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Worth taking on board: Many of the "dangerous" places that you're warned away from visiting aren't anywhere near as dangerous as you'd expect. That's also been

Worth taking on board: Many of the "dangerous" places that you're warned away from visiting aren't anywhere near as dangerous as you'd expect. That's also been my experience traveling in places on the State Department's "holy shit! get out now!!!" list. Most people you meet are just people. The tiny handful of people interested in killing Americans tend to head to places where they might actually find some Americans to kill. I bet that beach in Somalia was pretty nice.

gngeal 13y ago
True, but they won't let him enter the US now that he has too many passport stamps.
- eksith 13y ago
  I presume he's already been to the U.S. by now. There are a number of people I know who have kept a new passport just to travel to places like Israel because of the restriction on allowing travelers from many Arab countries. Of course, if he wanted to start all over again, he can simply get a new passport now that he'll be home soon.
jperras 13y ago
It depends on the circumstances, as always. My brother, who is a specialized diesel mechanic and is one of the few people on the planet qualified to operate a seismic vibrator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_vibrator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_vibrator) used for oil exploration just got back from a month of work in Somalia. Their small team (20-50 people) were accompanied by ~450 guards armed with Kalashnikovs, 200+ of which were on duty at any given moment, and had a very direct policy of a warning at 50ft, and shoot to kill at 25ft on approach from anyone that didn't identify themselves. When he's scheduled to have a similar stint in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they have similar arrangements. It's worth noting that this level of security isn't something arbitrary, but is rather in response to the environment that they are put in. I don't think they have a single guard in Northern Canada, for example.

gngeal 13y ago

True, but they won't let him enter the US now that he has too many passport stamps.

eksith 13y ago
I presume he's already been to the U.S. by now. There are a number of people I know who have kept a new passport just to travel to places like Israel because of the restriction on allowing travelers from many Arab countries. Of course, if he wanted to start all over again, he can simply get a new passport now that he'll be home soon.

jperras 13y ago

It depends on the circumstances, as always. My brother, who is a specialized diesel mechanic and is one of the few people on the planet qualified to operate a seismic vibrator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_vibrator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismic_vibrator) used for oil exploration just got back from a month of work in Somalia. Their small team (20-50 people) were accompanied by ~450 guards armed with Kalashnikovs, 200+ of which were on duty at any given moment, and had a very direct policy of a warning at 50ft, and shoot to kill at 25ft on approach from anyone that didn't identify themselves. When he's scheduled to have a similar stint in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they have similar arrangements. It's worth noting that this level of security isn't something arbitrary, but is rather in response to the environment that they are put in. I don't think they have a single guard in Northern Canada, for example.