Rough Guides

Afghanistan

I used to dislike traveling – the long car rides, the staring into oblivion until you got to your destination, the endless parade of familial arguments while you figure out where to eat dinner…

I’m being dramatic, I know.

I’m a bit older since the days of family vacations gone claustrophobic. They're visiting Washington, DC right now, and I’ll be damned if I’m not envious that I have to stay home to care for the kittens. 

I’m using that time wisely though – now I’m the one frantically searching for flight prices to Reykjavik, emailing hostels near Cape Breton, figuring out how to rent a car in a foreign country – the list goes on.

It seems I’ve been bitten by a severe case of wanderlust, which isn’t the strangest thing for the typical North American 20-something. We’ll see how much I’ll have to penny pinch for that lusted-after vacation next spring.

In the meantime, click through the photo above for a slideshow from Rough Guides, a travel writing and reference website that’s only recently on my radar (why’d it take so long?!).

The photos go through the least visited countries in the world which, given a few years, I’ll start seeing as a challenge I can pursue. Hey, translating wanderlust to legitimate travel takes time.

Also relevant: the Atlantic released an article yesterday about the rise of "dark tourism" - when war zones become travel destinations.