Jordan was definitely a life-changing trip. It was an opportunity for perspective, to see some unbelievable natural and man-made sights, and to adventure through foreign lands with some great friends.
I actually just spent the last hour and a half writing a recap for you which WordPress so kindly deleted in the process of me saving it to draft.
So this is my second go round at sharing my experience with you and I’ll be honest it’s probably going to be a lot more brief than my first iteration. Considering I feel like I have enough stuff to share for six blog posts perhaps this is the universes way of saying “Yo Krash” maybe you could express that a little more succinctly.”
Places to definitely go in Jordan:
Wadi Rum -Bedouin camp over night trip.
Petra- a city abandoned and re-inhabited by another tribe. My Indiana Jones fans youll love this one.
Beach Clubs on the Red Sea-epic snorkeling, you can wear a bikini instead of swimming fully clothed like public beaches
Things to Skip:
Dead Sea-you’ll get the same buoyancy experience at a local float tank in your city.
The cities-unless you like gawking men looking at you like 1) you’re the devil or 2) they want to eat you for breakfast
Group Travel Tips:
Our crew said yes to this trip within 12 to 24 hours of meeting each other for the first time. I don’t think any of us really knew how the trip would go. Thankfully everyone seem to have their place in keeping the whole thing running. If you’re planning on traveling with a big group be sure you designate certain people for the day or for the trip as the organizer, the accountant(we just split everything), the drivers (out of country especially).
We were lucky enough to have a really great blend of personalities to keep the trip mellow but also super fun.
Gyms in Jordan
Visited three gyms and Jordan two in Aqaba and one in Amman. The first one in Aqaba and the one in Amman Are the weirdest ones for me. In a country where women are expected to cover up, I wasn’t super comfortable working out in my tight pants and tank top but I did it anyways. I just tried to pretend like the men in the gym weren’t looking at me like I had a second head or something.
Second gym in Aqaba was rad. It was owned by bodybuilder Khaled Khater. He was nice enough to let us come in before hours to get a workout in. (You can hopefully expect to hear him on my podcast in the near future about his 14 year journey in pursuit of Mr. Olympia).
Highlight of the entire trip:
Sitting under the full moon in the middle of the desert at Wadi Rum with my friend George. Tossing sand into the air and laughing hysterically like a little kids. Saying “you see that grain of sand? In the grand scheme of things you and your life are smaller than that grain of sand. We think we matter so much. We stress about the stupidest things. Can you imagine a grain of sand in a desert having the audacity to think that it is significant?” It was the closest to free I’ve ever felt in my life.
Because I can’t wrap my head around rewriting the beautiful blog post that I already wrote (and lost, thanks WordPress) for you about my experience of being a woman, especially a tall/fit woman) in the Middle East and a more in-depth re-cap of the trip and my lessons learned, you can catch it on my podcast right here.
LISTEN TO EPISODE 019 COVER UP: Fit Girl Travels to the Middle East
A Krash Course in World Travel 