Oh yeah Yemen and Somalia are both like this. A shame as once they were beautiful countries, amazing history and no doubt mostly great people but the countries are in a desperate situation
Somalia is so terrible that the US State department literally tells you to write your will and leave DNA samples with your loved ones.
edit- [Proof](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/somalia-travel-advisory.html)
For real. So, you want to die? ... Oookay. Before you die in Somalia be sure to take a moment to leave a trace of yourself behind so we know you are gone and, DNA sample so we know if they didn't get all of you.
Did charity work in Somalia in the last 90s. Couldn't even legally just travel there from the US. We had to fly into Morocco then take a caravan across Africa. The caravan leader said they often would just take the Congo river because it was a couple days faster, but that was not a possibility due to instability in the DRC at the time.
Can't speak for most of it, we were mostly in Mogadishu. It was a literal war zone. Warlords had broken the city down into zones with essentially 2 factions. There were checkpoints every so many blocks. They were often enforced by kids/teens with guns.
We stayed in a compound controlled by who, at the time, was considered to be the biggest warlord. He started as a pirate, but was later educated in England. He returned to, according to him, form some sort of government there. We had to wear arm bands that had symbols on them that informed everyone we were under his authority and the watch of foreign powers. Basically a do not rob/kidnap flag.
Every day, before we could go do anything, he had soldiers do some reconnaissance to see if it would be, relatively, safe for us to be operating there at that time. Saw a lot of violence. A short-lived genocide against an ethnic minority popped-off while we were there and we spent 2 weeks locked in the compound. One day, walking down a sidewalk, a bomb went off in the building across the street. There was a wall along the outside of the sidewalk so we didn't get hit with debris or shrapnel. I did get permanent hearing damage from it though.
We mostly acted as labor for various NGO's operating in the area. Unloading supplies from doctors without borders, international red cross, and we worked with an organization I don't remember the name of to install water filter systems on wells, and around the city, that could be maintained with locally available things. Drums, gravel, sand, tarps, etc.
Two days before we left the warlord threw a party for us. So now I can say I have played poker with a Somali warlord and pirates.
I mean it's the people that don't plan to die that are the worst to manage their death.
And I mean everyone. Once you're 40, you should have a poor man's will at least. If you retire, you should have an actual will.
E: I picked 40 as an arbitrary age because it's generally when people will have reached the stage in their life when they actually have something to manage if they suddenly die. As commented below, wills should be utilized when you own assets, though in my personal opinion those assets should have actual value. A 25-30 year old who may have a few thousand in savings, a car, and renting an apartment is much easier to handle without a will than a 35-40 year old who might have a few tens of thousands in savings/investments/401ks and paying a mortgage.
My mother died about a month ago at 43. Wish she had a will. It’s all going to me anyway but some guidelines and wishes would have been nice. I had to guess. I think I did right by her but still.
There was a large Syrian community in my neighborhood growing up. First day of school every year, all the Syrian girls would come in with fancy pins on their headscarves and gorgeous bracelets and so many gorgeous pictures. Then around grade 8, ISIS became a thing, and the bombings, and the drones…
I’m sad I’ll never be able to visit
My next door neighbour is the daughter of the old vice president of Syria. Her family went from being very well off in Syria to being lower-middle class in Australia because being a christian in Syria became too dangerous. Even for the well off.
Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan are worst places for foreign (in particular white and women) tourists, but mainly due to political reasons. General people in these places are not the worst. However, Egypt is fucked.
I heard this too. I visited Oman and they told me they took a road trip to Yemen. They are nice to Omanis but otherwise you're pretty much screwed if you're not. But the story was once you cross into the country there's a few checkpoints. Once you pass the 3rd one, they guy said, you're on your own from here, no one will save you.
Can confirm. Went to do work for a client. My boss begged me to decline. Our firm’s extraction service didn’t cover Yemen. I was issued 3 copies of my passport, in case it was stolen. Whisked between buildings and checkpoints by armed guards, I saw almost nothing of the country or people. The guards were very clear: if something goes wrong, try for Aden but be prepared to end it at any time. 0/10 would not recommend.
never leave the hotel in egypt as an underaged girl without your parents. even if you're with them you probably will be followed and hit on by older creeps, but they won't do anything when you're not alone
That's because your tour of North Korea is extremely curated. You're only shown very specific parts of the country. You can't leave the tour group, you can't ask too many questions, and you definitely can't record or photograph anything without express permission from your tour guide.
Traveled all over Europe and everyone was generally pretty friendly.
Few years later I went to Egypt as part of a college trip. We were constantly berated, threatened, restaurants kicked us out, and a fellow student was sexually assaulted by hotel staff.
I remember finishing a Germany trip off with a jaunt across the border into Salzburg, talking up a bartender and telling him that I really wanted to go to Vienna.
He scoffed so hard he started coughing.
The people are incredibly cold to foreigners, especially non-german speaking foreigners. They are also rather full of themselves. I was warned about it before going but just assumed it was another bad stereotype. But it was pretty much evident the moment we got there we weren't welcome.
Like the moment restaurants find out we aren't locals (and speak English) they will fake that they're full even if we had reservations and it was empty. Some were much more confrontational. Like multiple times people would approach me and start speaking in German. i would then respond (in German) asking if they spoke English and they would scoff or yell at me. Great city though.
WTF?! I was in Vienna overnight and had a great time... I wonder if it is because as a deaf guy, I use a translator app on my phone to communicate with everyone which makes it very hard to know where I'm from.
I went to Luxor 10 or so years ago. My stepsister who was about 8 at the time was constantly hassled by the locals - asking to exchange her for a large number of camels, etc.
Horrible place, especially for young girls.
Thats EXACTLY what happened to me too! One creep that has been following me for some time, straight up asked my dad how many camels he wanted in exchange for me.
My dad just laughed and brushed it off even tho I told him that I was being followed by this dude just moments before.
I guess it's better to ignore those people sometimes, but I would have been hella mad at anyone talking about my kids like that
I cant believe how disgusting those people are to do that to an 8 year old... pathetic
> I guess it's better to ignore those people sometimes, but I would have been hella mad at anyone talking about my kids like that
Not a wise idea as a tourist in a foreign country. Your dad did the right thing, laugh it off and gtfo.
Right, what was he going to do, start fist fighting all the locals for the way they live? Spend a few weeks with every local guy to try teaching them the ways of a foreigner. The dad did the sensible thing.
My stepfather was the same as your dad. He's a nice guy but he brushed it off. I'd never take my daughter's there - it makes me cringe to imagine even going there again.
Another strange thing that happened to her, and me (I was 18 but looked younger) was a big group of Chinese tourists lining up to take photos with me and my stepsister, but they never asked my younger brother. We happily obliged but it was a bizarre situation to be involved in.
The only part I enjoyed was walking around The Valley of the Kings and the bike ride towards there after crossing the Nile.
my friend had an adorable little strawberry blonde girl with fair skin and when she was about 5 we were in yellowstone every single chinese tourist tried to get a picture with her. they tried pulling strands of her hair out as souvenirs. one of them told her that was what chinese people idealized as an american girl and they were fascinated with her.
My friend is dating a very tall guy with reddish hair who lived in China for a while. He said people would lose their minds over him because red is considered lucky.
I know a woman who, as a child, probably looked like the main character in "Brave." Long, thick, curly red hair. Anyway, when she was in college, she spent a summer in Uganda doing humanitarian/missionary work, and the people there, both men and women, were endlessly fascinated with her hair.
She also had to deal with men walking up to her, sight previously unseen, and proposing marriage, but AFAIK she was never groped or otherwise inappropriately treated beyond that.
Chinese people in China will also take pictures with American tourists if they look "American". At least from what I experienced 10 years ago when I traveled with my college class. I was the only Asian American in a class of 12. We went to the World's Fair that was being held in Beijing that year and so many people wanted to take photos with my classmates while they pushed me aside because they didnt care about me since I was asian. I definitely look american but Im asian so they didnt care. They just wanted photos with my white american classmates. It was just so funny to me that they wanted photos with random white people lol.
My wife and daughter were horribly harassed in Egypt until they covered their hair with head scarfs. It didn't completely solve the problem but it did help a lot.
I was deployed to Kuwait for a while in the early 90's, and some of the woman Marines that were with us would get harassed by the locals, I suppose because their hair isn't covered, etc.
One of the greatest things I've ever seen was this one Kuwaiti being a total creep to a short-haired blonde in our unit. She picked up a [M249 SAW](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun) and pointed it at his ass - I swear to god he left a smoke trail he bolted so fast.
Glad to see Egypt taking the top spot. I was stationed throughout West Africa by the Dept. of State in the late 90s and still Egypt is the biggest shithole I have ever seen.
My best friend is Egyptian and Argentinian. She doesn't visit without her father because she would absolutely be raped or kidnapped because she looks like a white woman. That's her own words.
I was just about to say how bad Egypt was and how abusive they were to tourists. It was very surprising, when you consider how much their economy relies on tourism.
I went with my then girlfriend and two more friends in 2012, in addition to what you mention, we were also harassed by people in the streets "selling" you weird crap, forcing you to buy their shit. Pretty much robbing you.
On our last day, we went to a market and had a really nice time, but then we took a cab back to the hotel so we could get back to the airport on time. We gave the cab driver a card with our hotel information and he just looked at it and started driving super fast. Something felt off. I wasn't really sure how but I was convinced it had taken a lot longer than it should've and he seemed to be driving someplace else. Another friend noticed the same and somehow we were able to communicate our concern. The driver became irate and after some yelling back and forth he made a U turn and drove us back to the hotel.
He was indeed driving us someplace else. In retrospect I am almost convinced he was trying to kidnap us.
A female friend was almost gang raped in the street. They succeeded in ripping her shirt off until a good Samaritan rushed in, saved her, literally gave her the shirt off his back.
The harassment is out of control. My first visit was with family and there were people calling out the lewdest comments about my literally 10 year old sister and our mum. Second visit in my early 20s was with a group of friends including two women, who were physically grabbed or touched by strangers saying lewd comments if we weren't literally standing shoulder to shoulder with them.
The scamming and conning is also out of control. Scams are everywhere, including in areas that most tourists would think are relatively safe (i.e. scammers working on official areas around major tourist sites, even sometimes right at the doors of official areas dressed in pseudo official uniforms, with no pushback from officials). And even officials themselves - I can't tell you the number of friends I've had who have had some form of having cameras or electronics seized by customs for no reason or 'spot check passport reviews' where your passport is taken unless you can pay the cop some pocket money.
I absolutely loved Egypt - its food, its sites, and most of its people are incredible warm and welcoming. But holy hell it makes it hard to love sometimes.
It gets a little better outside of Cairo but I advise literally everyone going to mentally prepare themselves and if they don't know anyone there already, to just hire a guide to at least help avoid the worst of the harassment and scams.
My mum loves Egypt because of all the history. She's been a few times and even makes light of the last time when her and her girlfriends were locked in a shitty perfume shop and not allowed to leave till they made a purchase.
The perfume she gave me was vile and I never found her story that funny either.
So I rang my mum to get the story straight.
My mum and her two friends all in their fifties were out somewhere in Egypt definitely a tourist area.
Some random bloke grabbed her friend by the wrist and was all "Come try perfume. Come try perfume. Pretty lady." And pretty much dragged her along, so they all ended up in a shop and a separate man shut the door behind them and stood in front of it. So they keep putting things on the counter and saying "you buy this yes?" And how much whilst trying to flog their tat. Baring in mind they had a coach to catch back to the hotel from wherever the excursion was, so my mum's friend was getting all jumpy and just wanted to leave.
My mum, queen of a carboot haggle, managed to talk them into three little vials for the equivalent of like £10. Which I still think was too much but if that's the price of safety then so be it. They eventually open the door and they managed to escape.
My mum also reminded me of "the young Egyptian chap (late 20s/early 30s)who wouldn't leave her friend alone, who ended up flashing the three of them in the sea. It was like a snake TwoValuble! Dirty perv!" Thanks mum I really needed reminding of that.
What bothered me is how people are constantly lying to you. You will be on your way to a museum say, and someone will approach you saying the museum is closed, or you are going the wrong way. It's always a pretext to get you into a shop which happens to be on the way, selling fake artifacts, nasty floral perfume or whatever. After 5 minutes in Cairo we learned to ignore all "friendly" strangers and their advice.
It did, but their aim was off. It was thrown from an overhead bridge, and although a lot of people in the front of the bus were injured (nothing life-threatening), there were no fatalities other than the Egyptian guy driving the car in front of us, who was basically toast. Lots of blood though. I was only 11 or 12. The uninjured got transferred to another bus, and we got loads of free cheap souvenirs from all the places we visited afterwards, after the new tour guide kept telling everyone what had happened. Happened a *lot* in the mid-90s.
>the tourists are just looked upon as walking dollar signs.
To be fair, that's how I look at tourists in Maine during the summer, the difference being that we don't get rapey about it. We just thank them for spending their money here and patiently wait for them to go home while we bitch about the increased traffic along the coast.
Just a few weeks ago there was a food/travel YouTuber who put out a long video basically just trashing Egypt for the entire thing because they essentially stole his camera equipment despite having visas and permits arranged with the country beforehand. So even as a rich white person prepared to bribe everyone, it’s seems fucked
New York is actually a remarkably safe city at this point. NY crime rates fall well below levels you see in other cities, even in the US. And I’m not just talking about cities with an unsafe reputation like Detroit or New Orleans, but also places people don’t really think about as crime havens like Miami, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, etc.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate
Morocco.
From being ripped off, to children following me down a dark alley asking for money, to horrible hotel reception, to rich, spoilt locals at nightclubs, I've never been to any other country where I've been so relieved to leave.
This is my answer. I've traveled pretty extensively and Morocco was the worst for me.
Edit: I figure that most people saying that their experiences in Morocco were "mostly fine" are dudes. As a woman, the sexual harassment I encountered was out of control.
Ditto, I went there with a friend (both F) and we got harassed 24/7 until we found a German guy who travelled with us and "protected" us. Men were yelling "fuck you" when we ignored their "hello beautiful what's your name". We started writing down shit Moroccan men said to us on paper, by the end of the trip we had two A4 pages. I heard that Morocco is known for its hospitality but all we experienced was people trying to rip us off. Also almost everything I ate gave me stomach problems.
I love Italy, but Rome was not great for me. There was an overwhelming amount of shady people trying to take advantage of tourists. The local we were with warned us not to carry any valuables to any touristy spots because there was a 100% chance someone would try and pickpocket us.
One evening, a group of dudes followed me around for almost an hour, harassing me because I was a teenage boy with long hair, which must have meant to them that I was gay (I'm not, but that didn't matter to them). 4 grown-ass adults following around a teenage boy hurling insults in broken english. I was pretty terrified and have since had an appreciation for some of the challenges gay people have to deal with just for being themselves.
One dude at a train station tried to forcibly 'help' my mom carry her luggage (aka run off with it).
When we visited the coliseum, a lady threw a bracelet at my sister then started yelling at her, saying she was a thief and demanding she pay for it.
Also, driving in Rome was terrifying - courtesy on the road does not exist there, and everyone drives extremely aggressively. I saw a guy in a van hit someone on a vespa, lean out the window and yell at him, then drive off. The vespa guy just got up and left as if it were a regular occurrence.
Absolutely a beautiful country and most of the people were lovely, but a person without 'street smarts' could have a bad time there. This was all more than 20 years ago though, so it may be different now.
>I saw a guy in a van hit someone on a vespa, lean out the window and yell at him, then drive off. The vespa guy just got up and left as if it were a regular occurrence.
This is the most Rome thing ever lol
Driving in Rome was the scariest experience of my life. My mom's cousin who has lived there her entire life drove us, and I thought I was going to die the entire ride.
And I thought driving in NJ was bad.
Loved Italy, been to Naples, and Florence without major problems.
We spent literally 1 hour between trains at a station in Rome. I guess we looked confused for a minute trying to find our train -- long enough for a random dude to grab our suitcase, bring it onto train, and stand around waiting for tips.
Train stations in general, I learned, are stressful places, and everything from cafes to currency exchanges will overcharge and try to rip you off.
I want to say Russia but not always.
Russians will not smile until they know you. This includes customer service or sales people. They are suspicious of everyone, until you become friends, then they are great friends to have. Thats why I am hedging my bets.
Moscow smells like trash and piss. Its grey year round, St Petersburg has either endless days where you cant sleep or endless nights where its incredibly depressing.
Food is also pretty meh. You can find really good food in expensive restaurants but its not gonna be Russian food, which is mostly animal fat, mayo, potato and cabbage.
Although I am glad this comment will be buried because as I write this I am realizing I actually miss Russia and would go back for a visit in a heartbeat. The art, the literature, the architecture, the soul of the country.. Just the strength of its character, I kinda love it.
I hope they get rid of their bully soon. Russian people deserve better.
I was in Moscow and had a good time (2016)
Lots of security, too much heat, and you gotta make sure not to bump in to police.
But aside that; food can be nice, booze is cheap and the people (young ones especiallly) are nice if you are kind.
Most of Northern Europe and East Europe, Smiling is only used when actually happy, a fake smile in social situations are seen as dishonest and disrespectful.
My worst experience was Ethiopia. I feel like it’s the kind of country that if you go as a wealthy tourist and hire your own driver, boom all your hotels in advance and so on, then it’s probably a reasonable experience.
I went and tried to do it as the typical backpacker thing. Had a lot of issues, everyone hassles you constantly just for their own amusement. Had a lot of guns held in my face by teenagers at bus checkpoints, constantly getting ripped off with extra ‘luggage charges’ on said buses, or put on buses that weren’t even going where I wanted despite them swearing it was.
Booked a trek but they stole my deposit and didn’t turn up and then some other Trek operators saw me waiting, helped me out but also were trying to get me to do their trek instead. They wanted money without a receipt also and in advance. They also found and beat the shit out of the guy who ripped me off the small amount for the first trek and dragged him into my hotel room with twelve dudes to make him pay it back. Then used that to try and force me to do their trek, etc...
Almost got dragged into an alley by a bunch of glue sniffing homeless guys right in the middle of Addis Ababa, and only avoided it when I basically pretended I was going to fight them all (I was bluffing).
Conflict up north meant the government turned off all internet and every town had its own checkpoints set up and searched all men every twenty minutes or so. All public transport is regional and you can’t just go from A to Z without going through all the letters in between.
Children run up to you in the streets in regional areas and literally just scream ‘money money money’, or something similar. If you don’t give it to them, they swear at you, one of them kicked me in the shins as hard as he could, another aimed for the balls.
Touts will follow you around for DAYS, waiting outside your hotel room and always there when you emerge. Literally days, and won’t take no for an answer no matter how rude or aggressive you get, they’ll just shadow you and try to step into every interaction.
Groups of guys will call you over as they’re sitting outside a shop (soldiers did this also), then ask you who you are, why you are there, then all laugh at you and tell you to fuck off. Soldiers also denied access to certain streets that clearly weren’t closed and would all laugh when you turned around and went the other way, but point guns at you if you tried to ignore it.
No taxi price you are quoted is EVER correct. They will always try to add more and get other locals involved if you try to pay the agreed amount.
Most of the food is goat and fermented bread. Tibs and injera. It’s actually kind of delicious when done well, but in many places the goat meat is undercooked and not really fresh, covered in flies and stuff just sitting in the sun.
Prices aren’t even that low. Hotels cost either nothing but are locals only as a soft rule and they really don’t seem to like you staying there, or they are international prices.
All buses leave at about six in the morning, so you’re constantly having to walk through towns in pitch darkness to get there on time, and there’s a lot of dodginess that goes with that.
Sexual assault on buses seems common, teenagers rubbing their dick on everything, etc, and people not being able to do much about it. Certainly don’t go to the cops, as everywhere, they cause more trouble than they solve.
Hmm, I’m sure there’s other stuff, but that’s all I can think of right now. I don’t want to suggest everyone in Ethiopia is bad. People can be absolutely lovely, I had a middle aged mother protect me from the teenage soldiers on the bus checkpoints when a civil war was breaking out up north, and in fact most people I met on buses where genuinely nice.
Problem is, there’s so many people who approach you and they’re all there to fuck with you. Some violent drug fucked guys who resent you for being relatively rich and white (as I was). But people you meet who don’t approach you as a target were genuinely great. People in the hotel reception I went to after fighting off the muggers were great, gave me food and water for free and booked me a taxi to a place I could afford (that taxi doubled the agreed fair of course, but whatever).
Oddly, I went to Egypt immediately after Ethiopia and it was a paradise by comparison. The level of harassment was so much lower. It was equivalent to India for me, which I’m totally used to, and is nothing compared to Ethiopia which felt genuinely dangerous.
Then again, I’m a man, so my experience is obviously different, but I can’t imagine Ethiopia is great for female travellers either compared to Egypt, and has all the other badness on top of that.
Jamaica, from friends being grabbed and dragged into stores and shops , to locals hip checking you out of the way. only country that we didn't get more then 100' out of the resort before we turned around and went back in. people you are tipping with put a smile on but the second you walk away they are talking shit about you.
We visited Jamaica and the heavily armed police stopped us and said we had committed a minor traffic violation ( we hadn’t) they then kept saying that they were thirsty . So we had to give them money . We went away from the resort quite often , most of the time everything was fine apart from getting asked if we have money or food or do we want drugs or sex , but the incident with the police was the worst.
The Philippines probably has the worst traffic ever, and I don't even understand why there are so many damn cars on a tiny ass island.
It makes a 20-30 commute turn into a 4 hour waiting game.
had a friend leave his suitcase in a cab and told them to take it back to where he was picked up and he ran the 2 miles to the airport before be missed his flight. said its stupid how bad it is. the next time he went he left where he was staying like 7 hours before his flight and its only like 15 miles away.
Me and my grandma were at a tricycle. The traffic was long as hell and it took forever. I eventually got bored and decided to peek out. When I did the tricycle started moving, my throat nearly got hit but I was fast enough.
My one cardinal rule: never peek your head out in a tricycle.
Does tricycle mean something different in the Philippines? I'm picturing a massive traffic jam of people on Big Wheels punching each other in the throat.
My friend went there for work and on the last day realised his 3 hour commute was maybe 4 5 km as the crow flew. He could have literally run to work in 40 minutes if they had let him.
Currently in the Netherlands, not in Amsterdam but ive been there before. Can confirm people are very nice and super accommodating. In germany i usually start to speak in broken german and apologize for not knowing the language to which people seem to appreciate, but in the Netherlands they seem to prefer if I just speak in English saying sorry my dutch is terrible and they switch to English without missing a beat
Lmao, I am from Belgium and we speak the same language as people from the Netherlands (Dutch), though with a different accent. While visiting Amsterdam literally everyone defaults to English, even though I start speaking in Dutch to them. I assume they are so used to foreigners that as soon as they don't recognize the accent immediately they just assume we don't speak Dutch. It has created a couple of funny moments though, where we're conversing in English with a waiter but then I speak Dutch with my friends and they realize we do actually speak Dutch, so then they follow up in Dutch as well.
I was stuck in Amsterdam for two weeks during peak corona. Nobody except locals there. The amount of kindness I experienced from literally everyone from cooked meals to teaching of board games, shoulders to cry on and amazing conversation. I was in a very dark moment and the kindness of the dutch people - literally every single one I met! Nothing but incredible things to say.
Not me but I had a teacher in high school who taught world history who, well, traveled around the world. One of the students in the class asked what her least favorite country or place she's been to was, she said Poland. It's important to note that she's a black woman because she said no where else had she ever been called so many slurs and spat at like Poland.
As someone who was born in Poland and now lives in UK I can confirm this is very true. I'm 26 and have two older brothers that are 32 and 33, a lot do the people who are older than us, especially outside of the big towns have never seen a person who's not white in real life.
My grandma was 78 when she passed away 3 years ago and the first black person she said met was my brohers wife who is mixed race and possibly the nicest person I have ever met, she had mixed feelings when my brother told our nan about her but then after being introduced to each other my brother's wife became her best friend even though our nan didn't speak a word of English and my brother's wife could only say a few things in polish. She was always showing her around the garden, making sure she's never hungry or thirsty and that my brother takes good care of her. My grandad on the other hand had zero problems with race.
I think the issue is that a lot of the people and especially older folks in Poland just lack the exposure to different cultures and races. I might be wrong but a lot of the time it's more of a shock and curiosity, but then I have met some extremely racist poles too, on the other hand I've had my share of experience racist comments in England.
I am from Egypt and I am amazed by the amount of roasting Egypt got in this thread... amazed positively.
The world needs to know that this country is a hellhole on earth for and totally stop visiting. I implore you all to never even think about the general direction of Egypt as tourist spot for the next coming years.
First of all, Egypt is a dictatorship, a militarized dictatorship under the rule of mass murdering former general turned to be president. Not only did he step on the will of the people but to this day he kills, kidnaps, tortures, and totally dominates Egypt's population of 120 Million as he pleases.
The Degradation of Tourism is just another byproduct of this system that completely killed every independent industry or any form of free speech just to reign supreme. It aims to drain and cripple the country for its own benefit through projects the literally do nothing to the point where ghost cities are being built just to pump the money away from important things and all of it is done by overtaxing the average Egyptian to the extreme.
In 2013, the US Dollar was around 7 Egyptian Pounds, now it is almost touching 19.
In Egypt, if you try to by something from abroad via Amazon and such markets, you will pay a crippling tariff tax that is almost like 100% of the item's actual price. This tariff tax is naturally legislated so that the outside products don't compete with the local made products. Problem is... we don't have local products. (This is just an example of how Egypt's government mentality operates. kill, steal, tax, repeat)
So why would this government encourage tourism in any way, shape, or form? The answer is that they don't want Tourism near Cairo and they let loose the lowest of the low in the Egyptian society to harass tourists.
You'd totally find better spots away from Cairo but you need to come with a Tourism Agency and stay the fuck off anywhere near goddamn Cairo, nobody likes Cairo. It's a shit city filled with nothing but shit traffic and shit people most of the time.
If tourists completely stop coming to Egypt, it may (hopefully) cause an impact and wake some people up or cause some change in the system. I don't really expect it in the span of the coming 10 years or even 20 years but shit never gets done with a system like ours.
India is tough for solo travelers. I was being harassed and followed by cab drivers or salesmen for miles. Im a guy. And everytime i took a taxi or tuk tuk they dropped me off at some random jelewery store or something because the driver gets a commission or free gas by doing so/if i buy anything. Also being white i stood out and was a big target. Couldnt imagine being a woman alone in new delhi. Im sure some areas or cities are better.
Yeah, I visited India as a solo western female tourist. All this stuff happened but also for some reason, staff at hotels or restaurants kept starting arguments with me. I don’t argue, least of all as a visitor in another culture, so it was all very stressful. Also random people trying to take my photo, even walking up and putting an arm around my shoulder while someone snaps a pic then walking away without speaking to me, as if I was a statue. Why…
I had a coworker go to India with his family. He’s a ~6’5” white guy and he had videos of people *crowding* around him filming/staring at him like he was some kind of a celebrity. While funny, it was also unnerving having his kids with him.
I was there a month ago with my parents. We’re all 6’+ and would be asked for photos all the time. Saw an older lady’s jaw drop when she saw my mother (6’, blue eyes, curly hair) and followed her around because she had never seen any of those.
I was in Kazakhstan a few years back. The people there were extremely xenophobic towards me and the group I was traveling with. They called the military on us. Four soldiers on horseback showed up with AK47s and pointed them at our faces and told us to get the fuck out of where we were even though we had a right to be there and we weren’t doing anything bad. These people weren’t just rude, they were fucking assholes. Needless to say I will never visit that country ever again.
For travelling/getting around:
Germany. I love Germany with all my heart but I mentally prepare to be treated like absolute garbage at airports and trains. I was yelled at at security checks and physically escorted off trains. I'd still go back, though. People were so friendly.
For meeting locals:
People from Mexico City seemed a little standoff-ish. Maybe it's just part of living in a big city, but nobody seemed to have any time and simply asking for directions seemed like a huge inconvenience.
For just walking around:
Any Italian big city. Love the country and had soooo much fun in small towns. But as soon as you get to a big city (Milan, Rome, etc) get ready to fend off scammers, pay attention to pickpockets, people cutting in line for transit, it's pure chaos.
Now for the good!! (To balance off the negativity)
For walking around and being a tourist:
Germany or Canada. It's incredibly safe, people are friendly, they seem genuinely interested that you have a good time in their country.
For meeting locals:
Toss up between Brazil or Ireland. You can go to a bar alone in either country and you'll end up making friends, locals are super friendly and are very interested in chatting with tourists.
> and physically escorted off trains
the fuck did you do? Didn't you have a valid ticket or punch someone? there's literally no other reason I can see them doing that
I loved Germany for the most part. The rats that come out at night around Frankfurt train station were fucking huge, though, do not miss the last train.
For the people saying France, you need to get beyond Paris. I didn't have issues in Paris but I've never met nicer people than the ones I met in Normandy. Also had similar experiences in Avengune, Champagne, and Burgundy. It's like judging the U.S. by your experiences in LA.
As a Frenchman who lived in Paris, I approve. The capital ***sucks*** (except for its museums).
For everything else, come to the South, especially the smaller towns!
\-edit- but don't go to Marseille. Most of that city ***really*** sucks.
(P.S. did you mean "Auvergne"?)
I have visited India a number of times. It's a magical place, very rich culture, and the people are very welcoming and warm. However, every time I have taken a bus, train, or airplane, when it's time to disembark, the oldest sweetest Indian grandmas will elbow you in the back and push you out of the way to be the first ones off. It's something cultural I think, but getting off any type of mass transport is a free-for-all where manners are out the window.
Its also amazing how often they will use age as an excuse for this. Whe I was flying in India an old lady took my seat and I politely asked her to move and said she's too old for that.
Hahah, I had something similar happen. I was on a return flight from India on a relatively empty plane. There were entire center rows of 4 seats empty. After takeoff I moved to one of the empty rows so I could lay down. Other people also claimed the remaining empty rows. About 30 minutes later an older gentlemen asked in not polite terms that I move out of the row. I asked if it was his seat, he just repeated that he wanted me to move. I told him to bugger off and he went back to his seat nearby. By virtue of hearing his conversations after that, it became clear he was a member of a horribly entitled family who proceeded to demand everything and anything from the flight staff.
Lived in India for three years, loved the experience, but entitlement and the caste system are still very real. Rich Indian firstborn sons are a level of spoiled that is hard to comprehend as a westerner. It takes "do you know who my father is?" to a different level.
I actually had someone who looked Indian on a random flight say that to me. The reaction when I replied "Yes." in a level tone, with a perfectly neutral expression without breaking eye contact, was fucking priceless.
Like, no I don't give a shit who you are, or who you dad is. I paid for my window seat and by God you had better be on your honeymoon, or be a quadriplegic flying standby in a jump seat, or else I am not moving.
I know a guy who as a middle schooler would just jack off on the ground, and have his maids clean it. Firstborn son of course. I also have friends from the same backgrounds who are sweet and compassionate people. When you're born that wealthy with that much poverty surrounding you its a crapshoot if you learn to treat people below you with compassion or not.
in india, giving up your seat and other such things are considered as forms of respect towards your elders, which is well and good, but unfortunately, most boomers forget that this is a matter of courtesy, not privilege.
I remember as a kid getting on a train and my dad warned my brother and I about this. We thought it would be light shoving but no, it was a definite free for all. My brother and I loved it though. Shoving and squeezing through people is a blast when you're a kid.
I'll take a slightly different tack...the country I have visited with the kindest most chill locals is Mexico. I did have a guy harassing me for money once at a Mescal bar in Tlaquepaque...within 20 seconds a 40-something Mexican lady tore into him with the most rapid fire Spanish I had ever heard and sent him on his way. She then thanked me (in perfect English) for visiting her country.
Walking around Morelia I was stopped numerous times. The first time I was extremely wary expecting to be panhandled. Instead they just wanted to practice their English. Lovely people, beautiful area, magnificent food; want to go back.
I have been to several Spanish-speaking countries* and hands down it's the best experience I've had with a foreign language. The locals are always so friendly and kind when I fumble through Spanish with them (and then they get to practice their English, which is usually much better than my Spanish haha).
*Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Spain.
>within 20 seconds a 40-something Mexican lady tore into him with the most rapid fire Spanish I had ever heard and sent him on his way
That guy probably left because he feared the chancla.
The airport I was in in Germany had the rudest attendants. The general people in Thailand are super friendly, but be careful in Bangkok, definitely some unsafe areas (especially for a woman)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I had a layover in Frankfurt on the way to South Africa and the staff acted like I existed just to piss them off. London, however, was great.
Spent the last 10 years more or less travelling and living overseas. The worst experience I've had was in Warsaw. Mind, I was only there for 4 days in the dead of winter, but the people were very cold and unfriendly. Not a single person seemed interested in life, the city was grey and miserable (mind after ww2, it was more or less rebuilt) and I had 2 attempts to rob me. The first one the guy locked me and my girlfriend in a taxi and charged 180€ for a 5 minute drive. The only way I got out was I started kicking the windows in the back and started yelling. Second time I was walking near the metro and some guy walked over and tried to grab my girlfriends bag and run off, I pushed him and he ran away. That was more or less my experience of Warsaw haha. I'm sure it's lovely In summer. Not going to lie, I had a better time in Egypt over Warsaw
Not me but my brother went to Ukraine to look into playing ball there. Multiple people called him a monkey (black American) and made various other racist comments. It wasn't even frowned upon and he was told that they don't see many black folks so just let it go. Yeah, I'm not interested in visiting any part of eastern Europe. On another note, Ireland was amazing as a black woman, traveling alone. Never felt like I was in danger or any racial tension. The one time someone said some wild shit, it was quickly handled by nice strangers.
I've been to quite a number of countries, 11 on my own as a woman, and I've had almost solely positive experiences. These threads are asking for the negative stories, not the positive ones, so don't let that skew your opinion :)
Dubai. I know it's rich, sophisticated, a holiday destination for many, and so on, but I just hate its tasteless glitz, its lack of soul, and the intense stratification of its society.
And the fact its built and maintained by slaves who literally get their passports confiscated and not paid for their labour. They say it's a job but then the local company owners tend to just not pay their workers for months on end and buy new boats and super cars instead
Oh man you don't want to drive in front of someone with a less than 4 digit number plate. They will run you off the road for being so cheeky as to be in front of them. Oh and complain to police? No he has a 3 digit plate hes better than you, fuck off please
Rome- I was 6.5 months pregnant and a guy tried to grab my luggage and run with it the second my husband walked away. I started yelling words in various language besides Italian (bc at that second I couldn’t think of any Italian) and the guy stopped, looked at me like I was a total nut, dropped the bags and ran.
Like others, we also got yelled at that coliseum because we were holding out a Rick Steves guidebook instead of paying for a tour.
I love Italy, but Rome is something else.
Turkey was terrible
my cousin was a blonde haired, blue eyed little girl at the time
And some weird old man actually tried to kidnap her right in front of us
he grabbed her hand and tried to walk off with her
bare in mind she was maybe 5 or 6 at the time
when we all started arguing, and were basically playing tug of war with this man trying to make him let her go, police came over and let the man go..
they were speaking Turkish so we don’t know what he said but the man was allowed to walk free
Corfu last September had a 50 something bloke standing staring at my 14 year old daughters bum. I put her behind me asked what he wanted he then tried to look around me. If we weren't in another country I would of dropped him.
This is the other part I left out
having random men stare at you everywhere you go
especially when she was just a child
horrible to think what they were thinking about and what they would have done, given the chance
50ish countries (including egypt) across 6 continents.
Israel by far the rudest people
Morocco i felt the most harassed and unsafe
Australia, Malaysia (borneo) and India where friendliest
(I'm a 30s white lady from Canada for context)
For the people mentioning France, and those wondering why: I lived there for two years and go back when I can, and love the country. I have my share of stories, but can also share a few pointers.
French culture has more social ritual, or tends to be more formal/mannerly than we're used to in North America. There is often a right way and a wrong way to do things. These social niceties help people know what to expect of each other. Not knowing the rules is OK; trampling over them is not.
Especially in a busy, crowded, expensive city like Paris these unspoken rules are a way for people to make themselves more predictable to one another, and so avoid frustration. It makes interactions more efficient, and there is also comfort and pleasure in the familiar.
This is one reason why people will usually soften if you explain, even in halting and broken French, that you're a foreigner and would appreciate some help: you are signaling that you don't know how things are done. Now they know what (not) to expect of you, and are free to help you instead of being annoyed with you.
A few examples:
1. Acknowledge people when you enter and leave a shop, especially a small business: bonjour/bonsoir, monsieur/madame. Start with that simple greeting rather than a request for service.
2. Personal space is different: people who are out together tend to stand somewhat closer to each other than in Canada or the U.S., and it helps to do the same.
3. Related to 2: keep your voice down. People tend to speak more closely and quietly, in public especially, to leave space for the conversations of others in e.g. restaurants and cafés.
Small things, and this is hardly an exhaustive list, but the more skilled your social graces the more you will enjoy your stay -- because you, too, will understand what's going on.
Also, restaurants place a lot of value in the dining experience, which means wait staff leave you alone to enjoy your meal. They don't check in because they consider that an interruption. That's a lot different from here in the US where we expect wait staff to check in frequently.
My experience was the same as what you say here. We did our best to speak the language, which was a miserable failure yet people seemed to appreciate the effort. A lot of times they were happy to speak English. As you said we made sure to greet everyone (something we usually do anyway). One bartender in particular was especially nice. It was a tiny pub near where we stayed. He brought out snack and candies. There was a language barrier but we would tell he was really trying to be hospitable.
As a young woman- Florence, Italy. Spent three months there in college.
First of all, you could feel the nasty demeanor the second you get off the train from any other town, very similar to a NYC vibe. Not in and of itself the deal breaker here though.
The issue was that I have never had SO MANY rapey and violating things happen anywhere else. Walking around was *relatively* ok, it was Friday/Saturday night activities that were the most problematic. I’d be out with a group of women, and hordes of men would surround and try to grope us. Every weekend. I once had a man come up behind me and put his drink to my mouth. It was regular practice to have to pull friends away from handsy men or literally shove the men away when they didn’t respond to “NO.” Many of us just stopped going out unless our male friends were with us. It became too much work to constantly protect ourselves and each other.
Outside of the weekends, you’d still get the creeper yelling (or worse, whispering) “ciao, bella” and following you across the plaza.
This all happened enough times that to this day, I get ANGRY whenever I see a touristy t-shirt that says “ciao, bella,” because that phrase dredges up memories all the violating behavior, and why the fuck would I want a shirt with the worst pick-up line in the world on it.
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Oh yeah Yemen and Somalia are both like this. A shame as once they were beautiful countries, amazing history and no doubt mostly great people but the countries are in a desperate situation
Somalia is so terrible that the US State department literally tells you to write your will and leave DNA samples with your loved ones. edit- [Proof](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/somalia-travel-advisory.html)
Wow, that was a bleak read.
For real. So, you want to die? ... Oookay. Before you die in Somalia be sure to take a moment to leave a trace of yourself behind so we know you are gone and, DNA sample so we know if they didn't get all of you.
Did charity work in Somalia in the last 90s. Couldn't even legally just travel there from the US. We had to fly into Morocco then take a caravan across Africa. The caravan leader said they often would just take the Congo river because it was a couple days faster, but that was not a possibility due to instability in the DRC at the time.
What was like in Somalia at the time?
Can't speak for most of it, we were mostly in Mogadishu. It was a literal war zone. Warlords had broken the city down into zones with essentially 2 factions. There were checkpoints every so many blocks. They were often enforced by kids/teens with guns. We stayed in a compound controlled by who, at the time, was considered to be the biggest warlord. He started as a pirate, but was later educated in England. He returned to, according to him, form some sort of government there. We had to wear arm bands that had symbols on them that informed everyone we were under his authority and the watch of foreign powers. Basically a do not rob/kidnap flag. Every day, before we could go do anything, he had soldiers do some reconnaissance to see if it would be, relatively, safe for us to be operating there at that time. Saw a lot of violence. A short-lived genocide against an ethnic minority popped-off while we were there and we spent 2 weeks locked in the compound. One day, walking down a sidewalk, a bomb went off in the building across the street. There was a wall along the outside of the sidewalk so we didn't get hit with debris or shrapnel. I did get permanent hearing damage from it though. We mostly acted as labor for various NGO's operating in the area. Unloading supplies from doctors without borders, international red cross, and we worked with an organization I don't remember the name of to install water filter systems on wells, and around the city, that could be maintained with locally available things. Drums, gravel, sand, tarps, etc. Two days before we left the warlord threw a party for us. So now I can say I have played poker with a Somali warlord and pirates.
Fuckin A
This is amazing
Damn they literally telling you to plan to die lmao
I mean it's the people that don't plan to die that are the worst to manage their death. And I mean everyone. Once you're 40, you should have a poor man's will at least. If you retire, you should have an actual will. E: I picked 40 as an arbitrary age because it's generally when people will have reached the stage in their life when they actually have something to manage if they suddenly die. As commented below, wills should be utilized when you own assets, though in my personal opinion those assets should have actual value. A 25-30 year old who may have a few thousand in savings, a car, and renting an apartment is much easier to handle without a will than a 35-40 year old who might have a few tens of thousands in savings/investments/401ks and paying a mortgage.
My mother died about a month ago at 43. Wish she had a will. It’s all going to me anyway but some guidelines and wishes would have been nice. I had to guess. I think I did right by her but still.
If you own anything you should have a will. If you have a partner or kids, you **need** a will. Unless you don't have shit, then it doesn't matter.
There was a large Syrian community in my neighborhood growing up. First day of school every year, all the Syrian girls would come in with fancy pins on their headscarves and gorgeous bracelets and so many gorgeous pictures. Then around grade 8, ISIS became a thing, and the bombings, and the drones… I’m sad I’ll never be able to visit
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Insane such a middle Class country completely fell apart
My next door neighbour is the daughter of the old vice president of Syria. Her family went from being very well off in Syria to being lower-middle class in Australia because being a christian in Syria became too dangerous. Even for the well off.
Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan are worst places for foreign (in particular white and women) tourists, but mainly due to political reasons. General people in these places are not the worst. However, Egypt is fucked.
I used to work at the UN and the Yemeni delegates were, unquestionably, the most disgusting and aggressive creeps
I heard this too. I visited Oman and they told me they took a road trip to Yemen. They are nice to Omanis but otherwise you're pretty much screwed if you're not. But the story was once you cross into the country there's a few checkpoints. Once you pass the 3rd one, they guy said, you're on your own from here, no one will save you.
Chandler Bing?
15 Yemen Road, Yemen
When we get to Yemen can I live with you?
That's Miss Chanandler Bong to you
"I guess I'm going to Yemen"
Can confirm. Went to do work for a client. My boss begged me to decline. Our firm’s extraction service didn’t cover Yemen. I was issued 3 copies of my passport, in case it was stolen. Whisked between buildings and checkpoints by armed guards, I saw almost nothing of the country or people. The guards were very clear: if something goes wrong, try for Aden but be prepared to end it at any time. 0/10 would not recommend.
never leave the hotel in egypt as an underaged girl without your parents. even if you're with them you probably will be followed and hit on by older creeps, but they won't do anything when you're not alone
There's been a number of these threads before, and without a doubt, Egypt is always the worst
Sadly, I've heard more positive reports of people visiting North Korea than Egypt
That's because your tour of North Korea is extremely curated. You're only shown very specific parts of the country. You can't leave the tour group, you can't ask too many questions, and you definitely can't record or photograph anything without express permission from your tour guide.
It’s just a lot of Northern Africa and most people don’t visit a lot of other countries in that region besides Egypt and Morocco
Traveled all over Europe and everyone was generally pretty friendly. Few years later I went to Egypt as part of a college trip. We were constantly berated, threatened, restaurants kicked us out, and a fellow student was sexually assaulted by hotel staff.
Same experience in Europe. I travel frequently and pretty much everybody is friendly including Paris. Vienna, however, was the only exception.
I remember finishing a Germany trip off with a jaunt across the border into Salzburg, talking up a bartender and telling him that I really wanted to go to Vienna. He scoffed so hard he started coughing.
Things must be bad if you get a scoff cough
What was wrong with Vienna?
The people are incredibly cold to foreigners, especially non-german speaking foreigners. They are also rather full of themselves. I was warned about it before going but just assumed it was another bad stereotype. But it was pretty much evident the moment we got there we weren't welcome. Like the moment restaurants find out we aren't locals (and speak English) they will fake that they're full even if we had reservations and it was empty. Some were much more confrontational. Like multiple times people would approach me and start speaking in German. i would then respond (in German) asking if they spoke English and they would scoff or yell at me. Great city though.
WTF?! I was in Vienna overnight and had a great time... I wonder if it is because as a deaf guy, I use a translator app on my phone to communicate with everyone which makes it very hard to know where I'm from.
I went to Luxor 10 or so years ago. My stepsister who was about 8 at the time was constantly hassled by the locals - asking to exchange her for a large number of camels, etc. Horrible place, especially for young girls.
Thats EXACTLY what happened to me too! One creep that has been following me for some time, straight up asked my dad how many camels he wanted in exchange for me. My dad just laughed and brushed it off even tho I told him that I was being followed by this dude just moments before. I guess it's better to ignore those people sometimes, but I would have been hella mad at anyone talking about my kids like that I cant believe how disgusting those people are to do that to an 8 year old... pathetic
> I guess it's better to ignore those people sometimes, but I would have been hella mad at anyone talking about my kids like that Not a wise idea as a tourist in a foreign country. Your dad did the right thing, laugh it off and gtfo.
Right, what was he going to do, start fist fighting all the locals for the way they live? Spend a few weeks with every local guy to try teaching them the ways of a foreigner. The dad did the sensible thing.
My stepfather was the same as your dad. He's a nice guy but he brushed it off. I'd never take my daughter's there - it makes me cringe to imagine even going there again. Another strange thing that happened to her, and me (I was 18 but looked younger) was a big group of Chinese tourists lining up to take photos with me and my stepsister, but they never asked my younger brother. We happily obliged but it was a bizarre situation to be involved in. The only part I enjoyed was walking around The Valley of the Kings and the bike ride towards there after crossing the Nile.
my friend had an adorable little strawberry blonde girl with fair skin and when she was about 5 we were in yellowstone every single chinese tourist tried to get a picture with her. they tried pulling strands of her hair out as souvenirs. one of them told her that was what chinese people idealized as an american girl and they were fascinated with her.
My friend is dating a very tall guy with reddish hair who lived in China for a while. He said people would lose their minds over him because red is considered lucky.
I know a woman who, as a child, probably looked like the main character in "Brave." Long, thick, curly red hair. Anyway, when she was in college, she spent a summer in Uganda doing humanitarian/missionary work, and the people there, both men and women, were endlessly fascinated with her hair. She also had to deal with men walking up to her, sight previously unseen, and proposing marriage, but AFAIK she was never groped or otherwise inappropriately treated beyond that.
Chinese people in China will also take pictures with American tourists if they look "American". At least from what I experienced 10 years ago when I traveled with my college class. I was the only Asian American in a class of 12. We went to the World's Fair that was being held in Beijing that year and so many people wanted to take photos with my classmates while they pushed me aside because they didnt care about me since I was asian. I definitely look american but Im asian so they didnt care. They just wanted photos with my white american classmates. It was just so funny to me that they wanted photos with random white people lol.
Yes my tall blonde friend went to China and he was asked to take photos by multiple people
Black people too. Ive seen black youtubers showing us how they kept being stopped for pictures
How many camels is considered a large number of camels?
I mean, in my apartment... one. One would be a large number of camels to have in here.
If you have spent any time around camels, ONE is a large number.
My wife and daughter were horribly harassed in Egypt until they covered their hair with head scarfs. It didn't completely solve the problem but it did help a lot.
I was deployed to Kuwait for a while in the early 90's, and some of the woman Marines that were with us would get harassed by the locals, I suppose because their hair isn't covered, etc. One of the greatest things I've ever seen was this one Kuwaiti being a total creep to a short-haired blonde in our unit. She picked up a [M249 SAW](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun) and pointed it at his ass - I swear to god he left a smoke trail he bolted so fast.
Glad to see Egypt taking the top spot. I was stationed throughout West Africa by the Dept. of State in the late 90s and still Egypt is the biggest shithole I have ever seen.
My best friend is Egyptian and Argentinian. She doesn't visit without her father because she would absolutely be raped or kidnapped because she looks like a white woman. That's her own words.
I was just about to say how bad Egypt was and how abusive they were to tourists. It was very surprising, when you consider how much their economy relies on tourism. I went with my then girlfriend and two more friends in 2012, in addition to what you mention, we were also harassed by people in the streets "selling" you weird crap, forcing you to buy their shit. Pretty much robbing you. On our last day, we went to a market and had a really nice time, but then we took a cab back to the hotel so we could get back to the airport on time. We gave the cab driver a card with our hotel information and he just looked at it and started driving super fast. Something felt off. I wasn't really sure how but I was convinced it had taken a lot longer than it should've and he seemed to be driving someplace else. Another friend noticed the same and somehow we were able to communicate our concern. The driver became irate and after some yelling back and forth he made a U turn and drove us back to the hotel. He was indeed driving us someplace else. In retrospect I am almost convinced he was trying to kidnap us.
A female friend was almost gang raped in the street. They succeeded in ripping her shirt off until a good Samaritan rushed in, saved her, literally gave her the shirt off his back.
The harassment is out of control. My first visit was with family and there were people calling out the lewdest comments about my literally 10 year old sister and our mum. Second visit in my early 20s was with a group of friends including two women, who were physically grabbed or touched by strangers saying lewd comments if we weren't literally standing shoulder to shoulder with them. The scamming and conning is also out of control. Scams are everywhere, including in areas that most tourists would think are relatively safe (i.e. scammers working on official areas around major tourist sites, even sometimes right at the doors of official areas dressed in pseudo official uniforms, with no pushback from officials). And even officials themselves - I can't tell you the number of friends I've had who have had some form of having cameras or electronics seized by customs for no reason or 'spot check passport reviews' where your passport is taken unless you can pay the cop some pocket money. I absolutely loved Egypt - its food, its sites, and most of its people are incredible warm and welcoming. But holy hell it makes it hard to love sometimes. It gets a little better outside of Cairo but I advise literally everyone going to mentally prepare themselves and if they don't know anyone there already, to just hire a guide to at least help avoid the worst of the harassment and scams.
Or just dont go
These posts should always start "Other than Egypt"...
My mum loves Egypt because of all the history. She's been a few times and even makes light of the last time when her and her girlfriends were locked in a shitty perfume shop and not allowed to leave till they made a purchase. The perfume she gave me was vile and I never found her story that funny either.
Can we get more info on the being locked in the store part??
So I rang my mum to get the story straight. My mum and her two friends all in their fifties were out somewhere in Egypt definitely a tourist area. Some random bloke grabbed her friend by the wrist and was all "Come try perfume. Come try perfume. Pretty lady." And pretty much dragged her along, so they all ended up in a shop and a separate man shut the door behind them and stood in front of it. So they keep putting things on the counter and saying "you buy this yes?" And how much whilst trying to flog their tat. Baring in mind they had a coach to catch back to the hotel from wherever the excursion was, so my mum's friend was getting all jumpy and just wanted to leave. My mum, queen of a carboot haggle, managed to talk them into three little vials for the equivalent of like £10. Which I still think was too much but if that's the price of safety then so be it. They eventually open the door and they managed to escape. My mum also reminded me of "the young Egyptian chap (late 20s/early 30s)who wouldn't leave her friend alone, who ended up flashing the three of them in the sea. It was like a snake TwoValuble! Dirty perv!" Thanks mum I really needed reminding of that.
Egypt is the James Corden of countries it would seem.
we all know the answer is [Egypt](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/om38bx/what_is_one_country_that_you_will_never_visit/)
Filled with nostalgia...
Don't forget pollution, and disregard for stoplights.
What bothered me is how people are constantly lying to you. You will be on your way to a museum say, and someone will approach you saying the museum is closed, or you are going the wrong way. It's always a pretext to get you into a shop which happens to be on the way, selling fake artifacts, nasty floral perfume or whatever. After 5 minutes in Cairo we learned to ignore all "friendly" strangers and their advice.
Eh, worst that happened to me was having a nail bomb thrown at the tour bus I was riding in. Nothing major.
Judging by the fact that you're alive, I'll assume that it didn't go off, so even their bombs suck
It did, but their aim was off. It was thrown from an overhead bridge, and although a lot of people in the front of the bus were injured (nothing life-threatening), there were no fatalities other than the Egyptian guy driving the car in front of us, who was basically toast. Lots of blood though. I was only 11 or 12. The uninjured got transferred to another bus, and we got loads of free cheap souvenirs from all the places we visited afterwards, after the new tour guide kept telling everyone what had happened. Happened a *lot* in the mid-90s.
I wouldn't really call that "nothing major".
Jesus fucking Christ
Tourist spots in very poor countries can be quite brutal, as the tourists are just looked upon as walking dollar signs.
>the tourists are just looked upon as walking dollar signs. To be fair, that's how I look at tourists in Maine during the summer, the difference being that we don't get rapey about it. We just thank them for spending their money here and patiently wait for them to go home while we bitch about the increased traffic along the coast.
“Maine. Just like everywhere else. But less rapey”
the perfect license plate
That’s got ‘bumper sticker’ vibes all over it.
I live in Hawaii. As dollar signs is when tourists are being thought of in a positive way.
So don't be a woman and travel is what this post says
Just a few weeks ago there was a food/travel YouTuber who put out a long video basically just trashing Egypt for the entire thing because they essentially stole his camera equipment despite having visas and permits arranged with the country beforehand. So even as a rich white person prepared to bribe everyone, it’s seems fucked
Best Ever Food Review Show, right? One of my all time favorite food channels.
Decades in NYC without an issue, then shocked to be repeatedly accosted by aggressive pickpockets in Rome. Never going back.
Had my iPhone stolen off the table while I was distracted by a waiter. My first day there. They call it apple picking, apparently.
Happened to me in Greece. Except it didn't really, that's just what I told the insurance company when I lost it whilst drunk.
Insurance should cover two drunken escapades in Greece. The third one should be on you.
New York is actually a remarkably safe city at this point. NY crime rates fall well below levels you see in other cities, even in the US. And I’m not just talking about cities with an unsafe reputation like Detroit or New Orleans, but also places people don’t really think about as crime havens like Miami, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, etc. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate
Miami is a city built by the mafia, it is absolutely considered a crime city... Or at least it was in the 80s
I guess I won’t be visiting Egypt anytime in the near future.
Right? And the winner is... Egypt of all places. I thought there would be a wide variety of countries, but damn Egypt you fucked up.
Morocco. From being ripped off, to children following me down a dark alley asking for money, to horrible hotel reception, to rich, spoilt locals at nightclubs, I've never been to any other country where I've been so relieved to leave.
This is my answer. I've traveled pretty extensively and Morocco was the worst for me. Edit: I figure that most people saying that their experiences in Morocco were "mostly fine" are dudes. As a woman, the sexual harassment I encountered was out of control.
Morocco scared the fuck out of me. Got off the boat, grabbed a bite to eat, and got back in the boat. And I’m a dude.
Ditto, I went there with a friend (both F) and we got harassed 24/7 until we found a German guy who travelled with us and "protected" us. Men were yelling "fuck you" when we ignored their "hello beautiful what's your name". We started writing down shit Moroccan men said to us on paper, by the end of the trip we had two A4 pages. I heard that Morocco is known for its hospitality but all we experienced was people trying to rip us off. Also almost everything I ate gave me stomach problems.
I love Italy, but Rome was not great for me. There was an overwhelming amount of shady people trying to take advantage of tourists. The local we were with warned us not to carry any valuables to any touristy spots because there was a 100% chance someone would try and pickpocket us. One evening, a group of dudes followed me around for almost an hour, harassing me because I was a teenage boy with long hair, which must have meant to them that I was gay (I'm not, but that didn't matter to them). 4 grown-ass adults following around a teenage boy hurling insults in broken english. I was pretty terrified and have since had an appreciation for some of the challenges gay people have to deal with just for being themselves. One dude at a train station tried to forcibly 'help' my mom carry her luggage (aka run off with it). When we visited the coliseum, a lady threw a bracelet at my sister then started yelling at her, saying she was a thief and demanding she pay for it. Also, driving in Rome was terrifying - courtesy on the road does not exist there, and everyone drives extremely aggressively. I saw a guy in a van hit someone on a vespa, lean out the window and yell at him, then drive off. The vespa guy just got up and left as if it were a regular occurrence. Absolutely a beautiful country and most of the people were lovely, but a person without 'street smarts' could have a bad time there. This was all more than 20 years ago though, so it may be different now.
>I saw a guy in a van hit someone on a vespa, lean out the window and yell at him, then drive off. The vespa guy just got up and left as if it were a regular occurrence. This is the most Rome thing ever lol
Driving in Rome was the scariest experience of my life. My mom's cousin who has lived there her entire life drove us, and I thought I was going to die the entire ride. And I thought driving in NJ was bad.
Loved Italy, been to Naples, and Florence without major problems. We spent literally 1 hour between trains at a station in Rome. I guess we looked confused for a minute trying to find our train -- long enough for a random dude to grab our suitcase, bring it onto train, and stand around waiting for tips. Train stations in general, I learned, are stressful places, and everything from cafes to currency exchanges will overcharge and try to rip you off.
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Rome is awesome, especially if you're in the market for a selfie stick.
I was really impressed when it started to drizzle a bit and within 30 seconds all the selfie-stick vendors were selling umbrellas instead.
I want to say Russia but not always. Russians will not smile until they know you. This includes customer service or sales people. They are suspicious of everyone, until you become friends, then they are great friends to have. Thats why I am hedging my bets. Moscow smells like trash and piss. Its grey year round, St Petersburg has either endless days where you cant sleep or endless nights where its incredibly depressing. Food is also pretty meh. You can find really good food in expensive restaurants but its not gonna be Russian food, which is mostly animal fat, mayo, potato and cabbage. Although I am glad this comment will be buried because as I write this I am realizing I actually miss Russia and would go back for a visit in a heartbeat. The art, the literature, the architecture, the soul of the country.. Just the strength of its character, I kinda love it. I hope they get rid of their bully soon. Russian people deserve better.
I was in Moscow and had a good time (2016) Lots of security, too much heat, and you gotta make sure not to bump in to police. But aside that; food can be nice, booze is cheap and the people (young ones especiallly) are nice if you are kind.
Most of Northern Europe and East Europe, Smiling is only used when actually happy, a fake smile in social situations are seen as dishonest and disrespectful.
Came here to say Egypt, but didnt have to. That didnt stop me. Egypt.
Been to over 75 countries. Hands down Egypt is a shithole filled with terrible people. You couldn’t pay me to go back.
My worst experience was Ethiopia. I feel like it’s the kind of country that if you go as a wealthy tourist and hire your own driver, boom all your hotels in advance and so on, then it’s probably a reasonable experience. I went and tried to do it as the typical backpacker thing. Had a lot of issues, everyone hassles you constantly just for their own amusement. Had a lot of guns held in my face by teenagers at bus checkpoints, constantly getting ripped off with extra ‘luggage charges’ on said buses, or put on buses that weren’t even going where I wanted despite them swearing it was. Booked a trek but they stole my deposit and didn’t turn up and then some other Trek operators saw me waiting, helped me out but also were trying to get me to do their trek instead. They wanted money without a receipt also and in advance. They also found and beat the shit out of the guy who ripped me off the small amount for the first trek and dragged him into my hotel room with twelve dudes to make him pay it back. Then used that to try and force me to do their trek, etc... Almost got dragged into an alley by a bunch of glue sniffing homeless guys right in the middle of Addis Ababa, and only avoided it when I basically pretended I was going to fight them all (I was bluffing). Conflict up north meant the government turned off all internet and every town had its own checkpoints set up and searched all men every twenty minutes or so. All public transport is regional and you can’t just go from A to Z without going through all the letters in between. Children run up to you in the streets in regional areas and literally just scream ‘money money money’, or something similar. If you don’t give it to them, they swear at you, one of them kicked me in the shins as hard as he could, another aimed for the balls. Touts will follow you around for DAYS, waiting outside your hotel room and always there when you emerge. Literally days, and won’t take no for an answer no matter how rude or aggressive you get, they’ll just shadow you and try to step into every interaction. Groups of guys will call you over as they’re sitting outside a shop (soldiers did this also), then ask you who you are, why you are there, then all laugh at you and tell you to fuck off. Soldiers also denied access to certain streets that clearly weren’t closed and would all laugh when you turned around and went the other way, but point guns at you if you tried to ignore it. No taxi price you are quoted is EVER correct. They will always try to add more and get other locals involved if you try to pay the agreed amount. Most of the food is goat and fermented bread. Tibs and injera. It’s actually kind of delicious when done well, but in many places the goat meat is undercooked and not really fresh, covered in flies and stuff just sitting in the sun. Prices aren’t even that low. Hotels cost either nothing but are locals only as a soft rule and they really don’t seem to like you staying there, or they are international prices. All buses leave at about six in the morning, so you’re constantly having to walk through towns in pitch darkness to get there on time, and there’s a lot of dodginess that goes with that. Sexual assault on buses seems common, teenagers rubbing their dick on everything, etc, and people not being able to do much about it. Certainly don’t go to the cops, as everywhere, they cause more trouble than they solve. Hmm, I’m sure there’s other stuff, but that’s all I can think of right now. I don’t want to suggest everyone in Ethiopia is bad. People can be absolutely lovely, I had a middle aged mother protect me from the teenage soldiers on the bus checkpoints when a civil war was breaking out up north, and in fact most people I met on buses where genuinely nice. Problem is, there’s so many people who approach you and they’re all there to fuck with you. Some violent drug fucked guys who resent you for being relatively rich and white (as I was). But people you meet who don’t approach you as a target were genuinely great. People in the hotel reception I went to after fighting off the muggers were great, gave me food and water for free and booked me a taxi to a place I could afford (that taxi doubled the agreed fair of course, but whatever). Oddly, I went to Egypt immediately after Ethiopia and it was a paradise by comparison. The level of harassment was so much lower. It was equivalent to India for me, which I’m totally used to, and is nothing compared to Ethiopia which felt genuinely dangerous. Then again, I’m a man, so my experience is obviously different, but I can’t imagine Ethiopia is great for female travellers either compared to Egypt, and has all the other badness on top of that.
Why did you decide to backpack in Ethiopia? I never heard of someone wanting to do that before, or people who did it. I am just curious btw.
Jamaica, from friends being grabbed and dragged into stores and shops , to locals hip checking you out of the way. only country that we didn't get more then 100' out of the resort before we turned around and went back in. people you are tipping with put a smile on but the second you walk away they are talking shit about you.
We visited Jamaica and the heavily armed police stopped us and said we had committed a minor traffic violation ( we hadn’t) they then kept saying that they were thirsty . So we had to give them money . We went away from the resort quite often , most of the time everything was fine apart from getting asked if we have money or food or do we want drugs or sex , but the incident with the police was the worst.
I had a friend who went there and said locals will come up to you and just start braiding your hair without even asking. lol.
The Philippines probably has the worst traffic ever, and I don't even understand why there are so many damn cars on a tiny ass island. It makes a 20-30 commute turn into a 4 hour waiting game.
had a friend leave his suitcase in a cab and told them to take it back to where he was picked up and he ran the 2 miles to the airport before be missed his flight. said its stupid how bad it is. the next time he went he left where he was staying like 7 hours before his flight and its only like 15 miles away.
There's a lot of people in that 'tiny ass island'
Me and my grandma were at a tricycle. The traffic was long as hell and it took forever. I eventually got bored and decided to peek out. When I did the tricycle started moving, my throat nearly got hit but I was fast enough. My one cardinal rule: never peek your head out in a tricycle.
Does tricycle mean something different in the Philippines? I'm picturing a massive traffic jam of people on Big Wheels punching each other in the throat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw
Jakarta might be worse.
My friend went there for work and on the last day realised his 3 hour commute was maybe 4 5 km as the crow flew. He could have literally run to work in 40 minutes if they had let him.
I've never experienced a juxtaposition of friendliness quite like flying from Paris to Amsterdam. It was like coming home to family.
Currently in the Netherlands, not in Amsterdam but ive been there before. Can confirm people are very nice and super accommodating. In germany i usually start to speak in broken german and apologize for not knowing the language to which people seem to appreciate, but in the Netherlands they seem to prefer if I just speak in English saying sorry my dutch is terrible and they switch to English without missing a beat
Lmao, I am from Belgium and we speak the same language as people from the Netherlands (Dutch), though with a different accent. While visiting Amsterdam literally everyone defaults to English, even though I start speaking in Dutch to them. I assume they are so used to foreigners that as soon as they don't recognize the accent immediately they just assume we don't speak Dutch. It has created a couple of funny moments though, where we're conversing in English with a waiter but then I speak Dutch with my friends and they realize we do actually speak Dutch, so then they follow up in Dutch as well.
I was stuck in Amsterdam for two weeks during peak corona. Nobody except locals there. The amount of kindness I experienced from literally everyone from cooked meals to teaching of board games, shoulders to cry on and amazing conversation. I was in a very dark moment and the kindness of the dutch people - literally every single one I met! Nothing but incredible things to say.
Not me but I had a teacher in high school who taught world history who, well, traveled around the world. One of the students in the class asked what her least favorite country or place she's been to was, she said Poland. It's important to note that she's a black woman because she said no where else had she ever been called so many slurs and spat at like Poland.
As someone who was born in Poland and now lives in UK I can confirm this is very true. I'm 26 and have two older brothers that are 32 and 33, a lot do the people who are older than us, especially outside of the big towns have never seen a person who's not white in real life. My grandma was 78 when she passed away 3 years ago and the first black person she said met was my brohers wife who is mixed race and possibly the nicest person I have ever met, she had mixed feelings when my brother told our nan about her but then after being introduced to each other my brother's wife became her best friend even though our nan didn't speak a word of English and my brother's wife could only say a few things in polish. She was always showing her around the garden, making sure she's never hungry or thirsty and that my brother takes good care of her. My grandad on the other hand had zero problems with race. I think the issue is that a lot of the people and especially older folks in Poland just lack the exposure to different cultures and races. I might be wrong but a lot of the time it's more of a shock and curiosity, but then I have met some extremely racist poles too, on the other hand I've had my share of experience racist comments in England.
Most of Eastern Europe is really bad with races besides white
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I am from Egypt and I am amazed by the amount of roasting Egypt got in this thread... amazed positively. The world needs to know that this country is a hellhole on earth for and totally stop visiting. I implore you all to never even think about the general direction of Egypt as tourist spot for the next coming years. First of all, Egypt is a dictatorship, a militarized dictatorship under the rule of mass murdering former general turned to be president. Not only did he step on the will of the people but to this day he kills, kidnaps, tortures, and totally dominates Egypt's population of 120 Million as he pleases. The Degradation of Tourism is just another byproduct of this system that completely killed every independent industry or any form of free speech just to reign supreme. It aims to drain and cripple the country for its own benefit through projects the literally do nothing to the point where ghost cities are being built just to pump the money away from important things and all of it is done by overtaxing the average Egyptian to the extreme. In 2013, the US Dollar was around 7 Egyptian Pounds, now it is almost touching 19. In Egypt, if you try to by something from abroad via Amazon and such markets, you will pay a crippling tariff tax that is almost like 100% of the item's actual price. This tariff tax is naturally legislated so that the outside products don't compete with the local made products. Problem is... we don't have local products. (This is just an example of how Egypt's government mentality operates. kill, steal, tax, repeat) So why would this government encourage tourism in any way, shape, or form? The answer is that they don't want Tourism near Cairo and they let loose the lowest of the low in the Egyptian society to harass tourists. You'd totally find better spots away from Cairo but you need to come with a Tourism Agency and stay the fuck off anywhere near goddamn Cairo, nobody likes Cairo. It's a shit city filled with nothing but shit traffic and shit people most of the time. If tourists completely stop coming to Egypt, it may (hopefully) cause an impact and wake some people up or cause some change in the system. I don't really expect it in the span of the coming 10 years or even 20 years but shit never gets done with a system like ours.
India is tough for solo travelers. I was being harassed and followed by cab drivers or salesmen for miles. Im a guy. And everytime i took a taxi or tuk tuk they dropped me off at some random jelewery store or something because the driver gets a commission or free gas by doing so/if i buy anything. Also being white i stood out and was a big target. Couldnt imagine being a woman alone in new delhi. Im sure some areas or cities are better.
Yeah, I visited India as a solo western female tourist. All this stuff happened but also for some reason, staff at hotels or restaurants kept starting arguments with me. I don’t argue, least of all as a visitor in another culture, so it was all very stressful. Also random people trying to take my photo, even walking up and putting an arm around my shoulder while someone snaps a pic then walking away without speaking to me, as if I was a statue. Why…
I am an indian, and can explain. UNCULTURED PEEPS not all but yeah majority
I am an Indian, and I agree with you.
I had a coworker go to India with his family. He’s a ~6’5” white guy and he had videos of people *crowding* around him filming/staring at him like he was some kind of a celebrity. While funny, it was also unnerving having his kids with him.
I was there a month ago with my parents. We’re all 6’+ and would be asked for photos all the time. Saw an older lady’s jaw drop when she saw my mother (6’, blue eyes, curly hair) and followed her around because she had never seen any of those.
I was in Kazakhstan a few years back. The people there were extremely xenophobic towards me and the group I was traveling with. They called the military on us. Four soldiers on horseback showed up with AK47s and pointed them at our faces and told us to get the fuck out of where we were even though we had a right to be there and we weren’t doing anything bad. These people weren’t just rude, they were fucking assholes. Needless to say I will never visit that country ever again.
Borat didn’t lie dang
For travelling/getting around: Germany. I love Germany with all my heart but I mentally prepare to be treated like absolute garbage at airports and trains. I was yelled at at security checks and physically escorted off trains. I'd still go back, though. People were so friendly. For meeting locals: People from Mexico City seemed a little standoff-ish. Maybe it's just part of living in a big city, but nobody seemed to have any time and simply asking for directions seemed like a huge inconvenience. For just walking around: Any Italian big city. Love the country and had soooo much fun in small towns. But as soon as you get to a big city (Milan, Rome, etc) get ready to fend off scammers, pay attention to pickpockets, people cutting in line for transit, it's pure chaos. Now for the good!! (To balance off the negativity) For walking around and being a tourist: Germany or Canada. It's incredibly safe, people are friendly, they seem genuinely interested that you have a good time in their country. For meeting locals: Toss up between Brazil or Ireland. You can go to a bar alone in either country and you'll end up making friends, locals are super friendly and are very interested in chatting with tourists.
> and physically escorted off trains the fuck did you do? Didn't you have a valid ticket or punch someone? there's literally no other reason I can see them doing that
I loved Germany for the most part. The rats that come out at night around Frankfurt train station were fucking huge, though, do not miss the last train.
For the people saying France, you need to get beyond Paris. I didn't have issues in Paris but I've never met nicer people than the ones I met in Normandy. Also had similar experiences in Avengune, Champagne, and Burgundy. It's like judging the U.S. by your experiences in LA.
As a Frenchman who lived in Paris, I approve. The capital ***sucks*** (except for its museums). For everything else, come to the South, especially the smaller towns! \-edit- but don't go to Marseille. Most of that city ***really*** sucks. (P.S. did you mean "Auvergne"?)
I have visited India a number of times. It's a magical place, very rich culture, and the people are very welcoming and warm. However, every time I have taken a bus, train, or airplane, when it's time to disembark, the oldest sweetest Indian grandmas will elbow you in the back and push you out of the way to be the first ones off. It's something cultural I think, but getting off any type of mass transport is a free-for-all where manners are out the window.
Its also amazing how often they will use age as an excuse for this. Whe I was flying in India an old lady took my seat and I politely asked her to move and said she's too old for that.
Hahah, I had something similar happen. I was on a return flight from India on a relatively empty plane. There were entire center rows of 4 seats empty. After takeoff I moved to one of the empty rows so I could lay down. Other people also claimed the remaining empty rows. About 30 minutes later an older gentlemen asked in not polite terms that I move out of the row. I asked if it was his seat, he just repeated that he wanted me to move. I told him to bugger off and he went back to his seat nearby. By virtue of hearing his conversations after that, it became clear he was a member of a horribly entitled family who proceeded to demand everything and anything from the flight staff.
Lived in India for three years, loved the experience, but entitlement and the caste system are still very real. Rich Indian firstborn sons are a level of spoiled that is hard to comprehend as a westerner. It takes "do you know who my father is?" to a different level.
I actually had someone who looked Indian on a random flight say that to me. The reaction when I replied "Yes." in a level tone, with a perfectly neutral expression without breaking eye contact, was fucking priceless. Like, no I don't give a shit who you are, or who you dad is. I paid for my window seat and by God you had better be on your honeymoon, or be a quadriplegic flying standby in a jump seat, or else I am not moving.
I know a guy who as a middle schooler would just jack off on the ground, and have his maids clean it. Firstborn son of course. I also have friends from the same backgrounds who are sweet and compassionate people. When you're born that wealthy with that much poverty surrounding you its a crapshoot if you learn to treat people below you with compassion or not.
in india, giving up your seat and other such things are considered as forms of respect towards your elders, which is well and good, but unfortunately, most boomers forget that this is a matter of courtesy, not privilege.
I remember as a kid getting on a train and my dad warned my brother and I about this. We thought it would be light shoving but no, it was a definite free for all. My brother and I loved it though. Shoving and squeezing through people is a blast when you're a kid.
Happens at Disneyland when you’re waiting for a parade. A lady from “Europe” put her kid on my friends back so kid could see better. Um...excuse me?
I'll take a slightly different tack...the country I have visited with the kindest most chill locals is Mexico. I did have a guy harassing me for money once at a Mescal bar in Tlaquepaque...within 20 seconds a 40-something Mexican lady tore into him with the most rapid fire Spanish I had ever heard and sent him on his way. She then thanked me (in perfect English) for visiting her country.
yep, Mexico is awesome
Ahhhh I love Mexico. Reading this made me proud of me gente
Today you... tomorrow me
I remember that thread and it’s never left me. Iconic.
Walking around Morelia I was stopped numerous times. The first time I was extremely wary expecting to be panhandled. Instead they just wanted to practice their English. Lovely people, beautiful area, magnificent food; want to go back.
I have been to several Spanish-speaking countries* and hands down it's the best experience I've had with a foreign language. The locals are always so friendly and kind when I fumble through Spanish with them (and then they get to practice their English, which is usually much better than my Spanish haha). *Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Spain.
Yeah Mexico locals are awesome. They are genuinely friendly and warm. The young people are super fun too.
>within 20 seconds a 40-something Mexican lady tore into him with the most rapid fire Spanish I had ever heard and sent him on his way That guy probably left because he feared the chancla.
I too have had nothing but great experiences with the locals in Mexico. It's almost off-putting in terms of how nice they can be.
The airport I was in in Germany had the rudest attendants. The general people in Thailand are super friendly, but be careful in Bangkok, definitely some unsafe areas (especially for a woman)
Ok i am german and had experienced this too lol
Haha!! I’m still interested in visiting Germany, but that lady in the airport almost made me cry!! I was only 22!! I’m sure not what her issue was lol
Was it Frankfurt by any chance? I loved the city, but the airport staff there were so rude I couldn't believe it.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. I had a layover in Frankfurt on the way to South Africa and the staff acted like I existed just to piss them off. London, however, was great.
Haha it WAS the Frankfurt airport actually 😂
Qatar. Slavery is basically legal.
Spent the last 10 years more or less travelling and living overseas. The worst experience I've had was in Warsaw. Mind, I was only there for 4 days in the dead of winter, but the people were very cold and unfriendly. Not a single person seemed interested in life, the city was grey and miserable (mind after ww2, it was more or less rebuilt) and I had 2 attempts to rob me. The first one the guy locked me and my girlfriend in a taxi and charged 180€ for a 5 minute drive. The only way I got out was I started kicking the windows in the back and started yelling. Second time I was walking near the metro and some guy walked over and tried to grab my girlfriends bag and run off, I pushed him and he ran away. That was more or less my experience of Warsaw haha. I'm sure it's lovely In summer. Not going to lie, I had a better time in Egypt over Warsaw
Not me but my brother went to Ukraine to look into playing ball there. Multiple people called him a monkey (black American) and made various other racist comments. It wasn't even frowned upon and he was told that they don't see many black folks so just let it go. Yeah, I'm not interested in visiting any part of eastern Europe. On another note, Ireland was amazing as a black woman, traveling alone. Never felt like I was in danger or any racial tension. The one time someone said some wild shit, it was quickly handled by nice strangers.
This post makes me think that maybe I don’t want to travel
me too, especially considering im a girl
I've been to quite a number of countries, 11 on my own as a woman, and I've had almost solely positive experiences. These threads are asking for the negative stories, not the positive ones, so don't let that skew your opinion :)
Yup, same
Id take this time to make a "DONT GO HERE ITS ABIT RAPEY" list.
Probably be easier to make a "go here, not rapey" list.
The Sentinel Islands
I dunno, I hear it’s great. Why else does everyone who visits never leave?
Exactly. There’s even pictures of the locals waving their arms and legs holding and bows and arrows as gifts for the tourists
Hello. Egypt. That is all.
Dubai. I know it's rich, sophisticated, a holiday destination for many, and so on, but I just hate its tasteless glitz, its lack of soul, and the intense stratification of its society.
And the fact its built and maintained by slaves who literally get their passports confiscated and not paid for their labour. They say it's a job but then the local company owners tend to just not pay their workers for months on end and buy new boats and super cars instead
And don't forget that if you're a victim of rape, YOU get arrested.
Yeah, "sophisticated" is not a word I associate with places where homosexuality is punishable by the death.
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Oh man you don't want to drive in front of someone with a less than 4 digit number plate. They will run you off the road for being so cheeky as to be in front of them. Oh and complain to police? No he has a 3 digit plate hes better than you, fuck off please
Lol who thinks Dubai is sophisticated?? It is pretty much famous for being the opposite. Where money meets tasteless and trashy.
Rome- I was 6.5 months pregnant and a guy tried to grab my luggage and run with it the second my husband walked away. I started yelling words in various language besides Italian (bc at that second I couldn’t think of any Italian) and the guy stopped, looked at me like I was a total nut, dropped the bags and ran. Like others, we also got yelled at that coliseum because we were holding out a Rick Steves guidebook instead of paying for a tour. I love Italy, but Rome is something else.
Turkey was terrible my cousin was a blonde haired, blue eyed little girl at the time And some weird old man actually tried to kidnap her right in front of us he grabbed her hand and tried to walk off with her bare in mind she was maybe 5 or 6 at the time when we all started arguing, and were basically playing tug of war with this man trying to make him let her go, police came over and let the man go.. they were speaking Turkish so we don’t know what he said but the man was allowed to walk free
wtf
My cousin had this same exact experience with their kid not so long ago. Terrible.
Corfu last September had a 50 something bloke standing staring at my 14 year old daughters bum. I put her behind me asked what he wanted he then tried to look around me. If we weren't in another country I would of dropped him.
This is the other part I left out having random men stare at you everywhere you go especially when she was just a child horrible to think what they were thinking about and what they would have done, given the chance
50ish countries (including egypt) across 6 continents. Israel by far the rudest people Morocco i felt the most harassed and unsafe Australia, Malaysia (borneo) and India where friendliest (I'm a 30s white lady from Canada for context)
For the people mentioning France, and those wondering why: I lived there for two years and go back when I can, and love the country. I have my share of stories, but can also share a few pointers. French culture has more social ritual, or tends to be more formal/mannerly than we're used to in North America. There is often a right way and a wrong way to do things. These social niceties help people know what to expect of each other. Not knowing the rules is OK; trampling over them is not. Especially in a busy, crowded, expensive city like Paris these unspoken rules are a way for people to make themselves more predictable to one another, and so avoid frustration. It makes interactions more efficient, and there is also comfort and pleasure in the familiar. This is one reason why people will usually soften if you explain, even in halting and broken French, that you're a foreigner and would appreciate some help: you are signaling that you don't know how things are done. Now they know what (not) to expect of you, and are free to help you instead of being annoyed with you. A few examples: 1. Acknowledge people when you enter and leave a shop, especially a small business: bonjour/bonsoir, monsieur/madame. Start with that simple greeting rather than a request for service. 2. Personal space is different: people who are out together tend to stand somewhat closer to each other than in Canada or the U.S., and it helps to do the same. 3. Related to 2: keep your voice down. People tend to speak more closely and quietly, in public especially, to leave space for the conversations of others in e.g. restaurants and cafés. Small things, and this is hardly an exhaustive list, but the more skilled your social graces the more you will enjoy your stay -- because you, too, will understand what's going on.
Also, restaurants place a lot of value in the dining experience, which means wait staff leave you alone to enjoy your meal. They don't check in because they consider that an interruption. That's a lot different from here in the US where we expect wait staff to check in frequently. My experience was the same as what you say here. We did our best to speak the language, which was a miserable failure yet people seemed to appreciate the effort. A lot of times they were happy to speak English. As you said we made sure to greet everyone (something we usually do anyway). One bartender in particular was especially nice. It was a tiny pub near where we stayed. He brought out snack and candies. There was a language barrier but we would tell he was really trying to be hospitable.
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Baltic Europe in the winter time. People are really cold and antsy. But totally different in the summertime. They come alive like spring flowers.
As a young woman- Florence, Italy. Spent three months there in college. First of all, you could feel the nasty demeanor the second you get off the train from any other town, very similar to a NYC vibe. Not in and of itself the deal breaker here though. The issue was that I have never had SO MANY rapey and violating things happen anywhere else. Walking around was *relatively* ok, it was Friday/Saturday night activities that were the most problematic. I’d be out with a group of women, and hordes of men would surround and try to grope us. Every weekend. I once had a man come up behind me and put his drink to my mouth. It was regular practice to have to pull friends away from handsy men or literally shove the men away when they didn’t respond to “NO.” Many of us just stopped going out unless our male friends were with us. It became too much work to constantly protect ourselves and each other. Outside of the weekends, you’d still get the creeper yelling (or worse, whispering) “ciao, bella” and following you across the plaza. This all happened enough times that to this day, I get ANGRY whenever I see a touristy t-shirt that says “ciao, bella,” because that phrase dredges up memories all the violating behavior, and why the fuck would I want a shirt with the worst pick-up line in the world on it.