WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER
The Journey Continues
Amman is not an ideal venue for the team’s first night abroad (considering the suicide bombings that took place earlier in the week), but the Royal Jordanian tickets were far a cheaper and better option than anything any other airline could offer - so we have a one-night enforced stay in Amman. We take the airline bus to the Alia Hotel where we spend a comfortable night and have a delicious Arabic breakfast.
Crush in a taxi
Having talked to several Jordanians and watched CNN News, we ascertain that the capital is safe, and decide to take a bus the 35 miles into Amman to do some sight-seeing. The bus never arrives, so we pile into a taxi - agony! Charlie and the driver are in the front, which leaves Paddy, Holly, me and Jo and Rooben in the back - truly uncomfortable - but we really need to stick to a budget on this tour of 100 pounds per person per week, and we just can’t afford two taxis.
Lesson learned
We spend a couple of hours wandering round the old city and meandering through a wonderful fruit and vegetable market, then spend an hour in a 3rd floor cafe drinking mint tea, and watching the world go by in the street below us, while making plans for our Sri Lankan programme. We wander the streets for a bit longer then grab a kebab “to go”, and leap into another taxi back to the hotel. We repack our handluggage, and at 17.30 we are collected by the airport bus and head to the airport where (mindful of our experience at Heathrow) we check in incredibly early and sit right by the gate till it is time to board!
We all sleep as much as we can on the flight, but air travel is not conducive to good sleep, and by the time we arrive in Colombo at 05.40, we are feeling pretty jet-lagged.
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