Fam Tour Jordan
In the fall and winter of 2005, two groups of nine Location Scouts were invited by the Royal Jordanian Film Commission to tour their beautiful country so that others in Hollywood might learn of its incredible potential as a 
filming location. They scouted the entire country, seeing a wide variety of locations. From mountains and deserts to the Dead Sea. From modern broadcast facilities in Amman, to Roman ruins and the ancient city of Salt, the experience was not only educational, but also a life enriching experience.
The Scouts who participated in this FamTour were:
Lori Balton, Mike Burmeister, Mike Fantasia, Ilt Jones, Liz Matthews, Kathy McCurdy, Emre Sonmez, Rob Swenson, Scott Trimble
And
Molly Allen, Bill Bowling, Becky Brake, Douglas Dresser, Peter Gluck, Nancy Haecker, John Hutchinson, Michelle Latham, Peter Novak
What follows are some of their thoughts and images of their favorite moments.
Lori Balton:
One of my favorite moments was standing on a ruin-filled hilltop at dusk, as the call to prayer began. We heard it well up from every direction…eerie, mystical, and memorable. Climbing up toward an amphitheatre, I heard an inexplicable sound…bagpipes! And there they were, performing to and admiring audience of my fellow travelers. The music was amplified by the stadium and they marched along to their tunes, including a lilting Turkish ditty, in honor of Emre Sonmez.
The most memorable experience was to float in the Dead Sea. How often is it that you can experience a new sensation as an adult? We were all as giddy as the first time we rode without training wheels. It was an extraordinarily odd sensation.
Peter Gluck:
My favorite moment, well, was the whole trip. I have so many favorite moments. I remember waking up that first morning in Amman to the sunrise and the sounds of morning prayers echoing through the city. It was a magical moment, and that was just the first morning!
The rest of the trip was incredible. I loved walking through he crowded narrow street markets of Salt, Zarqa, and the old part of Amman. Everywhere we went we were greeted by big smiles, everyone was so friendly. Another favorite moment was the hour or so train ride we took from Amman to Zarqa. I spent most of that trip standing between the cars, watching the sights go by. Seeing the desert at Wadi Rum (where “Lawrence of Arabia” was filmed) was beautiful. And Petra, standing there in front of the Treasury carved out of the cliffs, took my breath away. The group of scouts that I traveled with is yet another of my favorite things about this trip. They made it an incredibly fun and memorable trip.
Ilt Jones:
My favourite moment of the trip was after the main trip had finished. Rob Swenson and I stayed on for an extra week. We rented a car and retraced our steps to several places that we had seen all too fleetingly on the official tour, most especially Petra.
We arrived early in order to see the Treasury building fantastically illuminated by the early morning sunlight. Then we slogged up literally one thousand (yes - 1,000) lung-busting, vomit-inducing rocky stone stairs to Petra's jewel in the crown, the Monastery. The "reveal" was astonishing - cue heavenly angel voices singing - and there it was: an immense, spectacular edifice carved out of the hillside with a magnificent courtyard-like area in front of it. The area had tourists milling about so Rob and I retreated to this brilliant Cafe in a cave (!) across from the Monastery. We joined a number of people who were sitting on rugs and pillows, chatting and drinking. I was completely knackered after the arduous climb up so I drifted off and had a lovely nap. When I woke up virtually everyone had gone and I looked out through the wide cave mouth to see the Monastery bathed in the most unbelievable, magic hour light. It was one of my all time favourite travel moments - awakening to see this majestic, 8th Wonder of the World-type building positively glowing. Just writing about it now makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
On a trip bursting with wonderful moments and images, that stands out most notably in my memory.
Kathy McCurdy:
The trip to Jordan began with a connection. An everyday hello to a perfect stranger doing her job in a booth for the Royal Film Commission of Jordan at the location expo in April 2005 turned into a professional contact and then a friendship.
In a casual conversation, Priscilla Philippi, of the Royal Film Commission and I connected through our mutual love of travel, culture, and international educational experiences we'd each had. We recognized in each other the same thing we'd each found in our best friends from childhood; things that we shared with people who had the same cultural, religious, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds as we did. And there we were from different worlds, sharing the same old comforting feeling of friendship.
That is the essence of my experience of Jordan. Yes, the sites (and sights) were amazing, the land strikingly beautiful and the history evident at every turn. The trip was well organized and well run. The professional questions answered, the facilities reviewed, the locations documented with our digital cameras. But what I came away with is the sense of friendship that accompanies the work. Through the work of location managing and through Priscilla’s work of promoting her country through its film commission we found friendship and all the participants found friendship in the people we met on the tour and in each other. Two of my strongest memories are of enjoying those friendships. The first is of the whole group, floating in the Dead Sea, giggling like kids in an amusement park, delighting in the experience of flying in water. The second is when we all camped out in tents at one of the sites. I thought if I shared a tent with Lori Balton anything with more legs than I would steer clear of me. She graciously indulged me and we were up all night laughing like 8th grade girls at a slumber party. Pretty soon, several of the others found their way in to the 'giggle tent' to share the laughter and story telling. The only thing missing were marshmallows and a firepit!
We laughed like fools on that trip. All of us - the American visitors and the Arab hosts - together. To this day, I can't think of my tour-mates without the fun memories making me smile. What a gift that fam tour was. What a gift friendship is.
