One of my favorite modern day travelers is Robert Young Pelton, author of The World’s Most Dangerous Places.
Pelton specializes in places that are so far off the beaten path they tend to be mined, booby-trapped, and teeming with guerillas–such as Grozny for example. So far, he has managed to come back alive every time–although he was kidnapped once and held for ransom.
Like all good travelers these days, Pelton has launched his own website.
ComeBackAlive.com is rather self-explanatory in its purpose; it offers practical advice to those visiting dangerous lands so that they too can return home alive. Dangerpedia is one such way of dispensing this information. This wiki program allows travelers to post warnings and tips about trouble spots they’ve visited so that future travelers heading the same direction can, you guessed it, come back alive. It’s still a little weak right now and many countries are missing entries, but I imagine this will change over time.
The site also includes the typical recommendations one normally finds on travel sites, such as where to eat and sleep. This section, however, isn’t organized as well as it could be. In fact, much of site has some growing pains to work through (while other parts, such as the Dangerous Places section are excellent). It is still very much worth a stop, however, especially if you are heading off into the unknown.