Just got back from Baghdad

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 10:09

Hi all!

I know a few people have always enjoyed reports from some of the more unusual trips I end up doing. I've just got home from visiting Baghdad and Saudi Arabia. Baghdad was to research as a tourist destination for my employer and Saudi was to escort a tour group around the country. I've linked to a gallery of some pictures from Baghdad as well as the shrines at Karbala and also Saddam's palace at Babylon

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Full gallery
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/H9BWAN6

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 10:24

subbytna said:
Balls of ~~steel~~ titanium to go to that country.

It's not as bad as you might think. Baghdad is getting more stable and the kidnap risk is low right now. I've been to Iraq a few times before but only to Kurdistan in the north, this was my first time in Federal Iraq.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 13:22

FTM said:
anywhere where you need an armed guard to go on holiday is not what I would call a relaxed destination

You don't need an armed guard in the areas I visited, I personally lean on the low profile side of security anyway, armored vehicles and guards just do more of making you a target. I almost went to Mogadishu last year which was the only time I'd hired guards, but had to cancel the trip.

Nasher said:
Iran and Iraq used to be places to visit a long time ago. But ridiculous stuff like the "Islamic revolution" in Iran put a stop to that and sent them backwards.

233 said:
wish it would calm down a bit out there as I'd imagine it would be a great place to visit.

Both are still great places to visit. There's a lot of tourists in Iran, just not so many UK, US and Canadian ones due to the travel restrictions. I've been to Iran twice myself and seen coach tours of French, Italian and Greek people in there 60s bobbing around.

Iraq is far less visited, but the Kurdistan region gets a decent amount of tourists (my employer takes in about 4 groups of 18 people a year).

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 14:53

Scam said:
Really? Call me naive but as a white British man I'd imagine regardless of statistics, you're way more likely to get targeted in Baghdad compared to Mexico. I was looking at doing an Intrepid/Trailfinders tour of Mexico which included a few days in MC (as well as other cities, obviously). Although the girlfriend had voiced concerns I would have thought a lot of the violence there is between cartels/gangs -- compared to somewhere like Baghdad where Islamic extremists will actively target Western people just for funsies.

I can see the point, the thing is it's very different types of crime. In Mexico city as a tourist, there is a high chance of robbery and low level crime, which is something you're very unlikely to experience in Iraq.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:32

Thekwango said:
i got to ask.....what the **** for? i appreciate it has probably come a long way from the 'black hawk down' era. but surely it's still an utter poohole? who in their right mind would want to visit on holiday?? forgive my ignorance if it has in fact become a thriving holiday destination. though i suspect your mention of needing an armed escort suggests not!

I would've been there to lead a tour group. It's not well visited by tourists, maybe a couple dozen a year. I work in a real niche of tourism and have a lot of clients trying to visit every country in the world and even things beyond that (I've got two clients who are in a race to be the first person to visit every country in the world twice) as well as clients who have almost completed travel lists such as the Travelers Century Club, Nomad Mania etc. Quite a mix of people too, everything from backpackers up to one client who is a billionaire.

So basically we arrange trips to some of these remote and hard to visit places. For example next year we have trips to places like Pitcairn Island, Chechnya, Chad, Somaliland, Iraq, 6 trips to Afghanistan and we're Europe's largest operator of trips to North Korea. We've got a list of about 200 people absolutely desperate to get in to Yemen currently.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 15:39

ttaskmaster said:
Is that the one where everyone looks like the inbred offspring of Mel Gibson?

Well the islanders are all the descendants of the Mutiny on the Bounty if that's the place you mean?

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 16:10

Thekwango said:
pitcairn island i could understand. beautiful, remote - perfectly sensible place to want to visit. chad and somalia not so much. i imagine the want to visit such places is ego driven as i doubt you visit Mogadishu for it's scenery or warm and welcoming locals.
your post made me think of this recent story....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/world/asia/islamic-state-tajikistan-bike-attack.html

I wouldn't put Tajikistan in the same category, it has some of the best scenery in the world and gets a lot of tourists. I was leading a group of 12 through there about 100km from that attack when it happend, really sad thing to happen to bicycle tourist. Intrepid and even GAdventures were also in country with groups at the same time, it's not as off the beaten path as it used to be.

For some people it can about showing off, but the common trend I tend to see is people who like to visit places with a bad reputation to see what the real side of it is, as well as people interested in history and politics as driving force behind trips. There's quite a few real gems that the public have a bad image of (Chechnya is stunning for example up in the mountains).

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 16:11

dowie said:
also LOL at the Mel Gibson comment (maybe Brando might have been a more famous one to reference - he even bought a pacific island after shooting the earlier film about the mutiny on the bounty)

I'm gonna be visiting Marlon Brando island too in March

. It's got a super high end resort on it called "The Brando" but day trips are possible.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 22:03

Yas786 said:
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.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 22:37

dowie said:
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.

MickeyFinns · 16 Oct 2018 at 23:05

dowie said:
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?

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!!