“You went to Syria???”
“Are you crazy???”
That’s what my friends said after i returned from Syria.
In reality, you can travel to high-risk country if you made proper preparation for the trip. Here’s what i did:-
Before trip
- Read local news about the country that you plan to go. In my case, i read the Syria’s local news to find out the latest updates of the conflicts there. At that time, there were some skirmishes in Suwayda (south of Syria) and my destination is Damascus so it should safe as long as I don’t travel thru Suwayda.
- Get in touch with foreign people (in my case, Syrian people) living in your country to ask for opinions and travel tips. I searched for Syrians community living in Malaysia and met them and get their advices for my trip. I intend to give donations to the needy and one of them advised me to donate directly to any mosques over there instead of donating to the NGOs.
- Contact fellow travelers who visited that country. I searched for travel posts related to Syria in Backpacker Buddies Malaysia fb group and DM those traveler to get their travel experience.
- Get in touch with student community in that country (in my case, malaysian students studying in Syria ). Normally students provide cheaper alternative for tour package and accommodation.
- Contact bus operator of the target city. I entered Syria via Jordan by bus. Before the trip i contacted them to understand the security situation there and they said the trip is running as usual
During the trip
- Tag along with travelers going to the same destination. I went to the Abdali bus station in Amman to survey the bus ticket to Damascus. Then i met malaysian atudents who are travelling to syria and tag along with them since they already have tour plans and its cheaper to travel by group.
All in all, Syrian people are very welcoming and were more excited when they know I am from Malaysia. Even the Syrians in Malaysia encouraged me to visit their country and some of them even told me its perfectly safe over there.
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