What A Week in Jordan Taught Me About Travelling In Uncertain Times

It is March 3, 2026. I write this sitting at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, mildly enjoying a leisurely meal at the Royal Jordanian business class lounge. My bags have been packed for the third time. The departure board is a mosaic of delays and cancellations, with only the national carrier Royal Jordanian operating through revised routes via Cairo and Muscat. Outside, the sky that was supposed to carry me home has, over these past three days, carried other things instead—sirens, the low booming sonic thunder of fighter jets, and the eerie silence that settles in between them.