Having been stupidly stuck for inspiration, I began typing random words into the google keyword tool hoping that it would give me a little inspiration; just a title to work to. First I typed 'Soccer' but I have wrote far too much about soccer already, then I typed 'Travel' but everything about travel is pretty damn saturated and I knew that writing about the Caribbean or Thailand would just make me feel a little down about not being able to afford a decent holiday this year. Then I typed 'Afghanistan', I was thinking about war rather than travel.... but I discovered something astonishing, the shear amount of English speaking people that want to visit Afghanistan! 'Afghanistan Vacation', 'Afghanistan Flights', 'Afghanistan Hotels'. I would never have believed it in a million years, people want to go to Afghanistan for reasons other than war. So if there are people demanding then I will do the supplying, this hub will tell you everything you need to know about Afghanistan hotels, Afghanistan holidays, flights to a Afghanistan and Afghanistan Tours.

And the scariest thing is....... they all exist! Not only do they exist but they have inspired me to do a range of hubs dedicated to tourism in various other places that 'normal' people don't usually want to go. They will include North Korea, Somalia and Iraq.

I could find just one pre-arranged vacation per year to go to Afghanistan, one departing on 25th September 2009 and one departing on 24th September 2009. This 17 day vacation has not surprisingly been marked 'Potentially Dangerous', personally I would have called it 'Probably Dangerous'. Your 17 day adventure will set you back £3,585 per person and is probably most attractive to journalists or writers of some sort, although anybody can book. It has a pre-set itinerary which includes:-

Day 1:- Arrive in Kabul, you are taken to your guesthouse. You spend the afternoon either resting or exploring the sites of the city, I would spend my afternoon cowering in my room I feel! Possible attractions include a destroyed street (great :-S). After ducking shells and having paranoia induced panic attacks about suicide bombers, you will have dinner at the Guest House and stay overnight.

You know what, the whole idea makes me feel slightly ill...... so feel free to read the rest of the 16 day itinerary at ResponsibleTravel.com.

Although the 'Afghanistan Vacation' detailed above is quite essentially a 'tour', I couldn't feature the same thing twice..... I lied by the way, I did find another Afghanistan vacation, its just that I am going to call this one an 'Afghanistan Tour'; mainly due to the fact that it is marketed as the 'Wakhan Pamir Reece Tour - Afghanistan & Tajikistan'.

My readership are generally from the USA, UK or Canada.... so I will keep this simple.

UK:-There are no flights to Afghanistan from London, although Safi Airways (a Dubai airline) does have plans to fly to Kabul from London Heathrow and Birmingham; I guess that these are intended for British nationals with Afghan origins that wish to visit family. Major flight brokers such as Expedia and Ebookers do not currently sell flights to Afghanistan due to instability, and quite simply.... you will have to find some obscure country from which to fly to Afghanistan. I would not recommend that any westerner without Afghan routes travels to Kabul without a pre-organised tour (as recommended in the two sections above).

USA:-Believe it or not, it is possible to fly from the USA to Afghanistan for your.... *cough* relaxing vacation. In fact, there are 8 airports which provide flights to the country, including San Francisco. These flights are not very regular, for example the only flight I could find from San Francisco was a return journey from San Francisco to Kabul for $1,637 return. That is actually quite reasonable, but you and your family will be the only non journalists or non Afghan nationals on the flight. ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TRIP:- Always wear plenty of bullet protection, available from any good local arms dealer.

Canada:- Sorry Canadians, I couldn't be bothered to look, half of you are close enough to San Francisco!

The InterContinental Hotel in Kabul has 200 air conditioned rooms, has 4 dining options, a banquet suite seating upto 400 people and most importantly.... it is still standing! A deluxe single room will cost you AFs 9000. However much that is, it could be $1 or it could be $9000 for all I know. Remember, I don't want to go there. In fairness, it actually doesn't look too bad. I would stay in it, if it was in say..... Las Vegas! The Inter-Continental has been accommodating all sorts of diplomats and journalists for a while and has, I should imagine, a fair bit of security.

The Kabul Serena was built in 1945 and is located in the centre of Kabul near to all of the cities ministries and embassy's. It has recently been completely refurbished, probably to house UN and NATO diplomats - although that is pure speculation. In fairness, this place looks lush and it could quite easily be a 3 or 4 star in New York if I didn't know better. It has 177 rooms, all of which look fantastic, it has a spa, holds conferences and banquets and 4 restaurants.

Le Monde Guest House Kabul

Maple Leaf Inn Kabul

Mumtaz International Hotel & Restaurant

Mustafa Hotel Afghanistan

Safi Land Mark Hotel