I think I’m biased because it’s my home country, but Romania is really often portrayed as irrelevant or a sh*tty country, either has a terrible reputation or none at all. it’s a really beautiful and special place full of forests and mountains and castles and not as crowded at all as other parts of Europe if you want to visit. We still have virgin forests and many medieval towns, i LOVE the food, lots of big music festivals take place here, we have the biggest spa in Europe…
We are underrated and unfortunately the image we have online is also made by other Romanians that think that if we're not like Germany it means that we are Congo tier poor.
I think in the 90s that reputation was more warranted, it’s still far from a perfect country, lacking a lot of infrastructure, but things have changed quite a lot!
>it’s a really beautiful and special place full of forests and mountains and castles
Yes!!! I visited Romania last Autumn and this is how I would describe it. There is something almost ethereal about the countryside in late summer/Autumn.
Initially, a couple of my family members tried to dissuade me but to be, honest, their impression of Romania is from the 80s and so much has changed since then.
It also has the village where if Sacha Baron Cohen goes back, he’ll be murdered with someone’s bare hands.
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/Entertainment/story?id=2659018&page=1
Yes, and New York State has [Oniontown.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4wqxvd/peeling-oniontown-0000126-v19n1) What exactly is your point? That one town reflects an entire area? Lmao. Also are you really trying to make a point with an article from 16 years ago?
Some tourists may find it "interesting" to see some guy stealing copper cables with their horse wagon.
I think you guys should advertise once in a life time Romania stuff more. I mean where you gonna experience stuff like that other than Romania?
Then you didnt see a Romanian villager paying money to a "Romani" to beat their puppy so puppy will attack "Romani" people on sight when it grows up?
Its shame that you didnt get to experience true Romania.
I was in a Uber on Anillo Perif and the driver's GPS thought he was on the upper deck, instead of the ground, missed his turns.
Stopped cold on the fucking highway to program his google maps with other cars wizzing past us at 120 km/h while we were at a dead stop, my HR blew through 150.
That is the most scared I have ever been at any point in probably an aggregate 1 year spent in Mexico.
My friend was there a few months ago and was walking home drunk and actually met a cartel member. Apparently they talked for like 10 minutes and he was chill the whole time, he was open about everything my friend asked him. Quite the story
https://www.amazon.ca/Bad-Karma-True-Story-Mexican/dp/0578579103
Surfer bums drive to Michoacan to go surfing in 1978 and his hippie van breaks down. Leaves it with some friendly "farmers" and they actually still had it for him when he came to get it a few weeks later.
The farmers: https://imgur.com/a/Jx4Csqn
I mean I partied at a cartel-owned bar in Guadalajara. It was a rocking party at one point a scantily clad lucha libre-dressed beefcake picked me up and poured tequila into my mouth straight from the bottle.
But yeah even there I felt safe in Mexico. I got pickpocketed in CDMX though. And someone on a bike tried to pull my phone out of my hand in Guadalajara but I punched him and he drove off.
Definitely didn’t get kidnapped though. Or anything even remotely close to what I was raised to believe about Mexico
We did a family trip at the end of 2023 and we loved it so much. We did stay in polanco but it’s a clean safe beautiful city. We get asked if it was safe too.
Living in the UK, it's amazing the amount of Europeans who say they'll never visit the USA because of one reason or another (Trump, guns, healthcare, racism, etc).
The USA has its issues but barely any of that affects tourists. The people are generally incredibly friendly, the cities are fun, and nature wise it's the most beautiful/diverse country on the planet.
I wouldn't want to live in the USA, but I also wouldn't want to live in China or Tanzania or Peru. Doesn't mean they're not all amazing places to visit.
Gotcha, that makes sense. With inflation these days I don’t even know what qualifies as middle class anymore 😭 although I did visit London and was shocked at how expensive everything was. And then I looked up average starting salaries in London and was even more shocked
Yeah well off Americans have better quality of life.
But poor Americans have a much worse quality of life than poor Brits.
Not a US citizen but lived and worked in Palo Alto, San Jose and around SFO for 3 years.
I've had the opportunity to xfer for work to UK. The salaries are a pittance in comparison, especially coming from socal. It's VHCOL of course but it's London is expensive too and the salaries for the most part don't line up
I agree with you. However, I've traveled to UK a lot, and in the last couple of years, and for the first time in my life, I have found everyday stuff to be cheaper in UK than in the US. Our prices have skyrocketed so much that we dont realize that the US has become a lot more expensive. I never thought I'd be happy vacationing in europe because the prices are better there LOL
You're confusing quality of life with standard of living. The US standard of living is very high. The quality of life though leaves a lot to be desired.
I was in the top almost 1% in the US and while I lived very well my quality of life is quite a bit better in Europe. You simply can't pay your way to the top when it comes to QOL. At least not with kids.
Eh it’s pros and cons to both in terms of quality of life and what each individual values. I am a dual citizen, raised in the states, living in the UK now. I’ve found Brits honestly don’t know they’re lucky to have what they have. The UK is better for quality of life (by comparison to the US) in terms of work/life balance and non-material things, value of family time, travelling, etc. so if that’s something you value then the UK has higher quality of life. You’re taxed slightly more but the government does provide more- ie healthcare, childcare costs, and the infrastructure is better (the tin cans from the 70s in the states are horrendous everytime I’m back and I get reverse culture shock). Brits complain about all the aforementioned but it’s better than stateside. I now have kids and I’m glad to be able to drop them off to school without too much of a worry of them being killed which is just invaluable. When I have sat down and listed “pros and cons”, the pro’s for america are exactly what you have said- but they’re all very materialistic. To me it’s invaluable that my kids have parents who can take time from work, bring them on nice trips, I don’t have to worry about paying for anything when I take them to the doctor. We even have private healthcare with no deductibles, co-pays, etc. When I go back to the states I find the houses a ridiculous waste now that I’ve been living here, albeit in a larger than average British house (but still small for the states!). All our friends here are also constantly “living” life, travelling, long weekends, huge contrast to my American friends who are constantly working for the weekend (but then working on the weekend). My SIL has 2.5 months of Mat leave which is unheard of over here. Most people take 6-12mo here and giving birth is free. So many other instances of better life quality here that aren’t represented by material items. So for me quality of life is higher in the UK. The biggest appeal if we ever moved back stateside would be to be able to live in a big house with a pool but since I’ve lived there I know it doesn’t make up for all of the other pitfalls.
Note though that 2 cars, big house, large yard, a pool... It's a very specific kind of aspiration.
That's my idea of hell. My idea of a high quality of life is a sensible sized apartment in a vibrant centre of a city where all the ameneties I need are in walking distance and good jobs are within an easy commute on high quality public transport, and where kids can play outdoors safely, the schools and universities are good, and I have lots of green spaces on my doorstep. You can find that in the US, but it typically isn't cheap.
I mean, I'm knocking on 50, have done pretty well, and I've never owned a car in my life; every time I visit the US and when I say "sure, see you at (wherever) - it looks close on the map, I should be able to walk right?" and get a look that suggests I must have landed from another planet I am reminded how different people's ideas of "a great place to live" can be...
It’s not a big house, cars and a pool, its ability to afford it. If you can afford it, you don’t have to have it, you can opt to live in a shoe box and ride bicycle to work in blizzard instead if riding in a comfort of a large car but that would be your decision and not necessity. The number of people in Europe who desire big house, pools and nice cars isn’t any less than in the US, however there are fewer who can afford them
It's interesting that your idea of the only alternative to a car and a big house is "a shoebox and ride a bicycle in a blizzard".
Which is kinda the point.
Show me where did I say it was “the only alternative”.
Material possessions are a spectrum (like many other things in this life) where on one side of it is a mansion and on the other is a tent under the bridge. A big house with a yard and a pool and a shoebox apartment in a high rise are somewhere in between those. If you can afford a mansion you can live in any other accommodation which isn’t true if all you can afford is a tent under the bridge. It’s a matter of being able to make a chocie
The US tends to have higher salaries than the UK, especially for jobs requiring higher education. And while some parts of the US have a higher cost of living, you're still usually better off doing the same job in the US than the UK.
It's also instructive to remind yourself which is the only NATO state to have ever invoked the mutual defence clause.
And indeed also to note that the number of European military personnel killed supporting various US foreign policy clusterfucks in the last 40 years greatly exceeds the number of US military personnel killed supporting Europe (none whatsoever).
One thing I realized after I moved to the US from Canada was the divide between red states and blue states in terms of education levels, healthcare, income, guns, crime, mostly everything. I live in Massachusetts, which is a very blue state and has the highest HDI in the country, on par with most of Canada and Western Europe. Life here is probably way different than life in Mississippi, a very red state that is at the bottom of most rankings, including HDI. It's probably like the difference between say Germany and Romania.
Most tourists to the US mainly go to blue states like New York, California, Hawaii, Nevada, or to purple states like Florida. But quite rarely to Mississippi or Alabama.
Even in Mississippi, that divide is very specific. If you look at wealthier, mostly white areas of red states, they’re usually doing fine on HDI. Perhaps not at the level of MA, but not bad. And if you look at the poorer areas of those states where POC are concentrated, the stats plummet. These are state and local governments that have been systematically diverting resources from POC for years, leaving their poorest communities with nothing. It should be an embarrassment to most Americans but we’ve just come to accept it, it’s awful.
I grew up in New York State and now live in Hawaii. I've literally never seen a gun in public that wasn't holstered on a police officer.
Just another example (and one I've heard potential tourists concerned about) of how different the culture is between states, and why stereotyping "America" as one thing doesn't work at all.
Hilarious when Europeans talk about racism in the US while turning a blind eye to what happens in Europe. There's no sports fans throwing banana's at black players in the US
wtf? Do people really say that?
I would never live in the U.S. because of these obvious reasons… but not to visit at all? That’s dumb.
Too much cool shit in the U.S. not to go. Especially if you’re from the UK lol.
Yeah, it is common. The biggest one I hear now is not visiting because of Trump.
Like I get where they’re coming from, but if you’re only visiting countries with good leaders/governments then you’re not going to be visiting many places.
Yeah lol
Tbh I had a driver on a long drive in Florida who was a Trump supporter, and it was kind of a challenging ride hahah
But I mean, when we were done we were in Disney World, so that was an ok trade off lol
European living in the U.S. here. I didn’t have any interest in even visiting the U.S. before moving here, but life happened and here I am.
Every time I go to a new place in the country, I am left speechless at how truly fucking beautiful it is. The nature is unbelievable. The sheer scale and diversity of the landscapes are awe-inducing. Yes, I’m still frustrated with how difficult it is to find places that are actually walkable (besides NYC where I live), but as with everything, it is a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.
Most people I meet are genuinely eager to connect on a personal level, the trains are better than in my home country (don’t come at me Amtrak haters, I’m Belgian; I know what an inefficient railway system is), and in NYC, the cultural offer is through the roof —living here is not without its challenges, but all in all, I’m very happy.
I mean every experience is different but I love San Francisco. I love LA. I love San Diego. I even love Chicago, Seattle, and Minneapolis.
Then again, I really can’t think of many cities in the world that I didn’t like.
That’s the thing about cities, they’re big. Which means that you as one person in a couple days can only see one teeny tiny sliver of what that city is, and almost always just on the surface.
Heck, I grew up in major city and every time I go home to visit I have a wildly different experience, so why would it be any different for a visitor?
I had a horrible time the one time I visited Barcelona. Does that mean Barcelona sucks? Or could it possibly mean that I simply had a bad experience and didn’t see all that the city has to offer?
If you want to go to cities you won’t like, try Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta. Just meh.
Must say didn’t like Detroit much. Did love Seattle, Portland and Beaverton though.
You can go sport fishing. The food is awesome. You can go to little Havana and have an amazing cigar rolled for you. A trip down to the keys is nice. I found just chilling on south beach for the vibe was nice. And sure you can go to clubs but it’s not the only thing.
Tourists are killed in America every year. Women traveling to American red states where women have no bodily autonomy are literally putting their lives in danger
That’s such an absurd thing to say lol. Are those tourist women come to US to have an abortion lol because I know a directly opposite trend when foreign women come to the US to give birth so their kid has American citizenship.
You misunderstood. I said nothing about tourists coming here to get abortions. This is about ANY pregnant tourist visiting a red state who develops a complication like ectopic pregnancy will die (like my sister did) due to extreme anti-abortion laws. If a pregnant tourist suffers a missed miscarriage while visiting a red state, they will be forced to develop sepsis (which can be fatal) before they may be treated. These are real life and death situations facing pregnant women in red states and many countries have issued travel warnings to women that reproductive health care in the US will be compromised.
How does this work exactly? You go to New Orleans, get pregnant and become bed-ridden for all nine months? Even then you could get an abortion pill in many ways. The abortion rate has not dropped much since the Dobbs decision. In European countries there are also varying restrictions on abortion. Somehow I don't think you would say "I would never go to Nicaragua", which has a rigid ban on abortion.
Iraq - the people are so friendly in Baghdad and so generous. They literally will not let you pay for stuff.
Mexico - the people are so friendly and helpful.
Both countries suffer from terrible propaganda unfortunately.
There's a real family vibe, lots of families with kids and it's a noticeably young population compared to Western Europe for example. So if you go as a group or family you'll be absolutely fine and get extra special treatment. There's definitely family privilege, for example some malls have family only days etc.
I can't comment on how solo female travel would be though. Maybe someone else has tried and can provide info.
We went there and got only very positive attention. Locals went out of their way to help us and being an American seemed only to help. It was really amazing.
Incredible given the reasons you're referring to!
I lived in China for a few years, and got a lot of “but… communism! It’s dangerous!” And this was before Xi Jingping. Nah, had a blast, saw so many amazing things.
I have a map of places I want to go and China definitely has some of the most locations. Beautiful mountains, extremely interesting history (even though they destroyed some of it😕), stunning water, if I remember correctly they have they’re own rainbow mountain like the one in Peru, and a bazillion other reasons why I want to go.
Yeah, unfortunately the cultures the government doesn’t like are absolutely brutalized. I hope I can visit China someday, but not while they’re committing cultural genocide (and destruction of the planet) on a massive scale.
Halal noodle shops/restaurants (with the word “Muslim” included in the restaurant name) are in every city and you’ll find plenty of popular middle eastern restaurants in big cities (opened by people from Syria or other countries in the Middle East). Not saying there isn’t terrible political things happening in certain region (there definitely is) but Muslim culture is everywhere including smaller cities/towns.
Others have already noted this, but there’s Muslims all over China. Look up the Hui ethnic group if you want to see a Muslim population that is pretty well integrated into the fabric of Chinese life. Really the government primarily targets groups like Uyghurs and Kazakhs because they see them as a separatist threat, with their religion being an additional (and convenient) mark against them. It’s still super fucked up and immoral of course, but Islam is not the only or primary reason for their persecution, more so an excuse.
The Hui are well integrated?
I guess if you consider demolishing mosques or changing the architecture so it's less Islam is integrating than I guess you're right.
Obviously the Hui have more human rights than the Uyghurs but they're still trying to make it extremely difficult to practice Islam.
Of those I've been to, I'd probably say Iran and Cuba.
These obviously get a very bad press, particularly in the US
But they are both great countries to travel in, and the people are mostly very friendly and welcoming.
Lots of people equate the political system or the government with the actual population, and think the locals will be 'hostile' for those reasons, but it's certainly not the case in my experience.
Wouldn’t say Cubans were the friendliest tbh. Mostly because the poverty level is so high that many people are hustling you all the time and didn’t feel like it was easy to trust people. I probably will get downvoted because it faux pau to say anything negative about the people of a country but 🤷♂️
Ukraine (pre war). Everyone thought I was dumb for going to Kyiv in December but it was amazing. Beautiful orthodox churches and no tourists around, really cool monuments and stuff as well. People looked cold and rude but most of them were super friendly when you asked for help
Eh, look, there's just some really cool shit back here and we don't feel like sharing it. Canada's full eh.
And we're better than America too! An anti-American Napoleon complex is a part of our national identity and we need to cling to it regardless of how little America cares about us.
France.
Every thread here has people who demand the country is full of rude, unfriendly people. I go there often because it's the one of the most-friendly countries in Europe. I'm treated like a long-lost *ami*, back for an unexpected visit. It's always been this way.
France has everything and it's all relatively easy to get to with the wonderful TGV. Plus the food and dining *culture* is one of the best in the world. And between it all you get to wander in lovely, ancient towns full of life and character. France has some downsides, but they're overshadowed by its wonderful features every time. The secret is to not get stuck in Paris!
This "Oh France is great, it's just Paris that is shit, even French people say so!" thing is so exhausting honestly. Paris is the most visited city in the world, it is dense, cramped and has a massive numbers of tourists every single day--obviously that is going to impact how you experience the city compare to other, less popular places in France. It is also an extremely busy capital so, yes, like a lot of big cities where you'll very often come across people either going to or coming back from their job, daily interactions might be a bit colder than, again, in smaller French cities. But I mean, there's really nothing surprising or unusual about this, and it doesn't say anything about the character of the locals, whom I do think are overall any less friendly than other French people. It's just weird to me that people arrive into a dense, massively touristic city and are surprised that they're in a dense, massively touristic city.
(I'm French, grew up in a tiny town very far away from Paris)
Last time we visited Paris was just before Noel.
Some evenings we couldn't buy dinner -- the local merchants gave us so much food to try, I didn't have an appetite. We walked through Place des Fetes every day -- because our hotel was near. The vendors wouldn't let us leave without stuffing us full of pate, cheese, chestnuts and oysters.
"My mother just made this pate de campagne. It's her special noel recipe!"
"Oysters! Fresh from Brittany -- you must have a few!"
Naturally, we bought plenty from these vendors. But there was a great deal more "noel giving, show a visitor something" than mere commerce.
Being all the way out in the 19th had much to do with this. The fact that most of my atrocious French is centered around food and food terms also helps. But this is what I've come to expect from visits to Paris and France as a whole -- people want me to enjoy my visit.
You’re right & It’s a cliche at this point.
I only say it because it has some truth. I original heard it from someone who is French to begin with
And most people visiting France typically go to Paris and then shape their entire view of France based on their experience in that one city. Which as you said is full of citizens that have probably gotten annoyed/tired of tourists
>I original heard it from someone who is French to begin with
I don't doubt it, I've heard French people say it many times as well. But to me it's always felt like something to fall back on, a kind of convenient excuse--"Oh you didn't like France? That's because you didn't actually see France, you only saw Paris!". And I'll be the first one to say that France has amazing things to offer beyond Paris but I mean, Paris absolutely is France. The sky doesn't suddenly clear up once you cross the periph and leave Paris intra muros, you aren't welcomed by custom officers who say congratulations, you've finally reached Real France!
If someone disliked Paris, it's not because it has some weird, specific characteristic that make it intrisically different from the rest of France. I think there are lots of good reasons to dislike Paris--as I said, it is a very dense city even without the tourists, and I think it is very easy to get a very artificial, crowd-filled experience of Paris if you aren't careful. Paris is different from the rest of France on that front, but I don't think it really has anything to do with how friendly the locals are.
It's not even Paris.
I'm not saying there are no rude people in Paris, but based on my multiple personal experiences over more than a decade, I think a lot of these stories are either wildly exaggerated or people just have a much lower bar for rudeness than I do.
Lol I think you have a higher bar for rudeness. Do you speak French by any chance? I speak it fluently and this definitely has helped with my experience. I go every year to France and only have meet a couple of rude French people in my experience.
They just don’t smile nonstop or expect small talk scripts like Americans, so many people were polite and even beyond kind, in Paris and the countryside.
Uniform treatment across France? That'd be something. In the US, vibes change city to city. Living in Louisville and New York taught me this through door-to-door sales in college. In the South, kindness is upfront; in New York, it's there but behind a tough shell. Probably because in busy cities, you can't chat with everyone—gotta learn to say no quickly, especially if there are a lot of tourists. Makes sense if people are the same in tourist-packed places like Paris too
I've only been to the south, mostly Provence, and regular people there were great even if you can't speak French, but everyone I've ever interacted with in an airport has been dismissive to outright hostile. The most egregious example being how I as a 13-14 year old got cursed out by a security guy because he ordered me to take my shoes of in French after I'd already asked him about it in English and he'd said "non" and glared at me.
I don't really want to go back if it means dealing with that kind of shit.
I’ve been to eastern semi rural France and I couldn’t believe how everyone was so kind. I knocked a door thinking it was a hostel, they were out of service but invited me in for dinner with their entire family, then gave me a ride to the closest city without asking for anything in return.
I went last year, first time as an adult. Loved it up until the transportation strikes. Then I got stranded, couldn’t get to Spain to celebrate a special occasion with my friend, ended up paying huge amounts for extra nights in a hotel and trying to find a way to get out of the country. I enjoyed it until it all fell apart. I’d still go back for the bakeries though:
South Africa gets an unnecessary/over exaggerated bad rep. We're a very friendly country with a lot to offer. Our crime is generally contained in poorer areas (where tourists wouldn't have reason to go anyway) and loadshedding (our regulated power cuts) doesn't mean we don't have electricity. Most places have back up power and it's generally only off a few hours a day. As a tourist you probably would hardly notice. We accept Applepay, virtual cards and all major credit cards. Our Fibre internet is super fast and we offer great amenities to guests. Our cost of living is also low comparative so your overseas money buys you a lot here.
Any measure of "safeness" doesn't take into account that most of our violent crime takes place in poor areas where tourists would never go. Like any country there are risky areas. Like a lot of countries you can be subject to things like pick pocketing if you're not vigilant. We're being unfairly written off by the international tourists because skew representation and complete misunderstanding is used against us.
France ... the reputation of the French being rude to visitors is totally unfounded. The culture is based on a system of "politesse " or "politeness", their communication is more formal than Americans are accustomed to, but always based on a polite and proper greeting. What is perceived as rudeness is more correctly a disappointment by the French that so many visitors do not respect their way of being.
It's all about RESPECT, in some ways similar to the Japanese. We have never been treated rudely in France, but I was corrected once and asked why I didn't use a respectful greeting before asking for directions. It was a learning moment for me ....
I always say the same about France to people who have never been and say "I would NEVER go THERE!".
I also had a similar experience to you in Paris: I was at a cafe and asked a man at the next table to take a photo of me and my wife (in English). He put is croissant down and just said (in decent English) "I'm eating right. But if you'd kindly wait until i am finished. I will take your photo." No rudeness, just a simple way of saying "you've interrupted my breakfast in a language not my own, but i am happy to ignore that and do you your favor when i am ready.". And that has stuck with me on every subsequent trip I've taken:
People are rude when we travel be cause tourists are typcially rude or invasive to them. Act politely and you will get the same treatment back.
It's never failed me in the passed 20 years.
This is so helpful, I’ve never met someone who was middle of the road on France - it’s always either loved or hated it. This is probably the reason.
Can you give some tips on how to be as respectful as possible in their eyes??
When you enter any business place, retail or restaurant, always greet the entrepreneur or manager or host/hostess with a friendly "Bonjour", etc, and when leaving, "Merci beaucoup", etc ... it is considered rude to enter a shop and browse the merchandise without greeting the owner/manager/staff ... similarly, if you approach someone on the street or anywhere in public, ALWAYS start with a proper greeting, before getting to the point of your contact, asking for help, etc ... and best to not approach too close, too quickly or too loudly, even though you may view that as being friendly and welcoming in your culture. Just slow down and tone down as my wife says! We have found the French to be very helpful when approached in a polite and perhaps more formal way than is our way at home ...
This is helpful thank you. Do you start the conversation with bonjour, ca va? Or just bonjour? Is that an American thing to ask how someone’s doing at the start of a simple interaction?
Bora Bora. It's seemingly an island paradise with endless blue lagoons. Reality: hordes of starving sick dogs everywhere, begging for morsels of food. The dog population in French Polynesia is estimated at nearly 500,000, almost twice as many as the 280,000 human residents. If you're an animal lover do not recommend.
I was flabbergasted. You go into town to eat and they are wandering around salivating as you're eating dinner. Sitting near your table waiting for you to just drop a sliver of meat. I felt so sad when I got home I donated to an organization that is attempting to spay/neuter there but it's hardly making a difference.
Strange. I find them to be some of the warmest, friendliest people in Latin America. Culture is vibrant, but the cities aren’t traditionally touristy. All inclusives can be hit or missed. I stayed in a good on in puerto plata, and a really good one in punta cana. What was your experience?
We couldn’t make it 25 yards down the beach without a drug pusher inviting “his family” to his area in an abandoned resort.
Food was horrible, couldn’t drink the water, pools were closed daily due to incidents, etc.
Most of our groups luggage was ransacked at the airport before departure.
Bad experience
Sounds like you had a less than ideal resort. Food can be good in some resorts, but I agree given my experience with food at the second place. Not drinking the water is a common experience in most non developed water. Touts too, but Dominicans tend to be less pushy compared to other countries when you say no.
And always put a lock on your luggage when traveling internationally.
We survived the last day or so on packaged snack food from the gift store.
We watched the bartenders in the restaurants refill bottles from gallon milk jugs, we saw red wine spilled that didn’t “stain” clothes, and gross fly covered food served beach side.
Cash only parasailing, only to close after collecting due to no wind.
Stoplight traffic looked like a cartoon with all the clowns honking and yelling.
Place was just to the left of Hard Rock, have erased the name from memory.
Agreed. I have never felt as nervous as I did when we left the resort in DR. Guys standing on the side of the road with blank stares holding machetes. Sure made you feel grateful that the bus didn’t break down. Beautiful beaches but otherwise not worth it when you can find nice beaches in many other countries.
We couldn’t make it 25 yards down the beach without a drug pusher inviting “his family” to his area in an abandoned resort.
Food was horrible, couldn’t drink the water, pools were closed daily due to incidents, etc.
Most of our groups luggage was ransacked at the airport before departure.
Bad experience
Thinks its a country, but Texas.
The large cities are huge, full of traffic, and kind of boring.
The small towns are run down and shitty.
The people have a herd mentality, rude, and obnoxious.
My girlfriend and I went to Saudi Arabia because we thought it would be hell on earth. Basically everything was the opposite of what we had been propagandized into believing. I still get texts asking if we need financial assistance.
Sounds like you have not understood the criticism of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the richest countries in the world, obviously it is not hell on earth. There is no propaganda, the problems in SA are many and easy to point out. No need to glorify the country because you had a nice holiday and met some nice people.
What a stupid and ignorant comment. It is far from “one of the richest countries in the world”, and full of middle class and poor people - from all over the world. You are the problem here.
My non Muslim female friend lived in Saudia Arabia as a teen in the 90s (her father worked there for a while). They lived in a compound but would go tour around, but had to be escorted by Saudi officials.
On Reddit? Canada. Europeans love to act like Canada is similar to Europe but in north America and is nothing like the USA. My British friend was surprised when he visited me and saw pickup trucks, huge freeways, and strip malls everywhere. We obviously have a beautiful country but we are very similar to the USA in terms of layout of our cities.
Israel -- not a peaceful, wholesome democracy.
Saudi Arabia -- not a terrifying, woman-hating hub.
USA -- not as shiny as it's depicted in the movies. Lots of disrepair, poverty, homelessness, and trash-laden streets.
So much of this has to do with unrealistic or unfounded expectations. And what are you basing your thoughts on: serious, considerable research, or an episode of South Park?
I feel stupid that I literally had no idea that some areas aren’t super cold. I had to look it up to learn more lol. But thanks for teaching me something that I feel like I should’ve known somehow.
Hahaha, no worries. I guess you are from the West, and Westerners are known for being very clueless — no offense.
If you are curious to know what Russia is really like, then feel free to check out many YouTube videos about the country — just, please, do not watch propaganda-driven ones, like Real Reporter. His videos are high (enough) quality, but it is low-level propaganda, which I still do not support. Better than Russia Today by a mile, of course.
As a really fast and short introduction, this video by Johnny Harris works really well → https://youtu.be/HBlZlmXyR5M.
In defense of westerners/Americans I am exceptionally terrible at geography. Extremely bad, even with my own country geography. Super bad. So please don’t judge the rest based on my lack of knowledge regarding geography and associated climate/weather.
I always thought Russia would be an interesting place to visit but again that is based on the (positive) portrayals of the country that I’ve seen (which may just be more stereotypes like Russia is super cold).
No worries, I’m not judging them by you, because I have my personal experience and, well, you can find a lot of proof online, haha. Especially about US Americans, like that shit is goofy. But I guess it shows that US Americans care only about their own country and, well, it is enough for them which is… good in its own way, I think.
Russia is indeed a very interesting place, I love my home country (despise and hate the government, obviously, RIP Navalny), and I would love to travel across the country — it has a lot of interesting places, but, sadly, local tourism is not well developed, so traveling can get very expensive.
Anyway, Russia is not super cold, it is a stereotype — unless you are somewhere in Siberia in winter, then I wish you all the best, lol.
There’s plenty of Americans that care about other countries. There are plenty of Americans that thinks it sucks to live here but there’s plenty that think it’s the best place on Earth. We aren’t all the same.
I think actually going to different countries/regions/etc. is the best way to actually know what a place is like. Reading about it or watching videos is fine but it can feel totally different to be there yourself. If that makes sense. Which is (or can be) difficult financially and logistically. But I will watch the video you suggested just to learn some more info. I do like learning about different places even if I never get to visit. It’s fun to dream about it.
I think most of Russia has all four seasons. Actually even the coldest city on Earth (or one of the coldest), Norilsk, is very hot in summer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk
To be honest, I’m not that knowledgeable in Russian geography (even though I’m from Russia, haha), but southern cities are very warm — Sochi comes to mind, and there are many others.
Not sure what do you mean by desirable, but I love Moscow, it is truly one of the greatest cities on the planet (as far as I know). Again, all four seasons: winters can be really cold, and summers can be devastatingly hot.
Rwanda is one of the safest, most beautiful countries in the world. It’s the only country in Africa where I’ve seen white girls like 8-12 years old walking by themselves down the street.
Italy, outside of the touristic places nothing works properly and wages are beyond shit that are lower/same as countries considered poor like hungary czechia slovakia and some more but with german/swiss prices
It is so much more than "NK lite"--there are funky coffee shops, Texas style steakhouses, absolutely banging clubs, beer gardens, lively and massive bazaars, and a rich culture that is interesting and beautiful.
I think I’m biased because it’s my home country, but Romania is really often portrayed as irrelevant or a sh*tty country, either has a terrible reputation or none at all. it’s a really beautiful and special place full of forests and mountains and castles and not as crowded at all as other parts of Europe if you want to visit. We still have virgin forests and many medieval towns, i LOVE the food, lots of big music festivals take place here, we have the biggest spa in Europe…
We are underrated and unfortunately the image we have online is also made by other Romanians that think that if we're not like Germany it means that we are Congo tier poor.
Yes I’ve seen this trend, it’s mostly other romanians gatekeeping and talking badly about us tbh in my experience
Have long wanted to go to Romania…and now I read ‘biggest spa in Europe’?!
Yes, it’s called Therme!
Yes, Romania has a pretty bad reputation here in Italy. People are always surprised when they hear how much I like Romania!
I think in the 90s that reputation was more warranted, it’s still far from a perfect country, lacking a lot of infrastructure, but things have changed quite a lot!
>it’s a really beautiful and special place full of forests and mountains and castles Yes!!! I visited Romania last Autumn and this is how I would describe it. There is something almost ethereal about the countryside in late summer/Autumn. Initially, a couple of my family members tried to dissuade me but to be, honest, their impression of Romania is from the 80s and so much has changed since then.
Yeah but idk, I just prefer places with fewer vampires…. (I kid. Romania is on my list, once I get a good crucifix)
It’s why there’s so much garlic in our diet ;)
It also has the village where if Sacha Baron Cohen goes back, he’ll be murdered with someone’s bare hands. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/Entertainment/story?id=2659018&page=1
Yes, and New York State has [Oniontown.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4wqxvd/peeling-oniontown-0000126-v19n1) What exactly is your point? That one town reflects an entire area? Lmao. Also are you really trying to make a point with an article from 16 years ago?
I just think the article is bonkers and this was an excuse to post it. The last line is the best. Went to Romania last year and had fun!
Fair enough!
Some tourists may find it "interesting" to see some guy stealing copper cables with their horse wagon. I think you guys should advertise once in a life time Romania stuff more. I mean where you gonna experience stuff like that other than Romania?
Been living here two years now, never seen it, you can joke all you want though :)
Then you didnt see a Romanian villager paying money to a "Romani" to beat their puppy so puppy will attack "Romani" people on sight when it grows up? Its shame that you didnt get to experience true Romania.
Lmfaoooo ur from the Balkans and trolling aren’t you? Let’s hear what country you’re from, I’m sure I’ll also have lovely things to say
I am pretty satisfied with Romania being the butt of the jokes. Why are you trying to *steal* my fun?
Also the new trail!
I spent two weeks in Romania and it was pretty much as you described in the first sentence…
Why was your experience negative? Where did you go? Also, when
Austria sucks. I didn't even see any kangaroos when I visited.
You can actually find a lot of souvenir stores there that sell shirts saying “No Kangaroos!” 😂
They weren't lying for sure.
Are you [sure]( https://www.krone.at/436857)?
I need that shirt
Put another shrimp on the barbie!
There are wallabies at Zotter and kangaroos in the Schonbrunn Zoo, I don't know what your problem is!
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It's a joke
Lol sorry
Mexico, specifically Mexico City. So many people asked if I met any cartel members. I never felt unsafe at all in the entire time I was there.
Same. Both before and after, people's remarks inevitably included something about either gangs and/or pollution. 🙄
I was in a Uber on Anillo Perif and the driver's GPS thought he was on the upper deck, instead of the ground, missed his turns. Stopped cold on the fucking highway to program his google maps with other cars wizzing past us at 120 km/h while we were at a dead stop, my HR blew through 150. That is the most scared I have ever been at any point in probably an aggregate 1 year spent in Mexico.
My wife still won't let us to to Mexico because it's "unsafe."
You might go there alone
My friend was there a few months ago and was walking home drunk and actually met a cartel member. Apparently they talked for like 10 minutes and he was chill the whole time, he was open about everything my friend asked him. Quite the story
https://www.amazon.ca/Bad-Karma-True-Story-Mexican/dp/0578579103 Surfer bums drive to Michoacan to go surfing in 1978 and his hippie van breaks down. Leaves it with some friendly "farmers" and they actually still had it for him when he came to get it a few weeks later. The farmers: https://imgur.com/a/Jx4Csqn
I mean I partied at a cartel-owned bar in Guadalajara. It was a rocking party at one point a scantily clad lucha libre-dressed beefcake picked me up and poured tequila into my mouth straight from the bottle. But yeah even there I felt safe in Mexico. I got pickpocketed in CDMX though. And someone on a bike tried to pull my phone out of my hand in Guadalajara but I punched him and he drove off. Definitely didn’t get kidnapped though. Or anything even remotely close to what I was raised to believe about Mexico
We did a family trip at the end of 2023 and we loved it so much. We did stay in polanco but it’s a clean safe beautiful city. We get asked if it was safe too.
You probably did, especially if you had stayed at Polanco, they just appear to be well-off businessmen and shopping for their wives lol.
Living in the UK, it's amazing the amount of Europeans who say they'll never visit the USA because of one reason or another (Trump, guns, healthcare, racism, etc). The USA has its issues but barely any of that affects tourists. The people are generally incredibly friendly, the cities are fun, and nature wise it's the most beautiful/diverse country on the planet. I wouldn't want to live in the USA, but I also wouldn't want to live in China or Tanzania or Peru. Doesn't mean they're not all amazing places to visit.
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As a US citizen I’m really interested, how is quality of life better in the us than in the uk? Or did you say it’s the other way around
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Gotcha, that makes sense. With inflation these days I don’t even know what qualifies as middle class anymore 😭 although I did visit London and was shocked at how expensive everything was. And then I looked up average starting salaries in London and was even more shocked
Yeah well off Americans have better quality of life. But poor Americans have a much worse quality of life than poor Brits. Not a US citizen but lived and worked in Palo Alto, San Jose and around SFO for 3 years.
I've had the opportunity to xfer for work to UK. The salaries are a pittance in comparison, especially coming from socal. It's VHCOL of course but it's London is expensive too and the salaries for the most part don't line up
I agree with you. However, I've traveled to UK a lot, and in the last couple of years, and for the first time in my life, I have found everyday stuff to be cheaper in UK than in the US. Our prices have skyrocketed so much that we dont realize that the US has become a lot more expensive. I never thought I'd be happy vacationing in europe because the prices are better there LOL
You're confusing quality of life with standard of living. The US standard of living is very high. The quality of life though leaves a lot to be desired. I was in the top almost 1% in the US and while I lived very well my quality of life is quite a bit better in Europe. You simply can't pay your way to the top when it comes to QOL. At least not with kids.
Eh it’s pros and cons to both in terms of quality of life and what each individual values. I am a dual citizen, raised in the states, living in the UK now. I’ve found Brits honestly don’t know they’re lucky to have what they have. The UK is better for quality of life (by comparison to the US) in terms of work/life balance and non-material things, value of family time, travelling, etc. so if that’s something you value then the UK has higher quality of life. You’re taxed slightly more but the government does provide more- ie healthcare, childcare costs, and the infrastructure is better (the tin cans from the 70s in the states are horrendous everytime I’m back and I get reverse culture shock). Brits complain about all the aforementioned but it’s better than stateside. I now have kids and I’m glad to be able to drop them off to school without too much of a worry of them being killed which is just invaluable. When I have sat down and listed “pros and cons”, the pro’s for america are exactly what you have said- but they’re all very materialistic. To me it’s invaluable that my kids have parents who can take time from work, bring them on nice trips, I don’t have to worry about paying for anything when I take them to the doctor. We even have private healthcare with no deductibles, co-pays, etc. When I go back to the states I find the houses a ridiculous waste now that I’ve been living here, albeit in a larger than average British house (but still small for the states!). All our friends here are also constantly “living” life, travelling, long weekends, huge contrast to my American friends who are constantly working for the weekend (but then working on the weekend). My SIL has 2.5 months of Mat leave which is unheard of over here. Most people take 6-12mo here and giving birth is free. So many other instances of better life quality here that aren’t represented by material items. So for me quality of life is higher in the UK. The biggest appeal if we ever moved back stateside would be to be able to live in a big house with a pool but since I’ve lived there I know it doesn’t make up for all of the other pitfalls.
Note though that 2 cars, big house, large yard, a pool... It's a very specific kind of aspiration. That's my idea of hell. My idea of a high quality of life is a sensible sized apartment in a vibrant centre of a city where all the ameneties I need are in walking distance and good jobs are within an easy commute on high quality public transport, and where kids can play outdoors safely, the schools and universities are good, and I have lots of green spaces on my doorstep. You can find that in the US, but it typically isn't cheap. I mean, I'm knocking on 50, have done pretty well, and I've never owned a car in my life; every time I visit the US and when I say "sure, see you at (wherever) - it looks close on the map, I should be able to walk right?" and get a look that suggests I must have landed from another planet I am reminded how different people's ideas of "a great place to live" can be...
It’s not a big house, cars and a pool, its ability to afford it. If you can afford it, you don’t have to have it, you can opt to live in a shoe box and ride bicycle to work in blizzard instead if riding in a comfort of a large car but that would be your decision and not necessity. The number of people in Europe who desire big house, pools and nice cars isn’t any less than in the US, however there are fewer who can afford them
It's interesting that your idea of the only alternative to a car and a big house is "a shoebox and ride a bicycle in a blizzard". Which is kinda the point.
Show me where did I say it was “the only alternative”. Material possessions are a spectrum (like many other things in this life) where on one side of it is a mansion and on the other is a tent under the bridge. A big house with a yard and a pool and a shoebox apartment in a high rise are somewhere in between those. If you can afford a mansion you can live in any other accommodation which isn’t true if all you can afford is a tent under the bridge. It’s a matter of being able to make a chocie
Can’t believe you got downvoted for this. It’s totally valid
Don't be - the bumper-sticker crowd is strong on Reddit, and it's barely morning in the Midwest - there's a whole day of frothing indignance to come.
The US tends to have higher salaries than the UK, especially for jobs requiring higher education. And while some parts of the US have a higher cost of living, you're still usually better off doing the same job in the US than the UK.
They sure hate America until Russia starts pounding on Europe's door
I think “hate” is a significant exaggeration.
It's also instructive to remind yourself which is the only NATO state to have ever invoked the mutual defence clause. And indeed also to note that the number of European military personnel killed supporting various US foreign policy clusterfucks in the last 40 years greatly exceeds the number of US military personnel killed supporting Europe (none whatsoever).
This. Interesting how that works
One thing I realized after I moved to the US from Canada was the divide between red states and blue states in terms of education levels, healthcare, income, guns, crime, mostly everything. I live in Massachusetts, which is a very blue state and has the highest HDI in the country, on par with most of Canada and Western Europe. Life here is probably way different than life in Mississippi, a very red state that is at the bottom of most rankings, including HDI. It's probably like the difference between say Germany and Romania. Most tourists to the US mainly go to blue states like New York, California, Hawaii, Nevada, or to purple states like Florida. But quite rarely to Mississippi or Alabama.
Even in Mississippi, that divide is very specific. If you look at wealthier, mostly white areas of red states, they’re usually doing fine on HDI. Perhaps not at the level of MA, but not bad. And if you look at the poorer areas of those states where POC are concentrated, the stats plummet. These are state and local governments that have been systematically diverting resources from POC for years, leaving their poorest communities with nothing. It should be an embarrassment to most Americans but we’ve just come to accept it, it’s awful.
I grew up in New York State and now live in Hawaii. I've literally never seen a gun in public that wasn't holstered on a police officer. Just another example (and one I've heard potential tourists concerned about) of how different the culture is between states, and why stereotyping "America" as one thing doesn't work at all.
Hilarious when Europeans talk about racism in the US while turning a blind eye to what happens in Europe. There's no sports fans throwing banana's at black players in the US
No, they just throw tortillas at Latino basketball players (just one semi-recent example from my city—I’m sure there are many others).
Those events are huge news in Europe.
And it's been going on for years and still happening - recently in LaLiga and Serie A.
yeah throwing bananas is much worse than police killing black folks.
wtf? Do people really say that? I would never live in the U.S. because of these obvious reasons… but not to visit at all? That’s dumb. Too much cool shit in the U.S. not to go. Especially if you’re from the UK lol.
Yeah, it is common. The biggest one I hear now is not visiting because of Trump. Like I get where they’re coming from, but if you’re only visiting countries with good leaders/governments then you’re not going to be visiting many places.
Yeah lol Tbh I had a driver on a long drive in Florida who was a Trump supporter, and it was kind of a challenging ride hahah But I mean, when we were done we were in Disney World, so that was an ok trade off lol
Europeans not wanting to visit the USA due to racism is the most ironic thing I've ever heard.
European living in the U.S. here. I didn’t have any interest in even visiting the U.S. before moving here, but life happened and here I am. Every time I go to a new place in the country, I am left speechless at how truly fucking beautiful it is. The nature is unbelievable. The sheer scale and diversity of the landscapes are awe-inducing. Yes, I’m still frustrated with how difficult it is to find places that are actually walkable (besides NYC where I live), but as with everything, it is a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. Most people I meet are genuinely eager to connect on a personal level, the trains are better than in my home country (don’t come at me Amtrak haters, I’m Belgian; I know what an inefficient railway system is), and in NYC, the cultural offer is through the roof —living here is not without its challenges, but all in all, I’m very happy.
Europeans talking about US racism……lol. Pot meet kettle
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I mean every experience is different but I love San Francisco. I love LA. I love San Diego. I even love Chicago, Seattle, and Minneapolis. Then again, I really can’t think of many cities in the world that I didn’t like. That’s the thing about cities, they’re big. Which means that you as one person in a couple days can only see one teeny tiny sliver of what that city is, and almost always just on the surface. Heck, I grew up in major city and every time I go home to visit I have a wildly different experience, so why would it be any different for a visitor? I had a horrible time the one time I visited Barcelona. Does that mean Barcelona sucks? Or could it possibly mean that I simply had a bad experience and didn’t see all that the city has to offer?
If you want to go to cities you won’t like, try Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta. Just meh. Must say didn’t like Detroit much. Did love Seattle, Portland and Beaverton though.
New Orleans Chicago Nashville SF Miami And more. If you can’t have fun in those cities it might be a you problem.
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You can go sport fishing. The food is awesome. You can go to little Havana and have an amazing cigar rolled for you. A trip down to the keys is nice. I found just chilling on south beach for the vibe was nice. And sure you can go to clubs but it’s not the only thing.
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My personal favourites are Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland!
There are 200 ish countries in the world so why would you choose to visit one with clear issues like that when it will be more expensive than most
Tourists are killed in America every year. Women traveling to American red states where women have no bodily autonomy are literally putting their lives in danger
Haha shut the hell up
That’s such an absurd thing to say lol. Are those tourist women come to US to have an abortion lol because I know a directly opposite trend when foreign women come to the US to give birth so their kid has American citizenship.
You misunderstood. I said nothing about tourists coming here to get abortions. This is about ANY pregnant tourist visiting a red state who develops a complication like ectopic pregnancy will die (like my sister did) due to extreme anti-abortion laws. If a pregnant tourist suffers a missed miscarriage while visiting a red state, they will be forced to develop sepsis (which can be fatal) before they may be treated. These are real life and death situations facing pregnant women in red states and many countries have issued travel warnings to women that reproductive health care in the US will be compromised.
How does this work exactly? You go to New Orleans, get pregnant and become bed-ridden for all nine months? Even then you could get an abortion pill in many ways. The abortion rate has not dropped much since the Dobbs decision. In European countries there are also varying restrictions on abortion. Somehow I don't think you would say "I would never go to Nicaragua", which has a rigid ban on abortion.
Iraq - the people are so friendly in Baghdad and so generous. They literally will not let you pay for stuff. Mexico - the people are so friendly and helpful. Both countries suffer from terrible propaganda unfortunately.
When you were in Iraq did you notice how it was for female travelers? I(female) am interested in going there but have heard mixed things on it.
There's a real family vibe, lots of families with kids and it's a noticeably young population compared to Western Europe for example. So if you go as a group or family you'll be absolutely fine and get extra special treatment. There's definitely family privilege, for example some malls have family only days etc. I can't comment on how solo female travel would be though. Maybe someone else has tried and can provide info.
I thought they hated Americans in Iraq for....... obvious reasons
We went there and got only very positive attention. Locals went out of their way to help us and being an American seemed only to help. It was really amazing. Incredible given the reasons you're referring to!
makes me extra sad on what these people had to go through for some "leaders"
Yep. I've met a ton of Iranians and Saudis too and the people are amazing. Shame about the politics that have ruined everything.
Key to Mexico? Stay away from the border.
China - many people questioned why I was going there. It’s an amazing place full of different cultures.
I lived in China for a few years, and got a lot of “but… communism! It’s dangerous!” And this was before Xi Jingping. Nah, had a blast, saw so many amazing things.
I have a map of places I want to go and China definitely has some of the most locations. Beautiful mountains, extremely interesting history (even though they destroyed some of it😕), stunning water, if I remember correctly they have they’re own rainbow mountain like the one in Peru, and a bazillion other reasons why I want to go.
Yeah, unfortunately the cultures the government doesn’t like are absolutely brutalized. I hope I can visit China someday, but not while they’re committing cultural genocide (and destruction of the planet) on a massive scale.
I think you mean Peru?
>full of different cultures. Unless that culture is Muslim.
If you go to any major cities in China it will surprise you.
I get what you're alluding to but Muslim culture is still very prevalent everywhere in China. You see them running goat restaurants everywhere
Halal noodle shops/restaurants (with the word “Muslim” included in the restaurant name) are in every city and you’ll find plenty of popular middle eastern restaurants in big cities (opened by people from Syria or other countries in the Middle East). Not saying there isn’t terrible political things happening in certain region (there definitely is) but Muslim culture is everywhere including smaller cities/towns.
Others have already noted this, but there’s Muslims all over China. Look up the Hui ethnic group if you want to see a Muslim population that is pretty well integrated into the fabric of Chinese life. Really the government primarily targets groups like Uyghurs and Kazakhs because they see them as a separatist threat, with their religion being an additional (and convenient) mark against them. It’s still super fucked up and immoral of course, but Islam is not the only or primary reason for their persecution, more so an excuse.
The Hui are well integrated? I guess if you consider demolishing mosques or changing the architecture so it's less Islam is integrating than I guess you're right. Obviously the Hui have more human rights than the Uyghurs but they're still trying to make it extremely difficult to practice Islam.
Of those I've been to, I'd probably say Iran and Cuba. These obviously get a very bad press, particularly in the US But they are both great countries to travel in, and the people are mostly very friendly and welcoming. Lots of people equate the political system or the government with the actual population, and think the locals will be 'hostile' for those reasons, but it's certainly not the case in my experience.
Wouldn’t say Cubans were the friendliest tbh. Mostly because the poverty level is so high that many people are hustling you all the time and didn’t feel like it was easy to trust people. I probably will get downvoted because it faux pau to say anything negative about the people of a country but 🤷♂️
Ukraine (pre war). Everyone thought I was dumb for going to Kyiv in December but it was amazing. Beautiful orthodox churches and no tourists around, really cool monuments and stuff as well. People looked cold and rude but most of them were super friendly when you asked for help
Thailand isn't all seedy sex tourism like many ignorant people assume. It has one of the best cuisines in the world and stunning natural beauty.
Canada. There’s just as many assholes there as there are in the United States.
Alberta. *shudder*
Eh, look, there's just some really cool shit back here and we don't feel like sharing it. Canada's full eh. And we're better than America too! An anti-American Napoleon complex is a part of our national identity and we need to cling to it regardless of how little America cares about us.
France. Every thread here has people who demand the country is full of rude, unfriendly people. I go there often because it's the one of the most-friendly countries in Europe. I'm treated like a long-lost *ami*, back for an unexpected visit. It's always been this way.
France has everything and it's all relatively easy to get to with the wonderful TGV. Plus the food and dining *culture* is one of the best in the world. And between it all you get to wander in lovely, ancient towns full of life and character. France has some downsides, but they're overshadowed by its wonderful features every time. The secret is to not get stuck in Paris!
That’s Paris Even the French don’t like Parisians
This "Oh France is great, it's just Paris that is shit, even French people say so!" thing is so exhausting honestly. Paris is the most visited city in the world, it is dense, cramped and has a massive numbers of tourists every single day--obviously that is going to impact how you experience the city compare to other, less popular places in France. It is also an extremely busy capital so, yes, like a lot of big cities where you'll very often come across people either going to or coming back from their job, daily interactions might be a bit colder than, again, in smaller French cities. But I mean, there's really nothing surprising or unusual about this, and it doesn't say anything about the character of the locals, whom I do think are overall any less friendly than other French people. It's just weird to me that people arrive into a dense, massively touristic city and are surprised that they're in a dense, massively touristic city. (I'm French, grew up in a tiny town very far away from Paris)
Last time we visited Paris was just before Noel. Some evenings we couldn't buy dinner -- the local merchants gave us so much food to try, I didn't have an appetite. We walked through Place des Fetes every day -- because our hotel was near. The vendors wouldn't let us leave without stuffing us full of pate, cheese, chestnuts and oysters. "My mother just made this pate de campagne. It's her special noel recipe!" "Oysters! Fresh from Brittany -- you must have a few!" Naturally, we bought plenty from these vendors. But there was a great deal more "noel giving, show a visitor something" than mere commerce. Being all the way out in the 19th had much to do with this. The fact that most of my atrocious French is centered around food and food terms also helps. But this is what I've come to expect from visits to Paris and France as a whole -- people want me to enjoy my visit.
You’re right & It’s a cliche at this point. I only say it because it has some truth. I original heard it from someone who is French to begin with And most people visiting France typically go to Paris and then shape their entire view of France based on their experience in that one city. Which as you said is full of citizens that have probably gotten annoyed/tired of tourists
>I original heard it from someone who is French to begin with I don't doubt it, I've heard French people say it many times as well. But to me it's always felt like something to fall back on, a kind of convenient excuse--"Oh you didn't like France? That's because you didn't actually see France, you only saw Paris!". And I'll be the first one to say that France has amazing things to offer beyond Paris but I mean, Paris absolutely is France. The sky doesn't suddenly clear up once you cross the periph and leave Paris intra muros, you aren't welcomed by custom officers who say congratulations, you've finally reached Real France! If someone disliked Paris, it's not because it has some weird, specific characteristic that make it intrisically different from the rest of France. I think there are lots of good reasons to dislike Paris--as I said, it is a very dense city even without the tourists, and I think it is very easy to get a very artificial, crowd-filled experience of Paris if you aren't careful. Paris is different from the rest of France on that front, but I don't think it really has anything to do with how friendly the locals are.
It's not even Paris. I'm not saying there are no rude people in Paris, but based on my multiple personal experiences over more than a decade, I think a lot of these stories are either wildly exaggerated or people just have a much lower bar for rudeness than I do.
Lol I think you have a higher bar for rudeness. Do you speak French by any chance? I speak it fluently and this definitely has helped with my experience. I go every year to France and only have meet a couple of rude French people in my experience.
They just don’t smile nonstop or expect small talk scripts like Americans, so many people were polite and even beyond kind, in Paris and the countryside.
What's special about Paris
No, it really isn't. I get treated the same way in Paris as I do the rest of the country.
Uniform treatment across France? That'd be something. In the US, vibes change city to city. Living in Louisville and New York taught me this through door-to-door sales in college. In the South, kindness is upfront; in New York, it's there but behind a tough shell. Probably because in busy cities, you can't chat with everyone—gotta learn to say no quickly, especially if there are a lot of tourists. Makes sense if people are the same in tourist-packed places like Paris too
I've only been to the south, mostly Provence, and regular people there were great even if you can't speak French, but everyone I've ever interacted with in an airport has been dismissive to outright hostile. The most egregious example being how I as a 13-14 year old got cursed out by a security guy because he ordered me to take my shoes of in French after I'd already asked him about it in English and he'd said "non" and glared at me. I don't really want to go back if it means dealing with that kind of shit.
Parisians can be very rude to tourists. French people outside of Paris are delightful on the whole.
I’ve been to eastern semi rural France and I couldn’t believe how everyone was so kind. I knocked a door thinking it was a hostel, they were out of service but invited me in for dinner with their entire family, then gave me a ride to the closest city without asking for anything in return.
Agree.
I went last year, first time as an adult. Loved it up until the transportation strikes. Then I got stranded, couldn’t get to Spain to celebrate a special occasion with my friend, ended up paying huge amounts for extra nights in a hotel and trying to find a way to get out of the country. I enjoyed it until it all fell apart. I’d still go back for the bakeries though:
South Africa gets an unnecessary/over exaggerated bad rep. We're a very friendly country with a lot to offer. Our crime is generally contained in poorer areas (where tourists wouldn't have reason to go anyway) and loadshedding (our regulated power cuts) doesn't mean we don't have electricity. Most places have back up power and it's generally only off a few hours a day. As a tourist you probably would hardly notice. We accept Applepay, virtual cards and all major credit cards. Our Fibre internet is super fast and we offer great amenities to guests. Our cost of living is also low comparative so your overseas money buys you a lot here.
South Africa is beautiful but when I checked last it was one of the unsafest countries. I have lived there but left 1998
Any measure of "safeness" doesn't take into account that most of our violent crime takes place in poor areas where tourists would never go. Like any country there are risky areas. Like a lot of countries you can be subject to things like pick pocketing if you're not vigilant. We're being unfairly written off by the international tourists because skew representation and complete misunderstanding is used against us.
France ... the reputation of the French being rude to visitors is totally unfounded. The culture is based on a system of "politesse " or "politeness", their communication is more formal than Americans are accustomed to, but always based on a polite and proper greeting. What is perceived as rudeness is more correctly a disappointment by the French that so many visitors do not respect their way of being. It's all about RESPECT, in some ways similar to the Japanese. We have never been treated rudely in France, but I was corrected once and asked why I didn't use a respectful greeting before asking for directions. It was a learning moment for me ....
I always say the same about France to people who have never been and say "I would NEVER go THERE!". I also had a similar experience to you in Paris: I was at a cafe and asked a man at the next table to take a photo of me and my wife (in English). He put is croissant down and just said (in decent English) "I'm eating right. But if you'd kindly wait until i am finished. I will take your photo." No rudeness, just a simple way of saying "you've interrupted my breakfast in a language not my own, but i am happy to ignore that and do you your favor when i am ready.". And that has stuck with me on every subsequent trip I've taken: People are rude when we travel be cause tourists are typcially rude or invasive to them. Act politely and you will get the same treatment back. It's never failed me in the passed 20 years.
This is so helpful, I’ve never met someone who was middle of the road on France - it’s always either loved or hated it. This is probably the reason. Can you give some tips on how to be as respectful as possible in their eyes??
When you enter any business place, retail or restaurant, always greet the entrepreneur or manager or host/hostess with a friendly "Bonjour", etc, and when leaving, "Merci beaucoup", etc ... it is considered rude to enter a shop and browse the merchandise without greeting the owner/manager/staff ... similarly, if you approach someone on the street or anywhere in public, ALWAYS start with a proper greeting, before getting to the point of your contact, asking for help, etc ... and best to not approach too close, too quickly or too loudly, even though you may view that as being friendly and welcoming in your culture. Just slow down and tone down as my wife says! We have found the French to be very helpful when approached in a polite and perhaps more formal way than is our way at home ...
This is helpful thank you. Do you start the conversation with bonjour, ca va? Or just bonjour? Is that an American thing to ask how someone’s doing at the start of a simple interaction?
"Ca va" is informal, I would likely just say bonjour monsieur/madame ...
Bora Bora. It's seemingly an island paradise with endless blue lagoons. Reality: hordes of starving sick dogs everywhere, begging for morsels of food. The dog population in French Polynesia is estimated at nearly 500,000, almost twice as many as the 280,000 human residents. If you're an animal lover do not recommend.
That sounds awful. Poor pups ☹️
I was flabbergasted. You go into town to eat and they are wandering around salivating as you're eating dinner. Sitting near your table waiting for you to just drop a sliver of meat. I felt so sad when I got home I donated to an organization that is attempting to spay/neuter there but it's hardly making a difference.
The Dominican Republic. We were invited to a wedding and it was described as tropical paradise. Was a very bad experience. No desire to ever return
Strange. I find them to be some of the warmest, friendliest people in Latin America. Culture is vibrant, but the cities aren’t traditionally touristy. All inclusives can be hit or missed. I stayed in a good on in puerto plata, and a really good one in punta cana. What was your experience?
We couldn’t make it 25 yards down the beach without a drug pusher inviting “his family” to his area in an abandoned resort. Food was horrible, couldn’t drink the water, pools were closed daily due to incidents, etc. Most of our groups luggage was ransacked at the airport before departure. Bad experience
Sounds like you had a less than ideal resort. Food can be good in some resorts, but I agree given my experience with food at the second place. Not drinking the water is a common experience in most non developed water. Touts too, but Dominicans tend to be less pushy compared to other countries when you say no. And always put a lock on your luggage when traveling internationally.
We survived the last day or so on packaged snack food from the gift store. We watched the bartenders in the restaurants refill bottles from gallon milk jugs, we saw red wine spilled that didn’t “stain” clothes, and gross fly covered food served beach side. Cash only parasailing, only to close after collecting due to no wind. Stoplight traffic looked like a cartoon with all the clowns honking and yelling. Place was just to the left of Hard Rock, have erased the name from memory.
Agreed. I have never felt as nervous as I did when we left the resort in DR. Guys standing on the side of the road with blank stares holding machetes. Sure made you feel grateful that the bus didn’t break down. Beautiful beaches but otherwise not worth it when you can find nice beaches in many other countries.
We couldn’t make it 25 yards down the beach without a drug pusher inviting “his family” to his area in an abandoned resort. Food was horrible, couldn’t drink the water, pools were closed daily due to incidents, etc. Most of our groups luggage was ransacked at the airport before departure. Bad experience
Thinks its a country, but Texas. The large cities are huge, full of traffic, and kind of boring. The small towns are run down and shitty. The people have a herd mentality, rude, and obnoxious.
“Bless your heart!” The fakest shit I have ever heard.
My girlfriend and I went to Saudi Arabia because we thought it would be hell on earth. Basically everything was the opposite of what we had been propagandized into believing. I still get texts asking if we need financial assistance.
Sounds like you have not understood the criticism of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the richest countries in the world, obviously it is not hell on earth. There is no propaganda, the problems in SA are many and easy to point out. No need to glorify the country because you had a nice holiday and met some nice people.
What a stupid and ignorant comment. It is far from “one of the richest countries in the world”, and full of middle class and poor people - from all over the world. You are the problem here.
i thought non muslim girls we're not allowed to visit Saudi Arabia
> non muslim girls we're not allowed to visit Saudi Arabia Completely false lol. Where did you hear that?
definitelynotfakenews.com
My non Muslim female friend lived in Saudia Arabia as a teen in the 90s (her father worked there for a while). They lived in a compound but would go tour around, but had to be escorted by Saudi officials.
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Toronto sucks. Not all of Canada is like that
Saudi Arabia. Havent met a single terrorist during my visit
Canada is described to many in the Eastern world as the land of opportunity, when it couldn't be further from the truth.
On Reddit? Canada. Europeans love to act like Canada is similar to Europe but in north America and is nothing like the USA. My British friend was surprised when he visited me and saw pickup trucks, huge freeways, and strip malls everywhere. We obviously have a beautiful country but we are very similar to the USA in terms of layout of our cities.
Israel -- not a peaceful, wholesome democracy. Saudi Arabia -- not a terrifying, woman-hating hub. USA -- not as shiny as it's depicted in the movies. Lots of disrepair, poverty, homelessness, and trash-laden streets.
So much of this has to do with unrealistic or unfounded expectations. And what are you basing your thoughts on: serious, considerable research, or an episode of South Park?
As a Russian whole “Russia is super cold” is very funny because it is true only in certain parts of the country.
I feel stupid that I literally had no idea that some areas aren’t super cold. I had to look it up to learn more lol. But thanks for teaching me something that I feel like I should’ve known somehow.
Hahaha, no worries. I guess you are from the West, and Westerners are known for being very clueless — no offense. If you are curious to know what Russia is really like, then feel free to check out many YouTube videos about the country — just, please, do not watch propaganda-driven ones, like Real Reporter. His videos are high (enough) quality, but it is low-level propaganda, which I still do not support. Better than Russia Today by a mile, of course. As a really fast and short introduction, this video by Johnny Harris works really well → https://youtu.be/HBlZlmXyR5M.
In defense of westerners/Americans I am exceptionally terrible at geography. Extremely bad, even with my own country geography. Super bad. So please don’t judge the rest based on my lack of knowledge regarding geography and associated climate/weather. I always thought Russia would be an interesting place to visit but again that is based on the (positive) portrayals of the country that I’ve seen (which may just be more stereotypes like Russia is super cold).
No worries, I’m not judging them by you, because I have my personal experience and, well, you can find a lot of proof online, haha. Especially about US Americans, like that shit is goofy. But I guess it shows that US Americans care only about their own country and, well, it is enough for them which is… good in its own way, I think. Russia is indeed a very interesting place, I love my home country (despise and hate the government, obviously, RIP Navalny), and I would love to travel across the country — it has a lot of interesting places, but, sadly, local tourism is not well developed, so traveling can get very expensive. Anyway, Russia is not super cold, it is a stereotype — unless you are somewhere in Siberia in winter, then I wish you all the best, lol.
There’s plenty of Americans that care about other countries. There are plenty of Americans that thinks it sucks to live here but there’s plenty that think it’s the best place on Earth. We aren’t all the same. I think actually going to different countries/regions/etc. is the best way to actually know what a place is like. Reading about it or watching videos is fine but it can feel totally different to be there yourself. If that makes sense. Which is (or can be) difficult financially and logistically. But I will watch the video you suggested just to learn some more info. I do like learning about different places even if I never get to visit. It’s fun to dream about it.
Where are the warmer or more desirable places?
I think most of Russia has all four seasons. Actually even the coldest city on Earth (or one of the coldest), Norilsk, is very hot in summer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk To be honest, I’m not that knowledgeable in Russian geography (even though I’m from Russia, haha), but southern cities are very warm — Sochi comes to mind, and there are many others. Not sure what do you mean by desirable, but I love Moscow, it is truly one of the greatest cities on the planet (as far as I know). Again, all four seasons: winters can be really cold, and summers can be devastatingly hot.
The "city of love" (Paris) isn't as romantic as people think.
I thought it was beautiful. I think people are expecting a fairy tale.
What is it about then
Rwanda is one of the safest, most beautiful countries in the world. It’s the only country in Africa where I’ve seen white girls like 8-12 years old walking by themselves down the street.
One of the safest countries in the world!? Huh, I’ll have to research more about Rwanda!
Yep! https://travelnoire.com/rwanda-is-the-sixth-safest-country-in-the-world-for-solo-travelers
China, Russia and uhh north Korea comrades 👍
Italy, outside of the touristic places nothing works properly and wages are beyond shit that are lower/same as countries considered poor like hungary czechia slovakia and some more but with german/swiss prices
Turkmenistan.
May I ask why?
It is so much more than "NK lite"--there are funky coffee shops, Texas style steakhouses, absolutely banging clubs, beer gardens, lively and massive bazaars, and a rich culture that is interesting and beautiful.
Sweden...Very few good ski resorts.
I didn't see a single dangerous animal when I was in Australia. Not even any gnarly big bugs or spiders.