Hmm. I've forever been hampered with an innate curiosity about everywhere, and my once-fervid idealism has given way to increasing pragmatism in old age. Plus, having lived under problematic governments my entire adult life, it's hard to take a 'principled' stance on these things. I also question the extent to which the West has cause for claiming a moral high ground atm (if it ever did). I used to find myself legitimately appalled when swanning through the expat bubbles and finding women who'd lived in Riyadh or gays/lesbians who'd spent a year in Manama or sth, to the point where I'd openly judge and condemn those choices. Nowadays, I'm more like 'if you can make it work for you, fair enough.' Though I still think they're MAD - and grotesquely money-driven to boot.
The only places that I embargo in my head are North Korea and Israel. There are a number of other nations I'd avoid purely for self-preservation. I once ventured over to pre-war Tigray where I roomed with a guy whose onward travel plans consisted of the following: Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Bucket lists that basically box-tick the misery of others is one thing I can deem to be against my principles. I often wonder if he's still alive.
I've long had an aversion to the Arab world and esp. Muslim-majority petrostates but even that's changing these days. Transiting in the Middle East is the norm whenever I want to get farther afield. I had to spend 24hrs in Doha for that reason a few months back (luckily a good friend lives there). Came off the plane bedraggled and carrying the weight of thousands of subjugated Brown/Black migrant workers on my shoulders, looking for excuses to start confrontations with any Qatari that dared cross me. But everyone was beyond polite for the entire stay, nipping all my pent-up aggression in the bud. I'm gonna have to repeat that same trick in Dubai in a few weeks' time. Old, moral-absolutist me has always holed himself up in the (crap!) airport because #values despite the fact that I have friends there who've been imploring me to visit for years. Current me has less of an issue with stepping out and seeing what's around, even if it's anathema to everything I am (as Doha was). Never in my life would I consciously choose to visit such locales, but I'm generally overwhelmed by the kindness and humanity that exists in even the most demonised corners of the world so I'll keep an open mind.
