You should have the transportation thing down now. Everybody gets a little nervous when their body is accelerated or transported. You've also figured out why they don't have insurance machines in minibus terminals, and why bus drivers cover their entire windshield with religious fetishes. You also know the statistical equality between walking drunk and blindfolded down the middle of a freeway and driving your own car in Pakistan. So now we want to turn the danger meter up a few more notches. Let's do all these things in places where they have daily rocket reports instead of weather updates, and where nice rebels like filling up potholes every night with land mines. Welcome to travel in the world's nasty places.

Welcome to the Wars of the Innocents

Warfare is not a bad thing for tourists. It keeps them safe. Compared to today's complex and subterranean conflicts, wars in the first five decades of this century were geographically and politically concise affairs that ended with a winner and a loser. After a period of time, it was back to temple gawking and the normal business of tourism. Today warfare creates poisoned subways, blown up federal buildings, hijacked airplanes and smoking office towers in places where jaywalking is considered a crime. The old wars generated plenty of headlines to warn off bus tourists, plenty of State Department Warnings, and lots of photos of blown up people and cratered buildings to remind us just how dangerous it is over there.

But name a real war today. A war is where two sides have officially declared it and mobilized sharply uniformed armies. If you said Bosnia, Panama, Zaire (Congo), Sierra Leone, Somalia, or even Haiti, you're wrong. Those were just nasty places Uncle Sam sent soldiers to. If you said the Gulf War, The Cold War, The Iran-Iraq War or even The Vietnam War, you are way out of touch since those conflicts have been long resolved. Did you even know there are wars in Turkey, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Algeria and Colombia? Well, there are, only these countries don't like to use the "W" word because it scares away tourists and investors. The governments will tell you that they are "fighting criminal elements within their sovereign regions" or "prosecuting foreign elements within their borders." The truth is, there are no old fashioned wars today. Those who have officially declared wars like Syria and Israel do it more for the political effect than the ultimate military outcome. Wars in this decade are fought by the CIA (Sudan, Northern Iraq), mining companies (Sierra Leone), religious zealots (Afghanistan), wackos (Uganda), families (Somalia), drug smugglers (Colombia), puppets (Congo) and thugs (Albania). In most of these cases not one of the combatants has read the Geneva convention. Many don't even know where Geneva is. Think you're smart? When was the last time you visited the Somaliland, Republic of Bougainville, Pahktunistan, East Turkestan, Sanaag or Kurdistan? All these countries exist, but not on any western atlas. The truth is that there are thousands of people dying every year to defend or create these new countries.

So welcome to the War of the Innocents. According to the U.N., of the 82 or so armed conflicts that were fought in the past three years, only three were between nations. The rest were civil wars or insurgencies. Four million civilians have been killed in wars since 1990 and the death toll rises every minute. And, there is absolutely no guarantee that you might not be the next casualty.

It is difficult to define war today. No longer is it a series of well planned battles between two opposing armies. There are few uniforms, few battlefields and even fewer marching songs and flying colors. When they pick up bodies these days, they tend to be young girls in Algeria, old women in Afghanistan or teenage kids in Karachi. In the wars of the past, 90 percent of casualties consisted of soldiers; today, 90 percent of the casualties are civilians. This is the new face of war. The new battleground is the city and the suburbs.

In Algeria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Sri Lanka and East Timor, there is no formal war, yet the body count in each country exceeds the total number of Americans killed in Vietnam. Worse yet, armed groups in some of these countries are specifically targeting Westerners, other visitors or expats for kidnapping or execution. Is this a war or a turkey shoot?

Various liberation groups around the world are looking for a few good victims and that could be you. The total number of deaths from international terrorism declined from 314 to 165 in a one-year span, but the number of people wounded increased by a factor of 10-to 6291 people, according to the U.S. State Department. Of 440 terrorist attacks recently, Western Europe was the most popular venue with 272 attacks, the Middle East placed second, then Latin America. Ninety-nine terrorist attacks were directed at American interests. Since tourists don't visit these terrorist infested places, we force them to come to us. Civilized places where terrorism is a major problem are England, France, Spain, China, Turkey and the United States.

There are also nasty places that are never featured on the front page, such as Burundi, Russia, Sudan, South Africa and others.

Where are the hot spots? Usually in destitute countries where things fell apart a long time ago, countries making the rocky transition from dictatorships to democracy and countries that tried to stuff too many ethnic or religious groups into a happy second world state. According to the UN, Algeria, Afghanistan, Angola, Myanmar, Burundi, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Tajikistan, Rwanda and Zaire are nations in crisis and in danger of social disintegration. Some of these countries never had anything to disintegrate from.

There are many other civilized countries such as South Africa, Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and the U.S. where there is just old fashioned criminal mayhem taking place on a daily basis. There are about 30 wars where more than 1000 people are killed each year. Seven of those wars kill over 100,000 people a year.

Ever wonder why you don't see much on these places on your local newscast or even on CNN? First of all, the ratings and the PR strategies of low level conflicts suck. News crews need compliant officials and basic communications to cover stories. Many countries like Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Turkey won't allow journos in for fear they will contest the "official" daily body count. A few folks like

DP have to sneak in but we will never go prime time. And in the case of Sri Lanka, even the rebels won't let us in. So these places are assigned to eager, but poorly paid stringers who routinely send in casualty reports but never get the big picture. Also journalists aren't bulletproof anymore. According to the Reporters san Frontiere, an average of 60 journalists are killed each year and more than 125 are detained by local governments who objected to their reports.

Until more official wars start up (with official battlefield tours and air conditioned press offices), war correspondents will not make as much money as bleached blonde anchors and gossip columnists. Maybe that's why some of the better war correspondents have opted to embrace hair spray and reduce their fears to being punched out by Sean Penn. For now, the front-line witnesses of history will consist of a lot of scared civilians, ragged soldiers, gonzo stringers and DP'ers.

Watching War Waste

Believe it or not, until DP took out the calculator and pencil there was no single reliable "Chart of Wars That Can Kill Tourists Now." We are not going to provide any stirring editorials on the horrors or futilities of war, we just want you to know what's going on. There are lots of unofficial estimates, security service updates and state department warnings, but in our opinion there is no definitive list that reflects rebel, government and civilian casualties. The other thing you would expect is that these "kill" numbers would be changing at the rate of those national deficit billboards. I compared as many statistics as we could find, gave them a fudge factor (fibbing rebels and eager governments) and extrapolated them about two months down the road. Keep in mind that many of the high death tolls are the result of starvation being used directly as a tactic of war. Also many regions have no official reporting, so we rely on local folks to give us a feel for how busy the morgue is.

To show you just how much history you may be missing, DP has compiled the mother of all lists. In our futile attempt to makes sense of this list, we have used the term war to describe instances when police or military are actively campaigning. The grey bars denote areas recovering from warfare:

The Killing Zones

You bought your flak jacket, got a great deal on a white hardskin Suzuki and swapped your expensive Leica M6s for disposable Nikons. You are on assignment thanks to an ambiguous commitment from a couple of weekly rags and a letter from a free counter-culture listing weekly. Your pack is stuffed with film, Power Bars, syringes and phrase books. Now all you have to do is figure out what the hell is going on.

War zones are pretty easy places to understand, as are their players. One side doesn't like the other side so it bums money from a rich uncle (which they will pay off in favorable trade deals and political favors). For example, Libya paid for Charles Taylor (Liberia) and Foday Sankoh (Sierra Leone) to raise hell. All the while the SPLA dances to the tune the CIA plays. Hey, those tanks and bullets cost money. Payback comes in lucrative oil and mineral deals once the rebels are in power.

There are front lines, kill zones and safe zones, but before you get to stumble around in these you need to get in.

DP likes to travel without baggage, but if you are a photographer, producer or talking head you have to bring in tons of equipment, rent satellite links, order breakfasts, make appointments and do all that stuff you do back home, except at work there is no electricity, phone service, running water or civilization. You need to get permission. But not always from the guy whose picture is on their money.

Believe it or not, smart rebels usually open a press office in London, Paris or Washington while they have unlisted offices in Damascus, Tripoli or Khartoum. To get in, you need permission either from the rebels (who usually are as extraordinarily inefficient, underfunded as they are helpful and incompetent) or the government (which is usually as slick and efficient as it is unhelpful). The rebels will give you a contact name, a place and time to show up, and a letter that just as likely will put you in jail (as

DP discovered in Ethiopia) as into the middle of complete chaos. If you do it the official way, you need to be a bona fide journalist. Then the government (if it is looking for global brownie points) will load you up with official studies, contact names, military transportation in country and a tour of what may or may not be the front lines. Naturally, you see more bloodletting and violence at the front row of a Mike Tyson fight than on these tours which usually consist of more briefings, deserted rebel camps and captured prisoners.

If you think you'll be the only journo in the thick of things, good luck. The CIA will not invite you to Northern Iraq or Southern Sudan to discuss long range planning any more than Kabila will invite you to Kinshasa to discuss his plans for Paris shopping trips. The world of war is a shadowy world of lies, propaganda and circumstantial evidence. Case in point, Turkey invited compliant journos to inspect the deserted PKK camp at Zap.

DP's Roddy Scott goes in the back door, ends up being the only moron in Northern Turkey during the big Turkish offensive and is summarily tossed out by the KDP. Later the PKK's Ocalan wants to rant from his base in Syria (oops, we mean the Bekaa Valley) about how he actually abandoned the base on purpose and how he (very nobly, but tense sensitive) insists that "every Kurd will be a living bomber." Who the hell wants to risk their life to write articles about that? And what desk editor wants to figure it all out?

As for the bang-bang stuff, remember that traditional wars are fought like Red Rover, you run as fast as you can into the other side, lose a few people and then run back. Then it's the other side's turn. Whoever loses the most people or gains the most ground wins. Traditional warfare usually starts just before dawn and lasts until one side runs out of steam. Katushyas, artillery and tanks look good but not on the receiving end like

DP experienced in Kabul. Gunships are really "in" because they can eliminate entire villages or rebel columns. Rocket pods and miniguns make nice puffs and direct the audience towards the target. Tanks and APC's are more for occupied areas because they are grenade-proof. Usually once the government gets the bill for all these pyrotechnics, it quickly figures out it's easier to negotiate a ceasefire while desperately trying to assassinate the rebel leaders. So get in quick, get out quick is the rule.

Today's low intensity wars are not the hand-to-hand stuff John Wayne popularized. Mortars and rocket launchers are big, usually forcing the other side back with shrapnel and the sight of eviscerated comrades. Wildly spraying the other side with bullets from behind corners and walls is popular. Night ambushes, bombs, mines and boobytraps are the meat and potatoes of smaller rebel groups. In most cases, the idea is to cause havoc, disrupt the normal flow of business and get governments where it hurts them the most; the pocketbook and the mind.

In all cases DP does not advise traveling in or to war zones because of the fluidity of the situation, the equal opportunity danger from gun ships and just the old fashioned danger involved. If you do find yourself in a war zone you might want to know how to live a little longer. Remember that a civilian or noncombatant is more likely to get killed than a soldier, and that usually means you.

In the Land of The Yankee Pig

America is such a polyglot culture that it is impossible to stereotype a country of a quarter billion people who literally come from every country in the world (if you assume that the Indians came over the land bridge from Russia). Yet people from all over the world have an itch to walk straight up to you and yell, "Die American Pig!" or "Get out of Bosnia" or any other slogan of the week. It is questionable whether it is America or, for that matter, its power tool, the United Nations that aggravates or prolongs regional tensions when trying to relieve them. Do Russia and the United States have the right to military interference in foreign countries? Do aid programs actually create starvation and suffering by artificially shifting populations to refugee camps, and thereby increasing the birth rate and then creating total disaster when the supplies stop? America's biggest fault is that we instinctively rush in to save the world when the starving children and shattered bodies hit the headlines, but when we actually learn the real complexities and cost we recoil in horror and disappear.

Much of the anger toward Americans is a direct result of others' perception of our need to control foreign governments. If the government feels it lacks sufficient political clout in certain regions of the world, it brings out the checkbook. The U.S. bought peace in the Middle East by writing checks to both sides, thereby aggravating fanatics on both sides. We also support a wide variety of dictators, despots and other nondemocratically elected rulers because they are less antagonistic toward the U.S. The U.S. also wages financial, moral, covert (and not so covert) operations against enemies of the state, such as the Islamic fundamentalists, drug dealers, unfriendly dictators and gangsters. We do this by supporting (or sometimes creating) opposition forces with money, weapons and military training. This creates a lot of ill will towards "Americans" regardless of their beliefs or background.

You may find it surprising to see how obvious the U.S. "covert" presence is in Third World countries. Terrorist groups keep very good tabs on CIA and other government agents in their countries. And hey guess what? Spies look just like you.

The problem for the traveler is that in some areas, such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central Africa and areas where Americans are rarely seen, you will be assumed to be working for or allied with American intelligence agencies. Although I'm Canadian, I have been accused on numerous occasions of being "CIA" in war zones simply because I had no plausible explanation as to why I was there.

If you look and act like an American you will be assumed to be gathering information. You'll run the risk of confrontation, kidnapping, detainment or harassment. Execution is rare, since Americans are worth more alive (financially and politically) than dead.

Viva La Revolution!

Let's play out this scenario: A backward country emerges from decades under a totalitarian regime. Freedom is in the air. Tourist visas are as easy to get as Publisher's Clearinghouse entry forms. Hotels are hosed out and airlines change their names. You, being the adventurous type, are off in a heartbeat, eager to be the first to visit empty temples, scenic wonders, etc. One week later, tanks fill the streets, surly men in cheap uniforms are thumping innocent bystanders, you hear shots every night. One morning, someone kicks in your door, and it's not room service. You are officially an enemy of the people, and you will not be able to try out those bitchin' new Nike ACG's in the mountains after all. You are eating cockroach soup and watching your bruises turn ten shades of purple. What happened?

Students of history and readers of DP could tell you that you screwed up. You forgot that the countries most likely to be plunged into civil warfare are newly emerging democracies. Yes, you raving liberal, the most dangerous countries are the ones that still can't figure out how to operate a ballot box. One only has to look.

Once the iron hand is lifted, every crackpot faction has a voice and begins organizing. Since there is no effective way to compromise these well-meaning folks, they simply make their points more clearly by using rifles and shovels. Every colonial entry in Africa has gone through this turmoil. Some like Liberia and Angola just don't know when to stop. Other countries like Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Somalia, South Africa and India have no clue how to deal with their poverty-stricken masses. The most dangerous transition is from long term dictatorship to democracy as was experienced in the Soviet Union. Technically these are caused by special interest groups putting restraints on leaders and not allowing them to deal with minor uprisings. Division is the natural outcome, splitting the military, religious, regional and business elements into their tiniest elements. Ideally, they form their own spheres of influence creating the normal political structures found in first world countries. Unfortunately they adopt the brutal tactics of their former leaders and usually have the tanks and population fired up within weeks. Other groups like the Mafia, drug runners, terrorists and criminals make good use of the division and confusion to quickly establish wide ranging organizations and transportation corridors.

Fun-da-Mental Oases

There are many countries like Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan that would have Rush Limbaugh's head on a stick in less than fifteen minutes. These countries might have a Bill of Far Rights, but nothing that would protect your outspoken butt from a lifetime of incarceration or slow execution. They fall into two general categories. Fundamental and mental places. The first is usually a region where skateboarding, platform shoes and daytime talk shows will never see the light of day. These areas make the Puritans look like sex junket tourists to Bangkok. The second are places run by people, who with the aid of a pair of Ray Bans and no sense of humor, are simply the meanest baddest people that week. So lets start with surviving fundamentalist places-places like Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran and other dust-blown centers of religious zeal.

But before I chip in on a Patagonian time share with Salman Rushdie, I would be remiss to point out that not all fundamentalists are Islamic. We have our own religious hotheads Stateside, and even The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, makes the Ikwhan seem like a Berkeley political science class.

One billion of the world's inhabitants are Muslims and only 18 percent are found in the Arab world. Most live east of Karachi; 30 percent of Muslims are found on the Indian subcontinent, 20 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 17 percent in Southeast Asia and 10 percent in the CIS and China. There are an estimated 5 million Muslims in the United States. Most Muslims will tell you that Jews, Christians and followers of their own faith are all "people of the Book" and that there is more to bind us than divide us. It just seems that the message doesn't reach the splinter groups who sign the checks for all those weapons, explosives and training camp supplies.

There is also a historic antagonism between Christianity and Islam with the line drawn through the Balkans and Transcaucasia and epicentering in Jerusalem. This primal distrust between infidel/crusader, jew/arab and west/east is still very much a part of world politics. This creates problems for Westerners when you travel to regions where the local media has inflamed people against the west.

We do a good job, too. There continues to be confusion and distrust generated by the media who are unable to understand the basic similarities between Islam and Christianity. Media focuses on the disparities, and usually the most extreme examples like the

taliban, Moammar Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein. The presentation of Islamic fundamentalism as a religion rather than a political agenda is one example. The linking of the Koran with politics is another. When was the last time you saw footage of Bill Clinton praying at church intercut with his political speeches? Yet we are shown shots of Mecca intercut with AK-47 waving loonies on tanks or in the '80s it was pictures of Saudis praying with lines at gas pumps. Christian fundamentalism is just as dangerous and skewed as any other hard-core belief, but most Americans head into the Muslim world with a negative and dangerous image of Islam and its followers.

Jackboot Junkets

Now that you have a basic idea concerning religious countries, it's time to move on to those regions run by godless despots. The evil empires, the gold-braided braggarts who run vast chunks of Third World dung heaps-all those countries that have the oxymoronic title of Democratic Republic of Yadda Yadda. You won't even find much religion (let alone the Trinity Broadcasting channel) in these paranoid backwaters.

These folks allow tourists into their countries so their populace can see and recoil at the evils of a democratic government: the horrors of high caloric meals, freely elected governments and advanced education. Countries like Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar, Congo, C.A.R, and other little cranky, tin pot countries are furiously pushing their domains back into the Stone Age and dragging their neighbors along with them.

Why visit these countries? Where else can you take a time machine back to the '50s, the '20s or even the turn of the century (we mean the 12th century)? Imagine meeting people who still herd sheep, break rocks, kill other people and even carve temples all for no regard for profit, without an education and while they're on the brink of starvation. These places are Robin Leach's worst nightmare. So why go?

The answer is simple. You have to go. Somebody has to show these people that there is a world out there full of Pop Tarts, Chevy Suburbans (without bulletproofing), MTV, rotisserie barbecues, and fat happy people who actually die of natural causes.

If we don't go there, we will maintain our image of baby-eating sodomites who bayonet and barbecue old ladies for fun. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of money and a lot of

cojones to travel through the last of the dark kingdoms. Strangely enough, most of these places are quite safe and once the police turn the corner, a lot of fun.

Gimmeyawalletland

Imagine a naked man walking down the street with $100 bills taped to his body. That's what the typical tourist looks like to the residents of nasty places.

The fact that you consider yourself the owner of your camera, wallet, luggage, watch and jewelry is not really a debating point with many of these folks. The concept that you might need to be killed to expedite the transfer of those goods is a really minor detail to some. You don't need to be robbed in these places to lose your money, the police and officials will simply ask for it with a smile.

In many war-ravaged, impoverished places such as Tajikistan, Cambodia, Somalia, Liberia, Zaire, Mozambique, or Sierra Leone, the only law is survival of the fittest or fastest. In countries like Nigeria, Bolivia, Russia and Colombia you will need criminals to protect you from the government. Criminal acts also pre-suppose that there is a criminal system to judge them as such. In most of these places-the border posts, checkpoints and police stations-you will lose your folding green to unpaid, corrupt, greedy and brutal officials. You are not alone because most of the residents of these unfortunate lands must endure the same treatment along with disease, starvation and brutality and no television. Many backpackers will get a quick education in danger as they try every strategy in the book to hold on to their dwindling resources. In case you wonder where the most honest countries in the world are they are Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada according to Transparancy International. Here are a few tips to at least stanch the flow and escape with your body parts intact.

Impoverished Paradises

Not all countries are nasty, brutal or full of jabbering zealots. There are lots of places that are really nice-they just seem to have a lot of dead people on the side of the road in the morning. These places have a terminal funk to them. Hazy grey skies, the stench of things rotting, snotty-nosed kids with hands outstretched. These are the tough places, the hard countries that barely survive. Many of these places, like India, Egypt, Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Haiti, China and Indonesia, are like this because there are just too many people for the resources available. There are a lot of petty thefts, minor muggings, infectious diseases, scams and a few murders. But hey, is it ever cheap.

The trend in emerging dangerous places-normally underdeveloped nations-is that exploding population rates are creating tensions.

In 1950, 33 percent of the world's population lived in the developed, industrialized nations. Today, that share is approximately 23 percent. By the year 2025, it will fall to 16 percent; Africa then will have 19 percent of the world's inhabitants. Today, Western and Southeast Asia are home to more people than any other part of the world. The population of India will overtake that of China early in the next century. This area is also home to the most diverse mix of languages, religions and people in the world, many of whom have been feuding for centuries and who will continue to fight over land, religion and tribal disputes.

As populations grow and standards of living drop, people will live at ever-greater densities, creating more tension.

The World Bank's World Development Report noted that only Bangladesh, South Korea, the Netherlands and the island of Java have population densities of more than 400 people per square kilometer. By the middle of the next century, one-third of the world's people will probably live at these density levels. Given the current trends, the population density of Bangladesh will rise to a hardly conceivable 1700 people per square kilometer. Population growth on such a large scale is intrinsically destabilizing. The wars in India show that even minor terrorist incidents can kill hundreds of people. Many of the world's most dangerous places will also be the most crowded and impoverished places.

On the African continent, 45 percent of the population is under the age of 15; in South America, it's 35 percent; in Asia, 32 percent. Only 21 percent of the population of the United States and 19 percent of Europe is under 15. Things are not going to get better in our lifetime.

The World Resources Institute reports that only three percent of the world's inhabitants lived in urban areas in the mid-18th century. By the 1950s, that proportion had risen to 29 percent. Today, it is more than 40 percent; by 2025, 60 percent of the world's people are expected to be living in or around cities. Almost all of that increase will be in what is now the Third World. The young people tend to migrate to major urban centers seeking Western-style jobs instead of backbreaking menial labor. Once in the city, they find that the competition for jobs is fierce and that petty crime against the more wealthy is the only source of income. But despite this, the cities continue to grow. Mexico City, which had 17 million inhabitants in 1985, will have 24 million by the end of the century; Sao Paulo will jump from 15 million to 24 million.

Terrorist Places

There is no simple advice to give on how to avoid being the victim of a terrorist attack. Although terrorism is specifically designed to capture the world's attention, it poses a lesser threat than disease, car accidents, plane crashes and other afflictions that haunt the traveler. But having taken the lightly-booked anniversary flight of Pan Am flight 103, I can attest to the effectiveness of terrorism in deterring tourists.

Statistics are meaningless in understanding terrorism. Like a protoplasmic liquid, terrorism flows around the world and reshapes itself according to pressures mounted against it. In fact, like water, the harder you hit it, the more it hurts. Just when the experts figure they have it pegged, it assumes new, more frightening images-the World Trade Center, Oklahoma, Tokyo and Riyadh sagas-have overshadowed hijacking, embassy kidnapping, and airport bombing. In other words you might have to travel to Syria, Sudan, Libya, Iran and Israel to escape terrorism now.

The number of terrorist attacks increased to 440 from 322 in a one-year span; not an impressive figure in terms of the number of dangerous incidents compared to muggings. When you localize some of these activities though, it gets a little scarier.

The increase in terrorism was primarily due to activities of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which launched hundreds of attacks, including indiscriminate bombings throughout Turkey, Western Europe and Germany. Fatalities from international terrorism worldwide resulted in 6291 people wounded in a one-year period. Of those, 5500 were injured in a gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, which was masterminded by the Japanese cult, Aum Shinrikyo. The unleashing of nerve gas in a heavily occupied public place sent a chilling message worldwide on the potential deadly effects of terrorism directed at people simply going about their daily activities. It also reminded us that even in a nonviolent country like Japan, terrorism exists.

You should be particularly careful in the following seven nations, currently designated as states that sponsor international terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea. Although most European adventure travelers consider these countries quasi-safe for travel (except for the southern region of Sudan and the rougher parts of Cuba), the majority of Americans will never visit these regions.

There is an understandably high level of antagonism in Iraq, Iran and North Korea toward Americans, especially toward those who make it in-usually nuts or spooks. The fact that two Americans were slapped with eight year jail sentences for illegally entering Iraq should keep most travelers out. Read the chapter "Terrorism" for more info.