@Pierre. RE: visiting Cuba. You know, it’s funny. I have no problems going to Burma. But going to these commie countries which oppress their own people and give them dollars makes me sick. Particularly since most visitors are only interested in cheap sex with the locals. At least that is not a problem in North Korea.

I was in Tunisia and learned how much I had misconceptions of other religions. I learned that many young Muslims drink too. Like one guy told me: we sin too. In my mental image, no Muslim ever drank, period. How close minded was that! I think I’m a very open minded person, I visited over 20 countries but I keep surprising myself by how much my thinking is biased by TV and mainstream media. Traveling opens our mind and breaks down the religion and cultural misconceptions we have. We realize that we don’t have all the answers. And some other systems are quite clever (ah, Iceland, I kept saying “hey, this is clever, we should do that too”).

We need to get over the fear of others. We need to fear our leaders who keep us in a state of fear. We need to realize that we all want to be safe and want the best for our kids. Sure, there are some crazies out there like I wouldn’t have visited Sarajevo in the 90s, that’s a given. But most places in the world are safe.

Fear: seriously, Australia put Canada on a list of “dangerous countries” because of snow falls and avalanches. Come on, is that for real? We need to get the person who wrote that a free plane ticket to pay us a visit… We can all laugh over here because we know it’s nonsense. But it wouldn’t be surprising for Someone in Dubai that never traveled to believe it. In France, some people still think they can come and see “Indians in tipis”… Seriously! Just like we believe everyone in Cuba is psyched about communism. Or that you’ll get killed in Morocco for being American…

Cuba, worth a visit too. They are dirt poor yet seem light years ahead of other “free” countries (like in the Dominican Republic, where I’m not quite sure if slavery has truly been abolished [creating huge dept and then having people work 16 hour days in sugarcanes and have only enough money to eat bananas doesn't count as "free" to me]). Cuba has some clever things too to maximize the little they have. Like if you have a car, you are obligated to pick up passengers at designated points [if there's a seat available]. Kinda like the “slug lines” in Washington DC where drivers pick up people at designated stops so they can travel on the HOV lanes (just that in Cuba, it’s obligatory). Cubans have a lot to teach too. They too can’t wait to travel. And once Cuba opens up, just watch their biotech industry, they have smart people out there, just waiting to impress us.

Life is too short to believe what others say. You gotta go make an opinion for yourself. And stay out of the truly dangerous regions.

Pierre