Well not quite a roadtrip. After breakfast, the crew meets in the lobby to check out of the hotel and board the bus that would take us to village of Hartha (close to the Abila site, and home for the duration of the excavation), about two and a half hours drive from Madaba.
Once on the bus, Dr Susan does a head count, taking me back to the days of school excursions, all those many years ago. As we're leaving I feel a twinge of guilt that I didn't take the time to explore Madaba some more, but at the same time my mindset has has come to be focussed more on the task(s) at hand over the next couple of weeks. I feel like I'm slowly beginning to exit from being in tourist mode.
Before long the bus is passing through Amman, passing areas lot more upmarket than what I was used to seeing whilst staying in Downtown. Vibe is sedate but upbeat on the bus. Usual talk - movies, bands, politics, who's studying what and where. Got my first Crododile Dundee quip - no doubt there'll be plenty more references to "that's not a knife" as the dig progresses.
Stop for an hour and a half in Irbid, big university town, and second largest city in Jordan. Aaron and I went to track down getting a phone for him, then we went for wander before deciding to check out the university itself. Went for a walk around - I'm sure we stuck out like two sore thumbs.
Back on the bus, a quick half hour trip before we arrive in Hartha. The next couple of hours are spent dumping our bags, sweeping and mopping up the classrooms that's act as our sleeping quarters, getting the kitchen and toilet block set up, and eventually settling down to dinner.
More on that later...
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