Here’s a story that makes me wonder how engaged and how immersed some of us really are about our travel subjects?
Alas, a young 16 year-old teen from Ft. Lauderdale, FL has been sent home after jetting off to Iraq and spending several
days abroad without telling his parents. Of Iraqi descent and with no real Arabic language speaking skills, the
youngster took off on December 11 telling only two of his close friends. Before making way to Iraq on Christmas Day he
made stops in Kuwait and Lebanon. A taxi driver dropped him off at the Kuwait / Iraqi border, but could go no further.
Hassan then went to Beirut, Lebanon to stay with family friends before flying into Baghdad. On his second day in
Baghdad he contacted the AP and told them he had come to do humanitarian work and research. Are you floored yet? At
that point the AP called the U.S. Embassy who sent soldiers to pick him up.
Whew, wow and whoa! I know this
was pretty much on the absolute brink of stupidity, but the kid’s got guts. Having recently studied immersion
journalism, he really took the bull by the horns on this one. Now that he is back home safely we can all relax and take
a huge deep breath.