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Dubai

LIfestyle Travel

What its like traveling alone in the Middle East?

Amazing

Traveling alone is really exciting!! You can meet new people, live in the moment, and be creative 💜

The idea of traveling alone never crossed my mind, but last Summer I was graduating and needed an exciting adventure. I started thinking about what countries I wanted to visit and thought about Jordan. I knew the language (Arabic) and thought it was perfect to travel alone.

When I plan where I go, I like to hit multiple surrounding countries. Soooooo, I thought Dubai, Turkey, and Palestine were beautiful and decided to go to these areas, as well. I didn’t want to wait for a friend to get on board to go with me, so I decided to book my ticket months before. The next step was planning on where I wanted to go. I decided to go to Dubai first.

In Dubai on a Camel

I stayed in Dubai for a week and it was very beautiful, but also very hot (it was 96 degrees @ 6 am). The people were very friendly and mostly spoke English. I did not run into anyone who did not speak English!!

The next Country stop was Jordan. I stayed here for several weeks. This country has so much culture with amazing sites, that I would recommend for anyone to visit at least once in their life. There were many incredible archeological ruins (my favorite thing to see) and it has the most famous historical site, Petra! Furthermore, it has the dead sea!!

Petra in Jordan

The Jordanians are some of the most welcoming people I have met. Btw, English is widely spoken in Jordan, but Arabic is still the official language (so some people only speak Arabic).

After my stop in Jordan, I took a flight to Turkey!! I stayed in Turkey for 2 weeks. Turkey for me was a combination of the Middle East and Europe (SUPER BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY). It had crystal clear water, tall mountains, and many ruins of ancient empires. Turkish people were super nice, but just a heads up they DO NOT know any English hahah ( was super frustrating because many thought i was Turkish and spoke Turkish!) I had a difficult time finding anyone who spoke English or Arabic! Even though, i did not know the language, I still felt safe and loved the journey there!

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Palestine

Lastly, I stopped in the city of Jerusalem in Palestine. Palestine was beautiful and I got to see all of the holy sites in the holiest city in the world!! (I was SUPER excited). I got to see the Western wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque!!! The people were super nice and spoke Arabic and Hebrew. (A few knew English)

After my solo trip, I can totally recommend traveling alone to everyone at least once in their lifetime!!! The experiences I gained were incredible. A tip I have for individuals who want to travel alone (but are terrified) is to start traveling somewhere where you know the language. It will be less intimidating and scary.