Middle East

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 361st issue of your monthly overseas travel magazine. This is our 30th anniversary issue!

At the base of a pyramid near Cairo, Egypt, in January ’05, a young boy approached my wife, Mary, and me and asked if we would buy souvenirs. We smiled and said “No.” He thanked us for not ignoring him, gave Mary a small turquoise beetle and said, “You have a nice day. Smile at everyone you meet. This is for you for good luck. Good-bye.”

My wife, Carol, and I booked a 54-night cruise on Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Black Watch, leaving Jan. 5, 2005, from Southampton, England, and arriving Feb. 28 in Sydney, Australia.

Having completed a cruise on the Caledonian Canal, the Betty and Dick Wood's Scottish journey continues with an Orkney Islands extension.

Following a tour of the lovely city of Inverness, a group of 10 of us boarded a 37-passenger turboprop plane for a flight to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.

After Nancy Stott of Walnutport, Pennsylvania, asked readers to write about their experiences arranging around-the-world itineraries with airline alliances, we received a number of responses and printed several in last month’s issue. One reader took the task to heart, and we’re printing a portion of her letter here.

If you have anything to add on the subject, write to Flying Around the World, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address at which you receive ITN).

by Ian McGary, Mountain View, CA

Continued from last month's "Incredible India — The North"

In September ’05, my wife and I began a trip that was supposed to last six and a half weeks and cover Jordan, Egypt and Libya. The arrangements were made by Rita Zawaideh, president of Caravan-Serai Tours (3806 Whitman Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103; phone 800/451-8097 or visit www.caravan-serai.com).

To save time and expense, Rita arranged for us to obtain our visas upon arrival in each country, procured a special Letter of Invitation for Libya and arranged for a representative to be waiting in Tripoli to assist us in processing our visas.

In October-November ’05, Americans arriving on ships were being denied entry into Libya and Libyan waters. Despite proper visa applications, the ships Sea Cloud, Le Levant, Le Ponant and Marco Polo were told not to enter Libyan waters since the majority of passengers were Americans. The Minerva, with mainly European passengers, was allowed to dock, but the 48 Americans were not permitted to disembark.

It is Nov. 6 and I am in Crete. Now, instead of visiting Libya, we will go to Sicily and Tunisia.

M.A.

Most know that Hollywood made Cleopatra famous with movies of her romantic trysts with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony, but historians generally view Arab Queen Zenobia as having greater beauty, chastity and valor than her Egyptian ancestor. But who was Zenobia?

During the third century A.D., Rome was challenged by Persia (Iran). As Roman Palmyra, in Syria’s eastern desert, had twice defeated Persia, Rome permitted Palmyra to gradually change from a merchant republic, governed by a senate, to a kingdom.