The first time I travelled to the Middle East, I was absolutely stunned by my experience. This wasn’t the scary place I had heard about in the news. These people didn’t hate me or want to kill me for me not being a Muslim. Hospitality was and still is for me unmatched and on top of that, the food, the music and the history was just so incredible. I had wanted to visit for years and I’m so glad I did. I know I help run a travel company so convincing people to travel to the Middle East is kind of my job, but I really can’t stress enough how great it was! If you’re looking for a destination that will truly change your perspective on the world, then the Middle East is it.
If you have been put off by what you read in the media then let us tell you 5 reasons why you should change your mind and get on a plane to the Middle East.
1. Hospitality
Downright unmatched. While there are many hospitable regions and cultures, people across the Middle East have just nailed it. Often in regions less travelled local people are more curious to foreigners and in the Middle East they are not only curious, but will go out of their way to make you feel welcome! Even in parts of the Middle East that are more developed like Saudi Arabia, where foreigners are plenty, it is not uncommon to be abducted (in a fun way) and taken for tea and snacks!
It is also a common theme to have people refuse to take money from you because you are a guest in their country! Even when you try and pay for your $2 shawarma on the streets of Baghdad they will yell and insist that it is for free. While I’d love for that to happen in Europe, Australia or the USA it would feel too good to be true and there is probably some ulterior motive, unless it’s a free sample in a grocery store.
2. Food
This one pretty much speaks for itself, and it is highly likely that you haven’t tried some form of food from a region in the Middle East, whether it be from a halal snack cart in New York City or your local kebab shop in Melbourne. Lebanese and Persian food, just to name two are world renown cuisine that easily give the heavy weight hitters like Italian and Chinese food a run for their money. The best part is the Middle East can be extremely diverse which means the food has so many variations that you won’t experienced back home. Some of our favourite things to eat in the Middle East are seafood in Jeddah, literally anything in Beirut and Damascus, crispy rice in Iran, and amazing butter fried deserts in Cairo.
3. Safety
Yes, the main reason tend to avoid the Middle East is mostly wrong! The only real dangerous areas are places with active conflict and even then this is usually very localised. We have no problem heading to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi and more with groups. We can tell you that we have never run into trouble! We of course would not take a group to an active area of conflict, but the thing is that most of the Middle East is not currently engaged in conflict! On top of this, crimes towards tourists are much less than that in Europe and the streets at night are immensely safer than many popular tourist destinations like Paris, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco or Rio. We could go on, but we think you get the point.
4. Tourist sites
The Middle East is a huge region and has a massive variation in temperatures and landscapes. The natural beauty of the region will have something for everyone, from snowy mountains in Lebanon and Kurdistan to seas of sand in Saudi. In addition to this, the history is almost unmatched.
The age of historic sites in the Middle East makes the rest of the world seem like a baby. With sites that predate ancient Rome by sometimes 10,000 years and many of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited parts of the world (if you go to Lebanon, Jordan or Syria you will hear this 1000 times a day) are found here. Oh and don’t forget the world wonders both ancient and modern such as the Pyramids and the Burj Khalifa.
5. Price
While yes you may see extremely blingy flashy lifestyles on your TV in Dubai, prices across the region are amazing! A good meal can be super cheap depending on the city, for example a 3 hour dinner with booze and a million courses in Damascus might set you back about $15. Of course, you can also find expensive Michelin star restaurants in places like Dubai, Istanbul and Riyadh, but for the most part food is very affordable.
Flights are always pretty cheap to the region from across the world, with the Middle East now being the most interconnected part of the world thanks to the big airline carriers such as Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad to name a few.
If you can’t be bothered reading all of this, then just go and see it for yourself. We are sure you’ll love it. Better yet, come on tour and let us show you the good stuff. Check out our
Middle Eastern Tours
section on our website. To join us on tour send us an email to
[email protected]
.
