Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
I'm an American tourist visiting Taliban-controlled Afghanistan - here's what it's like
An American tourist who visited Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is sharing insight into his experience - along with three tips for others who may want to plan their own visit.
Kansas City native Eli Snyder, 25, posted a video on TikTok revealing what tourists must do in order to safely visit Afghanistan after he stayed in the country for 10 days in January.
Speaking with DailyMail.com, the University of Michigan graduate - who quit his US-based job to travel full time - shared his motivation for the trip.
'I wanted to visit Afghanistan for several reasonns. I live for visiting places as dissimilar as possible from how I’ve grown up, in suburban America outside of Kansas City. Sometimes this means visiting a dangerous place, but it remains true, as I’d much rather visit Pyongyang than Winnipeg,' he said.
'Afghanistan is repeatedly on the list of Top 10 Fav Countries of travelers who have visited every country! I’ve heard the best things about the hospitality, nature, and food. I plan to visit every country in the world.'
Backpacker and content creator Eli Snyder, 25, posted a TikTok video on May 20 about the necessary steps a traveler must take to visit Afghanistan
Snyder has created a series of videos about his Afghanistan trip
Snyder wrote in his video description that his trip was 'scary' but absolutely worth it.
His May 20 video has received over one million views, and over 75,000 TikTokers have commented on it.
The backpacker, who is known for his travel videos, has posted three other TikToks about his Afghanistan trip this month, giving viewers a peek into what he saw.
Snyder began recording his Afghanistan adventures shortly after he entered the country with 22-year-old German traveler Valentin Oeckl, who he says is one of the closest friends he's made since he started traveling full-time.
He visited Kabul, Bamiyan & Band-e-Amir, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Balkh during his stay.
The TikToker, who referred to his Afghanistan adventure as his 'most ambitious trip yet' in an Instagram post, wanted to visit the country for multiple reasons.
'Afghanistan is repeatedly on the list of Top 10 Favorite Countries of travelers who have visited every country. I’ve heard the best things about the hospitality, nature, and food,' he told DailyMail.com.
'Afghanistan isn’t a country you visit for Tourist Attractions per se, but a country where you can walk out of your doorstep and be immediately stimulated by the ongoing ebb and flow of daily life.'
The backpacker revealed that his most memorable moment was when he and Oeckl crossed the Torkham border.
'We were stamped out of Afghanistan, had walked through the long corridor of barbed wire fences, and found ourselves alone in the Afghanistan immigration office,' Snyder wrote.
'We handed over our passports to the Taliban official, who stamped us into the country. There was an eerie silence and stillness in that moment, and those simple three words will forever be engraved in my mind.'
Snyder spend 10 days in Afghanistan in January with 22-year-old German traveler Valentin Oeckl. He visited Kabul, Bamiyan & Band-e-Amir, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Balkh
Snyder referred to Afghanistan as 'a country where you can walk out of your doorstep and be immediately stimulated by the ongoing ebb and flow of daily life'
Snyder generally felt safe during his trip, but he did have a 'hairy moment' in Kabul.
'We didn't have our permits and were walking to the Ministry of Information & Culture,' he wrote.
'We were apprehended, and they were stern with us for not having our permits, but mostly they were just curious to see two tourists walking around Kabul without a guide.'
Although he enjoyed the vacation, Snyder revealed that navigating Afghanistan without a tour guide was a challenge.
'The issue is that guides are thousands of dollars, due to the low demand, and the fact that people will pay anything for safety. 'Unfortunately it was out of our budget, so Valentin and I went alone,' he wrote.
Despite the price for a tour guide, Snyder suggested that tourists who enter Afghanistan have a tour guide with them.
According to Snyder, 'Traveling with a guide opens the doors to women, gays, POCs, everyone to visit Afghanistan. Only the most experienced traveler should consider traveling that country without a guide.'
Snyder generally felt safe during his trip, but traveling with no tour guide made things challenging during his stay in Kabul
The backpacker, who has not gone back to Afghanistan since his 10-day stay in January, now has crucial tips for anyone looking to visit the country.
One tip Snyder mentioned in his May 20 TikTok is that travelers must get a visa before traveling out of the country.
'Once the government switched, most Afghan embassies closed. However, there are a few Taliban consulates,' he said in his video.
'The most expensive visas are upwards of $300, and the cheapest is just $1900 in Peshawar, Pakistan.'
Once the traveler gets their visa, they can enter the country by flying into Kabul or crossing a land border.
He went on to recommend that tourists cross the Torkham border to enter the country.
Snyder then noted in his video that 'the most crucial step' in entering Afghanistan is to make sure one has all of their permits and that a traveler can go to jail if they don't have them.
Snyder is not looking to slow down his travels, and he revealed that Oeckl will join him on more trips.
Travelers can enter the country by flying into Kabul or crossing a land border. He recommended that tourists cross the Torkham border
'That trip made us so so close and I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing it without him,' Snyder wrote.
'Now We FaceTime once a week I would say, and have travels planned to Germany, Liechtenstein, and Syria before the end of the year.'