits and tea on board and were tired and hot on arriving around 8pm. Getting off the ferry took over an hour as people shoved their way through, we waited not wanting to get shoved; besides the girls had way too much luggage and we were helping them shift it. I had had a cranky time of it and was not enjoying travelling today and feeling overwhelmed had curled up on my ...

... Meanwhile, his son made tea by finding enough wood to start a fire, boiling a kettle full of water that materialized somehow, and serving us.<br>So the texting thing: as we were heading back, literally beyond sight of anything like a road or a telephone wire, I got a mystery text from a number I didn't recognize: Was up?<br>The text and the mystery number were one thing, but the fact that I had gotten a text message right then was unbelievable. There are ...

... building and everything was very organised and neat. There was a big board describing every tour and the price involved and we weren't sure what tour to do or where to stay that night. Some of the tours were 25 Dina's for2 hours and you only saw a few things, luckily I got chatting to a Spanish guy and he wasn't sure either what to do, so we ended up budding up with him and his wife to make 4 in a car for 8 hours and only 20 Dina's which is around 20 GBP. The ...

... few tourist camps around the same area (it must have been the tourist place to stop). We watched the sun set in the desert which made everything look even more red and then camped out under the stars at night. It was almost a full moon at night and so was quite bright (almost like sleeping with a light on). The next morning we drove out of the desert and headed for Petra.

... though was undoubtedly the sand dunes that having laboriously climbed, with each step taking you only fractionally closer to the top, could then be jumped, run, rolled or slid down. The sand was a beautifully fine, red consistency and got absolutely everywhere including inside our camera lens, despite it being turned off, in a case, inside my pocket. Yep, broken again! Luckily we were with Nicole and Rick, so were able to use their spare camera ...

... the booth w/ an Egyptian exit stamp and his son's email address. I thanked Elat and then waited for hours in what can only be described as my own personal version of Dantes Inferno. Border crossings are bad enough, but throw a ferry, absolute chaos, 100 degree temps, a solo Asian American backpacker in an Islamic setting into the mix and you have absolute hell. I waited for hours. Kids kept kicking trash at me, staring at me, Muslim woman giving me the ...

... of the stupendous hills." We felt small indeed. Despite the heat, the boys-at-heart in our group, my 70-year-old husband among them, couldn't resist climbing one of those stupendous hills. It was only because one man wore a bright blue shirt and my husband waved a hiking pole that we could see them when they got to the top. Running back down the mound of red sand that covered the rocks on one side, they were mere specks on the giant dune. With ...

... hours taking a look around down town Aqaba... and buying beer for hotel room consumption. 'We' isn't just Pat and I any more. Nope, Brandon, fellow suffering traveller we met while on the long wait for the ferry departure earlier today, has joined up with us. Brandon will, whether he likes it or not, be part of 'the honeymoon' for the next few days, turning it into a threesome in the process. Brandon looks like an Arab, he just doesn't sound like one (we mistook him for an ...