Almost every time I told people I was going to travel to Iran for a holiday, the response was an incredulous, "Why Iran?" Very few thought it was an exciting and interesting proposition. I believe the question reflects a successful demonisation of Iran, and while there is plenty wrong with the country, it's all too easy to overlook the great things. So, I'll try to answer the question, and when I get back I'll post about what it's really like here. I'm not going to pretend that this is a well-researched politically-aware piece of writing; just my very humble opinions and observations.

Cultural reasons

I love travel. Experiencing different places, different cultures, different food, talking to people on the street, and seeing how they live, broadens the mind, and can make you a better person. It's obviously no simple task - even an impossible task - to understand another culture, but gaining some understanding is a gift.

I've travelled extensively in south east Asia, and because of geography Asia has a strong influence in Australia through proximity and immigration. Over the last four years I've worked on a computer science education project in Africa, travelling there often, and working closely with many Africans. I've travelled to Europe and the USA.

There are of course, huge chunks of the world that I haven't visited - Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, South America, South Asia, to name just a few - however the Middle East's rich and turbulent cultural history, both ancient and recent, was certainly a big drawcard. There are also a lot more Muslims in Australia than there were 10 years ago, and they seem to be getting the blame for all sorts of society's ills, as they are in many parts of the world, from largely uninformed commentators.

Finally, and importantly, my good friend and colleague Saied is Iranian, and I've had many thought-provoking discussions with him about Iran over the years. This was probably what initially piqued my interest in Iran in particular in the Middle East.

Pragmatic reasons

Some of the reasons are very prosaic. Thanks to my work in Africa, I had a lot of frequent flier points with Emirates, and these were about to expire. With the Emirates hub in Dubai, and not a lot of time to go gallivanting around the world (must ... do ... research) the Middle East makes perfect sense, close enough that I don't have to spend days travelling (damn Australia's remoteness).

Due to work, Rachel wasn't able to travel with me. I love travelling with Rachel, so I wanted to choose somewhere that I was interested in but that wasn't on the top of Rachel's list, not somewhere we'd be likely to rush off to together. The Middle East is of course harder for women to travel in than other parts of the world (but more on women in Iran in another post), so Rachel wasn't especially keen (though I think that changed as I learnt more about Iran in preparation for the trip). Another plus for deciding on Iran for my trip.

Political reasons

In a geopolitical sense, Iran is incredibly important at the moment. With its opposition to the state of Israel and its active nuclear program, Iran is making much of the rest of the world nervous. The USA is busy flexing it muscles and chest beating, and they have "refused to take any options off the table," including military action against Iran. Boy, do I hate political weasel words. The media is full of reports on Iran at the moment, and very little of it is positive. According to the international media, Iran is a country of violent demonstrations, vicious oppression, military marches. Everyone is a religious fanatic, and the country is a dusty desert. In fact, the Middle East in general gets a pretty poor showing in the international media. I've seen this before, specifically in Africa, where all the news is either about poverty or corruption, and yet there is so much more. Most people talk about Africa as if it's a single country, not 53 incredibly rich and diverse countries.

Then there are things like the government travel warnings. The Australian government travel advisory web site says:

We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in Iran because of the threat of terrorist attack against Western interests. We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against a range of targets in Iran, including places frequented by foreigners.

But, as far as I know, there haven't been any terrorist attacks in Iran, against foreigners or otherwise. So, quite frankly, I don't believe the hype about Iran. I wanted to see for myself.

Saied has said, "The first step to mischief is dehumanisation," meaning that if the people don't know each other, governments can do what they want. But that's the wrong way around. We're dehumanised and anonymous to start with, and we need to try to know each other.