The reality of the place is often different from media portrayals - as I learnt during the few months I traveled through the middle east! I have to say I didn't feel entirely safe or at ease - yet being in Egypt in the middle of their first democratic election excited me more than scared me! There was such a show of military might at least at the time we were travelling around Israel and we frequently shared the road with tanks and military transport. We were just short of strip searched with the car pulled apart at a Westbank checkpoint so I guess it does depend where you go.

Mind you, it was the tail end of the Arab Spring, Syria had just started started a civil war on their border so hanging around the Golan heights was probably not the smartest idea! As my Dad frequently asked - why do I need to turn overseas trips into an extreme sport!

I would have loved Tel Aviv and Elat but never quite made it!