Joci and I parted ways this afternoon, and while I am still bummed about no longer having her as a travel partner, the subsequent events of the day did quite a bit in abating my sadness:
I was talking to this Jordanian guy during my layover at the Cairo airport. About 20 minutes into the conversation, he asks me if I want to sit next to him on the plane, which I agreed to (an odd request, but I figured it would be a short flight, anyway). Anyway, turns out he gets me bumped to first class. Then, we get to Amman, he insists on paying my visa fee, and - the best part - he offers to have his driver take me to my hostel in his LIMO. (Yes, I know it's not advised to get in cars with strange men, but I felt this should be an exception.)
Along the way, I also learned that this guy has 17 siblings (some of whom own large plots of land that he pointed out on our trip from the airport), and that they, along with his friends, typically throw get-togethers for him when he returns from trips (including, interestingly enough, the three-day trip to Cairo he was returning from). He explained that this was customary in this culture, but no one else seemed to agree that this was a common practice, leading me to suspect that this guy just may have had connections to the royal family. I'm still disappointed I never got his last name...
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