Qatar, Jordan, Egypt :  March - April 2022

Chris was the flight director for a demonstration of an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) system in Doha, Qatar for two weeks from 13 March to 25 March 2022.  Tami joined him on this trip, and after the UAV flying was complete, we spent two more weeks on vacation in Jordan and Egypt.  We returned back to Doha to catch our flight home on 9 April. Similar to our trip to Canada in August 2021, COVID testing was again an impediment to travel; each country had its own rules - they are all detailed at the bottom of this page in the travel tips section.

Philadelphia <-- --> Doha	Doha -> Amman -> Cairo -> Luxor -> Cairo -> Doha

March 12 - 13, 2022 : Saturday & Sunday

We had a Lyft pick us up at home and drive us to the Philadelphia Airport.  We checked into our Qatar Airways flight and headed to the business class lounge, where we relaxed before boarding our 12 hour flight to Doha, Qatar.  The direct great circle route from Philadelphia to Doha passes next to Ukraine, so the flight took a slightly longer, more southern route that passed over Greece. We had flown through Hamad International Airport in Doha several times, but we had never before left the airport to actually enter Doha.  Chris met up with two other members of the flight team who had just arrived, we all picked up our rental cars, and drove from the airport into Doha to check into the hotel.

Arrival to Hamad Airport, Doha, Qatar

March 14 - 24, 2022 : Monday - Thursday

The rest of the flight team arrived on Monday, March 14.  While Chris and the crew organized, coordinated, performed the flight demonstration, Tami relaxed at the hotel and tele-worked for her job. March 14 was Tami's birthday, so we celebrated with a great dinner at a restaurant on the 43rd floor of the hotel, overlooking the city.  In the evenings, we visited spots around Doha, and on the afternoon of March 20, we drove southwest across Qatar to the Salwa Beach Resort for dinner and to check out that hotel to see if we wanted to ever stay there in the future.  We visited the souk two times; the souk is the old town market.  The market has shops that sell just about anything you could want, including falcons and camels, and also has some great restaurants with nice views of the city.  The two panoramas below show our view one night at dinner.

March 25, 2022 : Friday

The UAV demonstration was complete. The rest of the flight crew headed home, and we started our vacation.  After spending a couple hours in the lounge at the airport, where we enjoyed a fantastic breakfast and La Grande Dame 2008 Champagne, we caught our flight to Amman, Jordan.  We picked up our rental car at the airport and drove south to Aqaba, all the way at the southern end of Jordan.  We checked into our hotel in Aqaba, right on the beach of the Gulf Of Aqaba, Red Sea.  We spent 10 days driving around Jordan; here was our route.  We drove on the Desert Highway going south to Aqaba, and the King's Highway going north.

Hamad International Airport First Class Lounge, Doha, Qatar

 
La Grande Dame 2008 Champagne with breakfast : it is five o'clock somewhere...

Our route through Jordan: Amman - Aqaba - Wadi Rum - Petra / Wadi Musa - Dead Sea - Jerash - Amman

Driving south on the Desert Highway from Amman to Aqaba

   
Sunset view from our hotel balcony in Aqaba, Jordan - looking west to Egypt and Israel

Sunset Time Lapse, Aqaba, Jordan, 25 March 2022, 4K HDR

March 26, 2022 : Saturday

We spent the morning relaxing on the beach at the hotel and swimming in the Red Sea.  Chris also walked about a mile down the main road in Aqaba, along the ocean-front. The old town ruins of Ayla were less than 1/2 mile from the hotel and open for viewing.  Around noon we drove north and east to Wadi Rum, where we spent the next two nights in a tent.  We got a 4WD ride across the desert from the village of Rum to our tent camp, the Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp.  The food was excellent and the tent was luxurious.  We arranged for a full day tour around Wadi Rum for the next day.

Swimming in the Red Sea at Aqaba

Overlooking Aqaba from the hotel

View from our balcony in Aqaba

Night Luxury Camp, Wadi Rum

 
Wadi Rum Village to Night Luxury Camp, 26 March 2022, 5x normal speed

March 27, 2022 : Sunday

We took an all day 4-wheel drive tour of Wadi Rum.  This is an incredibly beautiful place; it is impossible to describe just how awe-inspiring is the entire Wadi Rum Protected Area - World Heritage Site.  It has been the filming location for many movies, including "Lawrence Of Arabia" and "The Martian".  We drove around all day, moving from one great spot to another.  Our driver was a native of Wadi Rum, and took good care of us.  At the various stopping points we would get out of the car and explore.  Chris climbed many cliffs and viewpoints, including several hundred feet up in one spot to get the same view as the entrance scene to Wadi Rum in "Lawrence Of Arabia", shown below.

Lawrence Of Arabia, 1962, Entrance to Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum Driving Tour, All-Trails, 27 March 2022

Wadi Rum Driving Tour, Google Earth, 27 March 2022

March 28, 2022 : Monday

Our guide from the day before arrived to take us back to the village of Rum.  We transferred our luggage to our rental car and drove north and east to visit a couple of the tent camps that sit just outside Wadi Rum Protected Area.  These camps are slightly farther from the central section of Wadi Rum, but the views are almost as incredible and you can drive right to them.  The movie “The Martian” was filmed at one of these camps; we visited that camp and saw the building where parts of the movie had been shot.

We headed back west and then north to Petra, driving on the King's Highway.  Petra sits in the valley of Wadi Musa, which is also the name of the town.  We checked into our hotel, and then Chris hiked down to the Treasury and a little bit past it. The Treasury is famous for the final scenes in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.  It is about 3 miles round-trip from the entrance.  He returned to the hotel, rested for a little bit, and then he and Tami both hiked back to the Treasury to see “Petra At Night”, which a night presentation of the Treasury, with lighting and thousands of candles lining the route and sitting area around the Treasury.  We returned to the hotel the same way we had hiked in.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Ending Scene at the Treasury, Petra

Petra At Night, 28 March 2022

Wadi Musa - Petra is down in there somewhere...

March 29, 2022 : Tuesday

Chris set out on a very long day hike. He completed the entire Petra Monument Loop, and added in a hike to the Monastery at the end. Chris hiked 12 miles and 3000 vertical feet, seeing almost everything to be seen in Petra.  He was dead tired at the end of the day. We walked a short distance to a restaurant next to the hotel for dinner.

The Treasury

The Monastery

Petra Monument Loop + Monastery, 29 March 2022

Petra Monument Loop + Monastery 3D - All-Trails Pro

March 30, 2022 : Wednesday

We drove from Petra to to our hotel at the north end of the Dead Sea, in the Dead Sea resort area.  We explored several places on the way north; we drove into and around Little Petra, which is just north of Petra, past a few castles, and we drove through the Dana Biosphere Reserve. At the Dead Sea we received a excellent room on the ground floor next to the giant hotel pool, so we had direct outside access to the pool from our room.  We took advantage of this for the next two days, spending a lot of time swimming.

Drive into Little Petra, 30 March 2022, 5x normal speed, Route

Dana Biosphere Reserve

 
Sunset at the Dead Sea, 30 March 2022

March 31, 2022: Thursday

We relaxed at the pool and drank boat drinks all day.  In the afternoon we walked down to the Dead Sea beach, covered ourselves in mud, and floated in the Dead Sea.

April 1, 2022 : Friday

We drove north through the Jordan Rift Valley, finally climbing up from below sea level. We drove north and east to Jerash, and ancient city that is now a huge open air museum.  After walking around Jerash, we drove south to Amman and checked into out hotel.

April 2, 2022 : Saturday

We drove around Amman, enjoying the tight city street driving that can only be described as "... only slightly less wild and scary than some places in Cairo ...", eventually making it to the Amman Citadel, an ancient set of ruins on top of a hill in the middle of the city.  We then drove to the only self serve laundry in all of Jordan and did our laundry.  Nearby was a small mall, which had a highly reviewed pizza place, Pizza Nina.  While our clothes were getting washed, we had some very good pizza.  The owner and chef, Nina, was interested in our visit; we seemed to be the only non-natives eating there.  She asked how we had found the place and assumed we were expats living in Amman.  She was surprised when we told her that we were just visitors to the country.

April 3, 2022 : Sunday

We drove to the Amman Airport, returned our rental car (no damage - something of a record), and went to the lounge to get some food and drink.  We boarded our flight to Cairo on Royal Jordanian Airlines, and after arriving in Cairo, began the great adventure of Cairo, Egypt than can't really be explained to anyone who has never been there. This was our second visit to the city, so we kind of knew what to expect, but you can never be fully prepared for Cairo.  After some trouble locating our Uber driver, we eventually found him and he took us directly to our hotel, the Mena House.  The Mena House is right next to the pyramids. This driver was excellent - he knew where he was going, and while he didn't speak English, he had person translating on the phone for us and everything went smoothly. The Uber ride back to the airport a few days later did not go as well.  More on that later.  The Mena House is famous, and was everything we hoped it would be. Our room had a large balcony with an incredible view of the pyramids, the food was great, the pyramids were only a few minutes away, and the pool was cool and relaxing.

April 4, 2022 : Monday

We had a great breakfast overlooking the pyramids, and then set out to explore.  We walked out the guarded entrance, and were immediately greeted by a local and asked if we wanted a ride around the pyramid grounds. Here is where we made a leap of faith that turned out to be one of the best decisions we made in Cairo.  If you are staying at the Mena House and are visiting the pyramid complex, realize you will need a driver to see the whole complex.  To get to the main viewpoint above the pyramids, around them, down to below the pyramids at the Sphinx and back, you will be traveling about 6 km.  Sam is the guy you should use.

Sam, the man who came from across the street asking if we wanted a driver, ended up being an incredible asset, friendly, and did not try to scam us or push us to do anything we did not want to do.  He drove us where we wanted to go, took pictures of us, gave us some basic info (but was not a tour guide - we did not want a guide - just a driver), suggested the routes and best views, and took great care of us.  He asked for 250 EP ($13.50) to drive us around for a couple hours, but was so helpful that we ended up giving him 400 EP ($22), which was a bargain for his services.  He is the third generation owner of the shop directly across the street from the Mena House entrance, called "Sam cinter kazim", and seemed to get special treatment even from the pyramid guards.  On the way leaving the pyramid complex, he said "I am driving the wrong way ..." (he was driving the most direct route back to the hotel), " ... but everyone knows me so I can do this."  Sam then honked at a police car that was coming in the one-way entrance that Sam was going out (the wrong way) and Sam just kept going.  Later in the afternoon, when Chris was going to walk back up to the pyramids for short walk-about, directly after leaving the Mena House all the locals immediately started approaching Chris to come ride with them, or come into their shop, or use them as a guide.  As soon as Chris asked to see Sam, and then went to speak to him and shake his hand, everyone else left Chris alone.  Just walk across the street to his shop (if he does not come out to greet you as soon as you leave the Mena House) and ask for the owner, Sam.

We visited all around the pyramids and the Sphinx, and Chris went into the Great Pyramid of Giza all the way up to the King's Chamber.  When we finally made it back to the hotel several hours later, we relaxed at the pool until sunset.

April 5, 2022 : Tuesday

We again had breakfast overlooking the pyramids, and then spent the morning at the pool.  Chris also took some morning photos of the pyramids.  We had an evening flight to Luxor on Egyptian Air. Our Uber ride from the airport to the Mena House had gone pretty smoothly, so we tried that again.  It did not go well this time.  This may have been the first time our driver had ever driven for Uber; he got hopelessly lost within a few minutes of leaving the hotel, could not use the Uber app routing software to save his life, and it turned out he had picked us up with an almost empty tank of gas.  We had given ourselves a lot of extra time to the get to the airport, in case of just this kind of thing, but we still were pushing it by the time we finally arrived.  If we had not taken over the navigation using our own phones, we would still probably be driving around the back streets of Cairo to this day.  He really did not know where he was or how to get anywhere, even after stopping many people asking for directions.  So Uber is a 50/50 bet in Cairo, based on our vast experience.

We did make it to our airplane and flew to Luxor.  Upon arrival, we exited the terminal and found a taxi driver (no Ubers in Luxor yet), and loaded the luggage.  He asked for $30 for a 15 minute ride to the hotel (it should have been $10 maximum) but we said no and got out of the car a couple times.  His price dropped each time, eventually getting to $10.  BTW, it was $10 for a taxi ride back to the airport a few days later, as arranged by the hotel, so that was the correct price.  We checked in to our hotel on the east bank of the Nile, directly across from the Valley of the Kings.  You can see the Valley of the Kings in the photos below, taken from the pool at the hotel looking across the Nile.

April 6, 2022 : Wednesday

We arranged for a driver for to pick us up at the hotel and take us to Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.  He was not a guide - just a driver, which is what we prefer when visiting these ancient sites.  We spent several hours walking around these famous archeological locations, and then returned to the hotel. The temperature had risen above 100 deg F, so we had enough walking.  Before we had left the hotel for the day, we had asked for an upgraded room with a real balcony.  When we got back to our hotel, they had moved our luggage to our new room with the large balcony and nice view.  We cooled off and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool.

   
Hotel views, Nile River

                           
Karnak Temple

Luxor Temple

Luxor Driving & Walking, 6 April 2022

April 7, 2022 : Thursday

We relaxed at the hotel pool all day and enjoyed more boat drinks. The hotel had a show and dinner in the evening, which was very good.

 
Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa Show, 7 April 2022

April 8, 2022 : Friday

We took a taxi to airport (good driver this time), and then flew from Luxor to Cairo on Egypt Air.  We had to transfer between terminals at Cairo Airport, and the got on our flight to Doha on Qatar Airways. After checking into the Doha Airport lounge and having dinner, we got a sleeping room for the night.

April 9, 2022 : Saturday

In the morning we boarded our plane for the 15 hour flight to Philadelphia.  Our son Nathan picked us up in Philadelphia for the drive home.

Travel Tips, COVID Requirements, Hotel Reviews

Laundry in Aqaba : We dropped off our dirty clothes at a laundry near our hotel on March 25, and picked it up the next day, cleaned and folded nicely, all at a very good price.  Price is charged by weight.  Our large load of two weeks of clothes from two people, 4.5 kg, was JOD 17.

Laundry in Amman : Only self-serve laundry in all of Jordan - handy and easy to use.  Remember to bring your own detergent.

Sam (driver & shop owner) at the pyramids : See details on Monday, 4 April. Great driver and service.

Luxor & Cairo Airport - inconvenient layout at Cairo (bridge between terminals with no access - so you have to leave security to transit terminals), lying and overburdening taxi drivers and baggage handlers, ridiculous security - no rules - just each guard's whim. 

When we arrived into Cairo from Amman on 3 April 2022, we had an Uber waiting for us at the pickup spot for terminal 2.  Every taxi driver we passed walking to the pickup spot was lying to us, telling us that Uber could not pick us up nearby and we would have to walk a kilometer to get to our Uber.  While the Uber pick-up spot is not right at terminal 2(where the taxis are) and it is not well defined, it is also not where we were told.  We eventually met our Uber at the pick-up spot for terminal 3, which is well marked.

The transit through Cairo on 8 April 2022 went as smoothly as it could have gone in Cairo.  We arrived into terminal 3 on Egypt Air (domestic flight from Luxor), picked up our baggage, went outside and up the hill to the right to get into terminal 2 to get our international Qatar Airways flight to Doha.  It is the little things that build up; there are 3+ levels of security at each terminal, and no way to predict what any one guard will want to see in your baggage.  Sometimes a bag that has been X-rayed a dozen times before will go right through the system, and sometimes it will be pulled out and you have to open it to show what is inside.  And what each guard wants to see is NEVER the same thing as the last time it was opened, so they obviously don't really have guidelines.  The baggage handlers are everywhere, and you have to constantly tell them to leave your bags alone, as they are all trying to move your bags and get a tip.  When several handlers at once are grabbing your luggage, it is too much.  At one point as we were entering Luxor Airport, Chris had enough and yelled "Stop helping us!" as we were swarmed by a bunch of people grabbing our luggage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LzuZrkEY18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBsvsbwdlzQ

Hotel Reviews:

A few hotels on this trip disappointed us, but the majority of places we stayed were excellent and met our expectations, based on what their websites had shown.

Aqaba : Intercontinental Resort Aqaba - very good, great beach & pool, good service, great views, nice room.

Wadi Rum : Night Luxury Camp - fantastic, met or exceeded our expectations. The tent was comfortable and clean, the food was great, and the camp was right in the middle of the Wadi Rum Protected Area, making it convenient to the all-day tour we took.

Petra : Movenpick - the room class we had booked (and paid extra for) was advertised as "...with balcony and mountain views".  The actual room we were given had no balcony and a pool view.  See photo below. When we asked for a room that matched what we had been promised in our booking, the hotel staff’s response was: "Well, not all the rooms in that class have balconies." and that there were no other rooms available.  It is very convenient to the entrance to Petra, as it is directly across the street. Parking within the hotel security boundary is included.

Petra Movenpick View

Dead Sea : Dead Sea Marriott Resort & Spa - very nice, great pools, golf cart down to the Dead Sea beach, excellent room, good food.

Amman : Intercontinental Amman - nice room, ok view, very good food, excellent service.

Cairo : Mena House - incredible.  Everything about the Mena House is great; location, room, view, food, service...

Luxor : Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa - on our first night we were given a very small room with no windows, a balcony barely big enough for just one person to stand on, and the "Nile view" as promised by the hotel website was mostly blocked by trees.  See photos below.  There were no upgraded rooms available our first night, but we upgraded for a small fee to a nicer room for the next two nights; this second room had a large balcony and a better view.  The food and service were very good, and the show on our third night was well done and entertaining.

 
Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa - view from first room