BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — Gene and Jamie Poole have been in Israel for over a week now but have also been inside the war zone chaos for three days.

Tuesday morning, they left Jerusalem where they had been taking cover for three days straight and headed to Amman, Jordan for safety and a potential way out of the middle east. Gene Poole said it should have taken about three hours to get from Jerusalem to Jordan, but things took a turn.

“This took about eight possibly nine hours today because of so many people trying to leave Israel at the same time,” Poole said.

Gene says the closer they got to the border of Jordan, the more hectic the journey became.

“There were probably 15 buses in front of us, and this was at like 9 in the morning,” Poole said. “We were in a little van, and those buses were packed, so we sat and sat and then decided to get out of the van, so maybe we could walk through. Well, that was a disaster. It was hot, and it was tough, but eventually after a lot of haggling, we did get through.”

Now that the Pooles are out of danger and in Jordan, they are thankful they are finally able to relax in a worry-free way.

“We are in a hotel,” Poole said. “It’s nice, nice diner, nice bottle of wine, and we will get up tomorrow when we get up and hopefully fly to the United States.”

The Pooles have a flight booked for Wednesday night out of Amman International Airport, they are expected to land in Birmingham Thursday night. The Poole’s say the first thing they will be doing is hugging their kids and family members.