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Since When is Iraq 'The Most Exciting Emerging Destination on Earth?'

Insurance companies make it their job to assess risk, and if something is too unsafe they'll inevitably shy away. So it's probably a good sign that there's now an easy way to get traveler's insurance for—of all places—Iraq. The country's travel board was at the London World Travel Market, and in conjunction with their arrival, AAIB Insurance Brokers announced the launch of Iraq-travelinsurance.com. The url isn't the most creative thing we've ever seen, but it certainly does convey the site's purpose.

The site bills itself as a comprehensive travel insurance stop, and our quick test drive seemed to confirm as much. You can use it to purchase insurance for Iraq, for Afghanistan, or for Iraq and Afghanistan. Then you can pick out regions within those countries where you'll be traveling, with prices presumably pegged to the local security situation. We're not sure why Iraq and Afghanistan are lumped together that way—maybe there's a lot of demand for US Invasion Nostalgia trips or something—but the option is definitely available if you want it.

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Airline News / New Routes / Airlines / Aigle Azur / SDA / BGW / Iraq Travel / Baghdad Travel / → All Tags

Aigle Azur is the Latest Airline to Try Their Luck at Direct Flights to Baghdad

We’ve been trying to figure out the flight options to Iraq since earlier in the year—we’re kind of wanting to set a personal record for the longest trip to get a Big Mac—and now another airline is attempting to initiate regular service.

French airline Aigle Azur sent a plane into Baghdad over the weekend, but this first flight didn’t carry any paid passengers. It was mostly pomp and circumstance, as the airline is trying its best to start regular service within the next few months.

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New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Lufthansa / Etihad Airways / Iraqi Airways / SDA / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

Yes, There Are Regular Flights to Iraq Now

We’re not going to get into the political discussion about Iraq, but we do want to talk about visiting Iraq. Sure it might not be the safest destination in the world right now, but it’s probably not the most dangerous. After years of restrictions and regulations there are finally some flights going to and from Baghdad International Airport connecting Iraq with the rest of the world. Here’s three airlines and their new routes that will get you to Baghdad and beyond.

· Land With Lufthansa
Grab a decent in-flight cocktail or beer and relax on your way to Iraq. Lufthansa announced that they’d be sending planes to and from Baghdad from both Munich and Frankfurt starting this summer. It’s been roughly twenty years since the airline had service to Iraq, but they’re now planning to go full speed ahead. Besides Baghdad the airline is also planning to hit up Northern Iraq and the city of Erbil beginning on April 25. We’re thinking this could be delayed by a bit due to all the recent volcano stuff.

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Most Shocking McDonalds / Most-Shocking-McDonalds-Locations / McDonalds / Fast Food Travel / Iraq Travel / Kuwait Travel / → All Tags

Is There Really a McDonald's in Iraq?

Even though we've located this McDonald's imposter in Dohuk, Iraq, we have yet to find a true Golden Arches in the country, one with Quarter pounders and McFlurrys and all that fast food that so bad for you and yet tastes so good.

Yet, after we posted the story on the Iraq knock-off restaurant, we heard from a Jaunted reader serving in the Middle East, who assures us that "there are a few at Forward operating bases all over the country of Iraq. For one instance is the one at Camp Speicher Iraq." So we did some more digging, and although we found mentions of a Subway, Burger King and Pizza Hut at Camp Speicher near Tikrit, any McDonald's locations remained top secret.

But before entering what might be a completely McDs-free land, soldiers homesick with hamburgers usually roll up to the open-24-hours McDonald's at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, where many flights leave to or arrive from Baghdad. We managed to find a picture of it above, and it's probably similar to whatever Golden Arches might be found closer to the front lines.

Got another shocking McDonald's location we should know about? This is going to be a running series, so email us your suggestions!

Related Stories:
· What Is A McDonalds Doing in Iraq? [Jaunted]
· The Most Shocking McDonald's Locations in the World [Jaunted]
· More McDonalds Locations That Make You Go 'Hmm' [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bee's Blog]

Most Shocking McDonalds / Most-Shocking-McDonalds-Locations / McDonalds / Fast Food Travel / Iraq Travel / → All Tags

What Is A McDonalds Doing In Iraq?

From Oman straight into the heart of Iraq, we continue to explore the world of fast food; namely McDonald's, that controversial culture-bridger. Only this time, we're not talking about a real McDonald's, but a fake! We'll let the Jaunted reader who sent us the photo explain:

This is not really a McDonalds location, but a knockoff restaurant located in Dohuk, Iraq. I visited the city with some Kurdish colleagues and was told that it was the best location in town for a hamburger. Needless to say, Iraqi versions of hamburgers are very different than what we are used to.

They have the golden arches and the right colors, but they don't have the name "McDonald's," and we did a little internet digging and couldn't come find a single true McDonald's listed in Iraq, although some military bases boast Pizza Hut, Burger King and Subway. Well, we guess the soldiers with a hankering for a Quarter Pounder with cheese will just have to make their way to the Majorca Restaurant in Dohuk.

Got another shocking McDonald's location we should know about? This is going to be a running series, so email us your suggestions!

Related Stories:
· The Most Shocking McDonald's Locations In The World [Jaunted]
· More McDonalds Locations That Make You Go 'Hmmm' [Jaunted]
· Fast Food Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: P. Ammar]

War Zones / Dangerous Travel / Tourism Boards / Iraq Travel / Iraq Tourism Board / → All Tags

We Wouldn't Want to Work on the 'Visit Iraq' Ad Campaign

A Saddam Hussein-regime building along the water.

It might seem incredulous but in Iraq there is an actual working tourism board and even more unbelievable, they want you to visit. The BBC reports that the head of the Iraqi tourism board has attended the World Travel Market in London to promote the country as a new vacation destination.

"Tourism will help regenerate Iraq," says the tourist board chairman, Hammoud al-Yaqoubi. "We want to prove that Iraq still exists and maybe we can change people's minds about it."

In fact, there is one British company, Hinterland Travel, that has begun offering tours of Iraq in March and has at least five more planned through 2010. The company had to stop around 2003 because of escalating violence but today a nine-day tour in Iraq will cost you £1,600 per person.

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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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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]

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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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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]

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]

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]