My girlfriend and I have been here in Jordan, right in between Iran and Israel, since before this Middle East conflict started. We hear air raid sirens for threats in the airspace (like missiles) pretty much every day now, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s actually dangerous for us civilians on the ground. My retired dad has even just joined us for the main part of the trip.
Being an experienced traveler means knowing that the actual risk in most situations is usually not as high as most people assume (Andrew, Flytrippers’ other co-founder, just mentioned this in his TV interviews, even if it’s unpopular).
So we didn’t cancel our plans and left Jordan despite this curveball, and you can always follow all my travels in my personal Instagram stories. Flytrippers aims to help you travel for less through our 3 types of content, namely flight deals, travel rewards, and tips/inspiration/news.
Here’s the intro to my trip to Jordan, specifically the reason and the itinerary (and a special section about safety). The tips and booking logistics, reviews, and experiences will follow soon.
Safety of my trip to Jordan
I’m adding this special section that we don’t normally have, as I’m sure that’s what most people are curious to know (that’s normal).
Here’s what it’s really like here, from my on-the-ground experience.
The very first day, while we were on a quick GetYourGuide tour in the north of the country, I saw a few missile interceptions in the sky. But since then? Maybe 3 or 4 more over 2 weeks.
I never actually saw the missiles themselves… just the interceptions. When we’re outside, we usually hear a distant bang before the “all clear” siren goes off. That’s the sound of the missile interception happening.
The missiles are intercepted. Even if they weren’t, they’re targeting military installations. And even if they didn’t, what are the odds of them hitting exactly where we are?
It’s objectively very very very low.
Since this conflict started, more Canadians (2) actually died in bus accidents in the Dominican Republic than in the whole Middle East. Zero (0) civilians of any nationality have died in Jordan, in fact. None.
The first few sirens felt a little weird. But every local we’ve talked to since has said the same thing: it’s safe here in Jordan.
Now we mostly look out the window to see if we can spot anything when the sirens go off, but out of curiosity, not out of fear.
Jordan is normally one of the absolute safest and most stable countries in the whole region. There are, of course, “safer” regions to be in right now. But we were already here when everything started.
And after a week of watching Jordan remain completely unaffected while the media back home made it sound like the apocalypse (according to my dad, who just arrived), we kept our plans.
The real risk is falling interception debris if you’re outside during a siren… but going inside mitigates that pretty much completely. Hence the sirens.
My dad also had a dentist appointment here, as a cleanup and 2 teeth reconstructions cost just 115 JOD, way less than he’d pay back home in Canada.
The dentist also said everything was fine in Jordan and he wasn’t worried at all about safety, even saying it was a “great time to visit” for no crowds. His friend runs Petra tours, and they usually see thousands of visitors daily, but now it’s down to under a hundred.
It’s safe in Jordan. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any impacts, of course.
My dad’s flight got cancelled, like 10,000+ others, due to airspace closures (they don’t take any chances; that’s why aviation is the safest transportation mode).
But Jordan’s airspace is much less affected; the problem was that he had a connection in Qatar.
His original flight was on Qatar Airways in economy class, which is very good… but not as good as the Qsuite, the world’s best business class that Andrew shared (that you can get with just 1 welcome bonus currently, but you should take advantage of the Marriott cards first and then that one).
He was obviously entitled to a free rebooking on another airline, a basic tip all Canadian travelers should know. But in our case, we actually found a better option than he had initially booked, and we wanted to make sure he wasn’t delayed longer (a real possibility in the circumstances), so we took the refund.
We rebooked him on a next-day nonstop Montreal–Amman flight on Royal Jordanian (another good airline Andrew recommended in economy class).
It was just 35,000 Alaska Airlines Atmos points and 74 USD in taxes.
That’s yet another example of why you should have a lot of different airline points currencies! Atmos points are available only with US-issued cards, but Canadian cards give you access to 7 airline currencies (8 starting in April).
And it’s another example of why Flytrippers has been repeating for 9 years that airline partners are the key to better redemptions; stop redeeming Aeroplan points only on Air Canada!
Reason for my trip to Jordan
I’m sharing why I’m doing this trip, which is usually the 1st section to get straight to the point right at the beginning (as in all our posts).
Here are the 2 main reasons:
- To explore a new country and take a trip with my dad
- To do a work retreat and get a head start on our hotel elite status
To explore a new country and take a trip with my dad
We were in the general area and wanted to visit more of the Middle East.
After my trip to the Horn of Africa (which included the arguably riskier Mogadishu) at the end of last year, I spent time in the Seychelles, the UAE, and Turkmenistan. I haven’t shared those yet, but they’ll come soon.
I’d never been to Jordan, and it looked amazing. With the new leadership, neighboring Syria is safer than it has been in many years, and we figured we could maybe do both, but we’ll see if things change.
This time of year is also a good time to be in the Middle East, as it is not too hot (it is actually almost cold; no, it’s not always hot in the whole region!).
And I’m on a quest to visit every country in the world (Jordan is my 104th countries), so I try to sometimes prioritize new countries like Jordan.
Finally, my dad wanted to visit us around this time anyway, and he really wanted to see Petra.
To do a work retreat and get a head start on our hotel elite status
We needed to catch up on work, so that was the 1st part of our trip in Jordan. As full-time digital nomads, we often alternate between more intense exploring and then more intense working.
My trip to Turkmenistan before Jordan was unique because the country is pretty closed off to tourists, and so we had to book a guide. That means we didn’t work as much, to maximize our time there.
(And even if we wanted to, the country has the worst internet situation I’ve experienced so far; heavy censorship that can be bypassed with the right obscure VPN, but speed that you can’t do much about!)
And when we do a work retreat, we like to do them in nice hotels.
For Canadians, Marriott is by far the best hotel rewards program (both Marriott cards currently have their highest-ever offer; you really can’t miss this!).
But since I have US-issued credit cards (and my American girlfriend has 50+ of them currently), we also like having Hyatt elite status.
So we’re doing a 14-night stay at a Category 1 Hyatt, the Grand Hyatt Amman, to requalify for Globalist status. It’s a luxurious 5-star hotel that costs only 5,000 points per night, and with a guaranteed suite upgrade. A great deal!
That stay is great for working since we get free breakfast and free lounge access thanks to our Globalist elite status, so we don’t need to go out as often. We can get a lot done before exploring more on this trip later. We also have access to the gym and the spa.
We had 2 separate 300 USD hotel credits from US-issued credit cards, so we also stayed at The St. Regis Amman hotel (Marriott Bonvoy) and the Four Seasons Hotel Amman, 2 incredibly luxurious hotels, for about 70 USD per night (35 USD per person) out of pocket.
They were both amazing, but the St. Regis in particular was epic. Thanks to our Marriott Bonvoy elite status, we got a free upgrade to a suite worth 1600 USD per night and a 5 PM late check-out instead of the 4 PM late check-out our status entitles us to.
(Both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards that currently have the record-high offer give you automatic elite status, but especially a shortcut to higher tiers of status that offer great benefits!)
We also had 8 separate 50 USD Hilton hotel credits (400 USD total) from that same US-issued credit card, so we’re using them for 4 nights back in Amman at the end of the trip to get more work done.
Finally, we also had a 100 USD hotel credit from another US-issued credit card, and we used it on an apartment for 4 days in Amman.
The 16 nights in between in the rest of the country are not in points hotels, although I was tempted to try the Petra Marriott Hotel that Andrew enjoyed in late 2024, and we might still book 1 night on the Dead Sea shore with a Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate (more on that below).
Itinerary of my trip to Jordan
I’m sharing the general itinerary of my trip, so you can follow me (in my Instagram stories).
Here’s my itinerary on a map.
We’ll spend a bit over 5 weeks in the country, if nothing changes (given the current situation).
Here are the cities I’ll visit during my trip:
- Amman
- 18 nights
- Petra
- 5 nights
- Wadi Rum
- 4 nights
- Aqaba
- 3 nights
- Dead Sea
- 4 nights
- Amman (again)
- 4 nights
Amman
The country’s capital is a convenient base for our work retreat portion of the trip. We visited the Citadel, a Roman theater, and the souq.
It’s currently Ramadan, so most of the cafes or restaurants are closed during the daytime, but there seems to be many of them.
We also used the city as a base to visit the Northwest (where we were when the war started) and the East to visit some castles (and drive right by Jordan’s big US military base).
Petra
This very famous ancient city is 1 of the 7 wonders of the world. We are spending 4 full days in Petra, so we’ll see a lot of it and do some hikes.
Andrew, Flytrippers’ other co-founder, visited Petra during his round-the-world trip to get a 1M points bonus and loved it. He told me he was surprised that it wasn’t more crowded.
But now with the conflict, it’s apparently very empty, as I said. It will be pretty amazing and unique to get to have such a marvelous site basically all to ourselves. Hopefully, it’s as fun as the uncrowded Greek islands were in July 2020.
Wadi Rum
This desert destination looks very nice. We’re spending 4 days there.
We booked a guide and some activities, camping, and hikes. I’m really looking forward to seeing this part.
Aqaba
Jordan’s only coastal city is located on the Red Sea, bordering Israel.
We’re spending 3 nights there, and we’ll probably go scuba diving.
Dead Sea (and Amman again)
We’ll finally come back to Amman for our 4 last nights, via the Dead Sea. But that part is not well planned yet.
We are considering using a Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate, one of the best credit card benefits in Canada (again, offered by both Marriott Bonvoy cards).
The certificate benefit has been newly improved since last week; its value of 35,000 points can now be topped up with 25,000 points for even more luxury hotel options (instead of 15,000).
That’s not necessary in this destination, as there’s a nice resort there, the Dead Sea Marriott Resort & Spa, that would be a good redemption of that certificate at only 33,000 points instead of 332 CAD!
Can you imagine not wanting to pay 120 CAD for the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card when the annual certificate is always worth so much more than that?
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Summary
This trip to Jordan unexpectedly landed my girlfriend and me right in between 2 warring countries. Objectively, the risk to us as civilians is incredibly low, so we certainly didn’t cancel our plans. My retired father has even just joined us for a couple of weeks to explore this beautiful destination.
What would you like to know about my Jordan trip? Tell us in the comments below.
See the flight deals we spot: Cheap flights
Discover free travel with rewards: Travel rewards
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Featured image: Jordan (photo credit: Kevin Gagnon/Flytrippers)
