Christopher Levingston Blog

I have just returned from Iran and have finally caught up with all of my work as well as having run 3 CPD events for LTA.

I got back on the 4th and notwithstanding catsatrophic jetlag, and a keen desire to just get back home, the overall sense of relief was tempered by the fact that I had been somewhere extraordinary, and that it was self evident, in my opinion, that what we were looking at was an emerging market.

On my last day in Tehran, the hotel where I was staying had its lifts full of 'carpet-baggers' who were in town to make deals. The newspapers were full of stories about who was in town and what the plan was.

My general observations of my trip down the entire length of Iran (Tabriz,Tehran Isfahan and Shiraz) by jet, bus and whatever else was available, was that it was a country where the people were hospitable, courteous and friendly. As a collective they were a group of good looking human beings.  It always felt incredibly safe. There was no argy-bargy.  The roads were good and the scenery and culture was, in a word, breathtaking.

I regard myself as a seasoned traveller and I am perfectly capable of having an awful trip.

This was a no-brainer. It was easy to get around.  It was safe. The food was good and you can drink water from the tap and not get sick. That last fact tells me that Iran has good infrastructure. 

Incidentally, because WiFi was very good, even in the booneys, and it was free, I could log in and attend to all of my emails and communicate using WhatsApp in every place that I stopped  overnight. I was on the ground for 20 days.

The fact of the rapprochement between Iran and Australia and the possibility that at some stage the US may normalise its relationship with Iran causes me to believe that Iran is an emerging market in the services industry, namely the provision of immigration assistance.

I am going to try to get some more facts together but as a teaser you may wish to go to Youtube and enter "Don't go to Iran" to see what an amazing place this is....