Trip to Jordan
Jordan | Sep 2 - Sep 9, 2017

M
Magda O.
Palatine, IL | Reviewed on Sep 14, 2017

When booking, I was under impression that only our small group will participate in most of the activities - however it turned out we were joined by other people on the Little Petra to Monastery hike, as well as on Wadi Rum tour. It wasn't much of an issue in Wadi Rum - we already became friends with other 2 women, and we had wonderful guide who was making sure that we are comfortable at all times.
Little Petra to Monastery hike however was quite disappointing - our guide was going very fast, moving on with the most fittest in the group, acting quite arrogantly when asked to slow down, and making rude comments about having to wait for us. It was quite a challenge to keep up with the pace, and it felt like I hardly had any time to look around, and absolutely no time to take any photos!

Another issue was a behavior of our driver Ali at times:
He suggested that when visiting Dead Sea we go to different beach instead of Dead Sea Spa hotel as planned by our trip advisor. He was very persistent, making up stories of how the entrance to the Dead Sea Spa hotel "without reservations" would cost 45 instead of 20JD, and while saying that it is up to us, truly making it quite impossible for us to refuse - we ended up going to "Oh Beach", and although the beach was not bad, I believe it was not quite same standard as Dead Sea Spa hotel (but we still paid 20JD per person for beach entrance).
On the way back from Wadi Rum to Madaba he tried to "ditch us" - at first he said that another driver will meet us at the gas station, and take us back to Madaba. Once we arrived at the gas station it turned out that the other driver had somebody else in the car, so Ali told us to get back into his car and kept driving, while constantly making phone calls. Little later he pulled into the Rest Stop with shop and restaurant, and declared that we will take 15min brake. As we got back into the car some time later, it turned out that Ali's car "broke down" and wouldn't start, so he had to call his friend to take us back to Madaba! Also, instead of coming to pick us from the hotel in Madaba to go to the airport he sent yet another friend - who was driving quite old taxi without any AC.

Bianca was easy to communicate with, she answered all our questions, and the plan she came up with covered everything we wanted to do/see in Jordan. Entire Wadi Rum experience was truly wonderful - highlight of our trip! And it was great to meet Bianca in person =)
There were few minor hiccups, but those seem to be somewhat out of her control: as mentioned before, we were disappointed with the back road to the Monastery hike, and a bit unsatisfied with our driver.

Local specialist: Bianca Abma