sadly, was not that we arrived at our destination on time! When we got on board our flight on Thursday, the pilot announced that we wouldn’t be able to leave for an hour because of a runway being closed at Amman. He did encourage everyone to move around the cabin and go and see the flight deck, if they wanted, and at least I could text Hanan and let her know the situation. When I texted Martyn to tell him though, the flight tracker had told him we were somewhere over France already!
Other then the late start, the flight was very smooth and we did make up some of the lost hour. We saw a little of the Mediterranean and then flew in across Israel in the dark. The contrast, in the dark, between Israel’s tinsel town grids of bright orange street lights and the sparsely-lit West Bank was stark. I was glad not to be travelling with small children any more. The family behind us were obviously Jordanian but hadn’t been back for some time and the little girl was asking lots of questions about pets she’d left at her aunty’s home. Her English was more fluent than her Arabic and she was worried about not knowing how to ask things like whether the rabbit was a boy or a girl. Her little brother was even better value – he’d not been on a plane before and was puzzled by the fact there was no-one in Jordan i.e. on the runway!
Amman airport is an impressive new building but the queues to get visas were slow enough for Hanan to be worried we might be having problems. The men on the desks had no great sense of urgency but at least it meant the bags were ready for us to pick up as soon as we arrived at baggage reclaim. It was SO good to see Hanan and her family again and to meet baby Maryam and we have had a lovely couple of days with them and been very well fed and looked after. It doesn’t feel at all like a year since I’ve seen Hanan. Khalid has forgotten his English though, and doesn’t remember that I don’t speak Arabic, so Faislal has had to translate!