Wade Shepard
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Traveling through the Middle EastVagabond Journey.com travel newsletter #003
Greetings to everyone on the Vagabond Journey.com mailing list. I have finally found the gumption to begin sending out these weekly newsletters to update everyone on what has been going on the travels of Wade and Chaya. We just traveled through the Middle East and this newsletter provides links to the highlights of the route.
View map of route of travelSince January Chaya and I traveled through Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. Sometimes we only spent a couple days in these countries, sometimes we spent 6 weeks. This is surely the most countries that I have ever traveled through in such a short amount of time, but I also chose to travel through regions with lots of small countries. I have a great suspician that the total distance that we traveled in the past four months was under 2,000 miles. This is not very far.
I suppose I got a lot of practice crossing borders. Most of them went by smoothly, but there were a few hassles. We were
frisked and fondled at the Croatia/ Montenegro border and there were major problems that I have not yet written about trying to get into Syria from Turkey. We had the opportunity to enjoy the fun of traveling into Israel with Iraqi and Syrian visa stamps in our passports as well as being intially turned back at the Egyptian border for not having visas and sent back to Israel to have to be stamped in a second time. But, in all, the borders were all crossed successfully, and this is all that matters at the end of the day.
Money:Not good. I am nearly broke.
contributions are greatly appreciated.
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Vagabond Journey.com weekly features:The following are links to selected travelogue entries from the Middle East, photos from the Balkans, and a featured travel tip. Or read daily at
Vagabond Journey.com Travelogue
Iraq:Border Crossing to Iraq Travel Duhok to Amadiya
No Buses in Northern Iraq No International ATMs in Iraq
Syria:Cheap food in Syria Syrians are Friendly to Americans
Elderly Tourists in Syria Travel Solo or with Group?
Travel to Damascus Turkey:Sufis in Kisli Turkey
Mobbed by a gang of school children Gobekli Tepe archaeology story
Hasankeyf Ancient City in Eastern Turkey Harran Ancient City
Article published in Today's Zaman Jordan:Crossing Border Syria to Jordan
Service taxi Damascus to AmmanAmman Jordan Not Modern City
Featured Photos:Bosnia War Bombs
Mostar
Graffiti
Painting Bosnia BalkansBus, Liquor in Serbia
Graffiti in Belgrade,
SerbiaFeatured Travel Tip:Taxi Travel Tip- A tip on how to lessen the chances of being cheated by taxi drivers.
Taxi Travel TipI
like to enjoy the countries that I travel through and come away with
good impressions of the people. Thus being, I try to take taxis as
least often as possible. I would often much rather walk for hours than
enter into negotiations with taxi drivers, who occasionally have the
tendency of trying to scrap unwarranted nickles and dimes out of a
traveler's purse. This is just how I programed myself- I don't mind
walking, I like figuring things out for myself - so there is often
little need for me to take a taxi.
----------------------------

Wade from
Vagabond Journey.com
in Aqaba, Jordan- April 23, 2009
Travelogue --
Travel Photos --
Travel Guide
Click on map to view route of travel.
90%
of the time I take a taxi there are no difficulties - no hassles, no
arguments, no milking of the meter, no cheating. The remaining 10% form
some of the more begrudging times of my travels.
Taxis in Syria.The following is the standard operating procedure that I use to help ensure that I am not "taken for a ride" by taxi drivers
1.
I try to find out from a local person how much the cab fare should be
from point A to point B. Knowing this information I can either offer
the driver the projected amount in advance or I can better gauge if the
meter is being milked.
2. I either make a deal up front as to
how much I am willing to pay or I make sure the driver turns on the
meter. A meter alone is not a fool proof indication that I will not be
cheated, as the driver can sometimes set the meter's rate or drive me
around in circles for as long to run up the price. If I know how much a
ride should cost, I can begin questioning the driver when the meter
goes above this amount. If I make a deal up front about how much I will
pay, I do not pay anything above this amount. Often times in tourist
areas, I prefer to agree on a price before getting in the cab as this
seems to be an easier option than fighting with them to turn on the
meter.
3. Carry small money. Some taxi drivers pretend that they
do not have change if you pay with a larger bill than your fare. If you
have small money you can subvert this trick before it is started. If
you don't have any smaller money then refuse to get out of the cab
until the driver finds a way to make change. They usually always have
small bills to make change with or, if they really don't, an honest
driver will someone who can.
4. I use a compass to ensure that I
am going in the right direction. If I arrive in bus terminal that I
know is to the west of a city and I want to go downtown, then I know
that there is something is wrong if the taxi takes me north or south
for a long time. Using my compass also allows me to take bearings on
major roads and landmarks in a city.
5. I usually try to avoid
taking taxis straight from bus or train stations. These locales seem to
be haunts for dishonest drivers. It makes sense: if a taxi man wants to
rip someone off, then they need a passenger that is not familiar with
their surroundings, and there is no better place to find such a target
than at a transportation hub where clueless people come into town all
day long. So rather than going with the mob of taxi men who hang out at
stations, I walk a few blocks and flag a random taxi down in the street.
6.
I show that I will not be an easy target to rip off. I confirm the
price - often writing it down in a pad of paper- or make sure that the
driver resets the meter. I also try to watch were I am going.
7.
Never put your bags in the trunk. When I can help it - whenever I am
not traveling with a group of people that fill the car - I never allow
the driver to put my bags in the trunk. The driver controls access to
the trunk and he knows that he momentarily dictates what happens with
possessions that I want. It is not uncommon for drivers to hold
traveler's bags ransom if they are trying to scam you out of money.
Allowing a taxi driver to lock away your gear gives him massive
leverage over you. When I travel, I try to be as self-contained as
possible - I want to be able to move whenever I want. By allowing a
taxi driver to separate me from my bag is to put my nuts in his vice.
I
want all of my dealings to be clean when traveling, so I hang onto my
own bags and travel as a single self-contained and completely mobile
unit. I do not want to have to depend on anyone else, I want to keep
every thing as simple as possible. It is far simpler to hold onto my
own bag than it is to involve a taxi driver in its transportation.
When
taking a taxi I want to pay the price that I owe in exact change and
get away as quickly as possible. I do not want to enter into a
potentially combative situation with another person having leverage
over me.
I hold onto my own luggage when taking taxis.
Taxi in Syria.When
a person tries to blatantly and forcefully cheat me it creates an
emotional response that somewhat sickens me. When I have good
experiences with people it gives me a good impression of their country,
when I have bad experiences it inevitably gives me a bad impression.
Traveling is 90% about people, not places. If the people of a country
provoke an emotional bookmark that is dark and begrudging then this
extends to my impressions of the country as a whole. If I have to jump
through hurdles and and be on guard against being cheated every moment
that I am in a place, then I am probably not going to enjoy that place
very much. To increase the possibility that I will come away from a
place with a good impression, I try to avoid the people who could
blacken my impressions.
On a global scale, taxi drivers form one
of the least honest profession on planet earth. I have met many good
taxi drivers who I joke and talk with as they drive me around their
city. Sometimes they serve as self-appointed mini tour guides,
sometimes they go above their call of duty to make sure that I know
where I am going and what I am doing. The majority of taxi drivers I
found to be good, but their is also a hefty slag element in the
profession that will do anything that they can to cheat, lie, and get
every measly cent of cash they can out of me.
I try to do what I can to limit this from happening.
I
like to cultivate good impressions of people and places, so I use care
not to invite problems that will make me think otherwise.

Make
sure the taxi driver resets the meter before being taken for a ride. If
he does not push the button in the above photo you will be paying for
both yours and the person before you's fare. Not resetting the meter is
a common trick that taxi drivers try to pull on travelers all over the
world.
Read more
Vagabond Journey Travel TipsTaxi Travel Tip
Thank you for reading Vagabond Journey.com!
Walk Slow,
Wade