The Western tourists had their own reasons for joining the sightseeing tour: One wanted a glimpse of ancient ruins, another liked to visit countries in the news.
But travelling Iraq for two weeks in the first organized tour since 2003 wasn't quite all they had hoped, what with the hours wasted at checkpoints, and visits cut short or scrapped altogether because of security concerns.
The eight adventurers included four men and four women from Britain, the United States and Canada. They said they made it from the northern city of Irbil to the south-eastern tip of Basra - about 560 miles with side trips in between - without directly encountering the violence that has been a hallmark of Iraq's daily life for so many years.
Stay in: Hotel Ishtar, Baghdad