Jordan is an amazing country with world-class tourist sites such as Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea. I was in the area during the Israel-Gaza incident and headed to Jordan as part of an already planned extended itinerary.

The minute we landed in Jordan we were greeted and shrouded in local hospitality. Everyone went out of their way to mention how glad they were to host us in Jordan. Jordan has long-standing diplomatic and cultural ties to the USA, including being ruled by an American-born queen.

Queen Noor Al Hussein was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby on August 23, 1951 in Washington DC, USA. She was Queen of Jordan from the day she married King Hussein of Jordan on June 15, 1978, until King Hussein’s death on February 7, 1999. Needless to say, the American and Western influence in Jordan is noticeable.

Everyone went out of their way to make sure we were safe and to make us feel safe and welcomed. At no time did I ever feel unsafe or in danger. The luxury hotels where we were staying had arrival security screening in place and along the roads there were visible security checkpoints every so often, which also made me feel safe.

However, I was a little unnerved by calls from family and friends about their concern for me. Although I appreciated their concern, being so far away from us, our trip went on as usual, and was otherwise unaffected by what was going on next door. However, our guide did mention that because Israel and Jordan are often paired in the same itinerary, there had been some cancellations. This was not because people didn’t want to come to Jordan or felt it was unsafe, but because since the Israel part of their trip was canceled it knocked out the Jordan part as well.

However, tourist sites like Petra were busy as usual. We experienced a few extra police checkpoints along the highway between Petra, Amman, and the Dead Sea, which made me feel extra safe. But more than that it was the Jordanian hospitality that made all of us in our group feel at home. Every one of us was glad we got to experience such an amazing country and culture.