- to Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon)
- to the Decapolis (the 10 cities, of which Amman and Jerash (Gerasa) are two)
After this, the group went to Old Amman. Peter had decided that my meds weren't working and I needed more, so he sent Samer and me off to a pharmacy while he and the rest of the group went to a sweets shop. And they didn't even save us anything. While we were walking, Samer bought me a fresh-squeezed OJ, and somehow I felt we both knew that was a better choice. My conversations with other group members confirmed this thought.
While we were out, I bought a second piece of luggage because I knew I'd OD'd on souvenirs. I would put most of the souvenirs (especially the mud) into this second bag, which would be my carry on, in addition to my camera bag.
We came back to the hotel. Before I'd left, I'd taken everything out of my suitcase. When I came back, I found the staff had folded it all for me! Everybody remember the Larsa Hotel in Amman, Jordan. It's great!!
So we had dinner, took a little rest, and then were off to the airport. We were met at the airport by our transit person, Jihad, who escorted us through the process. There was security going into the airport, like in Tel-Aviv. I think we had to wait before being able to go to the gate to check in. They only open the ticket counters shortly before the flights are due to take off.
I think. I don't really remember. What I do remember is these young people behind me who kept pushing their luggage cart into me. I turned once and asked them to stop and they pretended like they were playing. So when the line was about to move again, I announced, quite loudly, "If these people behind me push that cart into me one more time, I don't know what I'm doing to do!!" That was the end of the cart pushing.
When we got to the Air France checkout gate, it turned out that I had to take my mud out of my luggage or pay a $65.00 fee (at some point I'd decided to put it into the luggage so it would go through security without a hassle). I took the mud out, sure that it would be confiscated at the gate. It wasn't. Also, coming into the airport, they apparently put a sticker on my camera bag that everything in it should be searched. Jihad took it off. We cleared customs, who seemed to want to keep me in Jordan, tipped Jihad, and were off to the gates. Which, of course, were closed. They don't even let you near the gate until it's time for your plane.
So we went to duty-free and I got some coffee for the office and some more trinkets. We found ICE CREAM, which we all made a beeline for. I paid for the souvenir in dollars with a debit card. Paid for the ice cream in dollars. He gave me change in dollars, but didn't have enough, so he gave me the rest in dinars. Which was perfect, because then I had souvenir dinars.
Got on the flight and everything was great except there was a very large lady stuck in the middle seat. She was very uncomfortable. I felt bad for her, but not bad enough to switch seats with her. It was bad enough that my preference with Delta is for a Window seat, and on every leg of this flight, both to Rome and Cairo and from Amman and Paris, they put me on an aisle.
At one point, there were TWO crying, whining, screaming toddlers on the plane. The flight attendants got them bottles, but I'm not sure that helped. They handed out lovely little menus of what breakfast would be: fruit juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fresh fruit salad, poached eggs Florentine, beef sausage, potato croquettes, buttered and sauteed spinach, chocolate cake, roll, butter, and preserves. They also offered beverages and sandwiches at the beginning of the flight. Plus they had a sleep kit with the things that cover your eyes at night, ear plugs, and headphones.
After the sandwiches, I tried to get a little rest and to wake up in Paris, but I was not successful. Some guy came along and bumped my leg, the woman beside me wanted to get out, and then, when it looked like we could finally get some sleep, they came along and started serving breakfast. There is a certain crazy psychology that takes place when a couple hundred people are in a tube flying through space, true, but I swear I watched them serve rows 1 - 16 and then rows 18-20-something, go back and give coffee to people, move around for people to go to the bano after eating, all before they FINALLY came to serve us in row 17. So I ate.
And then I guess I slept. We deplaned in Charles deGaulle, and I sat with Mary Margaret and Hoyt. We had a good convo. I had a bit of a scare since we had to go through security yet again. They made me take out all my cameras, lenses, and hard drives. Then they saw the mud in the carry on. One guy looked at it. He called another guy. He called a lady. She looked at it, she felt it, she poked around -- I told her it was mud, "to make me beautiful." (she was a black Frenchwoman). She told me to have a nice day. I put the stupid ATT sim card back in, just so I could check in a Charles De Gaulle Airport. Gevey and a local sim card is the way to go, iPhone users. I will never again use ATT's international data service, mostly because they're just so outrageously expensive.
Turned out the screaming baby was on this flight, too. I tried to knock out quickly, but couldn't. That last medicine I took appears to be quite effective, perhaps overly so. Or maybe it's just that I'm too neurotic to use a bathroom on an airplane because they are sooo creepy. It will be so good to get home.
Air France gives you a LOT of food. I could only eat some of the brunch menu, which consisted of: orange juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit compote (apple sauce), farmer's cheese, brioche, butter, and preserves, turkey and selection of cheeses. Then for the main course we got a choice of a cheese omelet with ratatouille or Crepe with caramelized apples and simmered fruit. I watched Limitless, Super 8, and finished watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
There's a black guy with a British accent in a Tag Heuer commercial. He says he's a Formula One Champion. Silly me. I didn't know black people did Formula One. But then, someone said to me that she didn't know black people did skydiving. Guess it's all about expanding experiences.
All beverages on Air France, even alcohol, appear to be complimentary. And they even had hot chocolate! I like Air France. Plus, they're a Delta partner, so with my miles from last year and this year, I can probably go on a trip to the Caribbean or something.
Then they fed us AGAIN about an hour before the plane landed. They gave us a piece of chicken with ratatouille, bread, and a brownie, plus something called pave frais, which is either cream or cheese. It was all cold, and a bit too much for me, but God bless 'em for the thoughts.
So I FINALLY arrived at JFK. I was the only person who clapped when the plane touched down. I was happy to be home. Went through immigration -- they put me to the front of the line because of my cane -- and then when I went through customs and answered truthfully about the "have you handled any livestock," they took me over to the side to examine my shoes and all. They always do it; the alternative is to lie, but I prefer to be truthful and tell them that I rode a horse and a camel. Besides, they were having a slow day.
Went to the super shuttle waiting area. The driver was having a really bad day. Long story short, after waiting around endlessly, he only had me, a French au-pair, and a Hawaiian guy here to check out NYC for the first time. That's it. Usually super shuttles are packed, but two things have happened: 1) the big buses that drop everybody at 42nd Street and don't require reservations are out; and 2) travel in general has declined.
But I finally arrived at home, used my electric toothbrush (the thing I miss the most when traveling) and got into bed. It's a couple days later and I still haven't had my sleep patterns return to normal, but I'm trying.....
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