Awards and distinctions

After six months on the road, visiting some of the greatest cities and sites on the planet, we self-administered a survey and are ready to hand-out a few awards and distinctions. We only visited 11 of the roughly 200 countries in the world, and our answers are highly subjective!

1. Favourite sites

• Taj Mahal, India
• Wadi Rum, Jordan
• Golden Temple, India
• Crac des Chevaliers and Saladin's castles, Syria
• Haghia Sofia, Turkey
• Pyramids, Egypt
• Jodphur Fort, India
• Cappadocia, Turkey

2. Favourite cities

• Istanbul, Turkey
• Beirut, Lebanon
• Damascus, Syria
• London, UK
• Cairo, Egypt
• Florence, Italy

3. Favourite Beaches

• Railay, Thailand
• Bodrum, Turkey
• Kabak, Turkey
• Bamboo Bay, Ko Lanta, Thailand

4. Most useful travel items

• unlocked mobile phone
• universal sink plug

5. Ideal day of eating

• Breakfast: Turkish (olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, boiled eggs, bread, apricot jam).
• Lunch: Napoli pizza or Chang Mai noodle soup and mango sticky rice
• Dinner: Peshwari Afghan lamb kebabs and Dal makhani.
• Dessert: Glouchestershire cheese plate or Turkish baclava and puddings.
• Night snack: Syrian chicken shawarma, from Medan St. in Damascus.

6. Best style and fashion

• Men: London, England.
• Women: anywhere in Italy.

7. Funniest moment

• Caroline: watching Jerome get his second nerdy bowl cut/reverse mullet/military buzz by a Syrian barber in two weeks due to serious communication breakdown. He just went in for a beard trim.
• Jerome: religious Islamic song editing for the US market in a Russian cosmetics office in Damascus. Click here for full story.

8. Favourite mode of transport

• Caroline: Movenpick Radamis II Five-Star Nile Cruiser
• Jerome: Mr. India, the best camel on the Pakistan-India border

9. Favourite markets

• Aleppo souq, Syria
• Urfa souq, Turkey

10. Favourite museums

• Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep, Turkey
• German National History Museum, Berlin
• Borghese Gallery, Rome

11. Favourite hotels

• Baron Hotel, Aleppo, Syria
• Windsor Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
• Elif Star, Goreme, Turkey
• Shahi Palace, Jaisalmer, India
• Seventh Heaven, Pushkar, India
• Sultan's Inn, Istanbul, Turkey

12. Favourite drinks

• Blackberry juice in Damascus
• Lemon juice in Egypt
• BEER in Germany
• Coconut shakes in Thailand
• Masala chai on the train in India
• Ayran in Turkey

13. Favourite shisha cafes

• Kurdish militia tea house on Edgeware road in London
• Erenler Chai Bahcesi Tea Garden, bazaar district, Istanbul

14. Best baclava in the world

• Karakoy Gulluoglu, Karakoy district, Istanbul, Turkey

15. Next destinations

• Cuba, Greece, Iran, Venezuela, China, Cape Breton Island