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Re the borders, Jordanian border is the quietest one (taking the honor from the Egyptian & Syrian borders, which now have some potential for danger given the instability there). During the war of 2006 in Israel, land borders with Jordan and Egypt were open and unaffected. Land borders with Syria and Lebanon are only open for the UN personnel and Syrian ...

You can cross the Turkey-Iraq border at Silopi-Zakho and travel throughout Kurdish Iraq without any problems. In the past (before 2008), the border was a bit more difficult as the Turks and Iraqi border guards were much more suspicious of non-locals crossing, but now they don't even look twice. You'll get a 10-day visa on arrival at the border although it ...

I imagine it would depend almost entirely on the wording in the PDS. If the insurer uses a term like "war zone" they should be defining it somewhere. Otherwise, contact them for clarification on the specific regions you're travelling too. That said, none of the insurers I've looked at use the term. They only talk about harm caused by war or military ...

The situation is very complicated. Georgia says that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Georgian territories, and you can go there from Georgia by this border crossing: to South Ossetia from Gori - my friends from Germany made a trip this year. If you get into these territories not by these points, you would get problems (fee from $1200 or jail up to 5 ...

In July I was in Tajikistan, along the Afghanistan border. I met a LOT of travellers going there. Indeed, the Central Asia Lonely Planet (English version) has a picture of a temple from within Afghanistan. It was sooo tempting. However, due to a slight medical emergency, I had to backtrack from Khorog along the Afghanistan border again to Dushanbe and ...

It is possible to go to Iraq. Business people travel there regularly, although they normally travel with security. There's a pretty good summary of the area here. Kurdistan seems to be one of the more stable areas, and the border with Iran seems to be pretty scary. I would be afraid to travel in Iraq, but then I'm also afraid to go to Colombia, which is ...

I've been there a few years ago so I don't really know how recent facts affected the safety of that area but since it has always been a "conflict zone" I'll give you my two cents. Jerusalem isn't considered to be in the West Bank. Fully equipped Israeli soldiers are deployed everywhere in the city as are security cameras. It's a very sensitive area but I've ...

The security situation in this region is a bit precarious, but that's nothing new. It has always been so. This means that you can go there, but that you have to be cautious. The Syrian crisis is not a reason to stop traveling to Israel. The same if true for the West Bank. Indeed, there are some more dangerous places in the West Bank, especially in the ...

I think looking at your country's safe-fly list is a good indicator. For Australians we have Smart Traveller, where you can see the classification of each country. I'd think that Australian travel insurance companies use that to help determine the danger of travelling to a specific place, and I'd imagine your country would have something similar.

I would say that each company insurance can probably have their own definition. It is usually part of the policy (in the definitions' portion). Otherwise, it is probably regulated by the jurisdiction where the insurance company is incorporated, which again - may result in a whole bunch of different definitions. Bottom line - I would look in the policy for ...

I tried to get into South Ossetia from Gori, in May 2008. Less than 3 months Before the 5-day-war. When I got to the checkpoint on the Georgian side, the military asked me what I was doing there "Do you know there is a war going on here" he said. Well he was right - 2 month later. So I would like to say. No way you can get into Soth Ossetia from Gori today. ...