Day 46, 19 August 2012, Wadi Rum Desert Camp to Aqaba Port - A very, very long day. At least 48 hours. Felt longer. Up at 8 am for a 9 am departure for a 12 noon ferry. Must be pointed out that the Jordanians are quick to say it's an Egyptian ferry company. Must also point out no one from Jordanian branch of On the Go Tours could be bothered to phone ferry company for updated schedules due to Eid holiday. We arrived at the port at 10.30 am. Ferry postponed till 1.30 pm. Went for impromptu lunch of felafel and hommous with our guide. Returned at 12.30 pm. No sign of ferry. Sat in car with air-con on. 1.30 pm. No sign of ferry. It was going to be very hard to catch an invisible ferry. Hundreds of Jordanians were heading off on Eid holidays at the end of Ramadan and were hideously grateful they could eat icecream in their air-conditioned Mercedes and BMWs. 2.15 pm. Ferry finally arrived. 2.25 pm Immigration staff arrived. Our guide had been guarding the front of the queue spot for us at the immigration hut. She pulled me forward and thrust me through the door with James and Jacqui right behind me. And 100s of Jordanians. Including one irate grandmother who thought she was first in queue (a slanging match in Arabic ensued - so glad we can't understand a word). Now we know what a champagne cork feels like as it pops from a bottle! 2.30pm. Immigration officials x 3 feeling pressure of work and tried to push us out the door until they were ready. Fortunately they have a basic understanding of physics and realised the cork wasn't going back in the bottle. Laptops were plugged in. Keyboards produced. Little feet to adjust the height of keyboards were adjusted. Stamps inked and tested until satisfactory. Finally we were processed out of Jordan. 3 pm - 12 noon ferry departed. Given general incompetence you'd think it would be a half deflated rubber ducky with passengers strapped on and wearing life jackets, but no - we had a lovely trip across the Red Sea until incompetence kicked in again at Nuweiba port, Egypt. Two people to process 100s of entries. Pick a queue, pick a queue. The pressure, the pressure. OK. Saddle up. We joined what was is definitely the shortest queue. Had to watch for side-feeders who start behind you and then when you blink run up the inside track like roughies in the Melbourne Cup and when you open your eyes are in front of you. Hang on. Why's one bloke need 10 passports. What? Seriously? It's for his whole family? Grandma - 2. Wife - at least one. Children - numerous. Grandchildren? could be. Perhaps they were little surprises (just like finding 1 person is actually 10 in a Jordanian queue). C'est la vie. Given the tanks and men with guns casually looking efficient, we were sure a homicidal frenzy upon entering Egypt would not go un-remarked. Once we were processed into Egypt we arrived into 'hurry up and wait' territory as the van we've been picked up in also had to be processed. Sigh. It was a long drive to Sharm el Sheikh. 1 hour 30. Barely long enough however to advise On the Go rep of how much we appreciated wasting an entire day travelling due to their slack organisation. And the fact that they told us to spend several hundred dollars on flights from Sharm to Cairo since the van wasn't leaving until 3 am in a government convoy. Security situation managed to improve so much in 3 days that the van was now continuing directly to Cairo and we don't need flights after all. Were they nterested in our nerve-wracking wait at Wadi Rum for 24 hours not knowing if we still had a hotel in Sharm el Sheik for the night? Of course. "Honestly - if I were you I'd feel the same" - Honestly champ - your feelings are irrelevant to our wallet! Complete incomprehension on On the Go's part that EgyptAir really doesn't give a toss about tour companies and won't be giving us a refund. And no the Cairo On the Go office can't do it either. Perhaps you want to report it to London office? You think? We decide to continue with Plan B and stayed the night in Sharm and used our flights the following day. The fun continued in Sharm at a five star hotel which has it's stars pasted on with crazy-glue. Death by travel seems imminent. Off to Cairo tomorrow and connecting with a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Definitely due for a new country. Can't you tell?!