By the morning, Tamz and I had decided that we couldn't stay at the Gulag (ok hotel!). It was too filthy and depressing to contemplate (and the shower was full of someone's hair....), and since I had the whole next day on my own after Tamz left, we decided that the only option was to move. We managed to book into the Marriott. After breakfast, we headed off to Jerash, an ancient Roman ruined city. It was spectacular, and really quite large. There are still huge areas there that are un-excavated, amazing to think what else could be buried there. We were there until lunch, then drove back to Amman, and the tour ended. We moved to the Marriott, and it was absolutely wonderful. We had arranged to meet up with the others at the Citadel later that afternoon. We set off, but our mood was so improved having moved hotels, and they still seemed really depressed and down (from lunch at the gulag I guess), so we didn't stay long. Went back and had a great (but not at all Jordanian) dinner at the sports bar downstairs. Tamz then headed off at 4am for her return flight. I spent the next day hanging out at the pool, and shopping.
That afternoon I headed out the airport, and worked my way through the intricate customs and departure processes (including a very personal pat-down!) and then managed to find a way of buying alcohol (they don't serve it anywhere at the airport). The duty free shop keeps six packs of Heineken in the fridge, so I bought one of those and then came across two guys that had done the same thing (and more importantly, knew how to open a bottle of beer with a cigarette lighter!). They were a fascinating pair - South African engineers who were returning from a stint in Iraq working for the US army building camps etc. Apparently the flights out of Iraq to Jordan take off pretty much vertically to make sure that they are out of range of missiles as soon as possible, but arriving is even worse, as it's like your worst nightmare of plummeting towards earth as they maintain maximum altitude for as long as possible before rapid descent.
Got on the flight to Dubai feeling pretty relaxed after my chat with the South African boys (nothing to do with the beer!). The hotel in Dubai was great, huge room, fantastic decor. The next day I went shopping, and really enjoyed it. Then headed back home.....
Overall, I had a great time, however, I have to say that I would never travel with Peregrine again, as their guides seemed remarkably unprofessional and quite disorganised. Comparing the Egypt segment to an almost identical tour I had in Oct 2002 with Imaginative Travel, it seems incredible how different it was just because of the tour leader. I don't want hand-holding on a tour, or excessive organisation, but I also don't want to waste my holiday hanging around waiting with no idea what is supposed to happen next, so that we end up trapped in hotel lobbies, unable to leave and explore in case we miss a scheduled tour event. Imaginative Traveller seemed to have a better balance - each night the tour leader would give us a quick run-down of the next day, and offer maps and advice for the free time. They also always let us know where they would be in case anyone needed something, or to help with anything people wanted to organise for their free time. Still, we did have a great holiday, and saw and did everything we wanted to.
