Advice for travelling to Islamic Republic of Iran

Lorri

Hi all, I'm not a member of this forum.. so I'm sorry if this treads on anyones toes.. I also accept that this is a spiritual and religious group focusin onyour interest in Islam... BUT ... and I hope you are still with me here....

Given that the advise I am looking for relates to travelling to Iran and its an Islamic republic I'm hoping you might be able to help me prepare properly for the experience.

Myself and 3 others from a camera club are planning to travel to Iran in March / April, we are all keen hobbyist photographers (my site http://www.lorraingilligan.com )
and we are interested in going there with a view to exploring the major cities, places of culture and looking at life really.

I am hoping some of you might advise me.. I have been researching on the internet and have managed to get a few reasonable books with some travel phrases in Farsi, but its never the same as hearing directly from people with experience of the situation, so I hope its ok to ask here. I'm trying to inform myself about cultural and religious aspects of travelling when we get there and regarding meeting people, we really want to avoid casuing any offense through our ignorance, or lack of awareness.

I willl be the only woman travelling(my husband will be in the group), and I am aware that I will need to dress appropriately, but was hoping you help me with clothing advice, where I could buy suitable clothing before I travel, how I can interact with people when I am there and in general some tips from your knowledge and experiences which might be useful for me and my friends.

Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.. and sorry to interrupt.

Lorraine

BuffyBot

Travel/Holidays forum would probably be more appropriate, there has been a few threads there previously about Iran. http://wikitravel.org/en/Iran has some useful information.