Middle East Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

During our early morning cab-ride to the airport, the lady on the radio reported the the temperature would be around 41ºC (106ºF) today. Whoa! Dang! That's hot! Good day to be leaving I guess. So we are off to Amman, Jordan (relatively cool, I think!) with a three-hour layover in Bahrain. See you soon!

The next day, Cathy and I got up early to walk to Jaffa.  When we got back, we took a walk through some of the parks of Tel Aviv and also through the main shopping area.  It really felt like Europe, or even the US, but it was a neat experience all the same.  We were shocked to see everything closing early until we realized that the 16th of April was a memembrance of the Holocaust day.  Everything shuts down early the day before and is closed the morning of the memembrance....

And we’re off.  A good start as I arranged for an unusual flight plan to reach Amman and team up with Mark (rendezvousing with me from Dubai).  There was a direct flight from JFK to Amman departing 11:30P Wednesday night, but to get there in time I bought a ticket to LaGuardia and caught a cab over to JFK.  This seemed like it would work, but of course I had never tried it or known anyone else who had tried, so a few butterflies.  But no worries --- " only took $...

This small country, the smallest in the Middle East, has an area of only 10,452 km² but carries a civilization & history of 4,000 years.   Historical Facts:   1)      Lebanon is the modern name of what was called Phoenicia. It is not an Arab country. 2)      Phoenicians built the 1st boat and they were the first to sail ever! They were traders, involved in international trade between the Middle Eastern hinterland, and coun...

Its been a while but ive been waiting for this moment for a year. i left iraq behind and now i get to come home. i will eventually see all my loved ones and family but i have more army stuff to do later in the coming weeks. july hopefully i can kick back and relax. so as i wait for my flight back to the US...i reflect on my past year and i say I feel triumpant, im back safe, but changed with a lot of knowledge on my mind

Losing nine hours during the flight deposited me in Dubai around 9:30PM Saturday night.  I was a little taken aback by the lack of instructions/signage informing where exactly to go, but eventually stood in the appropriate line and shared an engaging chat with a guy from Britain who was overnighting in Dubai en route to South Korea + the Philippines.  He was on a flight from Heathrow and it took us awhile to figure that out (since we started by acknowledging we had both arrive...

Very early in the morning it is time to get up and get ready to leave for Syria. It'll be a long day of driving and boarder crossing hence an early start is needed :( I don't feel really well rested after a maximum of two hours of sleep. But I don't have any signs of a hangover - when I try to make it to my feet's an walk to the bathroom I soon realize why I'm still drunk from the night before. I looked like it would be a very long day.   But being drunk turned out to be an ...

After our tour from contiki(visiting Egypt for 9 days) we have another arrangement to visit Amman, Jordan, our gateway to Petra.  I always thought of the middle east as a warm place to be but as we were landing at the airport, it was announced that it would be 5 degree celsius outside...and there I was saying to myself OH GREAT!!!! I only have a few winter clothes with me might as well buy my warm jacket over here. As I went to a money changer at the airport, I found out that the US do...

Now this is what traveling is about! A land truly like no other. A nation so fully regulated you cant even Google the word ‘kiss’, yet with the right contacts, can pretty much do anything you want. Fantastic food, friendly people, exotic women, hijab-raising driving habits. Jump onto the flying carpet!

Amman, the capital of Jordan, is a fascinating city of contrasts – a unique blend of old and new, ideally situated on a hilly area between the desert and the fertile Jordan Valley.  Due to the city’s modern-day prosperity and temperate climate, almost half of Jordan’s population is concentrated in the Amman area. The downtown area is much older and more traditional with smaller businesses producing and selling everything from fabulous jewellery to everyday household items.The peo...

Life in Jerusalem: living on the seam between Israelis and Palestinians, in Hebrew and Arabic, amid history, conflict, but also hope. My blog is about daily life, the people I meet, and ridiculous living abroad moments, from the bad haircuts to the search for a good burrito. For a 24/7 year of living the American-Arab relationship, check out my book, Live from Jordan at www.benjaminorbach.com. For previous Jerusalem posts, see my blog at www.benjaminorbach.blogspot.com. Ben

We were woken at the ungodly hour of 3.30am with an alarm call (we'd only got a couple of hours sleep as we ended up watching a couple of episodes of Little Britain in the evening) and 5 minutes later our breakfast arrived! We were brought an amazing selection of pastries, toast and fruit juice, and was just enough to set us up for the day travelling. We left Al Maha at 4.30am and arrived at the airport a little after 5.45am, just in time to check in for our flight. After the usual prowling ...

Pictures of Dubai

Travelling from Cairo to Venice, through Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Italy.

Bon Jovi's coming to town! For a "Lost Highway Tour", normally the show of the singers took place in Dubai, only severals (can be caounted with fingers) come to Abu Dhabi. And to my luck that Bon Jovi is one of the few:). On 20th May, 2008, the concert took place outdoor, behind the biggest and most expensive hotel ever built in the world - Emirates Palace. The stage was prepared and the show started at 21:00 pm. There are 3 sections of seats or standing positions. First is in front of the ...