ncarey

We spent about 3 months travelling through “middle eastern” countries – Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, before continuing through a few eastern European spots.

All I can say is…go. Egypt’s not the highlight, much as some people might expect it to be…mainly because the dominance of the tourism industry leads to being treated as a mobile cash dispenser instead of a guest. Jordan, Syria, and especially Turkey are much more interesting.

Riding camels in Wadi Rum, Jordan, lazing around in the mud and stone village of Dana, also in Jordan, wandering the maze that is Old Damascus, and hiking in Cappadocia are all experiences which will never be forgotten.

And nowhere else have a travelled where you get countless invitations to come home with random locals, and people just pleased that you’ve chosen to visit their country.

I was very lucky in my younger years to have a family that valued travelling, and had visited many places in North America, Europe (including Northern Ireland, actually), and the Carribeann with them. However, after my last family holiday at age 15 I hit a bit of rut, and it wasn’t until last summer (2004), at the age of 21, that I took my first trip on my own, and it was to Ireland.

Ireland is simply a beautiful country. The people are friendly, and there is just a sense of timelessness in the countryside.

My favourite part of the trip was spending 3 days on the island of Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay. There’s so much I liked about this place, and I think a lot of it stems from the lack of traffic. There are cars on the island, but it’s not easy to get them there, so only the locals have them (and it’s unclear if even a very large percentage of the locals bother keeping a car on the island). There are a lot of people about, but when most people travel on foot or rental bike, everything becomes a lot more friendly. People say hello when you pass them by. One day, myself, and a friend I met at the hostel, were out biking and we stopped to pet a dog, who decided he ought to follow us. This led to a friendly encounter with one of the owner’s neighbours who had to convince the dog to go home.

One of the best things about Inis Mor specifically, and the rest of the off the beaten track spots in Ireland, is that most of the attractions, all but one in fact, haven’t been packaged. Getting up to some of the stone forts requires climbing over stone walls and through fields. And all that’s to say nothing of the sheer desolate beauty what is really just a large rock on the edge of the Atlantic.

Go to Ireland. You won’t regret it.

Some years ago, I took an ancient history course which focused largely on the earliest civilizations along the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris rivers. At the time, I never thought much about travelling to places like that, travelling still meant going to Europe or Australia. And Arabs were scary people.

But in the last couple of years, as I’ve gotten to feel like, well, I’ve seen Europe, several times, maybe it’s time for something a bit more adventuresome, and I started thinking about all the ancient sites in the middle east.

Then I started reading, and that was the mistake…reading about the middle east just fascinated me…not just its history, but its present day culture as well. Every travel story I’ve read about Jordan and Syria has named them the friendliest, and safest countries the visitor had ever been to.

So I’ve got a trip generally planned, and a budget in the making. I’m leaving in late February or early March 2006 and flying to Cairo. From there, I will set out, one month in Egypt then take the ferry accross to Jordan. 3 weeks each in Jordan and Syria, and then take my time, maybe a month or more to cross Turkey, before eventually ending up in Athens.

If money allows, I’ll continue to overland up through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary making towards a flight home from London…hopefully I can make it all the way before money runs out.