# @kirstenalana on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BURd9pqlK6N
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2430334-kirstenalana-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e36d5033e9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-05-19T11:53:02.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kirsten Alana (@KirstenAlana) — https://gondola.cc/KirstenAlana

## Caption

JORDAN • After my assignment with TCS concluded, I traveled alone to the country of Jordan to rendezvous with colleagues from @adventure.travel_ for #ANEXTNearEast. My first flight was delayed causing me to miss my connecting flights, then my bags never made it to Amman so the adventure started out very adventurous indeed. When I arrived in the middle of the night, I was actually so afraid to meet my colleagues over breakfast the next morning, only one of whom I knew already, wearing the same clothes I'd been in for 3 days, drastically unprepared for hiking through desert wadis and up mountains. I feared the people I was about to meet would not accept me since they'd already had a day to bond without me, and I believed they would ridicule me for my ill-preparedness no matter how little control I had over it. The opposite was true and by the end of our first day together, we were family. During our time together at @feynanecolodge, we spent time with multiple Bedouin families learning how to make tea, how to use the wild plants and herbs of the surrounding landscape for prevention and healing, coming to understand the rituals of coffee which are highly nuanced, observing bread being made in varying styles, showing Bedouin children the basics of photography, trusting our guide Suleiman to get us home safe in the desert darkness and taking cooking lessons back at the lodge. We grew used to the lack of electricity (the lodge is solar powered but minimally), and didn't miss the WiFi we would have had elsewhere. We slept on the roof when our rooms were too warm. We gazed at stars so numerous and large they made us feel minuscule. I can't show you in photos what it means to bond with people on a level that's permanent and I can't promise it will happen to you if you visit Feynan. But you should visit. It's a place 40 KM from the nearest paved road and it's likely that separation which makes it so inspiring. I don't know. All I do know is that all my fears were washed away in a flood of learning and love. #MyJordanJourney #FeynanEcolodge

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 2,140
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 92

## Tags

feynanecolodge, anextneareast, myjordanjourney

---
Copyright (c) Gondola