Millennials seeking an “authentic vacation” are jumping from the beaten path of normalcy and heading for places like Iraq, or Afghanistan.
There is a new app called Couchsurfing that hooks up vacationers with locals offering the basic necessities in far off lands and about two-thousand people this year have availed themselves of the service to visit places like the Hindu Kush, the mountain range between Afghanistan and Pakistan, said to be spectacular in the spring, if the bombs don’t get you.
“I actually have a friend who has been to some of these places. He’s been to Iran and North Korea. He likes to brag about it. I think it’s about bragging rights and it gives them a thrill,” says travel expert George Hobica.
Travel note – some people who go to those countries don’t get to leave, a downside of traveling to treacherous territory controlled by despots.
“If you want to be super safe, I would definitely follow the State Department’s Travel Warnings,” says Hobica.
Currently, that list includes:
Yemen
Syria
Somalia
Libya
North Korea
Iraq
Iran
South Sudan
Afghanistan