Hi All!

I'm currently taking a look at this trip: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/esx

This is the "Middle East Adventure" offered by Intrepid, going from Cairo to Istanbul overland. 28 days, total cost of $2475 CDN + $550 US "local payment". With my year end bonus at work and with some creative saving, I think I'll definitely be able to pull this off.

I'm considering heading over there in mid to late April 2010. I want to do a group trip, similar to the Intrepid spirit (more of a backpacking style visit) mostly because I'm a very white, very blonde female who speaks very little Arabic! I also know that, in terms of safety and comfort, my parents will freak out if I do this solo and I don't know how comfortable I would necessarily be in the Middle East (even though yes, I realize that the destinations in this trip are reasonably safe) travelling alone.

What would you more experienced "middle east" hands think about this trip? Is there another tour provider you would recommend? I'm really interested in visiting Syria and Jordan - the Egypt and Istanbul is just a pleasant aside...

Any suggestions/recommendations/naysayers/yaysayers would be appreciated!

The itinerary looks ok, though a bit rushed, and miss many of the smaller-name attractions. But I find that's pretty much always my reaction to tour schedules, and if a tour is the only way you will see the middle east, it's certainly better than not going at all. If you're able to get a longer holiday than just the length of the tour, I'd look into maybe just getting a Syria-Jordan-Egypt tour and doing Turkey independently. Turkey's extraordinarily easy to travel, and I don't expect you'd face any more trouble there than in SE Asia or other places where blond girls are an interesting oddity.

Other companies that I know do similar small group adventure type tours in the Middle East are Tucan, Dragoman Overland and - what we saw most often - Imaginative Traveller (also, they get kudos for helping us sort out what we needed to do at the ferry terminal in Nuweiba, which is a disaster). A quick search shows that Imaginative is pretty comparably priced to Intrepid, while the other two have cheaper tours. Having never taken a tour with any of the bunch, I don't know how they compare, but read some indepth information on all of the choices, and figure out what best suits your travel personality. Some are classic - albeit smallish - bus tours, while other take public transit. If memory serves, I think Dragoman does a thing where guests cook dinner, and they camp frequently. Prices differences may disappear once you factor in what the different tours include or exclude.

Schedule-wise, while most are pretty much the same through Syria and Jordan, some seem to weight more time in Turkey, and others more time in Egypt. I didn't much enjoy Egypt, so naturally am a fan of more time in Turkey.