Why did the author decide not to visit Tibet while researching the book, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death?

Tibet is the one place that Doughty wanted to visit, but could not bring herself to go to. The mountains of Tibet are one of the places where sky burials take place, in which the body is ritualistically left for vultures. Since this is what Doughty wants for her own body, this ritual and place speak to her on a deeply personal level. However, the sanctity of this ritual in Tibet is threatened by tourists who demean the process with their iPhone camera and telephoto lenses. For this reason, and because it difficult for Doughty to accept that, in the United States, a sky burial is not an option for her, Doughty makes a conscious choice not to visit Tibet. As such, Tibet is symbolic of vast number of death rituals in existence, but also of the individual's lack of agency in selecting the ritual of their choice, as they are limited by the constructs of their own society.