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BMI Anxious to Begin Corkscrewing In For a Baghdad Landing

Has that pesky little Iraq war been upsetting your Middle East travel plans? If British airline BMI has any say in the matter of increasing air passenger traffic to the good old Baghdad International, then your dreams of family reunions in Fallujah and spa weekends in Basra may not be pipe dreams much longer.

Thanks to a rousing meeting last week between Iraqi officials and UK businesses, British investment in the rebuilding country is looking imminent, and maverick companies will need an airline to shuttle them back and forth between deals in London and Baghdad. The Financial Times breaks the news that BMI is not only considering operating flights between the two capitals, making it the first to successfully re-connect the Isles to Iraq in almost twenty years, but that it would like to do so as early as next spring.

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Tags: Iraq Travel / Museum Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

Baghdad Museum Reopens After 6 Years Reclaiming Its Stuff

After six years and the looting of over 14,000 priceless pieces, the Baghdad Museum has reopened with a red carpet gala and the requisite security for visitors. Not that we advise you to plan a trip there anytime soon, but there have got to be some roving war reporters out there looking for new ways to pass a lazy weekend afternoon.

Surprisingly, prior to the museum's restoration and reopening, 8,500 of the 15,000+ stolen items were recovered and are now either under lock and key in the vaults or under constant watch as the first few visitors cautiously peer into cases. According to the AP, there is still wariness over the 2003 looting of the museum and for now, "the museum — which holds artifacts from the Stone Age through the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods — will be open to the public starting Tuesday but only for organized tours."

No doubt there will be signs at the entrance banning the carrying of chisels, so leave your Tombraider fantasties at home. For the opening gala, however, all the good stuff was dusted off and displayed as a show of renewed stability, including two small winged bulls and statues from the Assyrian and Babylonian periods more than 2,000 years ago, considered to be amongst the most valuable items in the museum collection. With all the hype around the reopening, we feel pretty bad for that Italian tourist who made the risky trip into Iraq a few weeks too late to hit up the museum; maybe next time, buddy.

Related Stories
· Baghdad Museum Reopens 6 Years After Looting [AP]
· Restored Baghdad Museum reopens with most of its greatest treasures [Guardian UK]
· Italian Tourist in Falluja Shows How Extreme Travel is Done [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Khalid Mohammed/AP]

Tags: Iraq Travel / Iraq / Dangerous Cities / Dangerous Travel / → All Tags

Italian Tourist in Falluja Shows How Extreme Travel is Done

The airwaves are filled with travel shows featuring supposedly bold and daring adventurers visiting exotic countries and eating weird animal parts, but one western tourist has proven to have bigger coglioni than the lot of them. As the New York Times points out in a jaw-dropping story, Italian Luca Marchio was having a grand old time traveling alone through Iraq until his backpacking adventure was put to an end by Iraqi and U.S. authorities in Falluja.

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Tags: Iraq Travel / Dangerous Travel / → All Tags

Iraq Tourism Potential Hyped Yet Again

Haven't we heard this one before? Seems Iraq is hoping to lure in some tourists. But this time, travel promoters are thinking really big: Ideas include a cruise ship port in Basra, ziggurat-spotting in Ur and rides to Baghdad on Saddam's presidential train.

Says a diplomat from the UK:

Basra itself was a medieveal town, and you have the cradle of civilization here. You could have people's cruise ships come back here to see the hanging gardens of Babylon.

We are on major bird migration routes, you could do that. In five years you can have a significantly improved city. It is potentially a hugely civilised and cultured place.

Ah! There's the rub: Any of this won't happen for at least another five years. That'll give you some time to save up for that day of shark fishing.

Related Stories:
· Iraq to Promote Its Tourist Potential [Telegraph]
· Heidi and Spencer Plan Iraq Trip [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Paulio Geordio]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Heidi Montag / Spencer Pratt / John McCain / Iraq Travel / The Hills / → All Tags

Hiatus Travel: "Hills" Iraq Junket Hits Bratty Snag

The world may yet be spared a Spencer Pratt-Heidi Montag Iraq tour attached to John McCain's presidential campaign. Whatever Heidi and McCain daughter Meghan discussed at lunch a few weeks ago, they may not have covered the simple fact that Spencer refuses to fly coach and won't pony up for first-class seats. Let's all impress this on our memories so in 20 years when he runs for president, we can create "Coach Passengers For Truth."

Maybe he's just saving for his gigundo mortgage: The "Hills" couple we love to hate was spotted shopping for a more permanent abode in Malibu this weekend. Something is wrong with a universe when Ed McMahon is facing foreclosure but these TV twits can afford to buy.

Related Stories:
· Earlier: End Times Officially Here As Heidi And Spencer Plan Iraq Trip [Jaunted]
· "The Hills"-GOP Crossover Inches Closer To Scary Reality [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebitchy]

Tags: Celeb Travel / The Hills / Heidi Montag / Spencer Pratt / Meghan McCain / Iraq / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

End Times Officially Here as Heidi and Spencer Plan Iraq Trip

As if the country needs more disastrous American intervention, Heidi and Spencer are planning a trip to Iraq. The "singer" wants to get on-stage to entertain the troops, while we imagine Pratt will venture out on a shark fishing expedition.

In an interview with "Extra," Spencer declared:

I think Meghan McCain is helping organize Heidi and our Iraq trip. Her dad definitely has some pull with the military. I think she's going to put that together for us.

At least if she sends the reality couple overseas, Meghan won't have to meet up with them for lunch!

Related Stories:
· Heidi and Spencer Plan Iraq Trip [People, via]
· "The Hills"-GOP Crossover Inches Closer to Scary Reality [Jaunted]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Angelina Jolie / Brad Pitt / Super World Travelers / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

Late News: Angelina Didn't Like Flight From Iraq

It's already all over, but it's interesting that it's only just come out in the open: Super-parent and super world traveler Angelina Jolie fainted on a flight from Iraq to Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago.

The collapse apparently occurred mid-flight back on February 7, when Jolie was returning to the US after visiting refugees in Iraq as part of her work with the United Nations. She also suffered from nose bleeds and cramps in her legs, and was given oxygen.

Now that Jolie's pregnancy is beyond doubt (if not quite official), we'd imagine there'll be less running around Iraq and more staying at home. Can a Super World Traveler sit still? We'll see.

Related Stories:
· Angelina Jolie in Flight Collapse [UK Sun]
· Super World Travelers Aren't Fooling Anyone [Jaunted]
· Super World Traveler Angelina Jolie Is Fearless [Jaunted]

[Photo: Adriana M. Barraza/ WENN]

Tags: Sharks / Fishing / Mancations / Iraq / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

Iraq Travel: The Next Hot Spot for Shark Fishing

Attention! A new force is threatening the sovereignty of Iraq, and it's very, very hungry. A man fishing in a canal near the southern city of Nassiriya caught a six-foot-long shark who somehow eluded barriers and swam up the Euphrates River into what is known as the cradle of civilization.

Some Iraqis believe the shark was planted by occupying American forces to scare the locals. But that doesn't answer the question of how the shark got to Nassiriya in the first place. If Iraq is a little exotic for you, visit our fishing map to find some more traditional spots for landing a big catch on your next trip.

Related Stories:
· Fisherman Nets Shark 200 km from Sea [Yahoo]
· Deep Sea Fishing Spots [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JawsMovie.com]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Iraq / Iraq Travel / Angelina Jolie / Brangelina / Super World Travelers / → All Tags

Super World Traveler Angelina Jolie Is Fearless

Remember when Senator John McCain told CNN Iraq was so safe he could walk through its neighborhoods--and then he did so with like 100 armed guards? Well, sir, Angelina Jolie has just upped the ante. The actress and Original Super World Traveler snuck off to a UN refugee camp in Iraq yesterday to talk to displaced people trying to gain admittance to Syria. As a goodwill ambassador she has also visited camps in Sierra Leone, Pakistan and Sudan's Darfur region.

Obviously Jolie had her bodyguard present, and probably other back-up support. But just wait till you see our "Angelina '08" bumper stickers! (As a Super World Traveler, she'll be a lock for our candidate travel map.)

The State Department's guidelines on Iraq travel note that terrorists are targeting civil aviation, vehicular travel within the country is very dangerous and that "the Embassy can provide only limited emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq."

Related Stories:
· Super World Travelers coverage [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]