BMT 94: Travel in JORDAN! Jordan Trail, Dead Sea, FOOD, Safety, and MAGIC

Quick link to my Jordan recap.

I have finally checked Jordan off my bucket list! I spent three weeks exploring beautiful Jordan in May 2018, attending an adventure travel conference and then taking a group of YOU with me hiking on the Jordan Trail to Petra. My guest today, Ban Barkawi, is a Jordanian friend of mine whom I met studying abroad in Italy years ago. Listen as Ban and I talk about travel in Jordan, safety, customs, attractions, history, FOOD, and so much more, including:

• Five days hiking the Jordan Trail from Dana to Petra (named a world's top multi-day hiking trail by National Geographic)
• Camping with the Bedouins in the desert
• Feynan Eco Lodge
• Jordanian FOOD and local communities
• Um Qais (Northern Jordan)
• Petra - the Siq, the Monastery, the Treasury, Indiana Jonesing
• Wadi Rum - sleeping in Martian Domes, jeep tour in the desert, lamb cooked in the earth
• Dead Sea - an experience that you absolutely MUST feel for yourself!

My guest today is my beautiful friend Ban, whom I met studying abroad in Italy when we were just 20 years old. She is Palestinian Jordanian and here to share her insights on living in this beautiful country. We got to meet up in Jordan on my first day there after not seeing each other in 9 years. Some friendships just never change.

Ban Barkawi is a Jordanian multimedia journalist and radio presenter based in Amman, where she hosts a daily morning show at an English-speaking station. Together with the podcasting platform Sowt she produced Eib, a podcast in Arabic that addresses gender-based taboos. In 2013 she produced the award-winning TV documentary Refugees in Business about the livelihood of Syrian refugees in Jordan's Zaatari camp. Ban holds an MA in multimedia broadcast journalism and a BA in news-editorial journalism.

Find Ban on Twitter and Instagram @banbarkawi - feel free to reach out to her if you have any questions about Jordan, she is an amazing human.

Adventure Travel Conference - Adventure NEXT Near East powered by the Adventure Travel Trade Association

Guide for Petra and Jordan Trail - Experience Jordan - ask for Ayman! Tell him Traveling Jackie said to take you Indiana Jonesing through Petra

Guide for Um Qais or Pella in Northern Jordan - Baraka Destinations - stay at their B&B Beit Al Baraka

Activities in Um Qais - beekeeping (buy the bee products!), biking, guided ruins walk, cooking class, hiking

BUY THE COOKBOOK! --> Empowering Women Through Cooking - Stories and Recipes from Jordan

Wild Jordan - Visit the store in Amman and buy some locally-made goods, your money goes back to the communities

Feynan Ecolodge - Candle-lit, Bedouin-run eco hotel in the middle of the desert in Wadi Feynan

Wadi Rum Martian Domes - Sun City Camp

GROUP TRIPS: View all the trips I offer here, check out the Jordan itinerary here (sorry you missed it!)