Hi all my girlfriend is looking at travelling to the middle east starting in cairo moving up to trukey by herself to my dismay.
Does anyone have any advice for me to pass on to her as a worried boyfriend and any advice for me as a worried boyfriend?
Hi all my girlfriend is looking at travelling to the middle east starting in cairo moving up to trukey by herself to my dismay.
Does anyone have any advice for me to pass on to her as a worried boyfriend and any advice for me as a worried boyfriend?
Any insights in your experience on a woman travelling by herself in the middle east and the dos and donts and places to avoid would be much appreciated.
Reply to this Hello Hamish and welcome to the Forum!
Your concerns have been the subject of many threads before, here are two of them:
Traveling to Oman
Danish girl going solo to Turkey and Syria
If you read the thread on Oman, Mell's advice is particularly good.
In my opinion, travelling to these parts of world are safer for women then many other countries and the main reason is that the prevalence of alcohol on a wide-scale does not exist in these countries. As as example, in Australia the number of assaults and worse on women which involves alcohol (either from the victim or perpetrator) is significant. I am sure this is replicated in other similar countries.
Remember that the sexes are segregated to varying degrees in that part of the world (less so in Egypt and Turkey, more so in Jordan and Syria), and the highest threat to your girlfriend will be someone trying to overcharge on items such as perfumes, jewelery or carpets.
She should just follow the usual precautions for a solo female traveller (don't isolate yourself at night, keep to lighted streets, never accepts drinks from anyone) and all should be fine.
Reply to this Thanks Camel I have read through many of the posts online but havent seen the Oman one yet so thanks for that.
I wonder why there is so much hype and fear around this subject? Does anyone know of particularly good resources they can link to on this subject including ones that aren't bias towards positive tourism?
Reply to this Not sure of other online resources, but I believe that the safety issue of travel within the Middle East is greatly misunderstood by most people. I did belong to the "most people" category until my first visit to the Middle East back in 1992. After experiencing the hospitality of the local people first hand, my perception of the safety issue changed forever.
In that part of the world (though to a much lesser extent in Egypt and western Turkey) the visitor is granted an exalted status and is treated that way. Every time I have travelled through Eastern Turkey, Syria and Jordan I have received a least one invite to eat in somebody's home. The only other place this has happened was India - it has never occurred in "Western" countries and I have spent far more time travelling in those places than in the Middle East.
Just a word of advice, Cairo is a mad and frenetic city and people either love it or hate it. I would think it easier to go from Istanbul to Cairo as Egypt is the least laid back of the four countries - it would give your girlfriend time to adjust to the journey.
Also, from an attractions point of view, I know people who visited Egypt first, then made their way to Turkey - and they found Turkey slightly underwhelming as the historical sites there cannot compare to Egypt. In retrospect, they wished they had commenced in Turkey first.
Reply to this There is so much hype and fear around this subject because most people have a huge misperception of the Middle East. We are bombarded on a daily basis with sensationalistic reports of violence. This is an unfortunate reality in some parts of the Middle East, but it's also important not to generalize. Baghdad is not a good place to travel right now of course, but that has nothing to do with Cairo, Aleppo, Damascus, Istanbul, etc. Look at the differences between San Diego and Tijuana, or El Paso and Juarez.
Of course nowhere is completely safe, and as stated above, your girlfriend should take normal precautions. And while the places she is going are pretty safe, it is much different traveling as a female than a male. She will experience almost constant attention from men, possibly to the point of harrassment. But this virtually never escalates to any kind of violence or physical aggressiveness, it just gets annoying. As long as your girlfriend uses common sense, and respects the local customs (dress conservatively, don't drink alcohol in public), she should have a great and safe time. Cairo to Istanbul is a classic overland route.
By the way, I started in Cairo and went the same direction, ending up in Istanbul. I understand what the last post is saying, but I disagree. Turkey is one of my favorite countries and Istanbul one of my favorite cities. I enjoyed it much more than Egypt and certainly didn't find it underwhelming.
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