What should I pack for Jordan?
Pack lightly since Jordan's weather is generally warm and arid. However, evenings are often cool, requiring a light jacket or sweater. If you are traveling in northern Jordan during the winter, you'll need to pack for cool days and evenings; indeed, be prepared for snow.
TIP: Always check the weather forecast for Jordan just before you leave home. This website gives a 10-day weather forecast for Amman: www.weather.com.
The government’s Meteorological Department provides four-day weather forecasts for 20 locations throughout the Kingdom; to view these, click here. This weather information may help you make important packing decisions.
Since dress is relatively casual but conservative in Jordan, you need not pack formal wear unless you plan to attend official functions or conduct business.
However, keep in mind that people are expected to dress modestly and appear and neat and tidy - dress their best. You can easily offend locals by wearing shorts or skimpy outfits. Women should keep their shoulders covered.
Since you will be doing a lot of walking in the cities and archeological sites, be sure to take a sturdy pair of walking shoes.
Out of respect for the local culture, do not wear shorts or swim wear in public. Long pants are appropriate wherever you go. Shorts and swim wear should be confined to appropriate areas of hotel and resort properties.
Always take a compass with you since it's easy to lose a sense of direction when navigating cities, roads, deserts, and historical sites. If you feel lost, you can always take out your compass to figure out your location.
Throw in a flashlight, since you may need it when visiting some of the less than well illuminated sites.
On hot and sunny days, which there are many, be sure to take the following items if you are outdoors for more than one hour:
Hat or cap
Sunglasses
Sun screen
Umbrella
Water bottle
If you forget to pack something, don't worry. Amman has lots of well-stock shops and shopping centers to satisfy almost any traveler's need. However, if you require special medications, be sure to pack at least an extra week's supply. While many prescriptions medicines can be purchased over the counter in Jordan, some special medications may be difficult to find.
If you wear glasses or contact lens, it's always a good idea to travel with a copy of your eye prescription, just in case you break or lose your glasses or contacts.
Since Jordan is a photographer's delight, be sure to pack cameras along with sufficient film, memory cards, battery chargers, and back-up batteries. You can easily get film developed, photos printed, and memory cards transferred to CDs in Jordan. Photo supplies also are readily available, although the costs may be much higher than what you are used to paying for them back home through your favorite photo discounter.
Should I take anything special for shopping?
We strongly recommend packing the following items which will become your shopping survival kit:
- Photos and measurements of floor and wall space in your home that might become candidates for a carpet, art, or furniture purchase.
- A shopping wish list, which might also include comparative prices, along with a list of “must visit” shops and galleries in Jordan. See our shopping section for a basic starter list of shops.
- A calculator for adding up your purchases, negotiating prices, and looking like a seasoned shopper.
- A tape measure to check on sizes.
- Bubble wrap to protect delicate purchases from shipping damages.
- One empty suitcase for acquiring treasures along the way. Pack it with bubble wrap, which will come in handy as you fill this empty suitcase with purchases that need to be protected.
- Black magic marker for labeling packages and boxes.
- Fragile stickers for any delicate packages. Ask for these at airline counters. Airline check-in personnel will usually give you several big red fragile labels for your future shipping needs. Take these with you when you go shopping, just in case you purchase a delicate item that would benefit from being packed with such a warning label pasted to the outside of the package.
- Sealing tape (get a big 2" roll), scissors, and twine. These packaging items will come in handy when you need to pack and re-pack your purchases.
- Small notebook to keep track of everything you buy. Be sure to include prices for each purchase. This accounting record will come in handy when you pass through Customs at home. Nothing impresses a Customs official more than a traveler who has his or her act together in writing. You should pass through Customs with a breeze!
Should I take my laptop and cell phone?
It depends on what you plan to do and if you really need to stay wired to the larger world while traveling. If you only want Internet connections, it may be more convenient to use local services at hotels and Internet cafes rather than carry a laptop that may or may not work with local service providers and could get broken or stolen.
Check with your cell phone provider before you depart for Jordan to see if they have coverage there as well as the per-minute roaming charge of using your service in Jordan.
For Americans, it may be more convenient and less expensive to rent a cell phone in Jordan. Indeed, for US$25-50 a week, you can rent a phone, which means you only pay local calling rates. National Geographic has recently developed a prepaid international mobile phone (National Geographic Talk Abroad Phone), which you can either buy or rent:
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/193/3726/126.html
Outgoing calls using this GSM phone in Jordan are not cheap - $1.45 per minute - but the phone is convenient. At present the phone does not support incoming phone calls in Jordan, which are free in many countries.
Better still, if you're on vacation, leave your technology at home and focus on your surroundings. This is a great place to literally get un-wired from the world! Think in terms of taking an Internet- or phone-free vacation.
Even consider incorporating volunteer opportunities during your visit to Jordan - a great cross-cultural experience where you can leave the rest of your routine but high-tech behind. It may well change your life!
Can you recommend any good tour groups or guides?
The Jordan Tourism Board includes as list of travel operators specializing on Jordan, which you can access online. In so doing, you can quickly survey the various tours and services offered by these companies. North Americans should browse through this section of the SeeJordan.org website:
http://www.seejordan.org/planning_tour_jordan.shtml
Travelers from other regions of the world can get similar information on travel operators in their country by going to the Jordan Tourism Board's other website, 
