about these photos:

I visited Jordan for the first time in July of 2017 as an add-on to Israel. Apologies in advance for the camel pics overload ... While thinking Petra would be easier to do as experienced solo travelers, at the end of the day it was easier to join a tour. We booked our trip a few nights before and off we went. Having done so many border crossings in Africa we were prepared. As per usual they tried to get money from us on both sides of the border but we stood our ground, waited it out and in the end were victorious in NOT paying any extra cash to proceed.

From the border we basically headed right to Petra and had a tour with a guide to give us the lay of the land and some background info. Great thing doing the 2 night 3 day trip was that we had the entire next day to explore on our own where the day trippers literally had 3 hours there. And explore we did. The world famous Treasury is a sight to see, but even better (IMO) was the Monastery. Getting there involved a lot of steps and sweat but was so worth the effort. And crowds weren't an issue at all - probably because of the time of year we visited but at times it seemed like we had the place to ourselves. 

We also had an overnight in the desert at Wadi Rum (where they filmed Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.). While amazing to see, the whole Bedouin camp experience (as advertised) was lackluster. The landscapes were amazing though ... we finished up our time in Jordan with a few hours in Aqaba before heading back across to Eilat. ..