A ‘full time’ holiday maker has revealed she travelled to a country that she was warned against, with people even stating she wouldn’t return alive, and how it ended up being one of her favourite places in the world.

TikToker Katie, who posts under the username Simply Katie, has been travelling across the globe more or less constantly ever since she quit her 9-5 job in 2022 and embarked on a holiday of a lifetime across Australia and Southeast Asia.

Turning her love of travel into a career, Katie has now visited over 40 countries so far including New Zealand, Iceland and Romania, documenting her time in order to share tips and insights with her 392,000 followers on TikTok.

But it was one of her recent adventures that captured her heart, admitting that despite people believing it is too dangerous to visit and worrying she would return home in a bodybag, it has become her favourite place.

Sharing her exploits on TikTok, Katie revealed she had flown out to Pakistan for an extended holiday with some friends.

In April this year the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the UK added Pakistan to its list of countries that it states are “too dangerous” for its citizens to travel to. It cited a number of concerns it feels threat to visitor safety, including kidnapping, crime, war, terrorism, disease, weather conditions and natural disasters.

Located between India, Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan only became a recognised country in 1947, when British India was partitioned. Its independence ended three hundred years of colonial rule with the creation of two independent nations: India and Pakistan.

Ignoring the worrying travel advice, Katie flew over 10 hours to Karachi, to start her month-long trip to explore all the beautiful country had to offer.

Sharing her experience over a number of videos, Katie stated that she hoped her experience would encourage other people to visit as she felt Pakistan gets unfairly treated by the West.

In one clip, Katie revealed how she and her friends visited Skardu and got to witness the breath-taking beauty of one of the most popular landscapes in the world. Set in between mountains, the airport itself is often called dangerous due to its perilous location.

In another, the jet-setter explained that she and her friends needed 24/7 security on the train while they travelled from Karachi to Lahore. She also added that she didn’t get much sleep as people had been banging on their door all night.

Despite the initial warnings about the country, Katie revealed that Pakistan had quickly become her favourite place she had visited and was full of praise of the people, food and culture. She also added that she was able to enjoy so much as everything was very cheap and she was able to experience five star restaurants and hotels.

On one of her videos she captioned, “New favourite country! This country gets such a negative portrayal, when in fact Pakistan is full of such beauty which isn’t shown or spoken about enough.. From this video alone I hope it sheds some light on the true beauty this country holds..Pakistan Zindabad! Viewers of her videos were delighted to see Pakistan and curious to find out more about it.

One user replied: “Yess, I want to visit Pakistan. From Europe to Pakistan!!” Another person shared: “I’d never have considered Pakistan before but it looks stunning. I can’t wait to go.”

And someone else gushed: “Love your videos! I’m Pakistani and haven’t been since I was five years old – I’m totally inspired!”