Indian Ocean Islands - Northeast USA

Due to the nature of my work, I got a relatively longer vacation for this Easter. I decided to visit the four Indian Ocean island nations in Africa and stop over in a few Northeastern cities in the USA on my way back.

Mar 23, 2024
Northern Grande Comore

Hainan

Hainan is China's only tropical holiday destination. From a travel perspective, I'm not particularly interested in Hainan as I've been to many much better beach destinations. However, I decided to visit Hainan to have a family reunion due to the warm weather there in winter.

Jan 18, 2024
Haikou

Iraq - Kuwait - Saudi Arabia

I never thought of visiting Iraq until two months ago when I was at a library browsing for travel books for potential next destinations and saw the Bradt Iraq book. Since Bradt is a mainstream publisher, it means Iraq is definitely doable despite that most western countries still advise against traveling to Iraq. A nearby country, Saudi Arabia, has also opened its doors to independent travel recently, and I don't want to miss that opportunity either. The tiny country between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, adds a bonus to the trip.

Jan 6, 2024
Baghdad