It's time to leave this wonderful country today for Ankara.We were a little concerned that our flight would be cancelled as we'd heard that the volcano cloud from Iceland was heading in our direction and that flights had already been stopped in Istanbul.So much for our smugness earlier in the week as we laughed at the stranded passengers across the globe.'We're safe here we told ourselves'.A quick check online, though put any fears we had to rest so we looked forward to a quiet flight to Turkey; well nobody else was travelling.Jumana accompanied us to the airport to ease the departure process and despite the fact that our flight was leaving at 1605, we found ourselves still queuing at check-in at 1525 with check-in attendants nowhere to be seen.After making some enquiries, Maria moved to the adjacent queue, Austrian Air to Vienna, on a tip off that it was really the Ankara check-in, and we bemused our fellow queuing passengers by essentially queue jumping and getting our boarding passes first.

So, as we set foot aboard our aeroplane, our enduring thoughts of Syria are not of Orpheus Travel, the terrible guides, lack of organisation and missed attractions.Instead, we find ourselves in love with this magical country so filled with amazing history and culture and a warmth that you would never find in Europe.The people are kind and generous and the food is delicious and inviting.We have had so little time to explore and learn that we will definitely be coming back in the very near future.