Where in the world is it safe to travel?

georges

Moderator
Staff member
Where in the world is it safe to travel?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/countries-safe-danger-travel-140344866.html
By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 13 hrs ago

Reports of brutal rapes of foreign tourists in India and Brazil in recent months have rocked the international travel industry.
According to data cited by The Atlantic, visitors to India have dropped 25 percent since December's fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a bus in the capital of New Delhi, and 35 percent among female travelers. And that data was compiled before March 16, when a Swiss woman who was touring the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh by bicycle with her husband was gang-raped by a group of eight men.
In Madhya Pradesh, there are nine reported rapes every day, according to the Washington Post.
In Brazil, where an American tourist was raped by three men over the course of six hours on Monday, reports of rapes there have risen 150 percent since 2009, The Atlantic reported.
Not surprisingly, Brazil and India are among the most dangerous places to travel, according to an interactive map produced by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs.
But they're not the most dangerous: North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Mali, Niger, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Somalia are where would-be tourists are warned to "avoid all travel."
For other countries, like Libya, visitors are cautioned to "avoid non-essential travel."
The color-coded danger map also includes region- and time-specific warnings. In Pakistan, tourists are told to avoid:
- areas reporting military or militant activity;
- all border areas, except the Wagha official border crossing point;
- Kashmir region, including Azad Kashmir;
- the province of Baluchistan, including the city of Quetta;
- the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Swat, the city of Peshawar and the Khyber Pass;
- and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
In Mexico, those "required to travel to Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León, should avoid movement after dark and stay within the suburb of San Pedro Garza García."
So where, exactly, is it safe to travel? Australia, Botswana, Canada, Chile, most of Europe, Greenland, Iceland, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States and Uruguay, according to the agency.
"No matter where in the world you intend to travel," the department's website advises, "make sure you check the travel advice and advisories page twice: once when you are planning your trip, and again shortly before you leave. ... The decision to travel is the sole responsibility of the individual.
 

Mr. Daystar

In a bell tower, watching you through cross hairs.
Only place outside of the Continental US I really wanna see, is Hawaii, and Sicily...and that will never happen, because I won't get on a plane anymore.
 
Montauk
 

xfire

New Twitter/X @cxffreeman
Only place outside of the Continental US I really wanna see, is Hawaii, and Sicily...and that will never happen, because I won't get on a plane anymore.

Word. If they don't speak-ee Eng-lee, I have desire to go thur.
 

Mr. Daystar

In a bell tower, watching you through cross hairs.

Mayhem

Banned
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/toshifumi-fujimoto-syria-war-tourism_n_2400576.html

Japanese trucker Toshifumi Fujimoto is bored with his humdrum job, a daily run from Osaka to Tokyo or Nagasaki hauling tanker loads of gasoline, water or even chocolate.

Yet while the stocky, bearded 45-year-old could spend his free time getting a jolt of adrenaline by bungee-jumping or shark hunting, he puts his life on the line in a most unusual way.

He's become a war tourist.

Fujimoto's passion has taken him from the dull routine of the highway to Syria, where as part of his latest adventure in the Middle East's hot spots he shoots photos and video while dodging bullets with zest.

He was in Yemen last year during demonstrations at the US embassy and in Cairo a year earlier, during the heady days that followed the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak. Later this year, he plans to hook up with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But for the moment, he is wrapping up a week's tour of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which for going on six months has been one of the hottest spots in a conflict that has cost more than 60,000 lives, according to UN figures.

He already spent two weeks in the war-torn country at the end of 2011, taking advantage of a tourist visa, but this time he has entered the country clandestinely from Turkey.




Dressed in a Japanese army fatigues and armed with two cameras and a video camera -- Japanese, of course -- Fujimoto heads for whatever frontline he can every morning to document the ongoing destruction of Syria's second city and one-time commercial capital.

Fujimoto, who doesn't speak English, much less Arabic, has picked up a few words, such as "dangerous" and "front line."

The only way to interview him was to make use of Google Translate.

"I always go by myself, because no tour guide wants to go to the front. It's very exciting, and the adrenaline rush is like no other.

"It's more dangerous in Syria to be a journalist than a tourist," he said, describing how "each morning I walk 200 metres (yards) to reach the 'front', and I'm right there on the firing line with soldiers of the (rebel) Free Syria Army."

"It fascinates me, and I enjoy it," he says, as some FSA fighters stop him in one of the Old City's streets to have their picture taken with him.

"Most people think I'm Chinese, and they greet me in Chinese," he smiled.

He takes his time getting his shots right, as the rebels he hangs out with shout from both sides of the street: "Run! Run! There are snipers. Run!"

But he ignores them, finishes shooting and casually walks away with photos that he will later post on his Facebook page to share with his friends.

"I'm not a target for snipers because I'm a tourist, not like you journalists," he told a reporter. "Besides, I'm not afraid if they shoot at me or that they might kill me. I'm a combination of samurai and kamikaze."

Fujimoto won't even wear a helmet or a flack jacket.

"They are very heavy when it comes to running and it's more fun to go to the front without anything. Besides, when they shoot it's fun and exciting."

Fujimoto said his employers don't know he's in Syria.

"I just told them I was going to Turkey on holiday; if I'd told them the truth, they'd tell me I'm completely crazy."

But though some might doubt his sanity, no one can question his financial foresight, which is rooted in the sadness of his personal life.

Fujimoto is divorced, and says "I have no family, no friends, no girl friend. I am alone in life."

But he does have three daughters, whom he hasn't seen for five years, "not even on Facebook or the Internet, nothing. And that saddens me deeply," he said as he wiped away a tear.

So he's bought a life insurance policy, and "I pray every day that, if something happens to me, my girls might collect the insurance money and be able to live comfortably."

Fujimoto doesn't make any money off his photography, and spent $2,500 (1,894 euros) out of his own pocket for the flight to Turkey. Then there's another $25 a day that he pays a local resident, who puts him up in his house and gives him Internet access.

In his week in Aleppo, he has covered all the battle fronts -- in the districts of Amariya, Salaheddin, Saif al-Dawla, Izaa -- and though he's shared many of the images he's captured, one of them has stuck in his mind.

He opened a file on his laptop to show the partly decomposed body of a seven-year-old girl in Saif al-Dawla, gunned down by a sniper, which has lain unclaimed for months.

One wonders if any of his daughters could be the same age, but there was no way to pry more out of him, as he wept every time they were brought up.

"I love children, but Syria is no place for them. A bomb can snuff out their lives at any moment," he said, as some FSA fighters asked him to join them in Saleheddin and he ambled off down the street toward the sound of fighting.

Now that's tourism, you wussies!
 

Ace Boobtoucher

Founder and Captain of the Douchepatrol
I was pretty secure in my travels, even in Brazil. I didn't spend too much time in Rio or Sao Paulo and stuck to the smaller cities on the coast. I lived in Sao Sebastiao and would take trips to other cities when I could find time. I went into the interior a few times to see apparacidar do norte and Brasillia and oddly enough I felt more danger at the pilgrimage site than anywhere else. Too many over zealous shills.
 
We're going to Disneyworld. I hope Mickey and Minnie have decent security.
 

HansMoleman

Chief Porn Collector
I feel like most of the world is fairly safe for travel, as long as you do your homework before you go. I have been to some third world countries and had to use some common sense to avoid problems, especially in Jamaica. I really love Canada though. I would love to visit there more often. Definitely my top place to visit.
 

vodkazvictim

Why save the world, when you can rule it?
Switzerland is the world's safest country IMHO.

I miss mother Russia, but it wasn't always safe. Even for me.
 
Monaco is the safest country in the world
 
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