camsean

Iran: I spent six weeks in Iran and is probably my favourite country that I've visited (out of 40+). Iranians are very hospitable and there is a huge amount of historical sites and things to see. I didn't really get a wiff of any gay stuff during my time there.

Syria: Also a great country to visit. Lots of things to do and places to see. Much more cruisy and many more possibilities for meeting people.

I would really encourage anyone to visit these two countries.

Cedar Jet

Firstly Lebanon is NOT syria for those that included Beirut in their syria entry. There is no comparison. Beirut has opportunties for gays which are unoficially tollerated and THE most liberal country in the region. Nite clubs, hamams etc are available. syria has many guys looking however no real venues per se and secret police who follow the secret police.

Beirut is the party city of the ME, when the sitation is calm. Dubai is the flavour of the month in the region if not the world but has nothing on Beirut's natural joire de vivre(spelling?)

Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is their party city and the most liberal(still very strict by western standards). There is the corniche walk which is cruisy of an evening when it cools down. Saudis dont seem to sleep..its busy all hours!

Riyadh just go to your hotel health club which is 100% male and meet all the guys you want. You will be spotted by the locals, who are that way inclined, as a non Saudi in light speed. I always stayed at Al Faysaliah Hotel in Olaya, Riyadh's poshest suburb supposedly. Walk outside and directly behind it around the block is the Sarbucks cafe which is cruisy as I found out by surprise. I was offered a massage by an Egyptian expat, a coffee and chat by 2 saudi locals-very 'friendly' indeed. I have to admit I was dressed as a westener and while of mediterranean heritage stood out as non Saudi. A Saudi even offered to have me stay in his house while flying in on SV in F class...looked very wealthy and 90 yrs old-of course I declined.

SV is a very good airline and yes most of the crew are male. There are females, however, they are mostly indonesians/malays. and yep they are covered up in flight but just a little more than the GF or EK uniform head dress. SV dont take theirs off inflight as do GF and EK.

Of my 7 trips so far into KSA I have never been searched, the Saudis are mostly very polite and welcoming. If you're an Indian labour worker arriving on Air India its a very different matter(appauling treatment). My Flights on SV or GF are treated MUCH better as are most arabs and westeners. There was an MEA flight at one time whic had arrived at RUH with many very pretty Lebanese girls who grabbed the attention of the customs staff so much that queues just stopped while we waited for them to stop fighting over who was going to man the MEA immigration lines! Was a real laugh-which tells you about the sexual frustrations of many there.

Checking in for your flights is hell, even as a premium pax so be warned. Arriving is very orderly.The first thing that will get you is the segregation of males and females as you walk into the terminal from the aerobridge, unless you are married or with your sister or mum.
I like visiting there.

Enjoy

ironmanjt

LOL, I love all the American perspectives on this thread....so constructive

holtju2

Just ended this three month holiday last Sunday with a hurricane in New Orleans.

Unfortunately I didn't get to go as many Muslim countries that I had originally planned. Also missed my AC flight YYZ-HAV and did not want to hang around in YYZ for additional 2 days.

LAX-NRT-SIN-BKK-SIN-MLE-SIN-KUL-BKK-FRA-HEL-FRA-KWI-DXB-SVO-YYZ-YUL-YYZ-SVO-DXB-IST-CAI-BAH-KTM-BAH-AMM-DAM-PRG-HEL-FRA-SIN-BKK-HKG-SIN-CMB-SIN-AKL-RAR-AKL-HKG-BKK-REP//PNH-BKK-SIN-FRA-BUD-FCO-JFK-DFW-MSY-DEN-LAX

No. You won't get a written trip report.

thepointsguy

That itinerary makes me dizzy/ jetlagged/ jealous. Just curious- were you on award tix? It doesn't seem like RTWs would be eligible with that crazy routing!

I don't think any of us would have time to read a trip report.. but any notable stories?

98103

George Bush has his Axis of Evil, this holiday sounds like The Axis of the Brotherhood of Keeping It in your Travelling Pants.

Flying Buccaneer

^ Good one. However, I think we have to salute holtju2 for surviving the itinerary, and condemn him for the lack of a trip report!

kyushuman

OK, then a teaser.... best 3 and worst 3 from a gay point of view?
Or 3 biggest surprises?
:P

bostontraveler

Are you kidding? I went on an Italian one so no issues (well, a wink from the delicious customs official :-)

holtju2

Actually RTW's have become rather limited nowadays due to the dumber of flight coupons. RTW's used to be almost entirely mileage based and how many stops one could have on a continent/zone. Due to the "limitations" on etickets most of the RTW's can now be only 16 flight coupons.

Actually my itinerary had 9 awards tickets and 6 paid ones.

holtju2

To be honest with you nothing surprises me any longer. I can have so much fund in boring destinations and feel miserable in "hot" ones.

Anyway it never ceases to amaze me how hospitable the pacific islanders are. Half of the male population has to be gay/bi.

On my trips I have learned that it is really up to me how well I do at any destination.

The "highlight" of this trip was my flight from AKL-LHR on NZ that has a technical stop in HKG. Upon deboarding the plane @ HKG I informed the ground personnel that I am not going to continue to LHR on that day and could they please offload my luggage.

Also the customs/immigration @ AKL was very throughout. Actually the most throughout customs/immigration experience so far in my life. They didn't like the fact that someone with a Finnish passport would only spend a night in Auckland. Anyway these two young guys were very friendly and nice once they realized that they had wrong person "picked" up. This process took an hour.

Also I never want to be too anal about the trip. This was a three month trip and I had the framework mentally planned before leaving the US but I wanted to have as much flexibility as possible. So I just continued to make flight bookings throughout the trip.

As a matter of fact the first leg of the trip was booked and ticketed two days before departure.

holtju2

Have to say that Siem Reap was way more international that I could have ever imagined. Didn't had too much, although some, with the local bit the place is very popular with Europeans ans Australians.

Also the booze at the bars were about the same price as in New Orleans when I was "attending" Tulane.