Introduction

In November 2000, my co-worker Wade took a leave of absence to cycle around the world. A six-month vacation turned into two years. Once in a while, he does some work on his laptop and transfers the files to Impac via the Internet. Since we work on the same project, we communicated frequently via email. About a year ago, I asked him where he planned to go next, he said through the Middle East and on to India and Pakistan. I mentioned that I had always wanted to go to Iran and Jordan, and naturally we started talking about my joining him for a short section of his trip. We tossed around a few ideas, each with pros and cons. Our biggest constraint was how long I could take off. One month was as long as I could get away. We thought about cycling through Morocco, or Jordan and Syria, or Iran. Finally we narrowed it down to Asia only since Morocco is too far out of the way. There was no way we could cycle through Iran, Syria and Jordan in one month, so if we were to do a bike trip we'd have to give up a country. As our work project dragged on and on, we couldn't take off in September as we had hoped. The only time we could go was around Christmas. I'm a fair-weather person, don't like the idea of cycling in the ME, or anywhere else, in winter. The situation in the ME was kind of sketchy and cycling was only going to make us stand out even more. I voted to travel as regular tourists so we'd have time to visit Iran, Syria and Jordan.

Wade lives with his Spanish girlfriend Amalia in Madrid, Spain. Amalia wanted to join the trip and she also voted against cycling. After going back and forth a few times, we decided to travel as regular tourists to Iran, Syria and Jordan, leaving sometime in December.

I booked flights from SFO to Tehran via Frankfurt, arriving on December 13th, 2002. Wade and Amalia booked flights from Madrid to Tehran, arriving on the 14th. The organized tour part of the trip consisted of one day in Tehran and three days in Esfahan. On the 5th day we flew to Shiraz and were on our own from there on.

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Top Ten List

1. Arg-e Bam. The mud brick city is awesome
2. Emam Khomeini Mosque in Esfahan
3. Shage Cherah Mosque in Shiraz
4. Baalbek in Lebanon
5. Hiking up Mt. Tochal in Northern Tehran
6. Hammam in Aleppo
7. Jewels Museum,Tehran (Oooo... Ahhhh...)
8. Petra
9. Sunset over the Dead Sea
10. Downtown Beirut

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Recommended Books

- Lonely Planet Guidebooks of course.

- Neither East Nor West : One Woman's Journey Through the Islamic Republic of Iran by Christiane Bird
- Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino
- Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journe by Alison Wearing
- To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America by Tara Bahrampour
- Foreigner by Nahid Rachlin
- At the Drop of a Veil by Marianne Alireza
- Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabiaby Jean P. Sasson
- Princess Sultanas Daughters by Jean Sasson
- Princess Sultana's Circle by Jean Sasson
- Behind the Veil: An Australian Nurse in Saudi Arabia by Lydia Laube
- Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
- Motoring With Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea (Vintage Departures) by Eric Hansen
- Crossing Borders: An American Woman in the Middle East by Judith Caesar
- The World of Islam by National Geographic
- Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir, et al

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Links

- LonelyPlanet Thorn Tree Middle East Branch
- Ruth's site - everything you need to know about Jordan
- Al Jazeera English site
- Iran Testing the Waters of Reform National Geographic article
- Net Iran - Almost everything you want to know about Iran. Highlights: Interview with Mrs. Khomeini, Iran's Female Police academy
- Iran Air online schedule
- Saudi Trip Photos and Reports
- Fear of the Kyrgyz Police (Guess I'm not the only one.)

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Recommended Hotels

Keep in mind that we were there during the winter. You might not be able to get the same price during high season.

- Sasan Hotel in Shiraz (Tel: 337 830, Anvari St).$10/night  It's next door to Anvari Hotel which is highly recommended by Lonely Planet. Sasan is much newer and cleaner than Anvari and I only had to pay $2 extra per night. There is a portrait of Khomeini waving at you at the entrance.

- Future Tower Hotel, Damascus (Tel: 232 2814) Can't remember how much I paid, but it was good value for the room.

- Hotel al-Faisal, Aleppo(Tel: 221 7768) $20/night Nice and clean rooms.

- Cairo Hotel, Hama (Tel: 222 280) $6/night LP was right about this one. Spotless rooms. Close to downtown, Internet in the lobby. Best $6 I've spent on this trip.

- Plaza Hotel, Hamra, Beirut  $54/night. It's not a budget hotel, but I was ready to splurge a bit after four weeks on the road. It would be considered a 4-star hotel in the US with all the amenities. Good value for the money.

- Saraya Hotel, Amman (Tel.+962-6-4656791 FAX.+962-6-4656792 Mobile. +962-79-5527707, email: fayez_alkayyali@yahoo.com) Email or call Fayez Alkayya, the hotel manager and he'll take care of you. He sent a driver to pick me up from the JET bus station and took me, along with three other guests, to the Dead Sea the next afternoon free of charge. Since my flight was at 3 am, he let me stay in my room until 12 midnight. I was really impressed!

- Movenpick Hotel, Petra $65/night, dinner included. A 5-star hotel that lives up to its reputation. The 5-course dinner alone was worth the price. Too bad they had to close the swimming pool up the hill due to lack of tourists.

Hotels you should avoid:
- Anvari in Shiraz ($7/night) Dirty and noisy. Sometimes the hotels recommended by Lonely Planet are the ones you should avoid. :) It was being renovated when we were there. The construction noise went on from 7 am to 6 pm. It'll probably be a better place once the construction is done. Still, why not stay at Sasan for a couple of bucks more?

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Visa

Iran - If you are not a US citizen, lucky you. Fill out a simple form and send it to the Iranian Embassy in your country and you are good to go. No sponsor or organized tour required.

If you are a US citizen, you need to do a bit more paperwork and perhaps pay a little bit more, but it really isn't that bad. I'm sure Iranians who want to visit the US go through a lot more hassle than we do, so stop whining. There are two ways of getting an Iranian visa: you can either go with a tour agency or have an Iranian sponsor you. The bottom line is that the Iranian government wants someone to be responsible for you when you are there. The advantage of going with a tour agency is that everything is arranged for you including your visa; the downside is you have to pay more. There is no minimum number of people required for the tour. You can have a "group" tour tailor made for you only. We paid $800/person for a 5-day tour, which was a bit overpriced considering we spent less than that in the next 2.5 weeks. If you don't want to pay that kind of money, find someone in Iran who is willing to sponsor you. There are many Iranians living in the US, you should be able to find a link easily. Your sponsor needs to apply for you at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran. You need to let your sponsor know where you want to pick up your visa. Once your visa is approved, you'll get a reference number. Send your passport along with the reference number to your pre-selected embassy and you'll get your visa in a week or so. The Lonely Planet Iran describes the process in great detail.

A lot of people asked if they could get a visa longer than their tour. Theoretically no because you need someone to vouch for you for the entire time, but there are ways to get around it. Here is what we did. We signed up for a 5-day tour with Cyrus Travel and asked them to get us 30-day visas. They said they needed a sponsor for the remainder of the trip, so I gave them the name of an Iranian rock climber that I got to know on the internet. They called her up and confirmed that she did exist, pulled some strings, and got the visas for us. Wade and I waited for almost a month and a half to get our visas while Amalia, a Spanish citizen, got hers in two weeks. I used Cyrus Travel in San Jose for several reasons: it was recommended to me by my Iranian friend, it's close to where I work and it has an office in Washington DC, so all passports are hand-carried to the Iranian Interest Section. Here is their web site: http://www.cyrustravel.com/. They also offer pretty good rates on flights to other ME destinations.

After our 5-day organized tour, we traveled everywhere on our own. No one ever asked us about our sponsor.

I've heard reports of people getting Iranian visas in Turkey and Pakistan, but I've also read reports about people being turned down in those countries. The only thing I know for sure is that you have a better chance getting a visa from your home country.

Keep in mind that you have only 90 days to enter Iran starting from the day you get your visa. It does present some problems for overland travelers. Good thing that you don't need to submit your passport while waiting for the reference number. Tell your friend or travel agent that you'll be picking up the visa in Turkey or wherever. Female applicants need to wear a scarf that covers both the hair and the neck in their visa photos, like mine here.

Syria - US citizens need to apply at the Syrian Embassy or consulate in the US. Syria recently raised the price from $65 to $100. Ouch! Always ask for a double entry visa (same price) so you can visit Lebanon and return to Syria. You can not enter Israel from Lebanon overland. The departure tax at the Beirut airport is $56 and that's probably why most people come back to Syria and leave from Damascus. Someone on LP Thorn Tree said he got a Syrian visa at the Lebanese border for $15. I've also heard people getting their visas in Cairo.

Lebanon - Visas can be easily obtained at the border regardless of nationality. The 3-day visa is free. We got a free 30-day visa even though we didn't need it. The officer at the border was in a good mood and he said he hadn't seen American tourists for a while.

Jordan - Visas can be easily obtained at the border for 10JD(~$16).

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