Young Pioneer Tours
Blog
Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours Blog, the place where we we keep you informed about everything YPT, from current tours, to future tours and a whole lot of eclectic stuff in between.
YPT first started blogging in 2008 and are considered the best North Korean Travel blog that there is.
But, as Young Pioneer Tours have expanded our locations, so have we expanded our blog. Now we have one of the best travel blogs in the world!
And while most of our content is about the numerous destinations we go, including travel guides and what to pack, we also delve into more serious subjects such as the safety of certain destinations, as well as how LGTBQ+ friendly the places we visit are.
While the vast majority of our content is produced in-house, we are always on the look-out for guest bloggers and writers. Want to write for us? Then simply get in touch.
You can also check out our sister publication YPT Life.
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Whats it like to be an Expat in Port Moresby
8 November 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
While there are a fair number of expats in Port Moresby, that does not mean it’s an easy city to live in. Safety, ease of living, and cost all make it a challenging place to call home. Most expats in Port Moresby come from diplomatic, NGO, or high-end …
Currency of Papua New Guinea – The Kina
7 November 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
With its abbundance of natural resaources, the currency of Papua New Guineanamely the Kina not only used to give the USD a run for its money (no pun intended), but was also one of the strongest in teh region. Alas poor goevrnance, correuption and sinta …
How to Cross from Guyana to Suriname by ferry (October 2025)
7 November 2025 / by Sara Costa
Traveling across borders can sometimes feel complicated, but if you’re heading from Guyana to Suriname, it doesn’t have to be stressful. YPT’s been running our Guyanas Tour for years, and we’ve learned a few tricks to make the journey smooth and straig …
Is Tbilisi a business hub?
5 November 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
Is Tbilisi a business hub, or at least becoming one? Well, yes it kind of is, which if you follow the many creators who cover the best offshore places and where to do business, you might already know about. But how much of this is real, how much is hyp …
The GCC Explained: Gulf Cooperation Council
3 November 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
The GCC, or Gulf Cooperation Council, is the alliance of six countries on the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. Formed in 1981 in Abu Dhabi, the council was established to coordinate economic p …
Saddam Hussein – The Biography
3 November 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
Saddam Hussein Abd al‑Majid al‑Tikriti was born on April 28, 1937, in the village of Al‑Awjah near Tikrit in northern Iraq. His early life was marked by hardship and instability. His father died before he was born, leaving Saddam to be raised by his mo …
Spreading The Rays of Juche: Five North Korean Films You Must-See!
1 November 2025 / by Justin Martell
Table of ContentsPart One: A Brief History of North Korean CinemaPart Two: With the CenturyPart Three: Like Humans DoPart Four: Five Films You Must-SeeThe Flower Girl, Dirs. Choe Ik Gyu and Pak Hak, 1972The Emissary Unreturned, Dir. Choi Eun Hee and Sh …
Five Key Takeaways from My Recent Trip to Pyongyang in 2025
31 October 2025 / by Rowan Beard
I’ve been working with Young Pioneer Tours (YPT) since my first visit to North Korea back in May 2012, so when I became the first Western tourist to re-enter the country via the Rason Special Economic Zone on February 13th, 2025, it was an especially m …
5 Travel Guides That Are Still Relevant in 2025
31 October 2025 / by Gareth Johnson
People love to say guidebooks are dead. They said it when blogs arrived, they said it again when Instagram came along, and they said it for the third time when AI started spitting out travel tips. Yet here we are in 2025 and people are still buying tra …
