PETRA

I am nearly in tears. A little ways off the sounds of authentic Bedouin music fills the air, mixing with the soft murmur of appreciation from onlookers. The canyon walls are high and on occasion, the full moon pops out, but the path is mostly lit by little lanterns on either side. I can hear the music steadily growing louder and after a few more minutes I’m finally rewarded with my first glimpse of the famous treasury still partially obscured by the canyon walls. It’s in this moment, I’m overtaken with a sudden rush of happiness which causes a few tears, from joy and excitement, to escape.

I’ve wanted to visit Petra for close to a decade and could not contain my disappointment when a few years ago I was in the Middle East but could not make the timing work. Jordan has been close to the top of my travel bucket list for a while, with Petra right at the top of the Jordan list.

Standing now, in front of the iconic treasury, with lanterns glowing in the sand in front, the reality is better than anything my imagination can conjure. For over half and hour I am completely in the present and get lost in the music and beauty of my surroundings.

A Night in the Bubble

After a long trip down the scenic highway or King’s highway in Jordan, we finally arrive at our “hotel.” Hotel may be too loose of a word. Instead, it’s more like a large collection of plastic-esque bubbles on wooden decks laid out in neat rows. At the front of the compound, right next to the gate, two giant bubbles, one serving as the reception lobby and the other as the dining room, greet us.

While planning our trip, my cousin came across these and we both decided it would be fun to spend a night under the stars in the middle of the dessert, in comfort of course. Which is how we came to stay at a bubble hotel in the middle of nowhere.

We are about thirty minutes outside of Wadi Musa and Petra, but it feels much more remote. There’s a tiny town nearby but very limited artificial light from homes or businesses. The stark mountains that we drove through to get here create a stunning backdrop under the luminous full moon.

Each bubble itself is actually made of of three bubbles that are interconnected. The entryway — you’ll have to close the front door before opening the door to the interior unless releasing the compressed air is your goal — opens up into a living room with a couch and a desk which face the full clear side of the bubble, offering expansive views of the surrounding dessert. There’s also a sink/shower/toilet in a small side bubble (completely obscured from your neighbors). It’s a tight fit to move around but all the essentials are there. The final bubble has the impressively large bed, I didn’t think a king sized bed would fit in such a small space. The bottom two-thirds of the walls are covered leaving the top with clear plastic which allows for privacy and the option to fall asleep underneath the dessert moon. Each bubble also comes equipped with a heater, which I immediately turn off as it feels stiflingly warm.

It’s late at night when we finally settle in, after a long day of road-tripping through Jordan and our first visit to Petra at night, we are exhausted. The air is cool and we decide to sit in the hot tub just outside our bubble, letting our laughter mix with the sounds of dessert night. The warm water — we can’t get it truly hot —soothes our tired bodies as we relax after a long day. Around midnight, we finally call it quits and get out of the hot tub. It’s freezing and although I knew the dessert was going to be cold at night, I just didn’t realize how cold — especially with the hot water still clinging to my skin. As I make it inside, I’m cursing 5 hours ago me for turning off the heater and desperately hoping to get the feeling back in my fingers and toes as a I fumble to get the heaters back on.

Crawling underneath the warmth of the blankets, I’m tempted to pull out my phone and listen to a little music as I drift off, but I have a perfect view of the night’s full moon right above me (it’s so bright it’s almost making it hard to fall asleep) and decide against the music, opting for a more natural experience.

The Scenic Drive

A laugh escapes me as our car goes flying over an unseen speed bump. I’m launched so far out of my seat that my head almost hits the roof. Despite now driving down a more narrow part of the King’s Highway we are still speeding down the road, slowing only slightly at the realization that there may not be enough room for two way traffic. The sun is getting low in the sky and we are still not close to our destination. Getting pulled over by the Jordanian police has set us back and we are now trying to make up time.

We’re still not sure why we were pulled over. After 35 minutes of talking to the police in broken English, handing over rental agreement paperwork, drivers licenses and a phone call to the rental company to see if they can’t help translate just what is going on. Eventually we are given a ticket for . . . something and head on our way. After we are out of sight of the police, out of curiosity I pull out my smartphone open up the Google translate app and try to figure out what the ticket is for. After five minutes I still have no idea.

We’re in middle of the Jordanian desert near Wadi Musa. The sun is low in the sky and the landscape is starting to change dramatically, we turn and start heading into the beautiful rock formations we’ve seen from a distance over the last few hours. The only lights on the road come from our car.

As we journey inwards, the road becomes more narrow, more winding and definitely more precarious. We navigate steep single lane roads with hairpin turns —stopping dead at the crest of a hill to allow a farmer and his heard of goats and donkeys pass us. The last rays of sun are starting to fade and the full moon is hidden behind the mountains and a layer of clouds. We laugh and half jokingly (half serious) admit that should the car either breakdown or should we miscalculate a turn, we’d probably not survive, and it would take officials a long time to find us. Thankfully our handy Google maps — we are increasingly happy that it’s still working in the middle of the dessert mountain roads — says that we are fifteen minutes away from our destination — glamping bubbles a half hour outside of Wadi Musa.

We finally arrive to our “hotel,” air-compressed bubbles half way up a mountain road that offers amazing views of the valley below and mountains we’ve just come from. The full moon is finally peaking out illuminating the landscape and it feels like such a departure from the rest of the world.