Do - Store hotel’s and hotel desk clerk’s phone number on your mobile – Save your hotel and one or more of the employee’s numbers on your phone before you head out to explore. This can give you an excellent means of finding your way back to your hotel if you get lost and a great safety net if you become uncomfortable and need some assurance that where you are or what you’re experiencing is okay or, if it’s not, how to get out.

Don’t – Believe all the hype – Some Western media outlets seem intent on making people afraid of traveling to certain other parts of the world. Please don’t believe their hype. Travel and find out for yourself that the world is safe!

Do – Walk Tall – Look like you know where you’re going and you’re unafraid rather than being tense and looking over your shoulder, and you might just have locals thinking you’re an expat rather than a tourist.

Don’t – Believe that all deserted areas are unsafe – If you find yourself somewhere all alone, you may feel uncomfortable but you’re likely more safe than you could believe. I once walked around a nearly deserted fort in Bahrain’s desert all alone and ended up running into a single British woman who was doing the same. If we hadn’t explored this fort because it was empty, we both would have robbed ourselves of an amazing and photogenic time.

Do – Ask your hotel/hostel about safety – Ask hotel staff about the safety of the area where you’re staying as well as where you’re going. They can give you accurate insight to the places you want to explore. Also be sure to ask them where you shouldn’t go. At my hotel in Doha they told me not only how to walk to the bus station nearby but also assured me that it was perfectly safe. If not for their assurance, once I arrived and found hundreds of local men sans women, I probably would have left. With their words in my head, though, I got on the bus and traveled cheaply – and perfectly safely – to the other side of town.

Don’t -Say you’re alone – Traveling by ourselves may sound great to you and me, but in some parts of the world women traveling alone are not common. Simply tell any man who may ask that you’re married or have a boyfriend who’s just around the corner and they probably won’t ask you anything else.

Do – Stay in heavily trafficked areas, especially after dark – Going off the beaten path will lead you into some incredibly fascinating places, but be safe about it. I walked on very lightly traveled street from a spectacular souq in Bahrain back to my hotel one night last winter. I was uncomfortable, yet lived through it without incident. If I had it to do over again, though, I would have taken a taxi.

Don’t-My most valuable piece of advice – Don’t be afraid!

Thumbnail Safety photo by calignosus

Safety Do’s and Don’ts for Solo Female Travelers is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

High – Ringing in 2011 in Doha, Qatar. This was the first time I’d traveled to this up-and-coming Persian Gulf city, I quickly fell in like with its culture.

Low – Losing my memory sticks containing my Doha photos in a souq and then suffering the loss of my computer. All photos of Qatar are now gone except for those I’d already saved on my websites.

High – Spending three weeks of wonder in the rural Cambodian town of Kampot. I had never seen such remote Asian life.

Low – Being trapped in the back seat of a taxi when the driver purposefully ran over a dog on the way to Kampot.

High – Getting to know Hoi An, Vietnam – This quaint and charming little Vietnamese village, just a few short miles from a huge and gorgeous beach stole my heart.

Low – Getting to know Hanoi, Vietnam – It’s name may be almost identical to Hoi An, but its ambience is of another world. Its massive amount of motorbikes and subsequent chaos was entirely irritating. But I did find this somewhat tranquil body of water in which a large tree had bizarrely grown sideways. Sometimes it’s the little things…

High – Making friends in Israel. I had some of the happiest times ever in my life in Tiberias, Israel and the surrounding areas. These people suffer a lot, but are some of the warmest and caring I’ve ever known.

Low – Being never-endingly harassed by tuk-tuk drivers throughout Cambodia and the rest of Southeast Asia. I ended up cringing nearly constantly at their calls of “Tuk-tuk? Tuk-tuk? Tuk-tuk?”

High – Spending Four Hours in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Some people consider all of Egypt to be dangerous since the revolution which occurred 11 months ago. But I think it’s safe. Safe enough that I spent four happy hours in Tahrir Square on December 2 – a non-violent day – feeling like I was a part of history.

Low – No more lows. I’ve decided to end this post on a high note.

There’s a lot of other highs and lows in my 2011, but they’re already contained in previous posts or meant to be saved for a later date.

What about you? What were the hills and dales of your 2011? Please let me know.

2011 – The Highs and the Lows is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

Quarantine Machine – I’ve seen quarantine bins at arrival halls in certain airports, where you deposit fruits and other various items not allowed into a country. But quarantine taken so seriously that there are actual machines to stop you from bringing in contraband I’ve only found when arriving at the airport in Perth, Western Australia. With flashing lights and a recorded voice playing over and over again, these machines are not kidding around when they say leave all your fruits and vegetables here or else.

Plunger Coffee – I look at plunger coffee as kind of the mid point between real, brewed coffee and instant coffee. Pour some real coffee inside this little carafe, add hot water, then slowly press down a little plunger on top of the mix and in a couple minutes you’ll have a not-bad cup of coffee. I’ve since been told that plunger coffee does, in fact, exist in other countries, but I still haven’t seen it outside of Australia.

Milk in a Bag – Why buy a carton of milk, then pour it into a glass before you drink it when you can eliminate the middle man? Just buy milk in a bag, insert a straw and you won’t need a glass. This may exist in other countries, but I’ve only seen it in Israel.

Primitive Clothes Washing Device – Using my washing machine at my apartment in Dahab means sticking my garden hose inside to fill it up with water, and then wringing out gallons of water from the clothes after they’re finished spinning around inside. In fact, spinning is all this machine can do. No, it’s not broken. It’s just a little on the basic side.

Quick Drying Machine – On the opposite end of the spectrum from my prehistoric clothes washer is this space-age human dryer. At al Qasbah, an upscale dining, shopping and amusement area in Sharjah, UAE, there is a musical fountain in which little children can play. Once they’re finished, they can’t be seen running around wet, as Sharjah is an ultra-conservative Muslim emirate. So they pop inside an open-air infrared human dryer that stands near the fountain and pop out dry a couple of minutes later. I lost my own photo of this human drying machine when my computer died, so I nabbed this one off the internet. Thanks, At Aladdin’s House!

Things I Find in Other Countries That Don’t Exist at Home, Part III is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

Checkpoints in Israel – There are many checkpoints separating Israel from the West Bank, and their stark and imposing military appearance is a sight I’m not used to seeing in any other part of the world. How can I resist taking photos of them? I can’t.

Checkpoints in Egypt – I have likewise found checkpoints in Egypt irresistible photographic material. Although they don’t have the charisma of Israeli checkpoints, taking photos of them is illegal. The first time I attempted I got yelled at majorly by the Egyptian who was driving our car. The second time there was no yelling, so I was able to snap a quick shot from the distance.

Religious Sites – It is perfectly okay to take photos of the Western Wall (formerly known as the Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem. It is, though, absolutely forbidden to taken said photos on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath day, which runs from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night. At the very beginning of one such evening is when I snapped this, not unwittingly I confess.

Forbidden cemetaries – I do respect the dead. But do the dead make up any of the rules that we abide by here on earth? I think not. So when I learned that it is forbidden to take photos of this cemetary on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, did I obey? I would have if it wasn’t mere mortals who made this rule.

”

Very shy, conservative people – Salalah, Oman, a delectable oasis on the Arabian sea south of Muscat, north of Yemen and west of Saudi Arabia, is one of the Middle East’s best kept secrets. The first time I traveled there I wanted to take photos each and every second, so floored was I by its exotic-ness. I didn’t want to make the very conservative people blush, though, so I held off quite a bit. My tour local tour guide wasn’t nearly as bashful and took plenty of shots for me that otherwise would have been missed, including this of a very modest African lady selling goods in a shop in the souq.

Muslims worshipping – Muslims don’t like to be photographed while praying, so in all of my Mid Eastern travels I’ve refrained. Except once. On top of the Temple Mount in Israel stands, among many other structures, the al Aqsa mosque, one of the most famous sights in the world. The first time I saw it in 2009 I was surprised to find that it has windows through which the public can peek. I promise I won’t do this again.

People napping – Is it wrong to take photos of people without their permission? Probably. I never take close-ups without permission if the person’s identity will be obvious. In the case of these three men napping on a hard, hot sidewalk in Nha Trang, Vietnam, though, I think identities were well hidden.

How about you? Ever taken a photo you shouldn’t have? Please don’t be shy. Tell me about it.

Thumbnail photo by Cookie productions

Photos of Things I Shouldn’t Have Taken Photos Of is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

Self-Inflicted Black Eye – Literally my first night away from home, in Forresters Beach, New South Wales, Australia where I was house sitting, I got up in the middle of the night. So disoriented and jet lagged that I thought I knew exactly the layout of the bedroom in which I was sleeping, I walked immediately and directly into a doorway, my left cheek taking the brunt of the blow. My resulting black eye lasted for well over a week.

No photo does it justice, no matter how many times I zoomed in and out and tampered with the size

Busted Face and Knee – Right outside my apartment door is a mountain with dirt hiking trails winding to the top. Going up is great exercise, but coming down the loose dirt and rock paths is a slow go. One day several months ago while heading down my feet slipped out from under me and I literally landed on my face, making me very dizzy and bloody. I was so jarred from the full facial hit that I didn’t even notice my knee had taken a blow too until I tried to stand up.

My face was not quite this big of a mess

Hair ripped out of head – I spent New Year’s Eve in Doha, Qatar. For those of you who like to party on this date, a Persian Gulf country, where alcohol is forbidden, is not the place to be. I am not the partying type, however, so New Year’s in this exotic Arab country was quite exciting to me. New Year’s morning, though, sans hangover, my hair dryer suffered a major meltdown when some of my hair painfully got sucked inside, leaving me without a hair dryer and without quite as much hair on my head.

My ex-hair

Gouged Leg – While in Kampot, Cambodia one day I took one of my guesthouse’s free bikes for a rather long ride. Unfortunately, on this ride I learned that if a bike is free, it’s free for a good reason. The left pedal fell off while I was pedaling, causing my leg to jam hard into the metal fixture which was left in its place. This made me quite angry unhappy, so much so that when I got off the bike I threw it and its pedal on the side of the road. I couldn’t believe that, when I returned, the guesthouse manager/bartender asked Where’s the bike? rather than Are you okay?

The bike that tried to kill me

Repeated clawings by stray cats – Stray cats are all over the place in Israel, and I’ve acquired a taste for them. They can be very cute and are very hungry for love. Unfortunately, petting and playing with them, like any cat, I suppose, gives them license to playfully scratch and bite. I may walk around a little bit more scratched up and bloody than I used to, but it’s worth it.

Innocent stray kittens turn into tough stray cats with sharp claws

How about you? Ever had your hair yanked out by a hair dryer, fallen off a mountain or suffered any type of injury or mishap while traveling? Please do tell.

Injuries and Accidents on the Road is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

1. Comfortable Chairs for Cashiers, Clerks and Tellers – Why in my home country of America do people whose job it is to engage in minor monetary transactions with the public always, always have to stand? I’ve never anywhere in my country seen one postal clerk, bank teller or cashier sitting down during their many hard hours a day on the job. Yet in other countries I never see them standing. Elsewhere they’re always seated on nice cushioned chairs. America, catch up.

2. People Carrying Objects on Their Heads – We in the Western world really should utilize the outsides of our heads more. We’re just wasting them. In response to my first post on things I only see when I’m traveling, a reader named Peggy commented that “I liked seeing people carrying bundles on their heads in the country of Korea. When no one is looking, I will do that in the US because it is easier on one’s back!” I’m glad Peggy brought it up, because I hadn’t thought to include it in my first post. Like Peggy, I have seen lots of people utilizing their heads to carry objects, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. Unlike Peggy, though, I don’t use my head for carrying anything – yet.

3. Year-Round Outdoor Markets – Because much of the world has some brutal winters, the outside markets that we can enjoy during the warm months hibernate when the cold hits. This isn’t the case everywhere, though. When I was in Sydney, Australia last year I found tons of outdoor markets thriving in the midst of Sydney’s spring-like winter. These year-round markets exist elsewhere in the world too, making me wonder anew why I used to love winter.

4. Checkpoints - I thought checkpoints were a phenomenon limited to Israel, but now I know better. When I was in the Sinai a few months ago I saw many, many checkpoints along the routes I traveled, in order to prevent terrorists from passing from one point to the other. Israel and Egypt, though, are the only two countries I have seen with internal checkpoints. Might there be more?

5. Lax Illicit Drug Laws – The word illegal when it comes to drugs apparently has a different meaning in some countries than America. As far as I can tell, in a lot of countries people use drugs more freely than we ever have in the U.S. Perhaps America has some of the strictest drug laws on earth. I dont know.

How about you? What unusual sight or activity have you noticed in a country not your own that’s surprised you, shocked you, or made you question why your country does things the way it does?

Things I Find in Other Countries That Don’t Exist at Home, Part II is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

Most of the Buildings are Brown – True. One of my earliest childhood impressions of this region was of landscapes filled with buildings of no color other than brown. Apparently this is just the style. Anywhere in the Mid East I travel, I almost never see buildings of other colors, except for the occasional white.

The Mid East is Dangerous – False. I’ve found that crime rates are low in most areas and, even if people can look a little tough in photos and on television, the majority of the people of the Middle East, men and women, are very nice, polite, helpful, friendly and absolutely not dangerous.

People Wear Flowing Robes – True and False. The Persian Gulf Arabs wear long robes, white for men and black for women, while in less conservative countries like Egypt, Israel and Jordan almost everyone wears Western-style clothing.

People Throw Rocks a Lot – True. For some reason the Western world is into weaponry such as guns and knives while we ignore the utility of rocks. In many countries in the Mid East rocks are recognized as great weapons both to inflict harm during serious strife and for more casual lobs at stray animals and random people during times of peace.

People Listen to Western Music – False. While our music may have worldwide appeal and I do hear it sometimes in Middle Eastern countries, far and away what I hear the most is Arabic music in Arab countries and Israeli music in Israel.

The Heat is Unbearable – True. This doesn’t surprise me. What does is the fact that during several months of the year it’s too hot even for the locals. I’ve found they dash from air conditioned buildings to air conditioned cars and back as quickly as possible, while still complaining about the heat. 40-plus degrees centigrade is just too hot for humans.

Six Trues and Falses of the Middle East is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

1. Stray Animals Everywhere – It’s far more common to spay and neuter cats and dogs than to let them reproduce in America, so I’m not used to seeing un-owned domestic animals running around. In other parts of the world, though, these pets are everywhere. In Egypt I’ve even seen stray camels and goats roaming through the streets, although I think maybe they weren’t truly stray but had escaped their confines. Even though these animals are sometimes injured, often scrawny from hunger, and usually people shy, here in Israel I’ve managed to befriend a couple of the less shy stray cats, sometimes feeding them and giving them milk. One hot spot for stray cats around the world are trash dumpsters. In this photo the large one on the right with the wise eyes and the crumpled left ear has become my favorite cat in Israel.

2. Over-the-Counter Medications Which You Could Get Arrested for in the U.S. – Prescription drugs are so tightly controlled in the U.S. that I’ve found my experiences with medication overseas to be just shocking. In Australia I gulped down over-the-counter cold medicine which got me positively stoned. In Cambodia, I walked into three different pharmacies, asking for a simple medication to get over a simple illness, and for some reason each time the person manning the counter immediately stuck a bottle of Valium in my face. Valium without a prescription? I soon found out that no medications in Cambodia require a prescription. Maybe America is a little over the top with its prescription drug laws?

3. Instant Coffee Only – Coffee brewed in coffee pots was a staple of my life in the U.S. I know coffee pots are in plentiful existence elsewhere in the world, but certainly not everywhere. For the past 13 months since I left my home, I’ve either been drinking instant coffee or utilizing my own special method of making a cup of real coffee without a coffee pot. Brewed coffee may not be a worldwide phenomenon, but it is one thing I am just not giving up.

4. Lax or Nonexistent Safety Standards – America is so padded, buckled up, strapped on and locked in that seeing the lesser safety standards in other countries can be shocking. Several years ago in the Bahamas I went on a snorkeling trip, when suddenly the boat stopped, one of the Bahamians began throwing large, bloody, dead fish into the ocean, and Carribean reef sharks, jaws wide open began jumping out of the water to devour the fish. A small cage containing fish was dropped to the bottom of the water to lure the sharks back down, and the snorkelers began snorkeling with the sharks circling beneath them. Isn’t this…dangerous? I asked the Bahamian who’d been tossing the fish to the sharks. They’re sharks, he shrugged. That was a good answer in my eyes. I lowered myself quietly into the water and began snorkeling with sharks. A few months ago I saw a man lying down with one leg crossed over the other and his hands folded behind his head, as if he was watching television at home. Was he? No. He was on the roof of a truck barreling down a road in southern Cambodia. Are such activities as these legal in the U.S.? No way.

5. Multicolored Money – Why are all American bills the same color? In many other countries each demonination has its own unique color. Memorize them, and you won’t have to look at the numbers on the bill when you count them. Multicolored money is such an excellent concept, surely the United States will be switching our blah green to bright hues of pink, yellow and blue soon…?

How about you? What unusual sight or activity have you noticed in a country not your own that’s surprised you, shocked you, or made you question why your country does things the way it does?

Things I Find In Other Countries That Don’t Exist at Home, Part I is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

1. My Most Beautiful Post – 10 Firsts in 2010

The post most beautiful to me is also one of my most popular posts ever, going viral on Stumble Upon the day it went live – January 1, 2011. This proves to me that the world was full of people too hung over to do much other than sit at their computer and push a little blue thumbs up button that day. Viral hangovers aside, this post is beautiful to me – and hopefully others – because it depicts unique wonderfulness all around the world.

2. My Most Popular Post – How to Sleep on a Plane and Like It

Sleeping while traveling is of major importance to people. I have gleaned this information from my stats, which daily show Google hit after Google hit for search terms such as sleep on a plane, how to sleep on a plane, sleep plane help. I really hope I helped more than a few people with this post.

3. Most Controversial Post – Vegemite – An American Perspective of an Australian Specialty

My most controversial blog post must be one of those encouraging people to travel to the Middle East, right? Or perhaps one of my latest posts on my trip to post-revolution Egypt. No, wait. It must be any post I’ve written about the world’s most talked about, written about, loved, hated and fought-over country – Israel. Nope. The subject of my most controversial post is – of course – Vegemite. That’s right. The Australian ooey gooey black, um, substance that you spread on bread and eat if you’re brave enough. My largely postive post set off extremely heated debate. Why waste energy arguing about peace in the Middle East when there’s the Vegemite controversy to fight about instead?

4. My Most Helpful Post – 10 Solo Travel Myths Debunked

Although I focus this blog largely on my personal travel experiences, I do like to write out-and-out advice posts sometimes. Here’s one closest to my heart, a post which I hope has helped at least some women travelers realize there’s no reason not to travel alone.

4. A Post Whose Success Surprised Me – Two Hours at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi

I write a lot about the Middle East, posts which don’t interest many people. I hope this lack of interest is because not many people travel to the Middle East and not because my posts are dull. I think these topics are fascinating. I’m always a little surprised, though, when one of them catches on. One of the first such surprises came when I was living in Sharjah, UAE and took a day trip to Abu Dhabi, where I visited the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Mosque. I’m happy to have gotten so many responses to my words and photos about that day.

6. A Post I Feel Didn’t Got the Attention it Deserved – My Biggest Travel Pet Peeve – No Free Airport WiFi

I really expected this post to be a traffic generator, as it speaks to a topic of importance, I think, to most travelers. It did get many comments and tweets when I posted it, for which I am grateful, yet it brings me almost no Google hits today. Either this isn’t as hot a topic as I had thought, or I need to rework the SEO.

7. The Post of Which I’m the Most Proud – 5 Reasons Why the Mid East is Safe for Solo Female Travelers

I wouldn’t say I’m proud of any of my posts, but I am particularly happy with the overwhelming 100% positive response my post encouraging solo females to travel to the Middle East received. I expected I would get only negative responses telling me I was nuts and that I was doling out danerous advice. Instead, I heard from many other people who feel the same way, people who helped me spread my word across the internet through Twitter and Facebook. That made me feel great, as this region I think is the most misunderstood in the world.

Since most every blogger on earth has already been chosen to participate in My 7 Links, I will simply pick the names of five bloggers I know who immediately come to mind – Chicky Bus, TravelNLife, Waegook Tom, The Longest Way Home and Accelerated Stall.

The Best of Solo Female Traveler – My 7 Links is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe

I couldn't believe how loud this little plane was

By 3:30 I was at my friend’s apartment just upstairs from mine when the little yellow planes began roaring directly past his third floor patio window. After a few fly by’s, we looked outside to see what was up. Fire! The grassy area just below our complex was a wall of deep black smoke, with plumes of fire popping out.

It’s nothing. Just a fire. They happen every year, my friend said. Maybe to you they happen every year. But I have never seen a wildfire in my life. We ran outside to take some photos.

Walking into the fire

A single yellow plane was now roaring repeatedly over our area, not dropping water on the blaze but apparently just monitoring it. I learned that the other plane had flown off to the area where the fire had started earlier before I even realized there was a fire. Why fly for hours over a wildfire? My friend said although there are these outbreaks every year, he’s never seen planes flying all around them. It must have been in response to the horrific blaze on December 2, 2010 on the other side of the country in Carmel, a stunningly deadly fire which killed 44 people. These planes which I had thought were playing around were actually helping to ensure that this fire didn’t rip out of control. And it didn’t. Just a couple of hours later the smoke cleared. This morning, though, while I sat on a cliff overlooking the Sea of Galilee and sipping coffee, a couple areas on the cliff were still smoldering.

I've never been this close to a fire before

I think the video I shot is pretty dramatic. Of course, I’ve never seen another wildfire in person, though, and I know this was nothing compared to others. It was burning away just about ten metres from my apartment, though. If nothing else, I’d say it was a close call.

How about you? Have you ever seen a wildfire or been in the midst of any other natural catastrophe? Please tell me about it in the comments.

My First Wildfire is a post from: Solo Travel Tales and Tips from the Middle East and Elsewhere on the Globe