6 things I learned when I traveled through the desert countries

It can be hard traveling through the Middle East. I can not say that I have much experience but I have been to 6 different countries and collected a lot of experiences. I have made a 6 step guide to you if you are planning a trip, or if you have traveled there in the past and want a quick laugh and trip down memory lane. 
Enjoy!

1.       Israel: If you do not look enough like you can’t be sisters! If there isn’t enough of a family resemblance the logical result will be to assume that you must be Iranian spies and not just sisters as you claim. That will result in having your person and belongings searched at every checkpoint and thorough interrogation about your family lines and whereabouts.

2.       Palestine: We all make due with what we got. When visiting Bethlehem in Palestine we met a man who lived in front of the wall that separates Israel from Palestine. Infront of his house, he had painted a huge part of the wall all white. For those of you that have visited the wall, you will have seen a lot of strong political messages and words of peace. We curiously asked the man if the huge white square was a political message. He answered: no but I love football and I love watching the games on a very very very big screen. Peace and happiness come in many shapes and forms, for example, square.

3.       Jordan: You can never be too early! Visiting Jordan we went straight for our Indiana Jones adventure in Petra. We started out at dawn by climbing the steps to get a beautiful look out over the ruins. We had the place almost to ourselves for the first many hours. The most crowded encounter we had before 10.am was when we met a flock of sheep. They made our descend from the rocks a little tougher but very authentic and unique.

4.       Egypt: The pyramids are located just outside Cairo! Literally just outside. You have to angle your camera not to have the city in the frame and come early not to have the smog interfering in your photos. Walking around them and entering them was an experience. The pyramids are completely empty inside, which is a bit disappointing when your previous stop was Luxur with the beautiful hieroglyphs and temples carved with gods. It is still a majestic adventure crawling your way into the main chamber and I would recommend it.

5.       Tunisia: Wearing a scarf is the best way to be left alone! When visiting a middle eastern country as a western woman I often get a lot of attention. Much of it is unwanted and quite aggressive with young men yelling sexual or flirtatious comments after me or bragging about their own skills. I discovered that when I wore a scarf around my hair 99% of this unwanted attention disappeared.

6.       Turkey: You really are naked in Turkish baths! When we visited Istanbul we decided to go to a hammam. We brought our bikinis because the idea of being naked was absurd to us. We were asked to take our bikinis of by a very surprised lady because how could we be washed clean with our clothes on? The ladies themselves were not wearing anything but knickers. It was an amazing experience but I’m happy it was ladies only.

Stay tuned for more lessons learned while traveling.
*All photos are private and taken by me.