What Sets Meet The Middle East Apart From The Rest?
When you choose MTME to guide you on your journey through the Middle East, you are choosing excellence. Inspired by the magnificence of the Middle East, MTME has crafted beautiful itineraries to indulge your senses and curiosity about the region.
With every detail, MTME strives to make your journey memorable and life changing. Through our intimate sized tours, MTME is able to offer competitive pricing and individual attention not only while on your journey, but before and after as well.
How Can I Get The Most Out of My Experience?
In addition to our 10 day immersion itineraries, MTME offers a menu to supplement excursions and activities. These are not required to participate in the Young Professionals Expedition program, but rather an excellent way to enhance your overall experience.
Learn:
Meet the Middle East offers countless opportunities for our community to expand their knowledge about the Middle East without ever leaving Denver! Click the button below to navigate to our Classes and Events page where we list opportunities such as cooking classes, cultural events, speakers and academic courses about the geopolitical situation of the Middle East.
LearnExcursions and Volunteerism:
Young Professionals have the opportunity to sign up for a 3-4 day excursion at the end of their 10 day immersion trip to further deepen their cultural experience in the region. Please note, some of these excursions are now included in the Young Professionals Excursion and others are optional additions to the 11 days itinerary.
Petra, Jordan
A three-day expedition that is offered to those who participate in any of our Young Professionals Expedition. MTME guides participants to one of the oldest trade routes in the world. Nestled in the cliffs of southern Jordan, Petra is famous for its magnificent façade cut into the rock. This massive engineering wonder is believed to be built in 312 BCE and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Petra was chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 28 Places to See Before You Die. While in Petra, participants will have the opportunity to hike into the hidden city and explore these ancient ruins.
Travelers will spend one night in a luxurious Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum, Jordan, famous for its majestic scenery; it was the backdrop to the classic movie Lawrence of Arabia. One full day is spent exploring Petra, and one day on the white beaches of the Red Sea, riding camels, jeep rides and an Arabic cooking class.
Hurghada, Egypt, Again in 2019!
This three-day expedition to the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt will transport you to one of the hottest vacation destinations for Europeans, the Arab world, and beyond. This exotic location comes complete with white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, hospitality beyond belief, and some of the top ranked scuba diving and snorkeling sites in the world.
Mini Service Project
If you or your group are interested in building in a volunteer opportunity or mini-service project during your trip, MTME will work with you to find the right fit. Past organizations that have traveled with MTME have asked us to organize a mini-service project that has translated into various activities like repainting a playground in Bethlehem to planting olive trees in the West Bank.
What is Included in the Cost?
Our eleven-day Young Professional Expedition is all inclusive of all expenses except international airfare, travel insurance and alcoholic beverages. All International travel outside of specified program dates is not included in the price. MTME does not pay for additional individual excursions & activities, hotels & meals outside of program days.
Single supplement is available for a surcharge.
Included in the price:
- 2 Regional experts to lead group throughout entire trip;
- All meals, snacks & beverages, emphasis on authentic, local cuisine;
- All entrance fees, honoraria, guides, trip lectures, activities and excursions;
- Double-occupancy room with private bathroom and shower;
- Private transportation in modern, air conditioned bus;
- One pre-travel prep class and one post-travel re-entry class;
- Two-day Jordan excursion to Petra and Red Sea.
For further pricing information, contact Iman at iman@meetthemiddleeast.org.
2019 Travel Opportunities:
Young Professionals Expedition: The Holy Land and Jordan, with an Optional Excursion to Egypt
- June 21-29, Optional Egypt Excursion from June 29 - July 4 (does not include travel days)
We recommend for participants to leave the US before the first day of programing.
Young Professional Expedition Information Session:
- TBD 6:00pm-7:30pm (Contact us for more information)
Join Meet the Middle East for an informational session as we take you through the exciting itinerary and explain all of the travel details you will need to know. The informational session will be held at the Meet the Middle East offices at the Posner Center for International Development at 1031 33rd St. Denver, CO 80205.
Pre-Trip Preparation Session:
Meet the Middle East will host a pre-trip preparation session to help you better prepare for your upcoming journey to the Middle East. We will go over the final itinerary, cultural norms, contact information, lodging information and so much more!
Post Trip Re-Entry Session Date:
Sometimes one of the most difficult parts of your experience may be re-entry. You may find it hard to processes much of what you have learned or seen and expressing that to your friends and family can be challenging. MTME offers a post-trip session to help our participants with that process by equipping you with the tools and language to communicate your views effectively. While this session is not mandatory, MTME highly encourages our participants to attend.
I Am Interested!
To sign up for one of our trips, classes or for further information, please contact Iman Jodeh at iman@meetthemiddleeast.org to get the process started!
My Group/Organization Is Interested!
If you are a private group or organization that would like to work with MTME to lead you to the Middle East, then you have come to the right place!
MTME is able to customize what type of trip you are most interested in and would like to focus on while on the ground. Some of these areas of focus may range from religion, history, archeology or politics.
To customize your future trip to the country of your choice, please contact Iman Jodeh at iman@meetthemiddleeast.org.
Know Before You Go
Is It Safe?
Safety is MTME’s first and foremost concern – ahead of education, experience, or fun. While travel abroad or nationally always presents some element of risk, MTME leaders have been leading trips to the region since 2007 without incident, bringing students as young as fourteen and adult learners in their eighties to experience the incredible richness of the region.
- Participants are accompanied by MTME staff at all times, day and night.
- MTME strongly urges participants to purchase travel insurance in the event a health or environmental emergency were to arise.
- Travel is provided by modern and safe busses.
- Lodging is clean and secure.
- Fluent in all local languages.
- MTME contacts in each region visited
Registration
Participants wishing to register with one of MTME’s travel programs should submit a $350 deposit by the advertised due date for each group. These dates vary by group, so please make sure you are aware of all important payment dates for your trip.
Payments
Payment due dates for each program will be published on each program page at least six months in advance. Meet the Middle East accepts Visa, Master Card, Discover and American Express. Please make checks out to Meet the Middle East with the traveler’s name in the memo line. Please note, there is an approximate 2.8% service charge for all major credit cards.
You trip must be paid in full by the adversities payment due dates and before the scheduled departure.
Cancellations & Refunds
Meet the Middle East is unable to provide refunds to participants who cancel before departure. Therefore MTME strongly urge you to purchase travel insurance.
Most comprehensive trip insurance policies will cover any medical emergency, trip interruptions or trip cancellations. However, we strongly encourages that you purchase the “cancel for no reason” option to protect your investment in the program as no refunds can be issued by Meet the Middle East. The average cost for these policies described is $150. MTME does not offer any insurance plans to its participants and it is the responsibility of each traveler to cover their own trip.
No partial refunds will be granted for unused hotel rooms, meals, or other scheduled activities. MTME trips are quoted as a package and credits are not given for unused portions.
MTME reserves the right to cancel a trip due to dangerous political situations.
Health & Wellness
All participants should expect to walk extensively on some days in mild to hot temperatures. Each traveler should be able to carry their own suitcase, walk and stand over the course of four hours at a time, and potentially be prepared to hear very low street noise in their hotel rooms.
All participants are obligated to fill out and sign a Risks, Responsibilities Agreement and Release form, acknowledging that you will inform MTME staff about any pre-existing physical, mental, or emotional disability that may require attention or treatment. Failing to report this important information could result in your expulsion from trip at your expense, including any fees that may have incurred during any event leading up to said expulsion.
Itineraries are Subject to Change
As you can imagine, the Middle East is an ever changing place and to insure our participant’s safety and that of our staff, we are constantly looking two steps ahead on our itinerary. If we feel that it is simply unsafe, we will change the itinerary. On occasion, sites will be closed for renovation or we will have to work around holy days, or a speaker will unexpectedly cancel. In events like these, we will either reschedule or have a backup activity for our participants.
Single Supplements
Our trips are priced as double occupancy. Our student and programs will also have triple and quadruple rooms. if you wish to have your own room there is a single supplement charge. This charge varies per group. Please ask a MTME staff member for further information.
One Carry On Bag Per Person
Please do not exceed more than one carry on sized bag and backpack/daypack per person. A good rule of thumb – pack everything you think you need, reassess, and then take out half of what you originally put in!
No smoking
All of our programs are smoke free during group meals, tours, bus rides and in hotel rooms. If you choose to smoke outside, please do so at a respectful distance that does not disrupt the group.
DO NOT USE ILLEGAL DRUGS OR ALCOHOL
Meet the Middle East has a zero tolerance policy for drugs for all participants during the trip. There is also a zero tolerance policy for alcohol for our participants that are minors during the trip. If you chose to use drugs or alcohol it will result in your immediate expulsion of the trip at the expense of your parent/guardian.