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Some Details of a trip to the Middle East in 1996: Jordan, Syria and Israel

Dougburnett
2003-11-22 12:47:57

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Resources
While information about Israel was easy to get in the U.S., I found less available about Jordan and Syria. Ultimately only three books were of any use. The Cadogan Guide, Syria & Lebanon offered the most detail about Syria. The Lonely Planet, Jordan & Syria, while somewhat dated, was very useful and had the best maps. The Let's Go, Israel & Egypt, which also covered Jordan and Syria, had lots of the necessary nitty-gritty travel detail but sadly has stopped listing the ground transportation travel time.
The Condé Nast Traveler had a couple of useful articles: Jordan in the October 1994 issue and Syria in July 1993. I also drew inspiration from Paul Theroux's marvelous book, The Pillars of Hercules in which he chronicles his trip around the Mediterranean. And, of course, T. E. Lawrence's tome Seven Pillars of Wisdom - which I read on the eve of my trip - set the mood for Middle Eastern hospitality and the beauty of the desert.

The Internet
Two Internet sources were very helpful: rec travel archive: http://www.solutions.net/rec-travel/ and Yahoo travelogues: http://www.yahoo.com/recreation/travel/travelogues/. There I found many interesting and informative travel reports. Particularly useful was Troels Arvin's report of his trip to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan in November 1995 (http://www.mdb.ku.dk/tarvin/diary/) . (A special thanks to him for patiently answering all my questions.) Also useful were the timely travel tips found at the Lonely Planet web site: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/.
When I became concerned about safety during the shelling between Israel and Hezbollah, I was reassured by readers of both soc.culture.syria and soc.culture.jordan usenet groups. Thanks to them I was able to answer my friends (and my own) doubts. For hotel information I used Hotel Guide (http://www.hotelguide.ch/) - the mother-load of world-wide hotel listings and the best source of Syrian hotel information I've found.

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