“I THINK WE ATTACH A LOT OF SELF-WORTH TO OUR JOB TITLES. I GET IT. IT DEFINES WHO WE ARE, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE PIGEONHOLED, BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO LET WHAT I DO FOR MONEY DEFINE WHO I AM AS A PERSON."
I’M NOT SOMEONE WHO IS A NOUN. I’M NOT A WRITER. I’M NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER. I WRITE. I TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS.”
WHEN ROSALYN LEE, MORE COMMONLY KNOWN BY HER MONIKER ROZZ, DISCOVERED THAT SYRIA WAS OPEN FOR TOURISM POST-PANDEMIC, THE INTREPID TRAVELLER IMMEDIATELY MADE PLANS TO VISIT THE COUNTRY.
“I’ve always been very interested in visiting the Middle East,” the 44-year-old says of her decision. “It’s sad that they always get so much bad press for being unsafe. These countries have such rich histories, stunning landscapes, and the most hospitable people.”
However, after a trip to Iran in 2018, she realised that some countries in the Middle East are not accessible for a solo female traveller. When her friend Shane Horan, who runs travel company Rocky Road Travel, announced that he was organising a tour in Syria, she promptly reached out to him. He specialises in arranging tours to some of the least visited and misunderstood countries around the world, and he had previously organised her trip to North Korea in 2019.
Rozz, who also enjoys exploring destinations that are “not quite on the beaten path”, had no qualms booking the trip.
“I’ve always been fascinated by Syria because it’s the birthplace of so many things,” she says.
