Rick Steves, travel expert and author of Travel as a Political Act, spoke with BuzzFeed News about how to travel responsibly to socially and politically complex places.

A Cuban flag hangs from a building in Havana on Dec. 27, 2014.

REUTERS ENRIQUE DE LA OSA

On the one hand the tropical country is famously beautiful and unique among Caribbean cultures, while on the other it's still ruled by the Castro family and has been called out for human rights violations. It remains a difficult destination, even if actually getting there is becoming easier.

But for travel writer Rick Steves, that isn't a reason to stay away. Steves is best-known for his European guidebooks and long running TV show, Rick Steves' Europe, and is also the author of Travel as a Political Act . The book delves into the complexities and rewards of traveling to traditionally difficult places and builds on Steves' experiences in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere. His program on Iran also was nominated for an Emmy, and he has been hard at work most recently working on a show about travel to Palestine.

All of which is to say that Steves — who is now planning his first visit to Cuba — knows a thing or two about travel to places that are better known in the U.S. for their challenges than their tourist infrastructure.

In light of the U.S. decision to relax restrictions to Cuba, Steves spoke to BuzzFeed News about how to visit difficult places, what Americans should keep in mind, and how travel can help historically divided people build bridges.

Courtesy Rick Steves

"For years we've been taking groups to Turkey and for years I've had people saying I shouldn't be promoting tourism to Turkey because it's endorsing the human rights abuses of its government. But the intangible value of connecting people to people is so important in so many ways.

"I just think that the value of people to people travel trumps the value of boycotting some government that's got bad policies. I think it's kind of hypocritical for us to be upset with other countries without being upset with our own government because we do a lot of things that would merit boycotting also."

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