 |
|
This IHT article narrates the adventures of a U.S. tour group in Iraq.
Considering there is still a war raging there, people who decide to travel to Iraq are either really brave or insane, depending on how you look at it. For people who love escaping the tourist masses, that definitely won’t be an issue in that country.
One traveler in the article was quoted as saying, “I get my best travel ideas from the State Department’s travel warning list.” Adventurous vagabonder, or a possible “anti-tourist”? Rolf described such people in his book Vagabonding. They conspicuously avoid the popular sights, but out of a sense of superiority, not exploration.
Mosque in Iraq, from Pictureninja.com
Have you met any travelers like this? What drives people like this to seek out the “edgier” destinations?
March 27th, 2009 at 1:02 am
I’ve certainly met plenty of anti-tourist snobs. While I like escaping the crowds as much as the next guy, it drives me nuts when people refuse to go to anywhere your average person might consider. While large hordes will ruin almost any great attraction, there’s plenty of wonderful places that attract large but manageable numbers of tourists.
Anyway, turns out I’m more a fan of going places that sound dangerous, but aren’t. Syria was a great one for that – probably the safest country in the area yet it’s the one that people’s eyes pop at. It was Egypt, where most people have seriously considered going that we encountered bombs. I’m curious where in Iraq these folks were going, actually, because I know that there have been tourists heading to the north for a few years now. Despite a brief Turkish invasion, Iraqi Kurdistan is probably a perfectly reasonable destination, no different than many other developing countries where something might go to hell, but probably won’t.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I don’t personally choose traveling routes based on what the State Dept. recommends not doing. However, there are some valid reasons for doing so.
Some people, for example, travel to countries the US government says are “bad” in order to actually see for themselves. Predictably, the situation often doesn’t resemble the government position, then the traveler returns, talks to people about their travel, and it’s a good thing.
March 31st, 2009 at 1:36 pm
[...] to head to war zone destinations like Iraq? The answer is of course, not many. But, as Marcus pointed out last week, there are some tourists already marking Iraq as a [...]