BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[Psamathe]

[IMO going against FO advice was foolhardy, but that's easy to say as an armchair traveller!]

FCO advice often doesn't make complete sense and can even be ambiguous (eg "Subject to local conditions"). I've only done it once and worse than ignoring advice ie I called the British consulate in the country I was going from and said "So if I don't come back you'll know to do something" to which they replied "Don't go. If you don't come back we won't do anything. We have no diplomatic relations with them, no embassy, no consulate, nothing". But I went anyway. And very glad I did as it was fascinating (with a few "worrying" times).

 

[CXRAndy]

Unfortunately for them there were no other options for overland travel. It was either Russia or Iran, because Azerbaijan's borders were (and still are) closed. Of course, people will say they didn't need to travel overland, but as someone who has done two of the possible routes, I get it. What they did that I can't understand and was incredibly stupid was to put it on social media.

Cost of flying over certain countries seems cheap now 🙄

 

[PurplePenguin]

Did that make much difference? Applying for a Visa and hiring the guide would have been plenty of notification for the Law Enforcement agencies.

[IMO going against FO advice was foolhardy, but that's easy to say as an armchair traveller!]

I thought they had posted something slightly contentious, but I might be wrong about that. They did upload photos which I think was foolish and something that could have waited until they had left Iran. Perhaps, they were just unlucky.

 

[Beebo]

I thought they had posted something slightly contentious, but I might be wrong about that. They did upload photos which I think was foolish and something that could have waited until they had left Iran. Perhaps, they were just unlucky.

I’m sure they were unlucky.
But you can improve your odds of not being detained by a despotic regime, by not going in the first place.
And I’ve been to some silly places. Worst being Libya in the months after the death of Gadafi. But I had an armed escort at all times. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have gone, but my company had kidnap and ransom insurance to cover employees working in silly places.
I definitely wouldn’t have gone as an independent traveler.

 

[icowden]

I’m sure they were unlucky.
But you can improve your odds of not being detained by a despotic regime, by not going in the first place.

True. If you like an entertaining read, Dom Joly's "The Dark Tourist" (not the Netflix copyright infringement) covers his journeys to places like Chernobyl, North Korea and the Congo. Apparently Congo was the one that where he was genuinely concerned about not getting out alive...

 

[PurplePenguin]

I’m sure they were unlucky.
But you can improve your odds of not being detained by a despotic regime, by not going in the first place.
And I’ve been to some silly places. Worst being Libya in the months after the death of Gadafi. But I had an armed escort at all times. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have gone, but my company had kidnap and ransom insurance to cover employees working in silly places.
I definitely wouldn’t have gone as an independent traveler.

You can improve your chances of not being run over by a bus by never going out, but ultimately everyone does some form of risk assessment and works out whether the risk is worth the reward.

In your case, you presumably decided your armed guards were competent and trustworthy, and you were happy to be paid for the risk. I'm not sure everyone would be though.

The trouble with the way the average armchair pundit looks at this case is that they see no reward in going to Iran or in overland travel, so they can't understand why anyone would take the risk. Many would no doubt quite happily express this opinion on a mobile phone while driving.

My point on social media was that Iran has always been sensitive about photography. People routinely got in trouble for photographing the wrong thing, but the remedy was to simply expose the negatives or confiscate the film, and that could only happen if you were caught taking a photograph. In the world of social media, the photos can't be deleted and they can be viewed by the authorities, and both of those things dramatically increase the risk - I wouldn't take that risk for a few likes.

 

[Pross]

On the subject of being adventurous, my daughter saw a 6 month dance job contract in India advertised on Wednesday, sent her dance reel across yesterday, got asked to send some extra stuff over yesterday afternoon and got offered the job this morning. She needs to decide by midday tomorrow whether to take it and if she does will be heading out some time in March as soon as visas are sorted. If she decides to accept she'll have to cancel a few other committments as it's obviously very short notice but only two would be paying jobs (a gig in a pub in September that I'm sure she can push back and another that is a bit of a favour for a charity very close to her heart that she'll also re-arrange). If she takes it she'll potentially be performing at IPL matches amongst other events. Huge decision for a 22 year old to make with 24 hours notice but probably too big an opportunity to turn down especially as she doesn't currently have a full time job.

 

[icowden]

She needs to decide by midday tomorrow whether to take it and if she does will be heading out some time in March as soon as visas are sorted.

Sounds like a great opportunity - just check that the company is reputable and has safeguarding in place.

 

[Pross]

Sounds like a great opportunity - just check that the company is reputable and has safeguarding in place.

It's through an agency she did her recent Lapland contract with. The monthly pay doesn't sound much but when I looked it is around 3-5 times the cost of living for a single person in Hyderabad plus she won't be paying for accommodation and will have a food allowance so she would get to save the vast majority of what she earns even whilst making the most the fairly limited time off. Great to get some professional work on her CV for future auditions too.

 

[Pblakeney]

On the subject of being adventurous, my daughter saw a 6 month dance job contract in India advertised on Wednesday, sent her dance reel across yesterday, got asked to send some extra stuff over yesterday afternoon and got offered the job this morning. She needs to decide by midday tomorrow whether to take it and if she does will be heading out some time in March as soon as visas are sorted. If she decides to accept she'll have to cancel a few other committments as it's obviously very short notice but only two would be paying jobs (a gig in a pub in September that I'm sure she can push back and another that is a bit of a favour for a charity very close to her heart that she'll also re-arrange). If she takes it she'll potentially be performing at IPL matches amongst other events. Huge decision for a 22 year old to make with 24 hours notice but probably too big an opportunity to turn down especially as she doesn't currently have a full time job.

I remember taking a similar call while in my mid 20s to go to Canada. I told them I'd think about it.
Hung up, did a little jig, told my parents, phoned a friend, then was in the pub celebrating within 15 minutes. Accepted the following day.

 

[PurplePenguin]

It's through an agency she did her recent Lapland contract with. The monthly pay doesn't sound much but when I looked it is around 3-5 times the cost of living for a single person in Hyderabad plus she won't be paying for accommodation and will have a food allowance so she would get to save the vast majority of what she earns even whilst making the most the fairly limited time off. Great to get some professional work on her CV for future auditions too.

She needs to be aware that life in India, especially for a women her age, can be hard. It's a great opportunity, sure, but she needs to consider whether she can cope with everything that goes with it.

 

[Pross]

She needs to be aware that life in India, especially for a women her age, can be hard. It's a great opportunity, sure, but she needs to consider whether she can cope with everything that goes with it.

She'll be part of a group of girls and it sounds like they'll be working 6 days a week, getting ferried around to various events. She thinks the job will be based in Hyderabad which seems to have a reputation for being one of the safer cities in India for young women (although the latest email mentioned Mumbai so it is one of the things she's checking) but knows she'll need to be careful over there. She's pretty sensible and not one for going out partying etc.

 

[PurplePenguin]

She'll be part of a group of girls and it sounds like they'll be working 6 days a week, getting ferried around to various events. She thinks the job will be based in Hyderabad which seems to have a reputation for being one of the safer cities in India for young women (although the latest email mentioned Mumbai so it is one of the things she's checking) but knows she'll need to be careful over there. She's pretty sensible and not one for going out partying etc.

I don't think partying is the issue. These are the things I would recommend considering:
1. Chaos. It is highly likely that everything will be poorly organised. She has already experienced a question over whether it is Mumbai or Hyderabad and she is being asked to agree in one day. Things won't improve. At it's worst there may be considerable over promising going on and the reality will be quite different from what she thinks she is getting. To survive all this, she needs to lower expectations and try to embrace the chaos.
2. Pollution, poverty and dirt. There's lots of it, and some people struggle.
3. It's less of a problem in big cities, but she'll be assumed to be wealthy and, therefore will need to look out for constant rip-offs.
4. Sexual harassment. This is the big one. She's likely to be groped and attract a lot of attention. That's manageable for some as a tourist, but when working there, what's the plan when some big chief thinks he should sleep with a dancer? I would really want to understand what level of protection they at least say there is on this front, because I don't think the police is the solution.

The best thing for her to do would be to try and talk to an existing foreign dancer to see what life is really like.

 

[Pross]

I don't think partying is the issue. These are the things I would recommend considering:
1. Chaos. It is highly likely that everything will be poorly organised. She has already experienced a question over whether it is Mumbai or Hyderabad and she is being asked to agree in one day. Things won't improve. At it's worst there may be considerable over promising going on and the reality will be quite different from what she thinks she is getting. To survive all this, she needs to lower expectations and try to embrace the chaos.
2. Pollution, poverty and dirt. There's lots of it, and some people struggle.
3. It's less of a problem in big cities, but she'll be assumed to be wealthy and, therefore will need to look out for constant rip-offs.
4. Sexual harassment. This is the big one. She's likely to be groped and attract a lot of attention. That's manageable for some as a tourist, but when working there, what's the plan when some big chief thinks he should sleep with a dancer? I would really want to understand what level of protection they at least say there is on this front, because I don't think the police is the solution.

The best thing for her to do would be to try and talk to an existing foreign dancer to see what life is really like.

She’s got a couple of friends already out there doing the same type of job so spoke to them and they’re enjoying it. She now knows the date and has had confirmation that the base is Hyderabad, once she gets the contract through we’ll give it a good look over. She’ll be able to contact the UK agency if there’s any problems and if necessary she knows she can contact us and we’ll sort her out for a flight home. As you said in previous posts you just have to give these things a try.

 

[PurplePenguin]

She’s got a couple of friends already out there doing the same type of job so spoke to them and they’re enjoying it. She now knows the date and has had confirmation that the base is Hyderabad, once she gets the contract through we’ll give it a good look over. She’ll be able to contact the UK agency if there’s any problems and if necessary she knows she can contact us and we’ll sort her out for a flight home. As you said in previous posts you just have to give these things a try.

For clarity, I'm all for it. I spent nearly a year in India and loved my time there. It's just that I've met people who didn't have such a great experience, so feel duty bound to offer up some caution! Hearing from others doing the same thing is really good though.