Most Inspirational Moment
It has to be Petra. It is so much more then The Treasury, which of course is fabulous by itself.
However sleeping under the stars in the Wadi Rum and waking up to an amazing sunset was pretty fantastic too.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Wael is an extremely knowledgeable guy, and has a huge amount of information in his head that he is only too happy to impart. It's a busy schedule and he made sure we were all where we should be when needed!
Advice for Potential Travellers
It was warmer than I'd expected for November, but it's still worth having layers (maybe arm warmers) as one or two mornings/descents were a little cool. A 3 season sleeping bag was perfectly ok for sleeping under the stars at Wadi Rum, although there were a few mozzies, so take some repellant (you won't need it anywhere else).
Petra covers a much bigger area than I'd expected, take comfy trainers for walking as the footpaths and steps have gravel and sand in places. You'll be walking further than you expect. Petra by Night (candlelight and music) was very atmospheric if you like that kind of thing - and it gave us the chance to walk the Siq in the dark (the candles light it up just enough). The Cave Bar by the entrance to Petra offers beer and cocktails and a chance to sit down after all the walking, it's part of the Crowne Plaza hotel so not cheap.
Take a warm jacket to the Cave Dinner, it got quite chilly after a while.
Try the Jordanian ice cream, ours were multi-flavour/colour and served up as a flower with petal-like shapes.
Have a drink on the rooftop bar of the Doubletree Hilton in Aqaba, great views over the port to the Red Sea. It also has a bar area that serves food at lunchtimes with an open air hot tub. In fact, their room prices were pretty much the same as the hotel we were in so I wonder if Exodus could swap to provide a little more luxury for that night!
The Wadi Rum camp has a fridge, as does the bus, if you want to have chilled drinks. And the main tent has electricity for charging gadgets.
