Just got back from Baghdad

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Sounds like a pretty awesome trip Micky, I’d love to go at some point in my life.

But seeing as I do quite a bit of travelling within the USA for business etc. Having an Iraqi stamp on my passport probably would ban me from entering America. Maybe not such a bad thing with the crap fest over there but at the moment it would kill me financially.

One of my very good friends went to Canada back in August and was meant to meet one her friends in Seattle. But she was turned away at the American border due to her having been to Iraq to bury her mother there. They also told her that her daughters would also be banned from entering America as well. Bit harsh I thought but it’s as I say, their country their laws no matter how disgusting they are.

It makes you ineligible for the ESTA but doesn't ban you. I'm about to get a US tourist visa as I've been to 6 of the 7 banned countries, but it lasts 10 years and gets approved instantly. I've got a colleague with 4 Somalia visits, 20 North Korea visits, 6 Iraq visits who get the visa no issue.
 
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Which country is the 7th and do you plan to visit it in future to get the full set? :)

Ah seems the list has changed, I've not been to Syria or Yemen. Almost went to Damascus last weekend but visa approval fell through. We've got a huge number of people desperate to go to Yemen, we are trying to get access to Socotra island. In these travel clubs there's a lot of people stuck on 191 or 192 out of 193 UN member states visited as Yemen is so tough to visit, plus Americans can't go to Syria or North Korea currently.
 
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Yemen is so tough to visit, plus Americans can't go to Syria or North Korea currently.

Out of interest do you have an Irish passport and if so do you think it is easier to travel with the passport of a neutral country than with say a UK or US one?

Have you been to some of the states not recognised by the UN? For example some of anomalies existing from the breakup of the Soviet Union such as Transnistria in Moldova or the two states in Georgia?

I guess there are the two breakaway areas/"republics" of Ukraine to tick off the list too now?

Lastly, do people try to tick Sealand off their list too? :D

https://www.sealandgov.org
 
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Out of interest do you have an Irish passport and if so do you think it is easier to travel with the passport of a neutral country than with say a UK or US one?

Have you been to some of the states not recognised by the UN? For example some of anomalies existing from the breakup of the Soviet Union such as Transnistria in Moldova or the two states in Georgia?

I guess there are the two breakaway areas/"republics" of Ukraine to tick off the list too now?

Lastly, do people try to tick Sealand off their list too? :D

https://www.sealandgov.org

Yeah I'm dual national, UK and Irish, so have two passports. Irish is better for some places like Iran and Russia, but then as I live in London the UK passport is better for places that require you to get a visa in your home country like Saudi.

Yeah I've been to quite a few breakaway states and autonomous regions, my employer specialises in trips to those too. I've been to Transnistria twice, Abkhazia once, South Ossetia twice, Nagorno Karabakh, Nakchivan, three trips to Somaliland, twice to Chechnya and Dagestan, twice to Iraqi Kurdistan. We can't really do the Ukrainian ones as we work with the government of Ukraine to run our trips into Chernobyl. If we begun Crimea or Donetsk tours we'd lose our Chernobyl license.

Edit: been emailing Sealand for 7 years with no luck. Ben Foglw went recently which was frustrating!!
 
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