My Misson

I am wondering if someone with survival knowledge can give me some advice on what i am about to hopefully take on board from next year, eg train physically and mentally hard this and next year then pick a year to travel full on.
I am living in the uk and want to fly out to either greece or to morocco and make my way through to middle east or in to africa and travel by bicycle sometimes take the bike on a local bus or something. What are the possible dangers and what do i need to do, i will be going with my wife.
I feel something inside me that i want to show some love to these's people who already have it but give them hope i don't know what it is exactly.

my advise.. join a gun club get some firearm,s training , if you have any military buddys get them to teach you basic map&compass triangle exercises, also get some first aid training and basic bicycle mechanic,s (sounds weird but theres alot to it. ie gear alinment) .. i,ll keep poping in to see how your getting on..

Get a copy of Sahara Overland by Chris Scott and read it

Originally posted by deathpoet69
I am wondering if someone with survival knowledge can give me some advice on what i am about to hopefully take on board from next year, eg train physically and mentally hard this and next year then pick a year to travel full on.
I am living in the uk and want to fly out to either greece or to morocco and make my way through to middle east or in to africa and travel by bicycle sometimes take the bike on a local bus or something. What are the possible dangers and what do i need to do, i will be going with my wife.
I feel something inside me that i want to show some love to these's people who already have it but give them hope i don't know what it is exactly.

I would start learning Arabic, or at least have some basic knowledge of it. Knowledge of French is also very handy. Buy some of the travellers guides of the countries/regions that you will be travelling through. Work out a full itenary of your plans and give someone back home a copy of it in case you are overdue - Have a back-up plan and some good Insurance and funds. Check out if you need any visas and make sure your passport has plenty of time left on it - if not, renew it.

I will warn you, that western women are not exactly treated nicely in some parts of the Middle East - they will always attract attention and some of it is very unwanted.

Make sure you are fully vaccinated well in advance - do some research of the diseases that you may encounter. I agree that a working knowledge of First Aid is handy. Take a full expedition style first-aid kit - this includes venepuncture/canulation kit.

I dont agree with foxhoundone on the firearms training. What are you expecting to do, start a war? For a start, you will not be allowed to carry a gun in most parts of the Middle East/Africa and if you do carry one, it would bring you even more trouble and quite possibly make you the target. You want to try to blend in, not stand out. Besides, in my opinion, firearms are not neccessary in these parts of the world for travellers.

sorry mate i meant firarm,s training not carry a gun, it would be a confidence issue with me knowing if in an emergency i could use a firarm to protect my group from hostile unwanted,s

Originally posted by foxhoundone
sorry mate i meant firarm,s training not carry a gun, it would be a confidence issue with me knowing if in an emergency i could use a firarm to protect my group from hostile unwanted,s

Well that is up to you. Since you wont be carrying a firearm, personally I cant see the point of having the training. But, if it makes you feel better.

I have travelled to a few places in the Middle East and have never felt threatened. You just have to know what the local customs are and the laws of each country - the travel guides will tell you most of this. As long as you stick to the rules and dont be a complete arse, you should have no problem.

I would however be a little picky as to which countries I would visit. A good idea is to visit the UK Foreign Office website - This gives an up-to-date brief of the state of each country.

In my opinion now is not a good time to make travel plans outside of your comfort zone.

With world economy as it is we have no idea what conditions may be like for the next year or two.

There could be world wide riots, extreme hunger, disease out breaks, and who knows what else.

But, if you insist on making your trip there area few things to do. As was stated earlier make all vaccinations currant. Both of you need to train in self defense.

If you are fair skinned and light haired, color your hair and get a tan. If your eyes are not brown get colored contacts. I am a fair skinned blond with green eyes but when I visited Iran 5 years ago my Iranian friend suggested I do these things before the trip.

Is money no problem? Will you be staying in hotels? Do you take medications for any illness?

After you have trained for a year take a practice trip. Come to the USA and visit Miami, Fla., Chicago, Ill., New Orleans, La., and New York City, NY. Ride your bicycles all around these cities and if you survive then you are ready to take on the world.

And read all you can about every country you plan to visit. Customs are so different allover the world. The hardest thing I had to learn to do was to not make eye contact with strangers in some places I have visited.

Good luck and God speed.

reply to post by deathpoet69

Travel is a great thing; learning about other's ways of life is endlessly fascinating.
While there has been a lot of good advice here so far, I would not agree with some of it. I can't, for example, understand why you would want to go somewhere where you have to dye your hair and wear contacts to conceal
who you really are. To me travel is about honesty as much as anything - about who you are, and accepting who your hosts are.
Then there's this comment of yours:

I feel something inside me that i want to show some love to these's people who already have it but give them hope i don't know what it is exactly.

There is something a little odd about wanting to show love to people who you acknowledge already have it.
They do not need your love - perhaps your respect and humility would go a long way. Friendship would be good where that was a real feeling. Curiosity and interest in their ways would be good.
Good will, and good wishes, when sincere, can be felt and do not even need to be expressed in words.
I would hope that you are going for the right reasons. If you are sure you are, then bon voyage!
edit to add: If you are hoping to try and portray yourself as an exception to the typical westerner, then you may be in for a disappointment and possibly worse, at the hands of people who resent your assumptions. I think most people on the ground in the Middle East and anywhere else for that matter know that ordinary people are pretty much the same everywhere; its governments that are corrupt (everywhere). If you go to enjoy and learn, and forget whatever you think your "mission" is, you would be better of in my estimation.

[edit on 2/14/2009 by wayno]

reply to post by deathpoet69

What are the possible dangers and what do i need to do, i will be going with my wife.

I think traveling to another country and spending enough time there to try and understand a different way of life, as well as a different view on it, has many positive benefits...

With that said - You never really explained what you were going to do there...why the training..? And you are going to bring you wife...and traverse the area on a bike?

I really hope you have a solid plan man...these are sketchy times - with or without training...


Good luck man...

Write a will if you plan to go to middle East. Martin Luther King wanted to spread love too.

reply to post by deathpoet69


If youre going through the middle east and Afrika, then I definately recommend some gun training.

i could get some gun training and join a club, i am expecting to learn self defensive very soon, i don't know exactly why i want to travel, it might be out of curiosity and to learn different cultures and show as much respect as i can the world round. I know their will be others who are likely not to accept me even if i am white, I think the eye colour, hair colour change is a brilliant idea as well as learning some Arabic, i would like to go on my own to be honest, i don't know if my wife understands the full dangers of going to these places or may or may not be cut out for it am not to sure on that one.

If i have no gun then why would i need gun training by the way? i don't want to go out while its to difficult at the moment but i feel its a lot more exciting now than it might of been along time ago.

Money is a problem, they will be a tight budget, it be alot like back packing


[edit on 16-2-2009 by deathpoet69]