I had made my way down to Cairo from Amman in the two weeks I had between flights, but it was now time to make my way back.

My original plan was to head back via Israel at the Taba/Eillat/Aqaba border crossings. I did some research and found it wasn’t going to be too difficult and certainly cheaper than the ferry I previously caught to Egypt. I did a bit more research about opening times etc as I was worried about getting stuck during the Sabbath. The border is only closed two days of the year, one of which being the religious holiday of Yom Kipper. Turns out that the very day I wanted to cross the border – a Saturday – was Yom Kipper. Strike one.

Next idea was to check flights. Even if they were double the cost of the ferry it would still be good value. Waited for 30 minutes at the head office of Egyptair downtown in Cairo as I was told they offer better deals in person. I was told there were only business class seats available. Strike two.

So ferry it was. The schedules are completely unreliable, and they don’t run on Saturdays. I rang the office in Aqaba and was told it sailed at midday, leaving enough time to catch the bus all the way back to Amman in a single day. I bought my overnight bus ticket to the Egyptian port of Nuweiba and was off.

The bus ride wasn’t too bad. Completely full, but I managed enough sleep and woke to watch a gorgeous sunrise over the Aqaba Gulf and Saudi Arabia. We arrived at the port at 6:30am in the morning with plenty of time.

I hadn’t organised tickets yet, so I found the ticket office and got told to wait in line. There were about a dozen people waiting for tickets, but somehow it took over 2 hours for me to finally get the ticket in my hand. Just as I was leaving a Canadian couple walked in, spotted me and asked me if I spoke English. I told them what they needed to know to get the ticket and I wandered off to grab some breakfast.

I had read plenty of blogs about the passenger departure area at Nuweiba, and there are some very graphic descriptions but I didn’t find it that bad. Maybe I’m too used to dirty and squalid places. It was just a huge tin shed with benches for those waiting for the ferry.

I bumped into my Canadian friends again – Cheryl and Don – and we found the customs line and waited for another 30 minutes to get our passports stamped. We found a bench sat together talking and sharing stories.

Midday came and went and after asking around was told departure was at 2pm. No worry. Then 2pm came and went and word got round that 4pm was the departure time. During this time there was a rush to the door by a group of Arabs and everyone started to load up, by false alarm as it was only the slow ferry passengers.

People we getting pretty antsy by the time 4pm came around, but by this time I was quite care free and not worried. We moved to an area we were told was for the fast ferry and I met a group of mostly Australians doing a tour from Cairo to Istanbul. It was the tour guide’s first time on this leg and reading off the notes filled in little gaps. Having caught the ferry before I was able to answer a few questions.

Finally we all got told to jump on waiting buses to take us the few hundred meters to the ferry. I jumped on a waiting bus with some other Aussies – which was an old rust bucket with the seats removed. I was content, but a few of the western girls refused to get in calling it a kennel and refusing to be ‘treated like animals’. So we caught the next bus and finally set foot on the ferry and found some seats. It took about an hour and a half before we set sail – waiting for passengers and cars to load on the boat. We set sail just after 6pm, almost 12 hours after I arrived at the port.

At the ferry terminal I met a Dutch guy Bob and shared a cab into town. I had missed the last bus to Amman so ended up sharing a room with Bob in Aqaba overnight.

I spent the day in Aqaba exploring and caught a late afternoon bus with Bob to Amman and headed straight back to the Abasi Palace Hostel. I had time to check emails before heading to bed. I had an early morning flight at 9:30am which meant catching the 6:30am bus to the airport.

I sat down at my seat in the packed flight to Frankfurt am Main and quickly realised the two passengers seated next to me were Australians on a marathon 36 hour trip from Sydney to Europe.

Frankfurt airport was run with the german efficiency one would expect and it was a bit of a culture shock coming from the disarray of the Middle East. The weather was a bit of a shock too – 33 degrees in Amman (at 9am in the morning) to 16 degrees in Germany.

My good friend Nina met me at the airport and kindly took me to the train station, but not before catching up over lunch. Thanks to the Deutsch Bahn website I had found a way to get from Frankfurt to Munich for only €35. It was the ‘happy weekend’ ticket and it gives you unlimited train travel on local trains anywhere in the country for up to 5 people. Pretty awesome deal, but it meant I needed to catch three different trains to get from Frankfurt to Munich.

The three trains from Frankfurt was pretty uneventful – just long. Frankfurt to Wurzburg, Wurzburg to Numberg and finally Numburg to Munich. The closer I got to Munich, the busier the trains were. I was very lucky to get a seat on the last train. The atmosphere on the last train was pretty good too – with most people looking forward to a few drinks in Munich and many (including myself) buying a few to drink on the train. The announcement came over the speakers in the carriage – first in German then in English saying we had arrived at our destination. After 2 days of solid travelling I finally arrived in Munich!

This post is tagged Amman, Cairo, Egypt, ferry, Frankfurt, Germany, Jordan, Munich, plane, train