Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Dubai: final thoughts

For our first time in the Middle East, we were happy to be able to visit 3 major countries in the area: the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai only).

It was quick but we really appreciated our time there and we wanted to thank all the people that contributed to making this a memorable trip.

But now we wanted to take the opportunity to think back focusing on three points:

1 - A woman's point of view

2 - Safety

3 - Would we come back?

Please keep in mind that these comments are our personal opinion. They are solely based on our impressions and observations during our time in the Middle East.

1 - A woman's point of view (my wife's gonna take over now 😉):

Hi everyone!

So in Jordan, I noticed that people stare a lot, especially men. It's most likely not ill intended but it does make you feel a bit uncomfortable. There were maybe a handful of times when I felt truly uncomfortable and all my senses were on high alert, and I would not have felt safe at all if I was by myself. 

In terms of what you can wear, you could see that Jordanians have been used to tourists for quite some time and you can pretty much wear anything (within reason), except in mosques, of course.

In Saudi Arabia, I felt that most people were very welcoming and happy that you were visiting the country. I don't think there was a moment when I felt unsafe even when I was by myself and someone just started a friendly conversation (I don't think I'm being naïve, it truly felt like they just wanted to know where you were from and say welcome!). They seemed genuinely happy to share their culture and history! 

In terms of clothing, even though local women predominantly wear black abayas and niqabs that cover the whole face and body, tourists shouldn't feel the same obligation. Of course, I always tried to respect their recommendations so I chose to wear mostly full-length leggings and a loose, knee-length t-shirt dress that also covered the elbows. Another good option is loose pants and a regular loose top, as long as it covers the elbows. 

And last but not least, Dubai. 

Dubai felt mostly safe but if I was traveling alone, I would definitely take advantage of the "women only" carriages in the metro, because, in the other carriages, there were predominantly men. 

In terms of clothing, you can wear anything (again, within reason). I saw both sides of the spectrum, with some women completely covered and others wearing nothing but really tight shorts and a sports bra. 

One thing I would like to add is that in all 3 countries, the locals had a tendency to only acknowledge my husband, even when I was the one asking the questions. Curiously, it happened a lot more in Jordan than in Saudi Arabia or Dubai.

That's it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to use the Contact us form, and I'll be happy to share some more details. 

Bye everyone! 😊 

2 - Safety

In this second point of view, we will tackle safety in general. In those three countries, we did not feel any sense of immediate threat to our safety but there were nuances.

From a driving perspective, we felt that Jordan and Saudi Arabia drivers were a little bit more "free" with the traffic regulations, especially when it comes to speed, even if Saudi Arabia has clearly implemented ways to reduce it (speed bumps!). We drove in AlUla without any issues but driving in Riyadh or in Amman would have been really stressful. In Dubai, the few times we were in a car, we did not notice any unsafe behavior. 

From a police presence perspective, we felt Jordan was a little bit too controlled. You could see policemen/army controlling everything, which our driver attributed to the government wanting to make the country really safe. However, from our point of view, it felt like they were trying to control the tourists. We saw police in Saudi Arabia and Dubai but really nothing that was out of the ordinary.

From a tourist scam/pickpocketing perspective, because Saudi Arabia was really new to tourism, we felt no threat at all nor did we feel the need to check every single bill or change. In Jordan, we had some cases where we were right to check the prices on the final bill and the change. And both in Jordan and Dubai (only at the souq), we felt quite harassed by vendors.

From a health standpoint, we had no issues at all eating everything in those three countries. And from a covid standpoint, it is as if nothing happened and people would not even wear masks.

In terms of insects, we only saw mosquitos late at night in Wadi Rum, Jordan. 

3 - Would we want to come back?

For Jordan, not really. We feel we've visited what we wanted to see and we think that nothing would change in the future.

For Saudi Arabia, it is a definite yes. The country is still opening up to large-scale tourism and we felt lucky to have seen the country in its naive state, when they still haven't experienced the bad sides of mass tourism. But it would be interesting to see how it evolves, especially with all the projects that they are developing. Maybe in 5 years.

For the UAE, we think we'll inevitably come back to Dubai because it's a major airport hub. But as the UAE is composed of 7 different Emirates (one of them being Dubai), it would be interesting to visit the others or at least Abu Dhabi.

That's it for the Middle East! If you are planning a trip of your own and have questions, feel free to contact us and we will gladly try to help. 

Next step: Southeast Asia