SEPTEMBER 2025

Adventures With Carli

A monthly round of tips, travels, adventures and what's next

Hello adventurers!

Another month has flown by. I'm currently writing this somewhere over northern Canada 10 hours into my flight from Qatar to Chicago. This is flight 2 of 3 for around 25 hours of traveling Amman -> Doha -> Chicago -> Minneapolis 😵‍💫

September was a bit of a blur. I was back home in Minnesota for Labor Day and going to my favorite end of summer event - the Minnesota State Fair.

If you're unfamiliar, the MN State Fair is the undisputed best state fair in the country.

At the end of the month I spent 10 days traveling to and from Jordan (with a night in Qatar). I have 2 nights back in Minnesota to close out September, then will be heading down to Wichita for a travel conference 😵‍💫

Where in the world is Carli San Diego?

I just wrapped up a group trip to Jordan through One Girl Wanders. Lindsay was also the host of my cruise to Antarctica earlier this year. She does a great job of bringing travelers together to explore areas you may have otherwise never visited or didn't want to do alone.

Jordan was incredible. Due to the proximity/shared border with Israel and their war on Palestine (not to mention ongoing conflicts with other surrounding countries), the country has had a huge decline in tourism, which is a big source of income for their economy.

If you have thought of visiting Jordan this is actually a great time to go. The popular sites are not busy at all. We ended out first day in Petra with almost the whole site to ourselves. Jordan remains a fairly neutral territory in the Middle East, so there isn't the same concern for safety as you would find in Israel or other nearby countries.

Highlights from Jordan:

Best historical site: Petra - This is by far the most visited historical site in Jordan, partly in thanks to Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. The Treasury building (below) is the most famous, but the entire site is huge. We spent around 8 hours over 2 days and still only saw only a portion of Petra.

Most surprising: Wadi Rum desert - Going into the trip I didn't know too much about the desert other than a number of movies had been filled there. This ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. We stayed in domes, stargazed, drove through the desert and took a hot air balloon ride.

Most relaxing: Dead Sea - Did you know the "Dead Sea" is actually just a lake? Me neither, but considering it's completely landlocked between Jordan and Israel, it makes sense. The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake which has such high salinity you float. Between the water and the mud from the "sea" you'll get baby soft skin after visiting. We stayed at the Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa which was A+, highly recommend.

Best food: cooking class in Amman - Our final night in Jordan ended with cooking an incredible meal of traditional Jordanian food. This included one of the main dishes of the region, Maqluba (upside down rice & chicken). If you find yourself in Amman take the class at The Jordanian Kitchen.

Follow me on your favorite social media platform (links at the bottom of the email) to see more of my Jordan travels.

Travel Lessons Learned

Some airlines offer free or low cost stopover programs. What does that mean? You can book your flights to include a stay at the layover city anywhere from 1-3 days (or more depending on the airline). A few airlines include this like Icelandair, Turkish and Qatar.

I flew Qatar from Seattle to Doha, then had a 17 hour overnight layover/stopover in Doha before flying to Amman. I was able to add in my hotel stay through the airline and local tourism board for a fraction of the price. I stayed at a 5 star hotel in central Doha for only $55 USD. Sounds great right? So what's the catch?

I checked a bag in Seattle and was unaware that it would be checked all the way through to Jordan, despite my extended layover AND booking a hotel through the official program. Unlike the in the United States, you do not claim your luggage while in customs, and then re-drop it if you are continuing on. This meant that when I landed in Qatar, I was unable to claim my bag to take with me for my 17 hour overnight layover.

In order to get my bag I had to go to the luggage claim office, request for them to bring my bag. This took 30 minutes to get approved (without a fee) likely due to my OneWorld status. From there they said it would still be another 90 minutes to (maybe 60) to bring the bag out. Seeing as it would take over an hour to go to my hotel, check in, come back just to return to the hotel it made more sense to wait.

Well, it took around 3 hours from when I first requested my bag, until it arrived a the office. So I essentially wasted my entire stayover day at the airport.

Lesson: If you have an overnight layover ask when you check your bags if it will be checked to the final destination or if you can claim it at the layover airport. If they will only check it all the way through, make sure you have space in your carry on or another small bag that you can pull out any necessary toiletries or clothes you'd like for the day or evening.

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