A political map of Jordan
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
We took Delta\u2019s inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of refreshments and several television cameras capturing the moment.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In London, owing probably to fatigue, I adjusted my watch incorrectly and we nearly missed our next flight. \u00a0That\u2019s two errors in the past two months. \u00a0Am I losing the flawless perfection that was once my most obvious and defining characteristic?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then a quick flight to Rome \u2014 there was actually method in our madness, or, at least there seemed to be when we made the reservations \u2014 and, from there, an only slightly longer flight to Amman, Jordan.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
En route, I caught a glimpse of my beloved Alps. \u00a0And then, if I\u2019m not mistaken, we flew over the Bay of Naples.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amazing. \u00a0What would Caesar or Paul or even Brother Brigham have thought?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m tired, and this wasn\u2019t the most efficient arrangement of flights. \u00a0Still, even so, we we\u2019re in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan less than twenty-four hours after leaving Deseret. \u00a0And, along the way, we spent time in London and in Rome. \u00a0(Of course, we didn\u2019t get to spend any time with Queen Elizabeth II or Pope Francis. \u00a0Maybe next time.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amman has changed dramatically since my first visit back in 1978. \u00a0It was a relatively small town then. \u00a0And the new airport, opened about two years ago, is magnificent.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Amman, Jordan<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 We took Delta\u2019s inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of refreshments and several television cameras capturing the moment. \u00a0 In London, owing probably to fatigue, I adjusted my watch incorrectly and we nearly missed our next flight. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Back in the Middle East!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Back in the Middle East!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/04\/Jo-map.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html\",\"name\":\"Back in the Middle East!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Back in the Middle East!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Back in the Middle East!","description":" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Back in the Middle East!","og_description":" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2016\/04\/Jo-map.png"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html","name":"Back in the Middle East!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-25T01:28:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" We took Delta's inaugural flight from Salt Lake City to London, so there was a party at the Salt Lake airport gate, with a spread of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/back-in-the-middle-east.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Back in the Middle East!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jordanian](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/04\/Jo-map.png\")
<\/a>