Experience with travel to Jordan

[Nutternomore]

Hi,

We're looking to plan a trip to Israel this summer with a side trip to Jordan.  Specifically, we'd like to visit both Petra and Wadi Rum.

I have several questions about this.

1) Does anyone have experience crossing the border and whether it is possible to bring food into Jordan when coming from Israel?  There seems to be conflicting information about this.  We will be bringing some food from the U.S. and probably buy more while in Israel.

2) Is anyone familiar with the ability to purchase safe food from a grocery in southern Jordan which might have good food labeling (i.e. they might carry UK or US food, likely to have good labeling)?

3) Has anyone assessed the pros/cons of driving into the country on your own (rented car) vs. coming in via a tour (e.g. 2 day tour to cover both sites)?

Appreciate any good advice...

Thanks,

Nutternomore  (yeah...still around...haven't visited in forever and a day)

[Macabre]

It's great to see you! I think I remember someone posting about Jordan a few years ago at our hyperboards site. I'll see.

[Macabre]

Hmmmm. Can't find it.

[Mookie86]

My mom and stepfather recently visited Israel and Jordan.  They didn't try to bring food across the border, so I can't comment on it.  My mother said that there are very dangerous areas of Jordan, and you should be in Jordan only with a guide.  Also, don't drink anything but bottled water.

[Nutternomore]

Thanks, Mookie86.  We will likely have a guide or a tour anyway, because you can't take a rental car across the border into Jordan, anyway.  And we are definitely limiting ourselves to just Petra and Wadi Rum, so 1.5-2 days total.

We might try to call to Jordanian Consulate in Washington to see if they can shed further light on this question because we don't want to be surprised at the border.  If we can't bring food in, then I'm not sure we want to risk this side trip. 

At worst, we just need to be able to get some protein bars and a few other items in for DS.  But we do have a pretty strict comfort zone and this is not the portion of the trip where we want to be exceeding that zone.