Flight to Chicago was bumpy so the fa stayed in their jump seats. Landed, said good bye and went to check on the Royal Jordanian flight direct to Amman departing 3 hours later. Since we landed in the international terminal we went to the advertised gate but there was no sign of RJ anywhere. So we left security and went into the ticketing area.
Waited in line to be told with a scrunched up face— it doesn't look good come back 2 hours prior to departure. We check with information and the only 2 eateries outside of security at the international terminal are McDonald, or a pre-made well warm it up for you spot. We went with the later and shared a gyro pizza and had a beverage each. Went back to the ticket counter and were told again —— flight is full, we can't give you seats until right before departure if some people don't show up. So we check in with Emirates (adds 5 hours of flight time) and they say they should have seats available.
Get to security line which is long and not moving. 45 minutes later (and boarding start time to Amman) we make it through security and check in with the gate—- still no seats we'll call your name. So we go down to emirates flight and they say they have seats. I take the boarding pass (no seats assigned yet) and head back to the RJ flight where matt was waiting. He went to the bathroom and they called our name, we had two seats together in the very last row (before crew rest) and had one seat open next to us too. I hook our rollarboards together and head to the emirates flight to let them know we aren't flying them and head back to RJ. We wait to be some of the last people to board. Barely find room for our bags — had to rearrange a few bins to make it happen, then I started handing out the treats I brought for the crew and let them know matt is a pilot. The fa loves the fact we brought treats and cake and introduced themselves to pilot matt. "Anything you want you let us know!" Before too long we were taking off. We got extra wet wipes, and both the chicken and fish economy meal (which wasn't terrible) and were served first so we had both options available. Matt ordered a scotch, to which the fa replies red or black label. Obviously he went with the black label. It took awhile for the fa to return but he came with first class nuts, first class Care packages, and a coffee cup filled with JW black label. I just had a red wine.
Not too long after finishing our meal the crew set up for crew rest, one laid across a row of three and the other two shut the curtains around the jump seat of the rear exit doors on the 787 Dreamliner. And laid down on the floor. Yuck!
I headed to the back and got chatting with the crew. One drives atv/trucks through the desert and another was on holiday in the states with his wife. The guys were very excited to give us tips for our short trip to Jordan. They kept my glass full too. Wasn't too long before the crew rest gals yelled at us for being too loud. Soooo I went back to my seat and napped for about 6 hours (making it all the way to touchdown). Apparently while I was sleeping the guys brought us a wine in a bag and served breakfast (croissant and jam).
The fa wished us all farewell and we were off to buy our visa (60$/each) and waited in line to get through customs. Wasn't too long and we were through looking for our car rental location Alamo.
Got our car— a mini /manual /death trap and we were off. But there was 1/8th of a tank. So we had to find gas. Found a station. 20JOD to have it filled up by a full service location. Then we were off to try and get back on the highway..... that didn't work well; it took a very long time and many turns and u turns but alas we made it back on the highway. Utilized google to get us to Petra city about 3 hours away.
The roads turned into one lane roads with two way traffic and no street lights to illuminate where to go. Or what was around the bend. There were many random speed humps that if you don't slow down you will fly through the air. But eventually we did make it to our hotel Edom hotel, 7 minute walk to Petra visitor center. We parked the car and headed up to our room in the 3 star hotel. I showered as I was gross and we went out in search of dinner. We went to the night restaurant as they advertised they had pizza and traditional food. No alcohol and no pizza were available. Matt ordered a hummus and some beef meal and I ordered a Lebanese chicken. They were pretty good. The hummus was spectacular.
After dinner we walked to the Kilkenny bar and had a pint before calling it a night. We made it back to the hotel and I was awfully sleepy eyed. Matt showered and we fell asleep with no plans for an alarm or waking up early.
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