Leaving Iraq
It's now been 2 weeks since my trip to Iraq ended. And every day, I still think about it. Visiting a destination that few people visit as travelers, comparatively speaking, definitely offers a glimpse of something a little more real than the more popular destinations of the world.
Whenever I do end up in such a less-visited destination, I feel alive in a different way. The interactions are always so genuine, the wonder is uncontrollable and the opportunity for education is infinite. Maybe I love it because it feels exactly how travel felt when I first started in 1999.
Now I'm not saying everyone should rush to get on the next flight to Baghdad of course. But when it comes to travel, trying to do something a little different than what everyone else is doing is rarely a bad idea. The good news is that this can be done even in some of the world's most popular destinations if we seek out neighborhoods, sights and activities that are not on the typical travel itineraries!
A Flight Without AC
On another note, the flight from Baghdad to Istanbul was quite a HOT experience. My
very short video from inside the plane has now picked up
1.2 million views and it shows how the passengers coped with the 40C+ temperature on board the aircraft.
Bucharest
After Iraq, I flew to Bucharest, Romania. The idea was to take 2 weeks to chill out and not move around, and it was much needed. And by chill out, I really mean, get into a solid routine of catching up on work, meeting up with friends and having some down time to simply rest.
The reason I chose Bucharest is because I'll be leading a tour here in Romania starting in a few days. As always, I'm very much looking forward to traveling around this country.
It's going to be 12 days full of specially-designed activities that will bring our tour guests together with our wonderful local friends. We'll visit such a diverse range of towns and villages, participate in local workshops, eat homemade food, drink homemade wine and
tuica and basically have a blast every day!
How can I not be excited about that?
