I’ve traveled throughout the Middle East, including places difficult for US passport holders to get into like Iran. Having heard and read a great deal about Yemen, it was on my dream list – as it is yours or you wouldn’t be visiting this website.
Tina and Walid delivered on everything, including assistance through final departure, which was key. Considering the circumstances, I can’t imagine you’ll get a fairer price for a trip to Yemen that would be vastly more difficult to acquire on your own.
Applying for the visa five weeks from travel put a lot of pressure on Eternal Yemen to come up with a variety of legitimate itineraries. I knew Socotra was safe, but didn’t think I could get into the Hadramawt. Tina proved me wrong.
If you make it to Tarim, spend a little time in the Library. Scholars are happy to show you around and if you’re nice they’ll take you into an adjacent room to see the Cartographic, Geometric and Historical originals of the copies you see on the museum’s walls.
Tina assured me she could secure the visa on her end. She did. She arranged drivers where it was necessary and let me go on my own where it wasn’t. She arranged all the travel permits – a task left only to the most resolute, and lucky, on their own. Eternal Yemen’s drivers used reliable Land Cruisers – you need a 4×4 and driver on Socotra, since you won’t be able to find restricted roads on your own and your travel to the island isn’t complete without a visit to Homhil. In the Hadramawt, a driver and police escort are mandatory. The police escorts encourage you to see the history and culture of their land. The Hadramawt proved safe for women as evidenced by the German couple I crossed paths with in Mukallah as they came south from the Wadi.
Eternal Yemen, with their professionalism, will help you stretch your sleeping bag under the Socotri moon. That’s what you want, isn’t it?