We crossed from Israel to Jordan and back 3 times and used all the border crossings available to foreigners. There are 3 border posts between the two countries. On in the north, one in the middle and one in the south.

NORTH - SHEIKH HUSSEIN border checkpoint

Israeli side - leaving

This was the first time we went to Jordan and didn’t know what to expect. We showed up at the Israeli side and everything was very smooth receiving a borer pass with three fields that needed to be stamped in order to be let out on the other side.

• Pay passenger fee
• Hand in TIP
• Check out at immigration

The first time we had to pay the passenger fee we were shocked by the amount, just €50 per person to leave a country. Since when is that a thing? We grudgingly payed and went to immigration. There you had the possibility to use a machine with the e-passport so a quick scan of the face and out rolls the checkout card. Lastly we went customs to hand in our paperwork. This was easy, just hand over the TIP and finished. We received stamps for all stations and were ready to leave.

Jordanian side - entering

We continued into Jordan and stopped at immigration first. We had purchased a Jordan pass online the day before and on the left inside the big hall we could redeem our visa that was included with this pass. A very friendly border official made us smile for the picture and welcomed us into Jordan.

Next up was customs, first the bag check with X-ray machines and all the bags needed to come off. Nobody wanted to look under the seats of the bikes so that was fine. We had hidden the drones there as I wasn’t sure if they were allowed. I later found out that Kinga from On her bike had her drone confiscated at the southern border so I’m happy we didn’t get caught.

Then we were directed at customs. First they wanted to give us a TIP but when they realised we weren’t Israeli they started asking for a triptyk. Somewhere deep in my brain I had stored that this was their word for the carnet. The only problem was that my parents had the carnets and they were already inside Jordan.

Long story short, we managed to contact them via the hotel and their guide. The hotel took the carnets out of their luggage and sent it with a taxi to the border. We paid the guy around $60 and it took a few hours but we were in!

In the dark we rode to Madeba where my parents were staying.

MIDDLE - KING HUSSEIN BRIDGE border checkpoint

As far as I am aware foreigners are not allowed to cross here.

SOUTH - WADI ARABA border checkpoint

Jordan side - leaving

The crossing is very close to Aqaba so we arrived after a short 20min ride. Leaving was easy, we only needed a stamp in our passport and a stamp in our carnet. The stamp was easy and the people friendly and helpful. Only the lady who was supposed to stamp our carnet was giving us a hard time because at first she didn’t want to give us the exit stamp. But after a few words the took out her stamp and put it in our documents. I had read about a passenger fee we needed to pay for leaving Jordan, but I think they forgot and we left without paying anything.

Israel side - entering

The usual guy with giant gun waiting for us at the entrance gate. They let us in and we do the usual dance of putting all the bags through the X-ray machine. They even waited for us with trolleys so we didn’t have to carry everything.

Next up was immigration, we gave them our new passports with just a stamp of Jordan in it and they asked us again if we had our other passport with us. We said no even though the answer was yes. Asking a million other questions we were told to wait. I think we waited for over an hour to get our passports back with an entry ticket in it.

Last was customs where we had to take the motorcycles to a little garage to be checked while the customs office prepared a new TIP for us. This also took at least an hour, although they did apologise for it taking so long. We sat around and waited as we couldn’t do anything to speed up the process.

After almost three hours we were back in Israel.

Israeli side - leaving

Leaving Israel is 10x easier than entering. You will need to

• Pay the passenger fee (100 shekel per person + 7 shekel admin fee)
• Hand in the TIP at customs
• Get an exit pass in your passport

After passing through all three stations you are free to go, it took us about 15 minutes.

Jordan side - entering

This time entering Jordan we were asked to open the seats of the bike after taking off all the bags to put them through the X-ray machine but we had already hidden all the drones in the airbox so we were easily cleared. If they find your drone you can leave it at customs and pick it up later.

Next up was a visa, we had already used our Jordan pass once and tried to use it a second time but that wasn’t possible. We were told we could get a free visa if we stayed for 2 nights in Aqaba so we extended our stay and got the visa stamp for free.

Lastly, we were issued a TIP this time around. We still had valid Jordanian insurance from our last crossing so all was quickly arranged and costed us nothing in the end.

Took us about 1 hour in total.