So, we left Jerusalem yesterday morning and went back across the bridge. I will definitely say that getting OUT of Israel is a lot easier than getting IN! It also helped that we mailed the knives home in Israel! We went through one metal detector, and our bags were only checked once, on each side. It also helped that we crossed over on Friday morning, which is "Jumah" the Muslim sabbath day, so there were very few people crossing, and the terminals were almost empty. We paid the Israel exit fee ($52 USD each), and got on the tourist bus to ride over to the Jordan side.
There were less than 20 people on the bus, and the majority of them were a group of catholic priests.
There's a separate bus, and separate security process, for Palestinians; somehow a Palestinian got on our bus, and the Jordanian police pulled him off. The whole way through, the longest wait was while
the Jordanians looked over our passports. (The King Hussein/Allenby Bridge crossing doesn't issue visas, so you already have to have been given one elsewhere. We got ours at the airport when we arrived.) Then we met the car service on the Jordan side, and came back to the Sheraton Amman.
Ah, the comfort of being spoiled at a fancy hotel again! The guest check in staff thanked us for returning, and for the good feedback I left on their guest survey from our previous stay. When we
arrived in our room, they even had a big fruit plate waiting for us!
The first thing we did was to go down to the hot tub for a nice soak, and a swim in the pool. This was really nice after a long week with lots of walking! Then we started the re-packing. Oh wow... We bought an extra suitcase in Dubai so I could come back with souvenirs and Sean's extra clothes. (Amazingly, Emirates allows economy passengers 2 bags of up to 50 lbs each!) He also bought a fancy hookah/shisha that we wanted to come back with me. So, after sorting all of the dirty clothes, and deciding which things would go back with each of us, we now have everything packed and ready for the return trips this afternoon.
We then headed back to the local restaurant down the street, Warak Enab, for a good dinner. The
waiter recognized us when we walked in, and even the owner came by to say hello. Again, our dinner was delicious! Sean had lamb chops, and a shisha. As before, it was delicious! The owner even have us a discount since I wrote a nice review on Trip Advisor. After dinner, we came back to the Sheraton and had dessert and drinks in the Club lounge, then we both went to sleep pretty early. It has been a fun-filled twenty days, and we were both really tired!
Oh, one interesting travel thing: Israeli passport control. Due to many countries barring entry to someone who has evidence of travel to Israel, the Israelis stopped stamping passports several years ago. Now, you are issued an Entry Permit that's a little separate card. You have to keep it with you in your passport, and they usually take it when you leave. (Somehow, Sean was given his card back!) Then, when they clear you to leave, you are given a similar Exit Permit that you have to show the Jordanians to get back into Jordan. There's no cost for Americans to pay to enter Israel, but everyone
pays to exit.
pays to exit.
So now we are just relaxing until it's time for us to head out to the airport. We had discussed going downtown and walking around the market (which we didn't get to do on the day that it rained), but we both decided we'd just rather relax. Besides, the suitcases are full so we couldn't buy anything!
I've had a great time here, but there are things I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to in the USA:
Friends, family and coworkers
Friends, family and coworkers
My pet cats (the feral/street cats are not the same)
Signs in English
American music
Mexican food
Oh, and after all of the walking we did, I REALLY need a pedicure!
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