That's often the case - you hear that a country is either Eden, or hell on earth; you very rarely hear about the 'other side of the coin' in these places.

UAE (Dubai in particular) rely on tourism, so do everything to keep things quiet. It isn't quite as civilised as you might think or be led to believe.

Places like the UAE & Qatar generally seem fairly safe, at least we never hear of any trouble there, but I'd definitely give the rest of the Middle East a very wide berth for years to come.

I spent time in the ME and to be fair I enjoyed it. But, you never forgot where you were, stayed away from crowds and took great care with personal security.

Turkey's been off my list for several years now - especially with the situation next door in Syria.

You wouldn't catch me travelling out there at the moment.

A dangerous situation, but could have been a lot worse:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36818401