Common mistakes travellers make in Syria

There is nothing new on this page. It is a list distilled from the guides on this site: where travellers most often come unstuck, each in one line. Beside each one is the page that goes into it. Made to be read once before you leave and once more beside the packed bag.

Planning

Coming in the wrong season. Midday in July and August is closed to open-air walking inland and in the desert — the season page.
Cramming too much into one day. It is checkpoint waits and closed halls that eat the day, not distance — the length page.
Not accounting for Friday midday. Mosque courtyards belong to prayer then, and the plan moves elsewhere.
Filling the arrival and departure days. Neither is a day out; leave the departure day empty.
Going to a museum without confirming. Which hall is open today is published nowhere central — the museums page.

Money

Arriving with too little cash. Foreign cards do not work and ATMs pay out nothing; what you bring is all the money you have — the money page.
Confusing old and new pounds. 100 old pounds are 1 new pound, so an old price online looks a hundred times today’s.
Bringing worn or old-series notes. They are refused, or taken at a poor rate — the exchange page.
Changing money in the street. The rate looks good, the transaction leaves no receipt and is formally illegal; receipts are asked for on the way out.

On the road

Picking up your phone at a checkpoint. This is almost always what turns a two-minute stop into something longer — the security page.
Driving between cities at night. Lighting is out, checkpoints are more cautious, and help is far away if something breaks.
Stepping off the asphalt and paved ground. Unexploded ordnance remains a risk in thinly populated countryside; do not leave the road without a guide.
Not settling what the driver’s price includes. Fuel, meals, waiting time and going beyond the city all appear separately in the evening.

Conduct

Taking a portrait without asking. Military sites, checkpoints and government buildings are not photographed at all — the photography page.
Not dressing for the building. Shoulders and knees have to be covered to enter a religious site — the dress page.
Getting into political argument, or posting political content. Move away from any demonstration you come across.
Asking about identity. “What do you speak” and “where are you from” look innocent and turn into another question here — the languages page.

Documents and connection

Not downloading the map and dictionary for offline use. Coverage drops outside the cities — the SIM card page.
Not carrying a passport copy and a photo of the entry stamp. Hotels can keep the passport at reception — the emergencies page.
Buying a policy without reading it. Ask in writing about treatment and medical evacuation under a travel warning — the safety decision page.

The mistake underneath all of them

Most of the twenty items above come from one place: treating the country as a single thing. On the same day there can be ten degrees between the coast and the desert in Syria, and an entirely different daily life two neighbourhoods apart. A plan resting on one news report, one friend’s account or one page goes wrong for that reason.

The remedy is simple and free: ask. Ask the hotel owner about tomorrow’s road, the traders about which arm of the souq is open, the driver about what time you should leave. No page on this site can know the state of that particular morning. Someone standing there does.