1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Sitting in a cafe in Palmyra, watching Man Utd v. Barcelona! Which I really wouldn't have expected to be the highlight but the locals were so friendly and welcoming, despite communication being solely by names of football teams and players.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Factor 50 sunblock isn't strong enough!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

More so in Syria than Jordan. In Jordan, we were in minibuses rather than on public transport and I felt that we were isolated from the actual culture.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

Wonderful!

Read the operator's response here:

While in all of our destinations it is our intention to enable our travellers to mix as much as possible with local people, on occasions we do need to use private rather than public transport. This can be for a number of reasons but is usually related to the fact that public buses don't always serve the routes and destinations that we visit on an itinerary, or do so too infrequently or at too awkward a time to make the trip viable. This is particularly the case in Jordan where for example to go from Wadi Musa to a desert camp in Wadi Rum would not be possible by public transport.

We do nevertheless always try to use public transport where possible as we feel this offers our travellers an excellent insight into local culture as well as great opportunities to meet and interact with local people - one of the highlights of any trip.

I had a wonderful time in Jordan and I will definitely book another holiday with you. Since I didn't have time to plan my holiday and didn't have enough time to travel the country with local means of transport, as I usually do, I decided to join a group. I would describe myself as sociable but still I only had travelled in a group once before and it was awful.

This time was different: we started as a group of five people: from the start we understood each other perfectly. When the rest of the group joined us in Aqaba, I mingled with a few more people of the other group, that left me with at least seven new friends from four different countries. Matt, Naim and Alah , the tour leader, the local guide and the driver, did a terrific job.

To your questions

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The most memorable part of my holiday was (needless to say ;-)): Petra

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Tips for other travellers: if you expect an higher standard of accommodation book a luxury travel instead of blaming your tour leader !!!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Minimized impact on the environment: yes
Beneficial to local people: to some extent

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

****: you get four stars. Thanks again for an unforgettable experience