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Portrait of Arabia Eastbound direction JANUARY 2023
I have just returned from this tour which was wonderful.
If you are interested in my general review/tips, please Private message me and I will be glad to forward it to you
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I have just returned from this tour which was wonderful.
If you are interested in my general review/tips, please Private message me and I will be glad to forward it to you
Comments
We are very interested in hearing your feedback from this trip, as we will probably book this trip very soon for 2024. I don't know how to private message you, as this is the first time I have commented in this forum. But i imagine everyone else would also be interested to hear your feedback. Thank you for any info!
krk, I will PM you. Look to the right hand corner of the screen and you will see some icons next to your name. On the second to left of the four, you will see an envelope sign. My message will appear there, when you click carefully on it, it’s easy to hit the first button by mistake . I’m not posting my reviews on the public forum right now. Let me know if you see it, you can reply there. It will sell out fast for 2024, don’t delay.
ok thank you very much, British. I see your message. will read and reply there soon.
I’m only just sorting photos of this tour. Hear are some suggesting for what to wear.
At the risk of the phantom flagger, here are a few of my photos
The last photo is the view from the hotel.
Such amazing architecture. British, thank you for posting the pictures. I do have a question. In the Mosque Manners "not allowed section" Image, why is the outfit on the woman that is 2nd from the left not allowed? It appears she is covered up from head to toe. Are her slacks too form fitting?
Only one flag, so far. The other idiot must be sleeping in.
Awesome pictures!You are the best advertisement for 5his trip! Thanks for posting.
Thank you British! These are stunning pictures.
Travel Maven -- I do believe that the slacks are too form fitting. On our tour of Temple Mount in 2020, one member of our group was forced to put a skirt over her leggings because they were too form-fitting.
Beautiful pictures British, they can easily sell this tour.
I heard George Santos claim he is the original flagger.
Travelmaven, yes, too form fitting. In reality, two of the women on our tour wore leggings, one with a hip level top and darn it, they were let into the most strict mosque, no problem….whereas, I had on baggy pants….I deliberately took several pairs of loose linen pants gathered at the ankle and loose tops. I thought two of my t shirts were long sleeve, they were three quarter sleeves and I was asked to cover up the three inches of wrist that were showing. The TD loaned me one of those Arab ‘dresses’ very hot, too long and probably what made me trip and fall. I still think it is respectful to be guided by the local guidelines and the guidelines Tauck gives you, which I was surprised a number of Tauck travelers did not stick to ….no sleeves, capris and shorts were seen on our group.
British - when you say ‘seen on our group’, do you mean in a mosque or somewhere else on tour. The guidelines you showed the picture for were in a mosque, correct? Not anywhere in the country, correct?
Looks like the guide is holding a small fortune in saffron in one picture. I notice the shopkeeper is giving him the eye.
You are correct Sam. While around 80% of residents are foreigners, some of the places we went that were not near big cites with just regular more conservatively dressed locals, my personal thoughts are to show a bit of respect for where you are and especially at the time of year, January when it is not hot.
Dear British,
we have booked your trip for January 24. Your pics are great, thanks a lot!!!
We would appreciate to get your report!
Thanks and kind regards!!!
Sent you a PM
Great photos, British! Thanks for posting. Looks like an amazing trip. We just booked the Eastbound trip in 2024. So excited! Thank you for all your info!
Hi British: I just sent you a message but do not know if it went through. I just returned two weeks ago from the same trip (Jan. 26-Feb. 10). It was awesome -- one of my best. We had Steve and Johanna as TD's. Loved Dr. Norman too !! Your pics are fabulous. I would love to see a copy of your review.
Hello Nancy, your message did not come through to me. I’ll send you my review.
You must have taken the West bound direction?
Please consider writing a review, it’s good to get different perspectives for people to read.
Just yesterday, we received about 400 photos from one of our tour directors, all from the trip into the desert and the Bedouin dinner. I had no idea at the time that the drone hovering around us was contracted by Tauck as we passed another group when we saw it and I remember ducking when it hovered over our jeep 😂
I have almost finished my photo book so I hope to figure out how to get a couple of pics off Dropbox snd put them in my book.
I went to Dubai recently and was surprised by what I learned. Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There are about one million citizens of the UAE but the population of the UAE is about 10 million. Almost nine million people are guest workers in the country.
Some of those guest workers are knowledge workers, mainly from the UK and US, and are well paid, and treated well. But the majority of the guest workers are laborers from India, Pakistan and that area. According to our tour guide, who was from India, those workers are not well paid and are not treated well.
India and Pakistan are reporting a significant number of cases of kidney failure in workers who return. The cause is working in extreme heat without sufficient hydration.
But beyond that, I was put off by the gratuitous displays of wealth in the city. For example, there’s a building in the city that contains a ski slope. In a city where the summer daytime temperature varies from 100 to 120 degrees, they use an enormous amount of electricity to make snow and cool the building so that people can snow ski.
Some of the construction is vanity buildings, such as the Museum of the Future, which has three quotations from the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the prime minister of the UAE, built into the exterior (the windows are shaped into Arabic letters).
There’s a lack of freedom in the UAE. Perhaps the greatest crime in the country is criticism of the prime minister. That can get you arrested and jailed for a significant time.
It’s not a place I’d want to visit again.
Mike, I liked Dubai. The architectural tour guide who had lived from birth in at least six very varying countries around the world, had decided to settle there. He was in his forties and highly educated. He told us many other things about the culture. My husband’s best friend from England has a daughter who lives there, in fact, they are visiting now. I had colleagues who worked there years ago to make a chunk of money.
There is no crime, I’d love that, not having to worry I was going to get shot by some random maniac like I do here, or that my grandkids might be shot at school. Our government doesn’t care about the safety of it’s citizens in that regard.
I loved the buildings. They have the money to do what they like. What about the Frank Geary buildings we have here in the US. We build to show off too!
When we went to the Mall, it was wonderful to see all the people wondering about of all nationalities.
I feel less ‘free’ here than I did in the UK.
If people are not treated well, they can leave, work somewhere else, isn’t that up to the individual. Indians are more prone to kidney disease anyway as they are diabetes, some of it is diet related. India and Pakistan get hot too, I’m sure working condition are worse there from what I have seen of India.
There are Indoor ski slopes in the US aren’t there and our country has the biggest carbon footprint on the planet. I’ve spoken to intelligent people who don’t even know what that means.
I still highly recommended the tour.
I agree with Mike regarding Dubai. It was like Vegas on steroids. We were only there for three days before leaving for our trip to Southern Africa.
British, I disagree with you regarding Indian workers leaving and going somewhere else. I was in India visiting my sister and there were people begging and living on the streets. Some people have little choice in regards to where to work. Often they need to send money home to their families so they stay and work under horrible conditions.
Hi Noreen. I totally respect your views. I did notice, though, that the homes given to the workers were bigger than my home. It certainly seems better than India, of course some of the beggars you see there are working for someone else, just like in movie Slumdog.
But there are probably 20 people living in it, not two.