I’ll be honest—I wasn’t sure what to expect from Jordan. I’d seen the photos of Petra, heard about the Dead Sea, but nothing really prepared me for how much this place would surprise me.

Jordan sits right in the heart of the Middle East, and it feels like a country that’s figured out how to balance its ancient past with the modern world. One day I was walking through 2,000-year-old ruins carved into pink sandstone cliffs. The next, I was floating in the Dead Sea, feeling ridiculous and weightless at the same time.

What caught me off guard the most? The people. I’ve traveled a lot, and the warmth I experienced here was something else. Strangers invited me for tea. Shopkeepers wanted to chat, not just sell. It made the whole trip feel more real, less like I was just ticking off sights.

If you’re planning a trip here, this page is where I’ve gathered everything I learned—the places that lived up to the hype, the ones that didn’t, and the practical stuff that actually helped me navigate the country without losing my mind.