A Boarder Crossing to Remember:

About 2 weeks into our Middle East trek Lindsay and I found ourselves needing to cross from Jordan to Israel. Border crossings anywhere are never really "easy" and when your in the Middle East it quite the experience (especially going from an Islamic Country to Israel). We started in the little beach town of Aquaba, Jordan and took a cab to the border and then started the exiting process. We began by paying the "exit tax" in Jordan and then discussing "Obama" with the friendly guards while they took 20 minutes to stamp our passports. We then were led through a series of gates until we found ourselves face to face with the last Jordanian guard holding a huge gun..he was very intimidating. He took our passports and then said "I cannot give you back your passport...unless you promise to come back to Jordan!" He then started laughing and gave us a huge smile! We continued to chat with him for a few minutes about how much he loved Americans and wanted us to come back, it was a great ending to a beautiful country. After that he pointed us down a long road surrounded by barbed-wire fences. We walked along this (very) deserted road for about 100 yards before finally seeing the large Israeli flags. The border in Israel was a much different experience. It was full of serious guards, lots of weapons and very intense security measures. When they noticed the Syrian visa in our passports they became very suspicious and set us aside for "further inspection." This ended up being a 3 hour ordeal that consisted of interviewing us separately, calling the US Government to verify identity and lots of waiting. Eventually we were cleared and headed off to the beach party town of Eilat, Israel. This border crossing was such a unique experience, the contrast between these two countries and the intensity we will never forget!