Iran Photo Gallery

by Erik Olsen on

This is a travel site, not a political site, so we try not to get too deep into sensitive, polarizing issues. I’m sure you all remember the phrase “Axis of Evil” and the context in which it was used. Now whether or not you agree with the use of the phrase, well, that’s neither here nor there. Let’s just say that we all have our notions about how beneficial it is to classify an entire country as “evil”.

So with that out there as a rather leaden preamble, I want to point you to a gallery of photos taken in Iran. I have ALWAYS wanted to visit Iran. I’ve been told from numerous sources that it is lovely, culturally vibrant and that the people, as opposed to being mean, nasty, America-hating evil-doers, are actually very fond of Americans and terrifically friendly.

It seems to me like we could do away with a great deal of all this name-calling and cultural misunderstanding if we each took 2,000 people and swapped them for a month. Move 2K Americans to Iran and 2K Iranians to the US…say, Seattle. Make a reality show out of it.

But that idea aside, I really do urge you to check out these fab photos by photographer Bobby Model taken during a month-long trip to Iran. Better than the stuff Sean Penn took, for sure, and quite revealing about a country that most Americans know only as a part of the AoE.

Visit Iranian Nuclear Sites

by Adrienne Wilson on

Aldous Huxley once said, “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” If his theory is truly correct tourists allowed into Iran to scope out the so-called dangerous nuclear facilities will either be bummed or thrilled to know that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hasn’t any plans to extinguish us all in the near future. According to this recordonline.com piece the Iranian president aims to convince people that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful. How do you go about an operation like that – you invite the people to see for themselves? As of now many Iranian tour operators are preparing it what could be a big boom in business while the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran studies how to make it all possible. Persian Voyages, a tour company in Surrey, England is also noted in the story. They took clients past one of the biggest nuclear facilities between Kashan and Isfahan. If all goes as planned this time they’ll be able to take them inside.

I’d go.

World-Wide Cheap Ski Passes

by Neil Woodburn on

Something which many families overlook while planning a ski holiday is the price of lift tickets. Sure, you might get a sweet deal for flight and accommodations to Chamonix, France, but once you discover that a children’s ski pass for Mont Blanc is €200 for six day, that “sweet deal” suddenly doesn’t sound so sweet anymore.

This was just one of many examples covered in the excellent On The Up: Lift Passes Around The World article found in yesterday’s Independent. Writer Patrick Thorne points families looking to save some money in (mostly) the right direction. I say “mostly” because his number one recommendation for cheap ski passes is Iran. Seven days of skiing at Dizin, just north of Tehran, for example, costs only £19! Of course, you might want to check out the political climate before the weather report while skiing in this region of the world.

If Iranian skiing still worries you, Thorne includes a handful of other recommendations infinitely more plausible.

Word for the Travel Wise (10/06/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

After several very long hours of driving down the wide-open road, I am going to leave you with this Persian piece of vocabulary before retreating to bed. My apologies for the short blurb, but I am truly in a state of delirium.

Today’s word is a Farsi (Persian) word used in Iran:

khastam – I am tired

Excellent sites for learning Persian online include a personal favorite called Easy Persian and Farhangsara. Both sites have an excellent beginner’s guide into the language and use images, sound and music to assist you in the process. Check out Lonely Planet’s Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook for a shorthand guide at the ancient lingo.

Past Farsi words: be salamati, toot farangee, kheyli golabi, tazeh, dovidan

Cat in a Box

by Erik Olsen on

Cats do the darnedest things. Or at least their owners do. Here we are, engaged in the most serious security operations in the history of flight, and some lady goes waltzing about on airlines with her cat in a box. Yes, the nice old lady (aka: the flying at lady) found the kitten as a stray and put the thing in a box taking it through checkpoints in Tehran and Amsterdam (it’s the Tehran part of this thing that most worries me about the competency of the airline security folks). Then she heads to Newcastle Airport in Britain. All the while, the cat goes through x-rays and sits happily in its box. Tabby was only found after landing in Newcastle when Customs officers asked the lady to open the box. At least they fond it. I mea, I feel safer already.