Afrejse til Jordan

We have booked a charter trip - it does not look like us - to Jordan with Falk Lauritsen :o) We got a really good deal - only 3500,- per person incl. flight and 4 star hotel with breakfast for a week. So for the next week we will stay at the Hilton in Aqaba. The flight was at 7am Saturday morning from Kastrup Airport, so we took the ferry Friday night from Aarhus to Odden, after which we spent the night in the car in the airport parking lot. The ferry crossing only cost 220,- in total, so it was much cheaper and a bit faster than driving all the way. We were looking forward to sitting on the ferry and enjoying their buffet as a good start to our vacation. But what a disappointment. The staff said that the selection had been reduced, but the quality had improved. This was something of an exaggeration. The food was really bad and we both had a stomach ache afterwards - too bad. On the website, www.gomore.dk, you can put up an ad that says: "Friday evening we drive from Aarhus to Copenhagen. We have room for 2 passengers. It costs 125,- per person." It's the "new" way of hitchhiking. So we had a couple on board, which meant that the ferry ticket was free. When we reached the airport parking lot, P15, we put the back seats down, dumped the luggage on the front seats and crawled into the trunk where we had made up. We were surprisingly comfortable :o) Every 15 minutes around the clock, a free shuttle bus runs back and forth between the parking lots and the airport terminals. So when we got up at 4:30am on Saturday morning, we could jump straight into the bus :o) Arriving at Aqaba's small airport after a 4 hour and 45 minute flight, we took a taxi into the city. The vast majority of charter tourists had arranged pickup with Falk Lauritsen and Apollo buses. This is of course easier, but it also costs a little more and takes a little longer as the bus has to go around to different hotels to unload. A taxi from the airport to the city center costs 8 dinars. Our driver shouted: "Welcome to Jordan". Turned up the music and sped off with the windows down and a cigarette in hand :o) Then you can really feel that you have traveled, instead of sitting in a bus full of Danes and Swedes :o) Hilton Double Tree in Aqaba is a lovely 4-star hotel located close to both the beach and the city center. On arrival you are served a small homemade cookie, which is piping hot and tastes fantastic. You can see that the hotel does not have 5 stars. The carpets are a bit worn in some places. There is 1 pool and 2 jazucci - no children's pool. Security is high in this country, so you have to go through a metal detector every time you enter the hotel and your bag has to be scanned. We enjoyed the sunset from the pool overlooking the sea. You can see all the way to Israel. We sat with our drinks in hand and enjoyed the warmth and the view :o) The sun goes down already at 17:30. There are several restaurants in the area around the Hilton, so it's no trouble not to have all inclusive. Especially Ali Baba Restaurant is popular. We ate dinner outside, where several camels walked close to our table. 2 starters and 1 main course is more than enough to fill 2 people. We ordered humus, Arabic salad and a plate of grilled meat. It cost about 200 DKK including 1/2 bottle of wine, soda and water. Lamb and chicken are mostly eaten in this country. Beef is expensive, but it can easily be found. However, pork is banned from the menu as Jordan is a very Muslim country.