Getting Picked Up In Jordan; What To Ask?

We want answers this weekend, when we hitchhike across Jordan.

Do Arabs like us?  As a foreigner, there are certain stereotypes I have about what Arabs think.  I want to see if these stereotypes are accurate.  I’m working on a list of questions to ask people who pick us up.

Here’s a few we’ve thought of:

• What do you think about foreigners?
• What do you think about Americans?
• What do you think about Christians?
• What do you have to say to people who think the Middle East/Jordan is dangerous?
• Why did you pick us up?
• What do you love about Jordan?

Because we want you to learn with us, will be recording our interactions on video, blogging when we return, and tweeting live.

We need your help!  What do you want to know?

You can either comment here, or put your ideas on Twitter under #hitchJO.

“Jordan + iPhone + 72 hours = Epic Journey”

I recently attended an e-business tourism conference organized by Siyaha, USAID/Jordan’s Tourism Development Project II.  In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the multi-million dollar project is focusing on “working to improve Jordan’s competitiveness as an international tourism destination”.  International experts shared on ways to help take Jordan’s tourism industry into the digital age.

One of the speakers, Jesse Desjardins, was a perfect example of how social media can develop and promote Jordan as an exciting and engaging tourism destination.  As a social media experiment using only an iPhone, camera, Facebook and Twitter, Jesse was given “72 hours in Jordan” to promote the country.

It was exciting to see a country and travel experience promoted and followed through social media.  Media outlets quickly picked up his journey and began to promote his experience.  He was the top presentation of the day on www.slideshare.net for his “5 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know about Jordan” slide.   He said 15-20,000 people view SlideShare’s homepage daily.

Though he stated at the conference he would take two weeks next time for what he did in three days, check out all he did, and you could do!, with “72 Hours in Jordan”.