Jordan | Aagaahi... The awareness

It was when I saw the picture of Petra for first time; I found myself In-Love with Jordan and decided to visit whenever I get chance. I got one by end of 2015 during long National Holidays in UAE. Here I will give you quick glimpses of my 5 days travel to Jordan that covered the most common attractions like Amman, Jerash, Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum.

Jordan is a small country but with immense historical places as it was the buffer zone between Syria and Egypt. If you see the geographical position of Jordan, you will realize its importance in the past as well as in present. It has borders with KSA, Egypt, Israel, Syria and Iraq. Unfortunately that has become the reason why tourism has gone down drastically since the destabilization of the region.

OK, I started planning my trip much in advance, visited most of the sites offering different packages, explored people’s experiences on youtube and finally came up with an itinerary that best suited my budget and duration. However if you have luxury of time you can plan for whole week but there is a significant chance that you will get bored with too much history.

I have done correspondence with many tour operators and below are the ones I found suitable from itinerary and financial perspectives:

Jordan Trips – Mr. Moath (info@jordan-trips.com) +962790691544 (also available on whatsapp)
Sherazade Travel Jordan – Mr. Khaldoun Issa (issa@sherazade-travel.com) +962799850097

Also Jordan Pass is a good initiative by the ministry of tourism to save you visa fee (if you are eligible for on arrival visa) and offers free entry to almost 40 tourist attractions across Jordan. Check @ info@jordanpass.jo

You can also arrange private car if you want to plan your own itinerary. Check at Local Trips or localtrips.net@gmail.com.

Cost: The average tour of 5 days for a single person would cost approx. 1200 USD. However if you can arrange up to 4 people it would be very good as it will save significant money as you can use the same transportation.

Visa: Jordan embassy at Abu Dhabi – UAE charged me total AED 420. AED 120 for initial clearance that took 2 weeks and then visa fee of AED 300 that will take a day. If you are eligible for on arrival visa (check with local embassy and do not believe on anyone to avoid inconvenience).

Weather: Check out for weather updates as winters are usually cold and days are shorter than usual. I believe the Spring or late Summer is the best time to avoid extreme weather conditions and utilize time at its best.

Phone: As soon as you arrive and come out of the Airport, you can buy a local SIM from Zain counter at the left side. It will offer 1 GB of internet and unlimited local calls on Zain network (No call balance). This was suggested to me by Mr. Khaldoun. He also mentioned that I am his first Pakistani client 🙂

People: People of Jordan are lovely. Very friendly and cheerful

Safety/Security: Though you will come across many check posts due to the overall region’s condition, but no safety issues at all as of now (Dec. 2015).

My Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival at Amman and visited Roman Theater and Amman Citadel

Day 2: Jerash Archeological Site and Dead Sea

Day 3: Petra Check this virtual tour of Petra. I am sure you will love it

Day 4: Wadi Rum and return back to Amman

Day 5: Departure

Roman Theater