We traveled from the Maldives to Jordan on March 7th, 2020. We were welcomed so warmly by the Jordanian people and have some wonderful stories and beautiful pictures to share so stay tuned.
As the Western World started to strengthen its response to COVID-19, we had to make some quick decisions. Our initial plan was to fly from Jordan to Paris on March 23rd, 2020 to begin our 3-month European roadtrip. We knew this was no longer a feasible plan.
We stayed ahead of the game, trusted our gut and navigated crashing airline websites, credit card fraud, overbooked flights, airport riots/protests and hotel lockdowns to bring our brood home.
We arrived home to Canada just as Jordan closed its borders and canceled all flights in/out of the country. The process of getting home was very stressful - we have never been more under the gun in our lives. Read through the section below to put yourself in the Amman airport the night of March 15th.
It's a parent's worst nightmare to be unable to protect their kids. While an overbooked Turkish Airlines flight devolved into rioting and protests just 100ft from us, we laid our luggage down flat to make beds for our kids to sleep on. It was surreal - the chanting, the yelling, the swirling crowd, the very visibly armed airport security, the down-to-the-wire escape and the stress of not knowing and putting your fate in the hands of an Airline and a host of clearly panicking authorities. We are proud that our younger kids conflated the airport singing with some sort of cultural event.
It was clear that Jordanian authorities were shutting the country down on March 15th in a hurry, and that it was unplanned, covert and incoherent. Most flights on the Amman airport departure board were cancelled - like 75%.
Our gut feel, on March 13th was right-on - we had to get home, FAST. We finally were able to book flights at 3am on March 14th for the 16th that didn't bankrupt us. The same flight purchased after the Jordan border closure announcement on the 14th (6hrs after we bought ours) cost 5x more - and it was already 3x inflated when we bought!!
We opted to go to the airport 16hrs before our flight due to increasing shut-down across the country. We talked up airport staff and found out, before our flight even made it on the board, where our checkin gates would be. Minutes felt like hours as we waited, and waited, and waited. Our kids were AMAZING. They were stressed, but not afraid. No crises, no outbursts, no drama.
We occupied the first position in 5 check-in lines to ensure we didn't get bumped on our overbooked British Airways flight. We did not sleep for +40hrs. We shed a tear at takeoff from Amman and again from Heathrow.
We rolled into a hotel at 11pm without a reservation. WE ARE COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED, but happy to be home. We are SO GRATEFUL for the offers of help and support we have received.
--------
This situation is a mess.
We met travelers in Amman who had just arrived a few hours prior and never left the airport so they could head straight home again... at 10x the cost! You could argue they never should have left in the first place...
Please consider what we watched unfold in the adjacent lineup... here's an account of what some travelers at the Amman airport lived through on March 15th and 16th.
You book a vacation in October, 2019, you buy non-refundable tickets because they're 1/3rd the price. You watch in December as COVID-19 mangles China... you go about your western life... in Feb, a few cases pop up near home but they're seemingly under control. In March the local COVID numbers climb, but still feel sane... Jordan has only 3 cases. Your home country has no travel advisory limiting travel to Jordan... so you go on your trip, for which you booked off time from work and paid non-refundable $$$ for hotels.
As you arrive, a border shutdown in 3 days notice is issued by the Jordanian govt, in Arabic. You are NOT contacted by your consulate by email or phone - you aren't spending your precious vacation time staring at your device (you didn't buy a tourist data plan while away), so you have no idea you are being trapped, indefinitely. When you find out by word-of-mouth from other travelers, you check all flights to find your return trip has been cancelled and that the only remaining flights go to destinations far from your home and that a seat will cost you 5-7K.
You bite the bullet and burn a lot of cash to get home and you dutifully make your way to the airport 8hrs before your flight to discover that 150 other passengers arrived 2hrs before you to the airport and now you're last in line. Word circulates in the checkin lineup that your flight is overbooked. People are visibly stressed - chatter is pointed and nervous... stand-by passengers are idling, nervously near the counter. Authorities with guns are circling the checkin counters keeping order.
A woman in front of you in line is told by a checkin teller that she her family cannot get on the flight because it's full - she's getting agitated, arms are flailing, voices get raised - at first just hers, as the checkin clerk keeps his cool.... but as the minutes tick by, the clerk is getting agitated too - now they're both yelling in fits and spurts. The woman turns to the crowd of would-be travellers behind her in line and, crying, begins a wailing protest song, in Turkish. You can't understand her words, but you know she's calling the clerk a bastard and shaming him publicly for trapping her family in Jordan. Voices of fellow passengers raise in chorus... some men, but mainly other women - mothers, all.
A new airport official sets up behind the agitated woman and clerk and yells abruptly over the singing - you can't understand him either, but he's clearly telling the crowd to shut up. The chorus continues, even louder for 10 minutes as the line slowly moves through the other checkin counters. You're getting close to the counter. The yelling erupts again... and the singing - the entire checkin line has now been surrounded by airport security. You're nervous, very nervous. You booked a seat, you paid, you got a confirmation email from the airline - you're good, right? But are you? Who decides on an overbooked flight who flies and who doesn't? You're questioning yourself and wondering just whose hands your fate is in. Is it seriously within a checkin clerk's authority to decide such things?
A rumour circles in the checkin line that the flight is 5% overbooked - there's room for 125 passengers. About 25 stragglers got to the airport check-in line after you. The singing flares up again - but it's angrier and more mournful. You wonder if your fate will be decided by your position in line - you hope it will, but your heart goes out to the singers and those at the back of the line. Do you really have any more right to your seat than those who arrived just 3hrs early for their flight? You begin asking yourself some serious moral questions... if someone buds ahead in line, will you elbow them aside or let it happen? If you're denied a seat, will you scream, will you push, will you jump the security gate?
What will you do if you get stuck in land-locked Jordan? All surrounding countries have closed their borders... and don't forget, Syria, Jordan's neighbour, is an active war zone. The only land border is into Iraq... could you drive it? Would you ditch a rental car? Will it still be open? Is it safe enough in Iraq? Then, suddenly, it's your turn at the check-in counter.
You hand the clerk your passport - you hope everything is in order, so you present no reason for the clerk to deny you passage. You want to be as boring as possible - you want to just blend in. The clerk speaks briefly with her colleague at the next check-in desk while holding your passport - you hope the chatter doesn't relate to you. The clerk looks at you and asks how many bags you're checking and, inside, you sigh in relief. You say "just one bag" and throw it on the conveyor belt. The clerk pauses, looks at your bag and then pauses again - she looks concerned. You ask her if everything is ok, and she says "yes, but you're slightly overweight". You say: "just charge me for the overage, it's fine". You're looking for the path of least resistance - you pull out cash to make it faster and easier - you know you're up against the other passengers in line, some of whom successfully checked-in while you've been standing at the counter.
Finally, your clerk gives you back change and your passport and your all-important boarding pass. You throw on your backpack and walk briskly, but not too briskly, to the airport security screening lineup. Have you "made it"? Is it possible for there to be a line-cutting at the boarding gate? How, exactly, does standby work? Can somebody bump you?
You thank your lucky stars that you're on a flight, but your thoughts turn quickly to the passengers audibly wailing at the checkin counter. How was this fair? A rage grows in you - how could the airline overbook at such a critical/sensitive time? What will happen to the stranded passengers? Who decided everyone's fate?
------------
Please my friends and family, it is not a crime to travel. Indeed. 2.5 short months ago, it was an admirable and desirable pursuit. Those coming back home from overseas need your support and empathy. Many have sold their left arms to make it back before the Canadian borders close.
We all need to exercise our common sense and not stoop to suspicion and fear of others. We are one, global, herd. Over the last few decades, the world has been opened, in unprecedented ways, to world travel. The human migration patterns that have lead to the spread of COVID-19 have been in place for a long time.
It's true that governments have been unclear and unresponsive. Folks who left for trips in early March did nothing illegal or immoral - their Gov't should have warned them that they might have difficulty getting back home... airlines continue to sell tickets to "about-to-close" destinations... greedy and unfair? Yes.
-----------
It has never felt so good to be on Canadian soil!! Thanks to all who have offered us help - we will need some support for the next 2 weeks, and then we'll be there to support you all in the weeks following, with bells on.
Stay tuned for a few upcoming posts on Jordan and, perhaps a few more yet to come.
 |
| The Monastery at Petra |
 |
| Camel-riding in the Wadi Rum Desert |
As the Western World started to strengthen its response to COVID-19, we had to make some quick decisions. Our initial plan was to fly from Jordan to Paris on March 23rd, 2020 to begin our 3-month European roadtrip. We knew this was no longer a feasible plan.
We stayed ahead of the game, trusted our gut and navigated crashing airline websites, credit card fraud, overbooked flights, airport riots/protests and hotel lockdowns to bring our brood home.
We arrived home to Canada just as Jordan closed its borders and canceled all flights in/out of the country. The process of getting home was very stressful - we have never been more under the gun in our lives. Read through the section below to put yourself in the Amman airport the night of March 15th.
It's a parent's worst nightmare to be unable to protect their kids. While an overbooked Turkish Airlines flight devolved into rioting and protests just 100ft from us, we laid our luggage down flat to make beds for our kids to sleep on. It was surreal - the chanting, the yelling, the swirling crowd, the very visibly armed airport security, the down-to-the-wire escape and the stress of not knowing and putting your fate in the hands of an Airline and a host of clearly panicking authorities. We are proud that our younger kids conflated the airport singing with some sort of cultural event.
It was clear that Jordanian authorities were shutting the country down on March 15th in a hurry, and that it was unplanned, covert and incoherent. Most flights on the Amman airport departure board were cancelled - like 75%.
Our gut feel, on March 13th was right-on - we had to get home, FAST. We finally were able to book flights at 3am on March 14th for the 16th that didn't bankrupt us. The same flight purchased after the Jordan border closure announcement on the 14th (6hrs after we bought ours) cost 5x more - and it was already 3x inflated when we bought!!
We opted to go to the airport 16hrs before our flight due to increasing shut-down across the country. We talked up airport staff and found out, before our flight even made it on the board, where our checkin gates would be. Minutes felt like hours as we waited, and waited, and waited. Our kids were AMAZING. They were stressed, but not afraid. No crises, no outbursts, no drama.
We occupied the first position in 5 check-in lines to ensure we didn't get bumped on our overbooked British Airways flight. We did not sleep for +40hrs. We shed a tear at takeoff from Amman and again from Heathrow.
We rolled into a hotel at 11pm without a reservation. WE ARE COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED, but happy to be home. We are SO GRATEFUL for the offers of help and support we have received.
--------
This situation is a mess.
We met travelers in Amman who had just arrived a few hours prior and never left the airport so they could head straight home again... at 10x the cost! You could argue they never should have left in the first place...
Please consider what we watched unfold in the adjacent lineup... here's an account of what some travelers at the Amman airport lived through on March 15th and 16th.
You book a vacation in October, 2019, you buy non-refundable tickets because they're 1/3rd the price. You watch in December as COVID-19 mangles China... you go about your western life... in Feb, a few cases pop up near home but they're seemingly under control. In March the local COVID numbers climb, but still feel sane... Jordan has only 3 cases. Your home country has no travel advisory limiting travel to Jordan... so you go on your trip, for which you booked off time from work and paid non-refundable $$$ for hotels.
As you arrive, a border shutdown in 3 days notice is issued by the Jordanian govt, in Arabic. You are NOT contacted by your consulate by email or phone - you aren't spending your precious vacation time staring at your device (you didn't buy a tourist data plan while away), so you have no idea you are being trapped, indefinitely. When you find out by word-of-mouth from other travelers, you check all flights to find your return trip has been cancelled and that the only remaining flights go to destinations far from your home and that a seat will cost you 5-7K.
You bite the bullet and burn a lot of cash to get home and you dutifully make your way to the airport 8hrs before your flight to discover that 150 other passengers arrived 2hrs before you to the airport and now you're last in line. Word circulates in the checkin lineup that your flight is overbooked. People are visibly stressed - chatter is pointed and nervous... stand-by passengers are idling, nervously near the counter. Authorities with guns are circling the checkin counters keeping order.
A woman in front of you in line is told by a checkin teller that she her family cannot get on the flight because it's full - she's getting agitated, arms are flailing, voices get raised - at first just hers, as the checkin clerk keeps his cool.... but as the minutes tick by, the clerk is getting agitated too - now they're both yelling in fits and spurts. The woman turns to the crowd of would-be travellers behind her in line and, crying, begins a wailing protest song, in Turkish. You can't understand her words, but you know she's calling the clerk a bastard and shaming him publicly for trapping her family in Jordan. Voices of fellow passengers raise in chorus... some men, but mainly other women - mothers, all.
A new airport official sets up behind the agitated woman and clerk and yells abruptly over the singing - you can't understand him either, but he's clearly telling the crowd to shut up. The chorus continues, even louder for 10 minutes as the line slowly moves through the other checkin counters. You're getting close to the counter. The yelling erupts again... and the singing - the entire checkin line has now been surrounded by airport security. You're nervous, very nervous. You booked a seat, you paid, you got a confirmation email from the airline - you're good, right? But are you? Who decides on an overbooked flight who flies and who doesn't? You're questioning yourself and wondering just whose hands your fate is in. Is it seriously within a checkin clerk's authority to decide such things?
A rumour circles in the checkin line that the flight is 5% overbooked - there's room for 125 passengers. About 25 stragglers got to the airport check-in line after you. The singing flares up again - but it's angrier and more mournful. You wonder if your fate will be decided by your position in line - you hope it will, but your heart goes out to the singers and those at the back of the line. Do you really have any more right to your seat than those who arrived just 3hrs early for their flight? You begin asking yourself some serious moral questions... if someone buds ahead in line, will you elbow them aside or let it happen? If you're denied a seat, will you scream, will you push, will you jump the security gate?
What will you do if you get stuck in land-locked Jordan? All surrounding countries have closed their borders... and don't forget, Syria, Jordan's neighbour, is an active war zone. The only land border is into Iraq... could you drive it? Would you ditch a rental car? Will it still be open? Is it safe enough in Iraq? Then, suddenly, it's your turn at the check-in counter.
You hand the clerk your passport - you hope everything is in order, so you present no reason for the clerk to deny you passage. You want to be as boring as possible - you want to just blend in. The clerk speaks briefly with her colleague at the next check-in desk while holding your passport - you hope the chatter doesn't relate to you. The clerk looks at you and asks how many bags you're checking and, inside, you sigh in relief. You say "just one bag" and throw it on the conveyor belt. The clerk pauses, looks at your bag and then pauses again - she looks concerned. You ask her if everything is ok, and she says "yes, but you're slightly overweight". You say: "just charge me for the overage, it's fine". You're looking for the path of least resistance - you pull out cash to make it faster and easier - you know you're up against the other passengers in line, some of whom successfully checked-in while you've been standing at the counter.
Finally, your clerk gives you back change and your passport and your all-important boarding pass. You throw on your backpack and walk briskly, but not too briskly, to the airport security screening lineup. Have you "made it"? Is it possible for there to be a line-cutting at the boarding gate? How, exactly, does standby work? Can somebody bump you?
You thank your lucky stars that you're on a flight, but your thoughts turn quickly to the passengers audibly wailing at the checkin counter. How was this fair? A rage grows in you - how could the airline overbook at such a critical/sensitive time? What will happen to the stranded passengers? Who decided everyone's fate?
------------
Please my friends and family, it is not a crime to travel. Indeed. 2.5 short months ago, it was an admirable and desirable pursuit. Those coming back home from overseas need your support and empathy. Many have sold their left arms to make it back before the Canadian borders close.
We all need to exercise our common sense and not stoop to suspicion and fear of others. We are one, global, herd. Over the last few decades, the world has been opened, in unprecedented ways, to world travel. The human migration patterns that have lead to the spread of COVID-19 have been in place for a long time.
It's true that governments have been unclear and unresponsive. Folks who left for trips in early March did nothing illegal or immoral - their Gov't should have warned them that they might have difficulty getting back home... airlines continue to sell tickets to "about-to-close" destinations... greedy and unfair? Yes.
-----------
It has never felt so good to be on Canadian soil!! Thanks to all who have offered us help - we will need some support for the next 2 weeks, and then we'll be there to support you all in the weeks following, with bells on.
Stay tuned for a few upcoming posts on Jordan and, perhaps a few more yet to come.
So glad you are home safe.
ReplyDeleteWe are so happy to have made it home.
DeleteWelcome home. Let us know if you need anything, we're just around the corner. When this is all done, we'll laugh ... and laugh ... and laugh ... :|
ReplyDelete