Two flights a week, a permit only an operator can arrange and a season set by the monsoon: how to decide whether Socotra's alien landscape is a trip you should take, and how to plan it if so.
A first visit to Petra works best when its ticket rules, long walking routes and separate night show are planned as one decision, rather than a hurried Treasury stop.
The valley behind a thousand Mars film shoots cannot be self-driven or improvised; the choices that matter are which camp, which jeep tour, and which season to book.