#99 PAKISTAN

I'd tried for years to get a visa to Pakistan, but as an American living in Afghanistan, I was consistently rejected. I knew many people from different nationalities who traveled between the two countries for work without problems, but obtaining a tourist visa was a different story. For whatever reason, I guess I raised too many red flags as a potential CIA spy and eventually stopped trying.

Then, one day in 2019, Pakistan launched an e-visa scheme that didn't require inspection of every page of my passport or an in-person interview. By this time, I was living in Istanbul, so I subtly downplayed my time in Afghanistan, and one week later, I received an email from the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs with my visa confirmation. And just like that, I was off to Islamabad for a week of R&R at the luxurious Serena Hotel between consultancies in Port Harcourt and Kabul!