If you are going to a Jordan Arabic School here are some Jordan Travel Tips. And be sure to check out our Amman School profile.
1. Cellular Phone Tips: There is an Orange Cellular shop in the airport where you can buy a SIM card for open cell phones for about 20 JOD and get 12 JOD of talk time. If you have Verizon service, your phone isn’t open, so you’ll want to buy an open phone. You can buy these phones easily online. I use the same open phone whenever I travel and have different SIM cards for Spain, Jordan, etc.
Warning: I took my Verizon phone to Jordan to take some photos, but every time I turned it on I was getting welcome to Israel text messages waning me that data downloads would be $25/mb. Unfortunately a few text messages got through. Upon returning to the USA, I called Verizon and was told how to turn off the roaming aspect. If you are taking a phone for your camera, figure out how to turn off roaming. Smart phones are notorious for running up huge international roaming charges.
2. Bring Dollars or Euros: Bring $100-$200 (75-150 Euros) in cash to convert to Jordanian Dinar upon arrival. $100 gets you about 68 JOD and you’ll need 20 JOD for your tourist visa.
3. Extra Security/Taking Water on Flights: Expect lots of extra security when flying to Jordan and even more when you return. My bags were searched and disrupted twice and I was patted down several times. In Jordan, there were woman that searched woman’s bags and their bodies. It wasn’t pleasant and don’t over-pack because you will need to re-pack several times. Water was an issue flying to Jordan. The situation is the same as flying to Israel. Make sure you have a receipt from inside the airport for any liquid you want to take on board or you won’t be able to. Flying from Jordan to the USA, you can’t take liquids more than the three ounces on the flight, even if you just purchased them 10 yards away. They will be tossed and they won’t be apologetic about it. Just remember, this is for your safety.
4.Travel to Israel, Syria, Lebanon & Saudi Arabia: Supposedly there is “another Petra” in Saudi Arabia and one of Jordan’s many tour operators are happy to take you there. Others may want to go to Syria or Lebanon. Be advised if you have a passport stamp from Israel, you won’t be able to get into Syria and could have issues in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. A day trip to Israel is a must if you are a Christian or interested in history to see Jerusalem and Bethlehem. However, you may want to have Israeli border official stamp a piece of paper inserted in your passport rather than having that stamp in your passport permanently. Israel is more than happy to do this to help avoid causing you any future issues. We don’t recommend this; we pass it on for informational purposes only.
To learn more:
Amman School profile – by John Slocum
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About the Author:
John Slocum co-founded AmeriSpan Study Abroad 17
years ago and is recognized as one of the true experts in Study Abroad.
He has helped start language schools in Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia as
well as assisted schools in Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina and
Costa Rica on improving their overall language programs. Finally, John
worked closely with STA Travel when they introduced their language
immersion programs in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA.
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