After we left Petra, we drove over to Wadi Rum Village. From here, we were picked up and transported to our camp for the night. It was a bumpy but BEAUTIFUL drive as the sun was setting over the desert.
Lots of movies are filmed in Wadi Rum (The Martian, Star Wars) because it really does look so foreign. And since there are no cities anywhere close, there is extreme silence and amazing stargazing!
We caught the sunset and relaxed in our tent for a while before we went to hang out in the main tent. Our Bedouin hosts kept our cups of black sage tea full while we sat by the fire (much appreciated since it was SO cold!). When it was time for dinner, they pulled the food up from where it was cooking in the sand and we feasted!
That evening, we borrowed some warm coats and stargazed until we couldn't feel our noses anymore! It was amazing to see and I've never seen that many stars before.
The wind whipped outside of our tent and we woke up to sand all in our bed. It was definitely a unique experience, but I'll be honest and say we didn't get much sleep.
Sadly the water was FREEZING cold, so we skipped a morning shower. We enjoyed the beautiful desert views some more and breakfast before heading back to the Village with some other couples. This ended up being our favorite part as they knew the owner of the camp and we were invited over to have some tea and chat in his home.
On our way to the Dead Sea, we encountered a uniquely Middle Eastern roadblock - wild camels!
Our next few days were pretty laid-back. We relaxed into resort life at the Marriott, which was much needed after our night in the desert. Our days were made up of laying at the pool/beach, getting massages at the spa, and floating in the Dead Sea!
Floating in that water was so crazy - you literally couldn't sink. It keeps popping you back up to the top even if you tried to go under. When the wind whipped the water into our faces though, that was unpleasant. The water is something like 10x saltier than the ocean and it was HORRIBLE to get in your mouth or eyes.
The Marriott had a great set up there - you slather yourself in mud, let it dry, and then rinse it all off in the water afterward. They even had shoes to borrow and "sweet water" to rinse all the saltwater off. Our skin felt so unbelievably soft for days!
Our flight out wasn't until 2:30am the next morning, so after we swan in the water, we hung out in our room as long as possible, then went to the spa until it was time to eat dinner and check out. Thanks to our Marriott status, we had unlimited access to the spa and this ended up being a lifesaver!
We were super sad to leave, but it was a long trip for us! Our trek home started in Amman, through Istanbul & Dublin, before finally getting back home. It was a pretty epic trip and I'm so happy we were able to fit it in before all of the coronavirus madness began.
Up Next: Since who knows when we'll get to travel next, I'll jump into some recent local travels we've done - starting with our day trip to Big Sur!
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