A Lesson in International Travel

Arrive at Lambert airport. Check in at desk. Lady at the counter asks me where my visa is. I tell her that according to the State Department website, I can buy one at the airport upon arrival. I get nervous. I’m sure I can buy one in Jordan, but her second-guessing me doesn’t help. It sets of a chain of causal what-ifs in my mind that ends with me wholly missing my trip to Jordan to visit Sam before heading to Yemen. After asking two co-workers to make sure she read the English sentence correctly, Lady at the counter confirms that I can indeed buy a visa upon arrival. But by that time I have already received a text from Sam confirming the same. Hear reports of bad weather in New York. Maybe this will mean that all flights are delayed and that I won’t miss my connecting flight. It doesn’t. Arrive in Detroit from St. Louis to the news that my flight to New York is delayed two hours, but that the only people who will miss connecting flight are those flying to Amman. I am flying to Amman. Walk the length of the A Terminal. The full length. Re-book my flights to re-route from Detroit to Amsterdam to Amman, arriving only eight hours later than anticipated (continuing on to New York would put me in Jordan a full day late). Receive assurances that my bags will be checked all the way through to my final destination. Pass the six-hour layover before the flight to Amsterdam by catching up with an old friend who coincidentally lives in Michigan. Get dinner in the airport. Board a plane for Amsterdam.

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Arrive in Amsterdam. Delta could not give a boarding pass for my next flight since they do not work with Royal Jordanian. The Royal Jordanian transfer desk is closed. Get water and a snack. Pay 10 euros for wifi to update my family and Sam as to where I stand. Pass the layover by pacing between G 42 and the RJ transfer desk, where no one is working. Ask KLM reps about when someone will be at the desk. They do not know since KLM does not work with RJ, but it will likely open two hours before the flight. One hour before the flight and no one is at the desk. Five minutes before boarding and no one is at the desk. Go through gate security at G 42 once boarding starts and finally get my boarding pass once inside the gate. I check in half an hour before take-off. I am told my bags should be transferred to the plane.

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Arrive in Amman. I can in fact purchase a visa at the border. Are you from Amsterdam? Yes. Amsterdam finished. No more bags. Talk to the man at the luggage counter. I talk to the man at the luggage counter. Your bags will be delivered to your hotel on the 30^th. Finally make it through customs and see Sam. Smile and hug Sam. I am whisked through Amman as the old feelings associated with life in Cairo flood back. But of course this is not Cairo. I do not know this city. This late at night everything is shuttered. The city is dead and dark.

More to come on the rest of my stay in Jordan. I am going to relax tonight however, since I leave for Yemen tomorrow.