The Long Road Ahead …Road trip through the Middle East - Day 1
Packing: After dropping my parents off at the airport at midnight, we went home and packed through the night. Being the light packer that I am, we ended up with 2 suitcases, 5 other “miscellaneous” bags, a crate of food, and pretty much filling the back of the car! ☺ So we met our friend, Brent, down at the car at 4:30 a.m. and began the long haul across Saudi Arabia without any sleep.
Driving & Crossing Boarders: It was a long, 18-hour trip across Saudi Arabia, but it was pretty uneventful. Paulo wore his dishdasha (more out of comfort than anything else), and I wore my abaya (women have to in Saudi) so we fit right in. After hearing all of the horror stories about crossing the Saudi border, we were pleasantly surprised to have no problems at all! They didn’t search the car at all, and we got to drink tea for 45 minutes with the very friendly guards. ☺
As for the drive itself, Paulo and Brent had a good time chatting and I thoroughly enjoyed my nice, long nap! There were finally geographical changes and formation to see, and we were excited to see that the altimeter in our car really does work (it’s always on 0 in Kuwait)!
We arrived in Jordan shortly after dark only to get a flat tire. ☹ After an hour and a million big trucks zipping by us, the tire was fixed and we were on our way to Amman.
Getting Lost in Amman: And people told us that driving in Kuwait was crazy! At least in Kuwait the roads are clearly labeled and the ground is flat. Driving in a city that is thousands of years old and built on seven hills is quite a different story! The narrow roads make it difficult to tell what is a major road and what is not. Of course it doesn’t help that our map was meant for pedestrians and didn’t have one-way streets marked! Also, our Pajero felt like a tank around all of the other tiny cars! After driving around for two hours, we found a hotel and collapsed.
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