Middle Eastern Odyssey 3rd October

Hi 4beaty,

Thanks for your post on the forums.

There are around 13 people on your tour at the moment. Some of them will be starting in Turkey on the longer "Istanbul to Cairo" trip and quite a few of you will be joining in Syria as you are.

Good luck getting in touch with your fellow travellers!

Best wishes
Kelly

money

I've been reading the dosier and notice that ATM's may not be guaranteed in some places and travellers cheques can be hard to cash at times. Does that mean that I would be best to take mostly US cash. I'm reluctant to take all my money in cash and usually have 2/3 travellers cheques and 1/3 US$ with the card as a back-up. Also will we be able to cash any travellers cheques at the hotels if we need to or are banks the only option.
Thanks, Trish

Hi 4beaty

I have been advised that there are ATM's in Damascus & Allepo. There is no way that travellers cheques can be cashed at the hotels in Syria, even in Banks it does take a long time and sometimes unsuccessful.

Once you move out of Syria there are ATM's in most towns & travellers cheques can be exchanged at banks or Thomas Cook

Have a great trip

Sue

money exchange in Syria.

Thanks for the information Sue, I'll work on that advice.

4beaty.

Middle Eastern Odyssey

I did this trip in March. Dont worry about age, i am 63 and
didnt have any problems. I loved Syria & Jordan, Eqypt was a bit rushed and Cairo a bit too touristy for me. Hotels are good and very central. Didnt have any probem with ATMs

Middle Eastern Odyssey

Hi Jan, Thanks for the information. I'm now trying to think about what clothes to take. Do I need long sleeves most of the way and does it matter if the cotton shirts are so thin you can see through them a bit. eg. cotton voile. Also when they say baggy pants are regular zip off pants okay. I like to travel light so don't want to take too much. Where are you from? I live in Sydney, Australia.
Look forward to hearing from you,
Trish.

Hi Trish

I join the Desert Kingdoms tour Oct 2nd in Damascus which only includes Syria and Jordan but perhaps we will be travelling in the same group for that part of the tours. I'll be coming from Brisbane and hoping to travel to Lebanon (hoping to find other travllers) after the tour ends in Aqaba. See you in Damascus
Tricia

Middle Eastern Odyssey

Hi Tricia, Good to hear from someone who will be doing the same trip. I will be arriving late on the 2nd Oct. I have a long wait at Cairo airport on the way. I noticed that you were asking about visas. I am waiting to get my passport back from the Egyptian Embassy and will then be sending it with the Syrian application via registered mail to Canberra. You can get the form from the internet along with the instructions on how to apply or most travel agents will organise it for you but mine was charging $40 for each one. Look up the Syrian Embassy on google. I also noticed that you have 3 months from the date of issue so you can get organised now. The Jordan one only has one month after date of issue and I'm not keen to send my passport off with so little time to spare so I am going to get it at the border. My travel agent checked with Imtrav and that seems to be okay.
Look forward to hearing from you,

Trish.

ATMs in Syria

I don't know if my tour just had bad luck but everyone on my tour who tried using the ATMs in Syria were unable to withdraw cash. This was in both Aleppo and Damascus.

Our tour leader found a private Saudi bank though that would give cash advances on their VISAs.

This was in May this year.

The people had no issues in Jordan with ATMs.

On a personal note, I traveled with USD cash for my entire tour (Istanbul to Cairo). I had no issues exchanging USD nor had any personal safety worries. One thing of note though, in Aleppo at the Sheraton's exchange they only accept larger denomination bills ($50/$100 notes).

Hello

We are on the 3 Oct trip Jordan Syria and Egypt, arriving Damascus 2nd, I think we are taking dollars mostly as you seem to be able to use them everywhere.
We are from UK, Midlands, in our 50's, hoping to have fun and some sun as we have not had a summer this year!!
Looking forward to the whole trip but especially Wadi rum and Dead Sea.

We have nevere been to this part of the world before, have to to Australia, Peru, USA, Japane so will differant for us. Anyone been on this trip before or with imagantive?

Pam and Tom x

Pam & Tom

I did the Hola Peru tour with Imtrav last year and found it to be the best trip I've ever had. It was much more fun than some of the 5 star tours I've done before. I also haven't been to this are although did do Turkey a few years ago.

Look forward to meeting you,
Trish.

Soon be there !

Hi

just contacted ImgTrv they say 10 people booked on the Syria leg and 17 on the Jordan!

Pam and Tom