As soon as we took off, the  Bahraini couple next to me on the airplane who I’d never met before offered me a packet of crisps! I was so touched and felt that it’s this humanity that I love so much about Bahrain. And what a great start to a journey entitled Friendship Arabia!  

The temperature in Amman was a wonderful 25 degrees. Once David and I had settled in to our hotel, we headed off to central Amman for a coffee. It so happened that the area we went to – Abdoun Circle – was where all the action was. There were crowds of people waving Jordanian flags and standing on the streets. The man of the moment was about to arrive – Nasser Qowaider, Jordan’s pop idol winner! The crowds went crazy and David managed to catch a Qowaider fan and do a radio report.  

After all that action we watched as the country put up the lights for the following day’s Independence Day celebrations and headed back to the hotel to meet the rest of the team who had just arrived from Saudi Arabia after a long and dusty drive.