After the exceptional hotels we stayed in through Egypt and our first night in Jordan, Wadi Rum was a huge let down and it was quite depressing having to sleep in tents with beds after being pampered in nice hotels for the last 2 weeks. Also, with only 2 of us and a crazy guide who thought the place was amazing, it was not the best end to the holiday. Might have been a different story with a hundred or so people but the place lacked excitement. The 4WD safari was interesting and some amazing pictures of the area. This was the place where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed, and it felt like the place where the jetboats raced in one of those starwars movies. We ended our Jordan trip with the driver guiding us onto the fast boat this time and waiting at the port for our connection. When walking through the customs we were immediately pounced on by local drivers wanting to take us to Cairo or Dahab, our driver had not shown up. Luckily I had Rafik's no and we had a driver in an hour or so. It was a mad 5 hour trip to Cairo and the driver basically never got below 130 Km/H he was scaring the crap out of me, and was never overtaken once. I was glad to get of the bus and be back on ground in Cairo. The next day was spent shopping in Talat St a huge shoe street with some great bargains brought back 3 pairs and we ventured into the markets again for some final souvenirs and purchased a fake International Student Card.
My flight back was disaster as we hit a massive dust storm on the day of departure, spent 6 hours in airport as planes grounded, missed my connecting flight in Vienna and was put up in a hotel by airline 40 minutes out of Vienna due to all the hotels in the city being booked. Arrived back to London though feeling exceptionally well about how the torn went and thoroughly enjoyed the all but one day in Jordan. Toured with some great people and saw and leant so much. Lets hope my 28 day Europe Topdeck tour is as good.
