City names like Mosul, Karbala and Basra - and of course the capital Baghdad - are familiar to us all, but not from seeing people's holiday snaps, unfortunately. Tourism in Iraq is a very small-scale affair, but I've been curious about it recently after seeing a couple of people I knew travel there - and I've interviewed two women who've recently travelled to Iraq for this episode. First up, I speak with Julie Kaplan. Curiously, Julie intended only to spend a few days in Kurdistan and on the insistent advice of friends she made there, decided to explore federal Iraq as well - and ending up spending four months there!  I then chat with longtime friend of the podcast Jean Cheney, who joined a small group tour in Iraq recently. She explained how safety issues were dealt with along with telling me about the amazing history and food of Iraq - enough to make me yearn to get there some day, for sure!   Links: Julie Kaplan's website - https://www.juliekaplan.com/  Julie’s YouTube channel, Julie from LA - https://www.youtube.com/@juliefromla Jean's website, Traveling Honeybird - https://www.travelinghoneybird.com/  Janet's Journeys - https://janetsjourneys.com/  Episode 157 - Eva on her work trip to Iraq - notaballerina.com/157 Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/297 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.