Lonely Planet guidebooks have inevitably become the kind of extra weight I rarely want to put in my backpack anymore. Why? Because they lead a traveler to the same ol’ tired paths everybody else is going to: a kind of one way ticket for jaded travel entertainment made up of bars, guesthouses and a bunch...

There are some places in the world where we, as travelers, or as humans, are discouraged from going. First of all there is Afghanistan, the mother of all evil. Then comes Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Iran, and a few more monsters on the list. I did not expect that Turkey was on it, too. But...

Towers of Lalish. Photo by Lucina Kathmann The Middle East has always been one of those areas that intrigued me. I was surprised to read that there is even a nascent tourism industry in Iraq, of all places. Iraqi Kurdistan has been promoting itself as " The Other Iraq ," and with good reason. Kurdistan...