Before I left for Amman, a knot of anxiety formed in my stomach that would not go away; I was stressed about leaving my family behind, learning how to exist in a new place, and relying on my Arabic skills as a requirement for communication. Mostly, though, I was stressed about getting there.

Before coming to Amman, I’d never left the United States. I’d never been on an international flight, never had to go through customs, never bought a visa, never exchanged currency. I couldn’t put words to my fears because I had no idea what to expect. I was worried that I would mess something up in the process and irreparably damage my entire trip.

That anxiety was more-or-less justified because, in all honesty, getting to Amman has been the worst part of this experience so far. Partly, that was because two disasters struck me before I’d even left my home airport. First, an hour into my family’s drive to the airport (which is about two hours away from my house), I realized that I’d somehow left my cell phone at home. Then, after I successfully retrieved my cell phone, said goodbye to my parents, gone through TSA, my flight got canceled.

Both disasters were emotional experiences. They also both got fixed very quickly and didn’t prevent me from making it to Amman on the expected day. They did, however, make my long flight a much more emotionally stressful experience than it probably would have been otherwise.

The last picture I took in my room at home, the night before I left. Even though I was stressed and anxious, I knew that studying abroad in Jordan would be an enjoyable experience. Photo credit: Amthor, 2020

Here’s the thing: if you’ve never been on a long flight before, you probably don’t expect how lonely it can be. I know I didn’t. You’re surrounded by strangers who you may or may not be interested in talking to you. Everyone you love is ten thousand miles below you, getting farther every second, and to make that feeling worse, you probably won’t see them for at least four months. Your phone is on airplane mode, and you can’t leave the plane, so you don’t even have the option to contact them. It’s a feeling that I was entirely unprepared to deal with, and that entirely bowled me over during my flights.

It’s fair to say that I cried the entire way from Austin to Amman. I cried walking through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. I cried on the plane from Austin to London. I cried at Heathrow Airport. I cried on the flight from London to Amman. I finally even cried at my final destination at Queen Alia International Airport. Even though I was the definition of an emotional mess and hadn’t slept in thirty-six hours, I still managed to get to Amman safely. (Actually, after I left Austin, everything about the trip went surprisingly smoothly.)

To save you from so much unnecessary drama and anxiety, I figured I would give you a breakdown of what to do when you get to the airport in Amman. That way, you can worry about what matters: surviving your long flight(s).

My first-ever Kinder Surprise Egg, which I bought on a whim at Heathrow Airport. Despite my emotional instability, I did manage to have fun during the journey. Photo credit: Amthor, 2020

Guide to Getting through Queen Alia Airport

Once you get off the plane, take a moment to breathe. Relax. You’re in the home stretch. Soon you will be at the hotel, where you can take a hot shower and lay down in a real bed. If you’re anything like me, this is the part of the journey you’ll be most stressed about, but by the time you get to the airport, you’ll probably be too tired to care.

That’s good because navigating the Amman airport is incredibly easy. There are signs everywhere pointing you in the right direction, the path from the gate to the “arrivals” section is straightforward, and, if all else fails, you can follow the pack of people who just got off the plane with you.

First, you’ll want to exchange currency. You pass the currency exchange booth as soon as you get to the arrivals section, so you cannot possibly miss it. Walk up to the booth and hand them how many dollars you want to exchange for dinars. I recommend exchanging a weird number of bills — I transferred $176 — so that you’ll have a few 1 dinar notes to get started with. (If you want to embarrass yourself as I did, stare at the guy in the booth for an uncomfortably long time before saying, “Should I just — give you the money I want to exchange?” I promise you’ll still get the same exchange rate as someone who isn’t awkward.)

Next, head to the visa line. It’s the very next thing you’ll pass when you walk through the airport, and while it is technically possible to walk past this part of the airport, there’s nowhere else you can go without a visa, so you should be able to find it pretty quickly. The visa officer will ask you a few questions, such as what kind of visa you want (tourist or work), but nothing very difficult. Mostly they’ll either make small talk or stamp your visa in silence.

Then it’s time to go through Passport Control, where they check to make sure that you do, indeed, have a Jordanian visa. This time, the passport agent might ask a few more difficult questions about your plans for your trip to Jordan. The guy who looked at my passport seemed very confused when I said, “I’m studying abroad!” after he asked what I was doing in Jordan, and he immediately asked for the name of my hotel. Luckily, I’d written down the name and address in my planner. Unluckily, he couldn’t understand what I was saying when I read the name of the hotel to him, so I had to turn my planner around and let him see my entire (slightly embarrassing) weekly spread so he could read it for himself.

After that, you can finally descend the glorious, tall escalator to the baggage claim. By the time you get done with the money exchange/visa/passport control business, your bags will probably already be waiting for you on the carousel. My suitcases are very distinctive, so I found them very quickly. (If your suitcases could be easily mistaken for someone else’s, I highly recommend you tie a ribbon or some distinctive bag tag around the handle to make things easier on yourself.)

Finally, you must go through customs, which is a straightforward process. If you’re coming from America, the officer will probably wave you through without having you put any of your bags through the machine. I only had to put one of my three bags through, and it was straightforward. Of course, there’s always a chance that your suitcase might be searched, but you’ve been through TSA before. You can handle it.

After that, all that’s left to do is find your AMIDEAST driver. He’ll take you to the car and help you load your stuff up. For girls, the same rules apply as when you’re riding in a taxi or an Uber. It is important to sit in the backseat. Look out the window, and enjoy it! You’ve made it to Amman!