Holiday in Iraq + Taksim Square

MickeyFinns · 17 Jun 2013 at 23:12

I've mentioned it in a couple of threads but last week I visited Iraq on holiday. Quite a few people here enjoyed some blog posts I made about a trip to North Korea I took last year (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18451191) so thought I'd give a heads up on the posts about Iraq as well

.

I've just put up the first post which is actually about visiting Taksim Square in Istanbul during a layover on the way to Iraq but thought some people might find that interesting as well.

Anyway here's the first post, my writing is improving I believe but any criticism is welcomed

.

http://jamesftravel.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/taksim-square-protests-istanbul/

There will be a few Iraq posts that will come in the next week or two.

Cheers for reading!

edit: Bump for the first part being put up:

http://jamesftravel.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/iraqi-kurdistan-part-1-crossing-the-border/

edit: Bump for the second part being put up (3/9/2013):

http://jamesftravel.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/iraqi-kurdistan-part-2-what-is-there-to-see/

Kutter · 17 Jun 2013 at 23:19

That must have been a bit risky.

shaank · 17 Jun 2013 at 23:21

Your travel blogs are pretty epic, I really enjoyed the NK one so I'll be reading this one too

MickeyFinns · 18 Jun 2013 at 07:05

doofski said:
That must have been a bit risky.

Iraq? We stuck to the northern part which is fairly safe and is pretty much separated from the south where a lot of the trouble is.

!bluetonic! · 18 Jun 2013 at 08:27

I enjoyed reading your travel blogs and really admire your adventurous attitude.

I probably think for too much about these things with language barriers, money issues and breaking ancient customs.

I'd probably be in a market in Serbia, lick a carrot suggestively as a joke and end up in prison for 15 years with the option of playing Russian Roulette as a way of buying my freedom.

Maccy · 18 Jun 2013 at 08:37

Brilliant, I really enjoyed the NK one so looking forward to this

valkia · 18 Jun 2013 at 09:16

Not my first choice of destination, must have some balls to go there. Will take a look at the photos

realBabelfish · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:02

wow. are you trying to end your life early? NK then iraq? where next? the sun?

fair play to you though mate, not places i would visit. i guess latin/central america next? why not have fun with the cartels? i will have a read of the blog.

MickeyFinns · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:12

realBabelfish said:
wow. are you trying to end your life early? NK then iraq? where next? the sun?

Haha! Currently got the following slightly sketchy places booked;

August: Tansnistria, a Mafia run breakaway state in Moldova.
October: Turkmenistan, Central Asian dictatorship.
January 2014: Somaliland, the safer region of Somalia.
March 2014: Hopefully Iran for the Nowruz celebrations.

theleg · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:37

You have extraordinarily large testicles sir.

realBabelfish · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:45

MickeyFinns said:
Haha! Currently got the following slightly sketchy places booked;

August: Tansnistria, a Mafia run breakaway state in Moldova.
October: Turkmenistan, Central Asian dictatorship.
January 2014: Somaliland, the safer region of Somalia.
March 2014: Hopefully Iran for the Nowruz celebrations.

can you even get travel insurance for some of those places?

no chance i would go to somalia. as i say, fair play fella. i like a holiday not somewhere i am watching my back.

Uther · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:48

MickeyFinns said:
Haha! Currently got the following slightly sketchy places booked;

August: Tansnistria, a Mafia run breakaway state in Moldova.
October: Turkmenistan, Central Asian dictatorship.
January 2014: Somaliland, the safer region of Somalia.
March 2014: Hopefully Iran for the Nowruz celebrations.

AdladUK · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:54

bigjohnsonrichard said:
You have extraordinarily large testicles sir.

Or just a vast amount of stupidity.

I'm all for an adventurous holiday, but people who go on these "war zone tours" are just looking for temporary highs and seem to give little regard or significance to the atrocities that are happening (or happened) in the countries they visit

theleg · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:55

AdladUK said:
Or just a vast amount of stupidity.

I'm all for an adventurous holiday, but people who go on these "war zone tours" are just looking for temporary highs and seem to give little regard or significance to the atrocities that are happening (or happened) in the countries they visit

I think thats a little unfair..unless you know more about the OP than we do.

AdladUK · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:57

bigjohnsonrichard said:
I think thats a little unfair..unless you know more about the OP than we do.

You're right I don't know exactly what the OP does. However it seems all he's doing with this thread is boasting about how dangerous the places are he's going to.

And I was also talking about the war zone tour mentality in general. I find it very distasteful

Strife212 · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:57

Somalia is probably the place out of those I wouldn't go to.

MickeyFinns · 18 Jun 2013 at 10:59

AdladUK said:
Or just a vast amount of stupidity.

Not really. Every destination I've visited has been perfectly safe and any risks can be mitigated with proper research. Little things like ensuring your taxi from Erbil to Duhok doesn't take the road via Mosul, we solved this problem by knowing the names of the towns of the route we wanted to take, confirmed all these with the driver and then used a GPS to ensure we took the correct route, if we'd started to go in the wrong direction at any point we could have just refused to get back in the car at the next military checkpoint.

Again all of my upcoming destinations are safe as well, people just assume they're dangerous.

AdladUK · 18 Jun 2013 at 11:00

I mean if you're going to North Korea for example then make a documentary about the ongoing atrocities there. Don't just go for a kick and to boast to your friends that you've "been to North Korea."

Why on Earth would you want to pump money into an economy that has millions of people in forced labor camps?

Just my take on it

Cosimo · 18 Jun 2013 at 11:01

Looking forward to this.

Is all this travel just done for fun?

MickeyFinns · 18 Jun 2013 at 11:01

AdladUK said:
You're right I don't know exactly what the OP does. However it seems all he's doing with this thread is boasting about how dangerous the places are he's going to.

And I was also talking about the war zone tour mentality in general. I find it very distasteful

I don't see how I'm boasting, I started writing up my trips because a lot of people seem interested in them.

None of these locations are war zones. Visiting somewhere like southern Iraq, southern Afghanistan or eastern Somalia would be naive and self endagerment.