Jordan, here we go

It's being a while since my last entry in this blog and it's not that I've grown tired of it or that I couldn't be bothered to continue.

Nope... I'm afraid the answer it's a bit sadder than that... quite simply... I just haven't done any travelling for a while!

Ok, yes, I've done a few short trips here and there, long weekends, travelled back home a few times too to see family and friends but no real travel. Not something that rises to the level of deserving a good old fashion blog entry. :-)

If you've been missing new entries on this humble blog...Fear not my dear reader because you're about to have quite a few within the next few months.

First Jordan 9-10 days.My cousin Maria decided to move to another country yet again and of all places she has chosen Jordan (or maybe Jordan has chosen her depending on the point of view, you just have to see her honking at the other cars like a proper native). In any case I had no choice but to sacrifice myself and go there to make sure she's not lacking of any beauty product nor swine products for that matter... 

The outrageous lack of swine products in Jordan should be considered a human tragedy and that's where I come in... Yago to the rescue... someone has to smuggle them into the country, life is just way to sad without some ham in your life. :-)

Later in November I'll be travelling back to Thailand... yes... again...not my choice this time I must add. Not that I'm going against my will either.

This year I'll be travelling with Alex and Konrad. They both found a really good deal to travel there and decided to take advantage of it... then they asked me whether I wanted to join them and I jumped to the opportunity. It's always a lot more fun travelling with more people than on your own.

This year I had the added challenge of having to renew my perfectly valid passport because in Jordan and Thailand having a valid passport is not enough... it also needs to have an expiration date of more than 6 months counting from the day you leave the country and mine was about to expire in January. I found this out just 2 weeks before my trip to Jordan.

So... no problem I thought... I just go to the Spanish consulate and renew it... no big deal...

Well... not quite... It turns out that you need to book an appointment which will have you waiting for 1 or 2 weeks and then it takes between 3 and 4 weeks to get your passport (as they send it to Spain to get it done)... as my trip to Jordan was in less than 2 weeks that wasn't an option for me.

After what can only be described as a rollercoster week and after being almost about to give up on my Jordanian trip I found a solution to my problem. I found a police station in Madrid where they could renew it on the day and on a Saturday so without a second thought I bought myself a flight to Spain for the weekend and off I went.

The best part of that trip was that apart from getting my beautiful new passport I also got to spend a great weekend with Susana (featured many times in previous blog entries as we, together with Maria, got to travel a lot together, Brazil, Vietnam, Cambodia,...). It always feels good to catch up. 

Once with the new passport in my hands, the trip to Jordan was back on the agenda so I packed my suitcase, rocksuck and off to Jordan!

We have a lot of plans Maria and I ... hiking to Petra, diving in the Red Sea, swimming in the Death Sea, perhaps some wadis (that's how they call the valleys in this part of the world, most hiking trails follow a wadi) and who knows what else...