A woman determined to see the world while traveling on a budget got one experience she will never forget.
The tourist, who asked to go by Thompson, lives in Colorado, and in May of this year traveled to Jordan, to soak up its culture and iconic ancient history.
And the 28-year-old did so on a budget, telling Newsweek she “wanted to get the most out of my time over there while also not going overboard with spending.”
“I stayed at hostels, came prepared with a lot of food from the States, had a filtered Lifestraw water bottle to save money [and] have unlimited access to clean water, and stayed with a college pal that lived in [Jordan’s capital city] Amman.”
When Thompson was drawn to visit the Wadi Rum desert, she opted for an “authentic experience,” staying with a “native Bedouin family”.
“They accepted visitors graciously, provided meals, and shared their culture with me over a fire,” she said. “Wadi Rum is vast—the native people know their way around just by landmarks, it’s insanely impressive.”
One unusual highlight from her trip to Wadi Rum has gone viral on Instagram, after she posted a clip to her account @a_cup_of_t_adventure on August 20, describing it: “POV: You budget traveled so hard your transportation through the Jordanian desert looks like this.”
In the video, she flies across the desert at speed, sitting in the back of a vehicle—which is being driven by a young boy.
She wrote in a caption: “At least he could see over the steering wheel?”
Thompson went on to write: “Seeing the world doesn’t have to cost your life’s savings… but the memories that you’ll retain (like this one) are ultimately priceless.”
Instagram users had a big reaction, awarding the video more than 100,000 likes, as one suggested the vast, flat nature of the desert was “like driving in an empty parking lot.”
“That’s not budget, that’s just a typical day at Rum, another joked, while one said “he knows Wadi Rum by heart, you are in safe hands.”
And as one put it: “Trust that kid. He drove since he was six.”
It is only legal to drive in Jordan once you are aged 18 or over. Tourists to the country can rent their own cars with their home country license provided they have held the license for at least one year, according to the Jordan Tourism Board.
Thompson explained how she ended up in the wild situation, telling Newsweek that after parking her rental car in the village and getting picked up by the father of the family, she was driven to their home in the desert.
The next day, she had to return to the village for a tour, “and the family’s young son begged his dad to drive me!”
“I didn’t care, but was kind of shocked since he was so young,” Thompson said. “But the kid really wanted to drive me and play me his music, so I hopped in the back, since the front seat wasn’t fully intact, and we rushed off to the village.”
Thompson said she took the video “as a keepsake of the wild journey,” and speaking to Newsweek, responded to some unimpressed commenters who accused the family of “child labor” in the comments, saying they “didn’t care to know the full story of the kid begging to drive me and the father letting him.”
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