Afghanistan & Egypt in the time of the plague

[MojaveGeek]

FYI, I've finished writing up the detailed trip report which accompanies these photos here:
https://netllama.linux-sxs.org/llamaland/?p=3039

Good read.  So you got to drive over the Salang Pass in the end anyway    The thought of actually flying from Kabul to Mazar took me a minute to get used to.  When I was a "value conscious" hippie traveling back and forth across Central Asia a few times in the 70s, I don't know if there even were flights!  I was wondering how you'd connect the dots there.  Sounds like you worked out a good short stay in a tough country to get around in.  I must have spent close to three months there in the course of my travels, and got into some pretty remote places, but it was all much safer then.  Besides the mosque in Mazar, my strongest visual memories are driving hours across stark deserts on horrible roads in vehicles lacking anything you'd call a shock absorber, and the cresting a hill to drop into a river valley full of cottonwoods, leaves dancing in the sun against the blue sky, cultivated fields, and small villages built of local materials.  Glad you got to get out there.

Now to read about Egypt!

---

Ha, I was just thinking, "This is a TR worthy of FlyerTalk, and one that doesn't just gill the screen with details of the first class menu" so I thought I'd check to see if you're there, and lo, you are! cool. I'm MojaveFlyer over there. Maybe you can detect a theme in screen name?

I really like that forum. I've learned so much from my fellow travelers there, and saved a hell of a lot of bucks with interesting ticketing ideas (most of which no longer work, but...)

[bbbb]

Nothing that I've done on this trip is in any way impossible or special if you wanted to do it too. Yes, it requires money, and the effort required to deal with trip logistics, but beyond that its not difficult for anyone to accomplish, if they were interested.  My point is the world is a big, fascinating place.  Death valley is definitely a spectacular place, but there are many other parts of the world that are equally amazing.

Seeing the places you visit is inspiring because some of them seem unreachable at first glance. Thanks for continuing to post about them!

[David_Bricker]

Ha, I was just thinking, "This is a TR worthy of FlyerTalk, and one that doesn't just gill the screen with details of the first class menu" so I thought I'd check to see if you're there, and lo, you are!  cool.  I'm MojaveFlyer over there.  Maybe you can detect a theme in screen name? 

I really like that forum.  I've learned so much from my fellow travelers there, and saved a hell of a lot of bucks with interesting ticketing ideas (most of which no longer work, but...)

I'm on FlyerTalk as well, but got tired of the pictures of First Class menus and an attitude of "look how great I am".  Being a fairly hardened road warrior for work, I knew many of the tricks already, and the trip report's quality has dwindled.  After Randy sold out, it's become far more ads than I care for. 

My signature line of the " / SYR" is from a travel bulletin board that far, far precedes FlyerTalk, where we identifies our local and/or current airport.

David Bricker / SYR

[netllama]

Ha, I was just thinking, "This is a TR worthy of FlyerTalk, and one that doesn't just gill the screen with details of the first class menu" so I thought I'd check to see if you're there, and lo, you are!  cool.  I'm MojaveFlyer over there.  Maybe you can detect a theme in screen name? 

I really like that forum.  I've learned so much from my fellow travelers there, and saved a hell of a lot of bucks with interesting ticketing ideas (most of which no longer work, but...)

I'm on FlyerTalk as well, but got tired of the pictures of First Class menus and an attitude of "look how great I am".  Being a fairly hardened road warrior for work, I knew many of the tricks already, and the trip report's quality has dwindled.  After Randy sold out, it's become far more ads than I care for. 

My signature line of the " / SYR" is from a travel bulletin board that far, far precedes FlyerTalk, where we identifies our local and/or current airport.

David Bricker / SYR

I don't disagree, but there are still some folks who post truly amazing trip reports on FT. One guy in particular who lives in Dubai tends to visit a lot of the less 'popular' parts of the world (I recall his trip report from Mogadishu, Somalia with two armed guards).

I can't say that I'm impressed by most of the folks boasting about their first class awards travel, when 95% of it is funded by their employer. Anyway, 100% of my overseas travel adventures are completely paid out of pocket by me. I can never collect enough miles to do anything exciting, as I'm bouncing all over the planet, where no single airline has routes.

[netllama]

Nothing that I've done on this trip is in any way impossible or special if you wanted to do it too. Yes, it requires money, and the effort required to deal with trip logistics, but beyond that its not difficult for anyone to accomplish, if they were interested.  My point is the world is a big, fascinating place.  Death valley is definitely a spectacular place, but there are many other parts of the world that are equally amazing.

Seeing the places you visit is inspiring because some of them seem unreachable at first glance. Thanks for continuing to post about them!

Thanks. There are few corners of this planet that are truly unreachable, as long as you're sufficiently motivated.

Even with the pandemic, I could get into Syria & Iraq right now if I wished. I know a few people bouncing around some remote, unstable corners of Africa (Congo and Central African Republic, for example) right now. Its definitely not glamorous, but its also unique, and a one of a kind experience for those who enjoy that sort of thing.

[netllama]

FYI, I've finished writing up the detailed trip report which accompanies these photos here:
https://netllama.linux-sxs.org/llamaland/?p=3039

Good read.  So you got to drive over the Salang Pass in the end anyway    The thought of actually flying from Kabul to Mazar took me a minute to get used to.  When I was a "value conscious" hippie travelling back and forth across Central Asia a few times in the 70s, I don't know if there even were flights!  I was wondering how you'd connect the dots there.  Sounds like you worked out a good short stay in a tough country to get around in.  I must have spent close to three months there in the course of my travels, and got into some pretty remote places, but it was all much safer then.  Besides the mosque in Mazar, my strongest visual memories are driving hours across stark deserts on horrible roads in vehicles lacking anything you'd call a shock absorber, and the cresting a hill to drop into a river valley full of cottonwoods, leaves dancing in the sun against the blue sky, cultivated fields, and small villages built of local materials.  Glad you got to get out there.

Now to read about Egypt!

---

Ha, I was just thinking, "This is a TR worthy of FlyerTalk, and one that doesn't just gill the screen with details of the first class menu" so I thought I'd check to see if you're there, and lo, you are! cool. I'm MojaveFlyer over there. Maybe you can detect a theme in screen name?

I really like that forum. I've learned so much from my fellow travelers there, and saved a hell of a lot of bucks with interesting ticketing ideas (most of which no longer work, but...)

Indeed, the wikipedia page for Salang Pass ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salang_Pass ) is a fascinating read in of itself. It seems almost surreal that I was there just a few weeks ago.

I envy where you've been at a time when the world was a much simpler place. I can still recall bits & pieces of travel stories that my mother mentioned when she traveled the world back in the 1960s (she saw a decent chunk of Africa and the Mideast). In some ways, its far easier now, but in others, its much more difficult. If only it were safe, I would have gladly spent a few weeks in Afghanistan, seeing places like Kandahar & Herat. The Wakhan corridor is relatively safe & viable for foreigners, but getting there from the rest of the country is near impossible, as the roads basically only connect with Tajikistan. I was up in (the rest of) Central Asia back in July 2019, but foolishly didn't take advantage of that opportunity at the time, instead opting to see more of Uzbekistan instead.

There's so much of the world that I want to see, and so little time to see it.

[MojaveGeek]

Well I'll tell you something, young man    When I spent five years of my youth wandering Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, I learned that there will always be more places to go.   So you'll always have motivation to get out and see something.  BTW I bet I'd enjoy meeting your mother, probably a kindered sprit.

But there is also something to be said for knowing a place deeply.  Every year, when I start organizing a spring trip to DV, I say to myself, "Well we've been going there for more than 30 years and certainly we could revisit places if I can't find new ones."   Then I do a bit of research, look over old trip folders at the ideas that never happened, and quickly I've got twice as many good candidate hiking days than we'll have there!

[netllama]

Sadly, in the span of 6 months Afghanistan has plunged back into darkness. Mazar-i-sharif (the location of the Blue Mosque that I included in my original post) was captured by the Taliban earlier today. Twenty years of war & development effort have been thrown away.

[netllama]

And another 24 hours later, the entire country has fallen to the Taliban. Such a waste of money & lives over the past 20 years.

[DVexile]

I somehow missed seeing the original post and trip report from March. Sad to finally read it under the current circumstances...

It was lost back in 2003 when we took the eye off the ball during the short window in which such things might be made to work. Can't really evaluate alternate realities but I suppose it is possible it would have ended the same even if we didn't take the eye off the ball back then, we certainly made a botch of it over pretty much all of the subsequent years as well.

Well, sadly I suspect in about 30 years we will find an opportunity somewhere else in the world to make most of the same mistakes all over again. As they say, history doesn't necessarily repeat but it sure does rhyme.

Thanks for sharing your trip report, such a unique place to visit. The photo of the girl waiting to go so school hits particularly hard today.