Preparation

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After a lot of indecision I have finally chosen the destination of my next adventure.

I chose this region of the world for a number of reasons the first being the shining review it got from Arthur a Melbourne lad I met in Cappadocia (Turkey) a few years ago. The second because war is a disaster when it comes to preserving a nations historical sites (Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq showed the world this) and this region is likely to become even more of a hotspot in the months to come, so I wanted to get in before the American or Israeli bombs.

In seven weeks I plan to experience the best the Persian Gulf has to offer visiting UAE, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and ofcourse Iran. Saudi is out as it is the most difficult country in the world to get into and bloody impossible for the independent traveller. Please don’t say I am crazy or ask why would you want to go there? Unless you have bothered to research these places because I get really tired of answering that question when ever I go anywhere.

For those interested in this area of the world you need to seriously consider the cost of getting there, it is extremely expensive to get to from Australia, and if you are a woman, whether you wish to dress as modestly as a Muslim female. Also some of the Gulf States are very expensive accommodation wise although public transport is reasonably cheap. For really useful in depth information on any part of the world from people who actually know, check out this website , it will allow you to plan down to the smallest of detail.

I booked my fares through STA travel they are by far the best agent I have found, Flight Centre are a huge rip off so I never ever go there. There is a little known Arabian air pass that will allowed me to fly around all over the place, while keeping the cost down, although its much more expensive then say a Ryan Air.

Travel insurance has been taken care of, I don’t need any shots and local flights have been booked so on the 22nd April its time to go.

This will be my first trip as a truly solo traveller and I am pretty excited about the challenge of travelling in this part of the world alone, especially in Iran and Yemen where few people speak English and tourists are a rarity.

I will for the first time be taking a digital camera with me and will be posting photos and Journals whenever possible, so I hope you will all come along for the ride. The TravelBlog web site has a message board so feel free to leave me a message, as I will make every effort to reply.

For those in Adelaide I will be going out for a few ales on the 14th of April as booze is either not available or way to expensive in that part of the world.

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Comments

[Ben]

Hi Tony, your site is an interesting read. You're certainly an adventurer. Are you an Australian? I'm an Australian and if you're interested you can read about my adventure in Yemen at arabicstudent.blogspot.com. I'm planning a trip to Egypt and Morocco in February and try to go on trips around Yemen every month if possible. I'd say take care or be careful but I don't think you'd listen to me so, I hope danger manages to avoid you! Keep on bloggin Ben