My Love of the Middle East

TRAVEL

Jan 26

My Love of the Middle East

When I began planning this trip Dubai was just supposed to be a stop on my way back from Israel. When Israel was canceled, due to Covid, I still desperately wanted to take a trip and had already done research on Dubai. Then a friend of a friend suggested seeing Oman if we were making the trip all the way over. If you followed along with my stories you know that I had the BEST trip! I loved so many things about this area. Exploring someplace new and going on new adventures always makes my heart flutter. And I had so many firsts on this trip! First time being in the desert…I mean real desert not Las Vegas. First time on a camel, swimming with dolphins, swimming in a cave, trying new food, getting to know a people and a culture I really knew nothing about before stepping foot in their part of the world. Every bit of it was fascinating to me!

I always love sharing things with others when I travel. I take notes of everything I do: hotels, restaurants, excursions, shopping all so I can share with people if they happen to be going to the same place as me and in the event I go back. I really don’t travel to the exact same places (with the exception of Paris of course!). I genuinely love so many places I have been and would travel back to any one of them in a heartbeat but every time I decide to take a trip someplace (outside of the US of course) I pick someplace new. There are just too many incredible places and adventures to be had in this world and I want to experience as many of them as I possibly can!

I can’t encourage you guys enough to travel to the Middle East. I can only speak for where I visited (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat) but it was truly an adventure of a lifetime. And if you do go allow yourself time because there is SO SO much to see and do. We really packed it in to get as much out of our trip as possible while also finding time to sit by the pool, lay by the ocean, exercise and go to the spa. For me I need a balance when I travel. I go all in but I also need my downtime.

And if you have any fear whatsoever about traveling to this part of the world: Is it safe? Are the people “OK”? Is it too difficult to get to? Let me put you at ease; while there are places in the ME that of course may not be the best place to vacation there are places that are beautiful. If I could tell you, I didn’t feel unsafe or have a single concern the entire trip. The people were LOVELY. I talked to so many people with so many different stories. It was one of my absolute favorite parts of the trip. And while it is a long flight, in my opinion, it is beyond worth the journey. The only true annoyances came with all the PCR tests we had to take. But this would be the same situation with any trip you are taking out of the country. And after talking to so many of the people I was reminded just how blessed I am to be American because of the ease in which we are allowed to travel to other countries. So many peole do not have that same luxury to no fault of their own.

If you ever travel to any of the places I visited please reach out to me as I would love to share with you all of my insights and must-dos. Reach out anytime….don’t be shy!

Happy Traveling! XO

Tamara