Featured Image Credit: SWNS
Topics: Travel, World News, YouTube
Bec Oakes
Over the past few years, Ben Frier has made it his mission to visit some of the most dangerous places on Earth.
He caught the travel bug in 2018 following a trip to South East Asia and Australia, but has since set his sights on 'places people don't want to go.'
The 31-year-old's friends and family think he's an 'idiot' for purposely travelling to high-risk destinations such as Syria and Iraq.
And, after a terrifying run in with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Ben - who shares his adventures with his 180k subscribers on YouTube - finally gets it.
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He said: "All of my friends and family told me I was an absolute idiot for going to Afghanistan, and for once I do get it.
"Obviously with the political stuff right now it's very tricky, and people there weren't used to foreigners so the Taliban guards were very sceptical and don't speak English - it was very dangerous."
The YouTuber explained that when he arrived in Afghanistan, he had to visit the Taliban offices to get a permit to travel within the country.
"It was pretty scary, we were there for three or four hours and things go through your mind," he said.
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"The UK have been fighting Afghanistan for many years, so although most of them were friendly, they all had guns and were just staring at us."
He called meeting the Taliban 'one of the scariest moments of his life'.
But, Ben, who's been jetting off to dangerous destinations since 2021, insists that most of the people he meets during his travels are 'lovely.'
He said: "I wanted to see what it was really like, and see for myself how life is out there.
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"The first place I went to like that was Pakistan. Everyone goes to India but no one goes to Pakistan, because we're told it's really dangerous and there's lots of terrorists.
"But it was the opposite - they were the friendliest people you'd ever meet, I had a great time and I've been to Pakistan twice now."
He says he wants to show people a different side to the locals on his YouTube channel 'Backpacker Ben'.
"I go with an open mind and know for a fact that 99 percent of people in these countries are normal.
"They want to live normal lives but unfortunately grew up in a warzone.
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"The places themselves are absolutely beautiful too."