Last Updated on April 6, 2023 by PowersToTravel
Petra, Jordan lured us to extend our original two week Egypt vacation to include Jordan. As usual, in planning, I wondered, “While we are in Jordan, what else should we not miss?” Turns out there is a lot to see and do in Jordan – we spent almost a week there!
You can check out my all inclusive Diabetic Travel Tips for International Travel which talks about, well, everything. In this article I talk about considerations from that article which were very pertinent to Jordan.
Keeping My Insulin Cold While Traveling
We traveled to Jordan in November, which is not a hot month for the country. (Indeed, the snorkeling in the Red Sea was a tad chilly!) I purposely chose the shoulder season for our Middle East trip so as to avoid heat issues in managing my insulin. So, one may wonder, “OMG how do you manage the heat and insulin?” but for me it was easy. I planned the trip in the same way as going to Europe.
I brought my new Frio wallet to carry my insulin (no, I am not reimbursed – I have no sponsors.) The Frio wallet requires water to activate the little jelly beads inside. However, I learned that it is important to use COLD water to get a cold pack. In Jordan, cold water is a little hard to come by. The water out of the tap is lukewarm, there are no ice machines in the halls of the hotels (at least not in our hotels!) and restaurants don’t tend to give you glasses with ice for your soda; you’re lucky to get a glass.
The answer is refrigerators! I had arranged for hotel rooms with mini-bars, thinking I would be storing my insulin there. Yes, I did store my insulin frequently in the mini-bar overnight, but also I was able to put a bottle of water in the frig overnight. The next morning I was able to use that cold water to refresh my Frio wallet.
I have a fear of mini-refrigerators when I travel because I am afraid they will freeze my insulin. If the freezer section is too cold and freezes the frig, it will simple be too late by the time I have discovered it! Most hotels we encountered did not have mini-refrigerators with freezer sections, but mini-bars with only refrigerator compartments.
If I had brought my old stand-by cooler apparatus (see How to Keep Insulin Cold While Traveling) I would have had no way of re-freezing my freezer bars. As it was, in Jordan, I was very happy I had chosen the Frio Wallet because I was able to keep the insulin cold without having a freezer. I just needed a refrigerator every few days to top it off.
Vaccines and the Travel Clinic
As usual, I checked the CDC for travel advice: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/jordan which told me I needed in addition to the regular vaccines, with Hep A and B, a refresh of our Typhoid vaccine. Because there was no other reason to go to the travel clinic (an extra expense), we ended up getting the Typhoid shots at our local pharmacy (and had to pay out of our own pocket.) The pharmacy will only dispense the typhoid shots not the pills. Sounded strange to me, but that’s the way it was. The typhoid shots are good for two years, they say, whereas the pills are good for longer, but need the travel doctor’s prescription. (Now I just have to plan our next vacations for the next two years such that we go to places requiring typhoid vaccines to make it more economical!)
I was also watching the COVID vaccine rollout, and planned the timing of the trip so as to be able to benefit from the new bi-valent vaccine so as to not have anything interfere with our dream vacation. Since we would be traveling in November, a flu shot was also on my agenda.
I’m sure many travelers just buy their airfare and go, however I always check the CDC and always make sure I follow their vaccine advice. I used to say to myself, “Because I am a diabetic…” but now, my husband has arrhythmia, and I have to think as well, “Because my husband has a heart condition…” Really stinks getting old.
Well, moving right along, to the Water.
The Water, drinkable or not?
The Internet seems to be confident that the water in Jordan is potable. There are some questions about the pipes in some locations. Since I can’t peer into the innerds of the hotels and restaurants we visit, I have to be skeptical about the water. Should be good, but maybe not? (I mean, I even got sick on the water in New York City, if you can believe that!)
I decided to avoid the water. Of course I drank the bottled water. However I did not eat a shred of lettuce, or fresh veggie, or fresh fruit in a restaurant. I know this sounds so sad, and is sad. That said, I don’t generally like vegetables, and fruits can be sugar packed, especially if one is not used to them. At one location the hotel gave us a fruit basket. Oh, how heavenly – I ate the banana and Greg washed the plums (with bottled water) and ate them.
The Water leads to a sensitive topic:
The Food
In a culture where vegetables are very important, and where meat is expensive, avoiding fresh vegetables leads to misunderstanding. We tried to explain that I have a very sensitive stomach and must have ALL my food fully cooked, and that I don’t like olives and green peppers. But in trying to explain we wanted to eat MEAT (because that’s cooked and not a veggie) the guides seem to think we were rich and not willing to eat like a local.
Perhaps if I were not a diabetic, and did not have such a history of disastrous stomach upsets all over the globe, I would have buckled under the pressure, but I did not.
We came to understand that one somewhat acceptable food choice was “shawarma” – a Turkish sandwich on a pita bread similar to a tortilla, if you are Latin American leaning, filled with shredded BBQ beef, sauce, oh, and of course we skipped the fresh veggie part. (Basically the middle eastern version of a Philly Cheese Steak minus the cheese on flat bread!)
Every time they would ask us what we wanted for lunch, we would say “shawarma”. I think they were offended that we wanted to eat Turkish food and not Jordanian, but at least it wasn’t like saying “McDonald’s”!
I have a very sensitive stomach and have learned that some short dietary sacrifice far outweighs the trauma of illness. I did have confidence that with my careful attention, and the supposed good quality of water, I would be safe, and I was!
Carrying sugar while snorkeling
My cousin recently gave me this fantastic idea for keeping safe while snorkeling. I love to snorkel but it is stressful since I worry about low blood sugars. After all, I’m exercising a bit.
I have to leave my pump behind in a ziploc bag in the boat, usually in my totebag. But then I’ll be in the water perhaps 45 minutes as a snorkel guide brings us from coral reef to coral reef. Usually I drink one Capri Sun prior to entering the water. I wear a life jacket, and keep with my husband, but what happens if my sugar gets low?
I have a very old fashioned “fanny pack” from when fanny packs were not the fashion faux-pas they are today! It is made of nylon and dries easily. It straps around my waist and has a zipper section quite large enough to handle a full bottle of Hawaiian Punch or a couple of Capri-Sun juice packs.
It is fantastically easy to unzip the fanny pack and slurp while in the water. It’s all waterproof. I know it won’t come off me, and I know I’ll have all I need for that time frame. What a wonderful cousin I have!
Evacuation Insurance?
Because we combined Israel, Jordan and Egypt in one trip, we purchased travel insurance with evacuation for the entire trip. Israel has fine hospitals, Egypt not so. Jordan, I don’t really know, but Egypt was the key and so we went with the more expensive insurance, especially with Covid floating around as it was.
Keeping all medications in original packaging
Well, that was a first! As we left Jordan our luggage was searched for contraband – illegal drugs. The inspector saw my carry-on wheelie packed with medical-looking stuff, stopped me and demanded I produce all medicines.
He spoke no English, read no English, but he had a list of all the English titles of drugs it is illegal to transport out of the country. I’m not talking about illegal drugs as in marijuana, etc, but prescription drugs that for some reason are not allowed. I unpacked my bag and not knowing what he really was looking for, produced all the Rx bottles of antibiotics and my husband’s fullsome supply of different heart medications. The inspector carefully compared each drug name to his list. He grabbed my bag, pulled out my COVID tests, and did the same (so I knew he couldn’t read English!). I stopped providing him with medications (eye drops, infusion sets, reservoirs, insulin, etc) at that point because I could tell he really didn’t know when he saw a medication or not.
I also presented my original doctor’s note saying I am a diabetic, which I have had to produce only once before, but he really didn’t care about that, just his little list.
He waved us on.
I was very glad everything, but everything was in its original packaging.
