DAY 2 – FROM ISRAEL TO JORDAN – ISRAEL
9.00am – Wake up and breakfast at the hostel
Some hostels are including the breakfast, and some of them have wonderful breakfast, like here!
9.30am – Bus station to valid the tickets
First of all, as you are a good traveler I am sure you already read information about Israel. So, don’t feel surprised when you will find some/many militaries with weapons, everywhere around Israel. They are kind and you may speak to them. It is something that the society here got acquainted.
The previous day, we have managed and purchased our bus tickets. Now we have to “valid the tickets” directly on the station. You will find some machines where you have to write the code of your reservation. Then you will get some printed tickets from the machine.
«Advice» Prepare your trip and get some drinks food out of the bus station. This kind of places use to be more expensive than a normal one in the street. The below picture shows, for example, the price of a coke is 5 shekels. (around 1.2 euros)
10.00am – Bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat
Ready on the bus to overcome the 5 hours trip, from Tel Aviv to Eilat (the city next to the south border of Israel and Jordan).
The bus has wifi! And it makes a couple of stops for drink something, get food or restroom.
Also the militaries need to travel and also by bus. It is a bit shocking they are just right there next to you with a machine gun ready to shot if needed, sometimes during the way of the bus, I looked behind and the machine gun was unintentionally pointing at my head.
View from window, somewhere in the middle of Israel.
Even more shocking is to see the ladies with big weapons. Generally, the military has to bring its weapon everywhere. And everywhere means everywhere, to home, to the school, to have some beers.
I had the chance to meet a very nice Jewish guy, called Albert, who was speaking Spanish as he was living in Chile for some years. He explained me many things about the military service in Israel. Men must do 3 years of military service from 18 to 21 years old, and women must to 2 years, from 18 to 20 years old. He also helped me to understand many relevant concepts of Israel, regarding politics, cultural, religions…big thank you for your time and kindness Albert!
3.00pm – Arrival to Eilat, south Israel.
Finally, after 5 hours trip we got Eilat. Here we got some money, snacks and drinks.
3.20pm – Taxi from bus station to Jordan border.
To get the border, you should get a taxi from the bus station to the border of Israel and Jordan.
TAXI DRIVER TO JORDAN BORDER – VIDEO
We were lucky and we found a super cool driver, he was playing Tom Jones at the radio and we all were dancing and singing during the 7 minutes trip. The price was around 35/40 shekels. (8.50/10 euros)
3.30pm – The border in Israel.
The border in Israel is called Yitzhak Rabin Border Crossing.
Before the trip, I couldn’t find enough information to know how much easy/difficult was going to be this border.
Now I can tell you that everything went very nice!
Important things needed in the border:
- Passport (with more than 6 months to expiration date)
- B2 Stay Permit (the one you got in your arrival to Israel)
- Pay the taxes (around 100 shekels per person, which is 24 euros)
YES! YES! YES! We are in Jordan!
4.00pm – The border in Jordan.
The border in Jordan is called Wadi Araba Border Crossing.
We got the border of Jordan and then to a window desk. Here we have to fulfill a document. The taxes you have to pay it depends on how many days you sleep in Jordan and how many days you visit Petra. (you have to pay the taxes when leaving Jordan).
«Advice» We didn’t do any visa in advance. Anyway, check with the embassy of your country what are the conditions for your nationality, and also if the conditions have been changed recently.
To see all details see below. I took a picture of the document!
4.10pm to 6.40pm – Taxi from Aqaba to Wadi Musa
To complete the long trip of the day we got a 2 hours taxi from the border to Wadi Musa, which is the city located just next to Petra.
The price was around 40/50 jordan dinars (around 52/65 euros, it depends how you deal). Just right leaving the border there are some taxi drivers waiting for tourists/visitors.
The taxi driver didn’t know how to speak English so we couldn’t speak so much with him. He was kind and stopped in an oil station to get some water and juices for us. (expecting a tip, probably)
During the way, the night arrives, and we were into an unknown taxi in the middle of Jordan.
6.45 pm – Check in at Petra Gate.
Successfully we got our accommodation place.
«Accomodation» in Petra Gate (3 nights) with a total price of 90 Jordan Dinar (around 120 euros for 3 people and 3 nights, which is 13 euros per person per night, with breakfast not included)
This place isn’t the coolest but is well located and affordable.
9.00 pm – Dinner at Red Cave.
We enjoyed typical food from Jordan and ordered:
Bedouin Gallayah, Mansaf and a mixed grill.