I'm leaving April 3rd, any advice appreciated. Will prob spend about 3 months there.

Don't die, please.

where exactly - it's a big place.

yes....many times

I'm flying to Amman, Jordan where I will probably spend most of my time, but I also want to travel to Lebanon, Oman, UAE, Egypt, Jerusalem, Turkey, Greece, etc. The only place I have previously been is Greece.

WH08PsyJayci - You should definitely go to Oman. I live in Muscat and it's a really beautiful city. There's a lot of things to do and places to see in Oman, but the weather is starting to warm up. If you're coming to the ME in April, I would recommend to come here then. Come May and June, temps will be well over 100 and a lot of the outdoor activities will be limited.

If you'll be in Oman around Muster time, let me know. We just started up an A&M club in Muscat and we'll be having our first Muster here.

I can also recommend doing the Oman thing. I lived in the UAE for 10 years and we would often go to Muscat/Oman for the mountains/forts that are littered throughout the country. Its a very pretty/clean country. Dont know about the nightlife there, doubt it is at the level of the UAE.

Dubai is a great city, let me know if you need recommendations on where to go there.

Skip Qatar, nothing to do see. I am going to say the same about Bahrain.

If you make it to Egypt, Cairo will be a dump. See the pyramids, the nile, maybe a museum or two, but that really is it there, but that is just my opinion of the place.

Lebanon should be a hell of a lot of fun, always hear good things about that but never have been. You can save that for later in your trip as the temps are nearly as bad.

So, either way, try to get down to Oman/UAE sooner than later as they get hotter than the rest of the ME (at least in my opinion)....

Oh, and make sure you do NOT get an Israeli stamp in your passport....that would screw the rest of the countries up...

Yeah, I read about the Israeli stamp thing..they wouldn't let me back in, or something?

Going to Oman for Muster would be very cool. That would give me enough time in Amman to get settled and situated and then I could do that as my first trip elsewhere.

I appreciate the advice about Qatar and Bahrain.

I've heard that Oman is expensive as well as UAE. I guess Dubai is the place to go for UAE? Where all would you guys suggest traveling in Oman?

Thank you very much for your advice! I don't think I've been this excited about anything in a long time!

[This message has been edited by WH08PsyJayci (edited 3/24/2010 10:07a).]

agree about Cairo. The pyramids are great, but the city is dust-covered ugly.

Tunis, Tunisia was terrific. Very cosmopolitan, lovely streets, views of the Mediterranean, etc.

WH08PsyJayci - Hotels in Muscat can be very expensive, that's if you stay at the Hyatt or the Intercontinental. They will run about $300 per night. There's a Crown Plaza, Raddison, and Park Inn, but I'm not sure of their rates. There are of course many smaller hotels for a cheaper price. I know of one called the Midan Hotel Suites where I stayed at for a couple of months when I first moved to Muscat. It's a nice place and runs about $175 per night.

There's so many places you can explore within a couple of hours from Muscat. I recommend going to Jabel Shams (which is the Grand Canyon of Oman), Nizwa Fort, Wadi Bani Khalid or Wadi Tanuf (awesome swimming holes surrounded by the Hajar Mountains), As Sifah Beach, Jabel Akhdar, and Al Hoota Cave. You should google all these places if you'd like.

If you're into scuba diving, Oman is a big hot spot. If not, I still recommend taking a boat tour where you can go dolphin watching, snorkeling, and sight seeing along the coast line in Muscat. It's pretty awesome. I did it back in February, and was actually quite amazed with the number of dolphins. There was at least a school of 100 swimming near the boats jumping out of the water. The tour guide said it was very common to see this.

There is a big souq in Muttrah, which is nearby, that you should go to. Definitely a place to shopping and bargain with the locals. Watch out for the frankincense. The smell is overwhelming.

I would suggest going to Wahibah Sands and camp at the 1000 Nights Desert Camp, but being in April, it may be pretty damn hot out there.

I hope you can make it to Muster. I'm actually the president of the Oman A&M club, so if you plan on coming, look up the Oman A&M club on the aggienetwork website, and send me an email.

Musandam (a tip of Oman surrounded by the UAE) is also a great place to visit if you want to see some "fake" fjords. I havent been there in 10 years or so, but it was always fun when we did.

I agree with the grand canyon of Oman, Nizwa fort, etc.

A lot of these places are going to be somewhat hard to see on your own, we always just drove them ourselves, so I dont really know how you get there otherwise. If I was still living there, I would happily drive you around, but I cant really do that since I am back in Texas.

As far as places to stay, good luck in Dubai and Oman. Start looking at hotels.com and see if you see any good deals on the websites. March/April can be high season for Dubai because it is not quite as hot as it can be, but that is the way it used to be at least. They have built so many hotels in the Dubai, that it is ridiculous. As far as things to do in the UAE, I still say you can go to Dubai and do it easily in 3 days (if even). The city itself is mostly new, but it is impressive seeing the Burj Khalifa/Burj Al Arab. Going to the old souq, gold souq, malls (if interested), there is an old museum, and Bur Dubai is worth doing (the old markets etc). You would want to go with a tourist group to do sand duning in the desert, if you are a "going out" person, there are a lot of great bars and I can send a message to a friend that still lives there to see where all the people in their 20s are going these days.

Other things to do in the UAE include Khor Fakhan, which just has beaches, but you can do that in Dubai/Oman.

Don't forget the indoor skiing in Dubai

holy Allah that is expensive for a one night hotel stay. if we can't find anything cheaper then we might have to skip Oman/Dubai or sleep on a beach! young kids on a budget, and all.

I appreciate all of the suggestions! It sounds so cool I will absolutely do my best to make the Muster in Oman. How exciting, as the friend I am visiting is also an Aggie. She was my roommate freshman year in the dorm, she will appreciate it as well!

you can find cheap hotels in Dubai if you look in the right places....I just did a hotels.com search and it came up with hotels for 50 bucks a night that looked better than I thought they would and in decent locations..... Good luck sleeping on the beach, they dont like that too much there.

And yes, indoor skiing.

Definitely do the indoor skiing in Dubai. You can get a two hour pass for 180 durhams (about $50). The skis, boots, jackets, and pants will be provided. You'll need to purchase some gloves and a hat, which you can buy there at Ski Dubai.

I have a friend that hitchhiked from Israel to Germany.

Might I suggest that if you go to Dubai you just call the hotel itself and try to press them on rates. In Arab nations, such bargaining is normal, even for something like a hotel, furthermore, you make it known that they have been hit VERY hard by the economy and have booking rates less than 50% and you want to be taken care of if you are going to drop your money at their hotel.

We were looking for places to go over Christmas last year (warm, as it wasnt over freezing for a month) and we thought of Dubai, but my wife wants nothing to do with those countries where her rights are highly reduced.

For those of you that are familiar, how dangerous is Egypt?

randy....out of all places, Dubai is not a place where her "rights will be violated"

hth

Defroach is right. Just don't get caught kissing in public...

Okay but the thing with the hotel Id still use to your leverage, just because there is a "Rate" doesnt mean that they dont want to fill their rooms.

quote:

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my wife wants nothing to do with those countries where her rights are highly reduced.

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damn feminist types

quote:

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For those of you that are familiar, how dangerous is Egypt?

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I went in Summer '08 and led a group from my church in Boston. The travel agent made us read a bunch of briefings and stuff so I got kind of scared. And looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Egypt there are still one or two terrorist type things that happen each year. Recent events like this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8444851.stm scare me a bit, but I guess that's more like ongoing violence b/t religious groups which doesn't involve foreigners.

That said, I loved it. We worked with a church in Cairo and had two Egyptians from the states in our group (one of whom is now my fiancee :-) ). We were in a number of non-touristy areas in Cairo and I guess I got the occasional jitters but in general people were plenty friendly and I felt safe. Cairo neighborhoods like Maadi and Zamalek have a huge number of foreigners and people live very safely there.

My fiancee being Egyptian and her still living with her parents at home, I hear a good deal of news about what's going on there (they watch Al-Jazeera in their living room). The president Hosni Mubarak is pretty strong in his opposition to the Brotherhood and does a pretty good job keeping the peace. That said, the further you go out of big cities/tourist areas (Cairo/Alexandria/Sharm/Luxor/Aswan) the less safe I would feel, especially w/o some natives or fluent Arabic speakers with me. If you stay in the big cities/tourist areas/ I wouldn't be scared at all. There are a good number of backpacking type tourists that do it all the time.

Oh, and I'll be going to Egypt on my honeymoon as well :-)

Good to know. I talked to a French family in Bangkok and they told me that Egypt was terrible and they had to rent a driver for the duration of the trip in order to ensure safety...

I didn't know if this was legit or just them being French...

them being french....if you arent stupid, you likely wont have too many problems

ttt for not going please

I'm leaving Saturday am.

I need a vacation

I realize I'm late to the game, but I've been busy.

I haven't been "galavanting" through the Middle East per se, but I have traveled through a little bit of it. Unfortunately for you, most of my travel was in Saudi Arabia. If you ever get the chance to tour the west coast of Saudi Arabia, it is amazing.

Otherwise, I think Sharm El-Sheikh and some places in Jordan will probably have to suffice. I believe there are some Nabatean tombs carved into the rock in Jordan.

In Egypt, I agree with most of the comments about Cairo. The key takeaway for me was the sheer mass of humanity. Apart from the Pyramids, the key places I remember were The Citadel, The Nile (obviously) and some sort of museum of antiquities (I've forgotten the name).

If you can do it, I highly recommend a trip to Luxor. You can visit Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. This will be well worthwhile. I wish we could have made it to Aswan Dam, Abu Simbel, etc., but I guess I'll just have to make due with the pictures in the History books.

I'm leaving in about 20 minutes and I can't find my camera. I hope they sell them at the airport.

Be careful, have fun, post a review when you get back.

[This message has been edited by CDub06 (edited 4/3/2010 11:01a).]

will do!

Any ags in Dubai!?! im here until the 10th of July.