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For reference, the farthest I've ever traveled before is Florida, and I was concerned I as a Yankee would get murdered half the way there. When I see people online talk about foreign travel being an almost religious experience, I have my doubts. Then there's this guy, who recommends going to a more dangerous country (not an outright war zone though): https://crossingenres.com/go-to-the-fun-countries-ae4b64002e28#.xzq51zogk To be quite honest, I have no idea what he's talking about. Why is it exciting to get robbed at knifepoint, and couldn't you get that experience by going the wrong (or right) places here in the States and save your money? Better question, is traveling worth it? If so, how do you keep from getting kidnapped and forced into slavery/murdered for the $10 in your pocket/butchered for your organs? Where would you recommend a beginning traveler go who has problems picking up on social cues in new environments? We all know most people will rip you apart if you show the slightest weakness (and if they can get away with it), so why would you willingly make yourself so vulnerable? TwoQuestions fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Feb 18, 2016 |
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Feb 18, 2016 01:44
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Go to Iceland, we are cold but friendly, incredibly safe and so American that even if you subsist on nothing but fried chicken and pepsi we can still accommodate you. And you'd see completely different landscapes and culture compared to Florida. Snow is neat. So are hot springs.
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Feb 18, 2016 02:32
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If you've never travelled before, starting off with India is probably not the best thing to do. I don't think the writer of that article would recommend it either. People get different things out of travel, some like it for the adventure like the guy in that post, other people like it just to see interesting landscapes / architecture / food / people. Outside of the touristy parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and some parts of touristy Latin America, almost no one is going to bother you while you walk around no matter how white you are. You could also just buy a 60'' 4K display and a nice sound setup and watch the TV series of Human Planet and Planet Earth and know the $2k you spent on your A/V setup is approximately the cost of a trip for one person to a single one of the locales that they show. I recommend starting with that, and if you're like "poo poo I want to see/do that in person" then start buying plane tickets. If you're like "whatever I just want to watch football" then... do that instead. Armed robbery is more common in the US and probably in your hometown than it is almost anywhere else in the world except like South Africa, Venezuela, and Mexico.
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Feb 18, 2016 10:57
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TwoQuestions posted:Then there's this guy, who recommends going to a more dangerous country (not an outright war zone though): https://crossingenres.com/go-to-the-fun-countries-ae4b64002e28#.xzq51zogk The dangers of tourism in not-first-world countries is usually way overstated, as most people having visited so-called "risky" countries will agree. Anecdotally, visiting Cambodia (usually regarded as a medium-dangerous and very corrupt country), I felt welcome and amongst friendly people, and safe, even though I stumbled around in dark areas at night. The worst experience I've had in South East Asia was from some dumbass Westener who tried to start up some money transfer scam on the street, and when I walked away, he cursed at me. Go figure. I've also had some cab driver scams, but nothing severe. Most people will not rip you apart, most people are regular folks going about their business or trying to make an honest living, which is why only a fraction of tourists have problems going to relatively safe (not straight up war-torn) countries. Most crime is related to drugs, jealousy, gang feuds or similar, and petty theft usually hits the unaware or unprepared. People don't sit and prey on you as soon as you land, just because you're a tourist. It's easy to avoid. Ignore the warnings you read in mainstream media and such, nothing will happen. I'd go to a country that's completely different, yet still fairly tourist friendly..... Thailand is a good bet. It's different enough that your socks will be rocked, but you'll be in safe hands, plus it's fairly cheap and can be super fun.
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Feb 18, 2016 10:58
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Pilsner posted:All he really seems to talk about is haggling a cab driver. Oh wow, so dangerous! Yeah, the writer of that article is also super pretentious and thinks he's some hardened badass traveler because he avoided getting scammed by a taxi driver. A lot of people's first solo trips to 'exotic' (read: third world) countries does feel like that though. I remember feeling like that walking around Nairobi myself when I was just out of college and on my first solo trip anywhere besides Germany. Some 50-60ish Zimbabwean guy came up to me and held my hand and told me his life story while we walked around town for like half an hour (I'm a guy). Now I realize that most people are just regular folks going about their business and trying to make an honest living. People DO sit and prey on you as soon as you land in a fair number of places, but these people are all taxi drivers, and the worst thing they're going to do is charge you triple the rate a local would pay.
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Feb 18, 2016 11:02
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TwoQuestions posted:We all know most people will rip you apart if you show the slightest weakness (and if they can get away with it), so why would you willingly make yourself so vulnerable? If this is truly your outlook on life, I'm not sure you should try going to the supermarket let alone traveling anywhere. At least until you change your attitude
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Feb 18, 2016 19:41
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Why not just stay inside your house all day, it's safer
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Feb 18, 2016 21:02
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Riptor posted:If this is truly your outlook on life, I'm not sure you should try going to the supermarket let alone traveling anywhere. At least until you change your attitude At the supermarket, there's tons of people and cameras around, and I don't stand out any, so murdering me for my wallet is a very risky way to make money. If I don't show up to places where I'm expected, questions get asked quickly as to what happened to me. In some foreign country, I won't blend in as well, and the local authorities have no incentive to keep some 1st world traveler safe; they only have incentive to keep such things under wraps. I'd also think they'd love to see some soft first world traveler taken down a peg or ten.
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Feb 18, 2016 21:33
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TwoQuestions posted:At the supermarket, there's tons of people and cameras around, and I don't stand out any, so murdering me for my wallet is a very risky way to make money. If I don't show up to places where I'm expected, questions get asked quickly as to what happened to me. Are you for real? Would you kill some random person for $1000, even if you had a 99% chance of not getting caught? No? Neither would the vast majority of people in any other country, because doing so is morally abhorrent to every single culture on the entire planet. Seriously, Jesus Christ. Traveling is not hard with respect to safety. You don't even really need that much common sense (which you are obviously in dire need of) to do fine. You don't exactly strike me as someone who's going to travel to Nigeria or Pakistan, so your fears have a 0.0% chance of playing out anywhere you would even remotely possibly end up. Edit: You know what actually happens if you go to somewhere weird and are vulnerable? No, obviously you don't, but if you go to like Georgia or Kazakhstan or whatever and look super out of place, the vast, overwhelming majority of people will help you out. Because that is the decent thing to do. And the vast, overwhelming majority of people are decent. Besides war/conflict zones. Hell, even Caro made it through Libya just fine and he was a schizophrenic nutbag in a war zone. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Feb 18, 2016 |
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Feb 18, 2016 22:29
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Saladman posted:Are you for real? Are you for real? What kind of hippie fantasy-land do you come from? The only 2 reasons people don't kill and steal from each other is because they're someone we know (because we're a communal species that goes nuts if we're alone too long) or punishment from the authorities. First world countries have strong enough states to punish harshly enough to keep people in line, but I don't see how anyone puts their faith in a weaker state to protect them. I don't know if you're Christian, and I'm not, but one thing they say rings true to me. There are no good people out there. Everyone, if they can get away with it, will victimize others for their own gain, no matter what. If you can back up with murder/kidnapping statistics of travelers your assertion that traveling is fairly safe I'd buy it, but I'll not buy your bare assertion. Who is this Caro person? [Edit]: I also know I'm privileged as gently caress being a white guy in Ohio, and I know not white/straight/cisgendered people have a much harder time of it than I do, even getting murdered out of hand for no reason other than bigotry and their murderers getting away with it. It's hosed up, but unavoidably true. I just don't know why people love going to places where they're seen as a walking ATM at best, and human garbage at worst. TwoQuestions fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 00:04
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TwoQuestions posted:If you can back up with murder/kidnapping statistics of travelers your assertion that traveling is fairly safe I'd buy it, but I'll not buy your bare assertion. Who is this Caro person? Caro is a Something Awful superstar / paranoid schizophrenic who posted everywhere on every forum for years. He went to Libya to be a self-proclaimed battlefield medic and actually made it through the revolution and back to the states. He then went off to Syria and was murdered. E: God drat that guy was insane and a ticking time bomb: https://kiwifar.ms/threads/caro-schizo-paranoid-goon-invents-mind-control-sattelite-travels-to-syria-to-get-sick-headshots.6793/ It's interesting to re-read his crazy posts and good to know that he's not going to hurt anyone in the future. You should try to be less like Caro. Saladman fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 00:13
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I think this is a question you should be asking your therapist and not the internet.
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Feb 19, 2016 00:14
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Saladman posted:Caro is a Something Awful superstar / paranoid schizophrenic who posted everywhere on every forum for years. He went to Libya to be a self-proclaimed battlefield medic and actually made it through the revolution and back to the states. He then went off to Syria and was murdered.  I certainly don't think The Man is after me like he does. I just think it's ludicrous to have any faith in the good intention of anybody.As for your earlier question, if that $1000 was the difference between me and my loved ones starving or being homeless, I honestly don't know what I would do.
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Feb 19, 2016 01:20
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Hi op please stop being a baby and go travel somewhere outside the US.
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Feb 19, 2016 01:37
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OP it sounds like you are a bigger rear end in a top hat than anyone you would ever meet in your travels. Please stay in whatever town you live in and don't go anywhere besides your work and grcoery stores.
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Feb 19, 2016 02:24
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getting drunk in far away places with people from other far away places rules so much OP
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Feb 19, 2016 07:25
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TwoQuestions posted:
Me neither. But I'm not starving and homeless, and neither are many people in foreign countries despite what you seem to have heard (actually the US has more homeless people than like anywhere else I've been my entire life). I don't get even a hint of a desire to murder the owner of a Bugatti and steal when I see one either. It's not because of religion or laws. If you do get an urge to murder people with Rolexes and nice jewelry you actually should probably go to a therapist. Regions with large numbers of starving/homeless people are also usually not so high on the tourism charts. Ethiopia is moderately popular today, but I'm pretty sure only photographers and MSF type people went there in the mid/early 90s. Petty theft is a problem everywhere. Armed robbery is endemic in only a few places and has basically no tie to how good the cops are (on a global basis). VVVV: He's not trolling, check out his post history. Saladman fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 08:39
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This is a pretty obvious troll but I've seen people be paranoid about traveling enough times that it's probably just a natural reaction. Being in a foreign country surrounded by people who speak a different language gives the mind free reign to see danger where there isn't any. A friend of mine who has seen some rough areas in Toronto had an honest to god panic attack when she arrived in Copenhagen for the first time. It's probably one of the safest and most polite city centers in the world. In any case the worst a tourist really has to watch out for around the world is pickpockets and taxi cabs, as mentioned previously. As a rule, people are at least courteous and criminals don't want to gently caress with tourists, it attracts too much attention. Here in Scandinavia it's normal for people in their late teens/early 20's to go abroad for a year to South America, Asia, etc. I'm sure some have problems, but I've never heard any.
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Feb 19, 2016 11:30
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I have been to quite a few different areas around the world. The most exotic place for me was going to small town Indiana. Holy poo poo I was not prepared at all.TwoQuestions posted:For reference, the farthest I've ever traveled before is Florida, and I was concerned I as a Yankee would get murdered half the way there. When I see people online talk about foreign travel being an almost religious experience, I have my doubts. Can you post pictures of your home? I'm not trying to mug you or anything, but it must be very comfortable. Is it like some sort of hobbit hole? caberham fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 12:35
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TwoQuestions posted:In some foreign country, I won't blend in as well, and the local authorities have no incentive to keep some 1st world traveler safe; they only have incentive to keep such things under wraps. I'd also think they'd love to see some soft first world traveler taken down a peg or ten.
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Feb 19, 2016 12:57
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TwoQuestions posted:When I see people online talk about foreign travel being an almost religious experience, I have my doubts. While others have addressed the risk part, I want to talk a bit about this. Even if there was a risk, travel is absolutely worth the money/time/facing your own inhibitions because the payoff is magnificent. Wandering around Istanbul eating kebabs, staring at the magnificence of Angkor or even getting shitfaced in a mezcaleria at 2am in Mexico all have potential to be life changing experiences if you let them be, and as cliche as this may seem - make you a more complete person. You'll gain more empathy for different people and cultures, and learn to appreciate the good stuff in life even more.
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Feb 19, 2016 14:02
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Anarkii posted:While others have addressed the risk part, I want to talk a bit about this. Even if there was a risk, travel is absolutely worth the money/time/facing your own inhibitions because the payoff is magnificent. Wandering around Istanbul eating kebabs, staring at the magnificence of Angkor or even getting shitfaced in a mezcaleria at 2am in Mexico all have potential to be life changing experiences if you let them be, and as cliche as this may seem - make you a more complete person. You'll gain more empathy for different people and cultures, and learn to appreciate the good stuff in life even more. That sounds like a good way to get turned into road pizza even in my hometown, as you can't dodge malicious assholes (drat near everybody) while drunk. Also it's expensive to drink. Also living in a hobbit hole sounds awesome. Why is it so awful to point out how people will without question or exception take advantage of you if they can? TwoQuestions fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 17:15
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Well it certainly makes makes you sound untrustworthy.
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Feb 19, 2016 18:06
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TwoQuestions posted:Why is it so awful to point out how people will without question or exception take advantage of you if they can? It's a massive exaggeration. But hey, your unsubstantiated thoughts and completely uninformed opinions aren't hurting anyone besides yourself*, so go for it. *unless you're actually acting on these completely antisocial—and honestly abnormal—thoughts about people that you seem to have. Edit: I really hope you're now going to cite me one of those psychology studies of college kids who will kill each other to win $5 in a game or whatever. Please oh please. Saladman fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 19:56
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Why do so many Americans think their country is some kind of safe haven and the rest of the world is some kind of chaotic warzone filled with people who will murder you for your wallet? Seriously, what gave you this impression? Every country is different. There are many countries that are far safer than the US when it comes to crime. Hell, the worst homelessness I've seen anywhere in the world has been in the US. Many other countries have actual social support systems so if you lose your job you don't end up hosed and living on the street. Calling it a religious experience might be a bit much, but clearly there's a huge gulf in your head between your impression of the world and reality. Actually traveling to other countries and seeing for yourself will correct your misconceptions, and I would consider that reason enough to do it. The rest of the world is not that scary and people aren't that different here compared to there.
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Feb 19, 2016 20:45
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TwoQuestions posted:Why is it so awful to point out how people will without question or exception take advantage of you if they can? Because you're completely wrong. Most human beings in this world are honest hardworking people who have a conscious and want to do the right thing. It speaks volumes about what kind of person you are when you assume that everyone is evil and just trying to take advantage of others. Maybe your just grumpy, fat and miserable so people do treat you like poo poo. But as a normal relatively well adjusted person, I can tell you that when you travel 95% of the time you're greeted with smiling and friendly locals. I'm in Vietnam right now and I've been invited into the kindest, most hospitable people's homes for dinner. They fed me, let me drink their beer, and expected nothing in return. I've dropped my wallet and a local picked it up and ran down the street after me to return it, even though it had months and months worth of local wages that he could have easily kept. I could go on forever with anecdotes like this from my travels. Like the above poster pointed out, you seem to think everyone who doesn't live in America is some kind of savage, you're wrong. People aren't as lovely and cold as you assume. If they are to you, then maybe you should look in the mirror and try to ascertain why seemingly nobody likes you. I LIKE COOKIE fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Feb 19, 2016 |
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Feb 19, 2016 20:47
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Don't listen to these people OP. They've probably all been kidnapped while traveling through Sweden, forced into slavery and are now defending their captors. Why do you think they call it Stockholm Syndrome?
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Feb 19, 2016 21:31
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Saladman posted:It's a massive exaggeration. But hey, your unsubstantiated thoughts and completely uninformed opinions aren't hurting anyone besides yourself*, so go for it. Well, I was going to post studies on how people are awful, but the numbers and science say otherwise. Turns out people will only dick you over if they're in absolute authority (Stanford Prison Experiment), or if it's really in their favor to do so, and even then it's iffy. I was wrong. I grew up among Freepers, and the sentiments expressed upthread are the norm where I come from. Everyone not in your immediate family is (supposedly) a threat, especially city people. I've purged most of my hometown's bullshit out of my head, but apparently I have more work to do. Still not completely convinced it's a good idea to go out of country just to see stuff, but looking at foreign crime stats and the aforementioned altruism studies, I'd guess I have little to fear for my personal safety. I guess the experience of traveling is something that can't be fully explained in text, which I can accept. Still don't know where best to start, as Canada is almost the same as the US and Mexico is Somalia Lite, but I guess I'll figure it out. Now to get over this creeping fear that everyone's trying to swindle me...
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Feb 20, 2016 01:02
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Huh. I was sure this was headed towards those E/N threads where the OP never listens to anything other people say that doesn't reinforce their prior beliefs. Looks like I was wrong too. Maybe I should stop reading those train wrecks to restore my faith in Internet threads. Plenty of easy friendly places to travel. Scandinavia would probably be up your alley. Someone said Iceland already. Some people genuinely don't really like traveling, but it's definitely worth a couple tries. If you can go with a friend that'd probably be a lot more fun too, since otherwise you'll either spend the trip alone or unless you're a super outgoing person who meets and trusts people easily. I'm not really, and I don't stay in hostel dorms either, unless I know everyone in the room. It makes me uncomfortable to sleep and to leave all my stuff with strangers in my close personal space. Even so I've traveled a lot, eg I just came back a month ago from nearly 5 months traveling around Latin America. I get bored traveling by myself, too many same-same conversations with strangers and going to exotic places and stuff feels a little hollow to me if I don't have anyone to share it with. YMMV, a lot of people here like the backpacker thing, but it's definitely not the easiest way to start out if you're already antsy about it. On the other hand, the first couple times you go traveling, the conversations are not same-same, so that part of meeting people might be more fun. I've also many amazing experiences traveling, and it totally changed my world view, and it's because of those experiences in my late teens/early 20s that I first I moved from a mid sized southern US city to Switxerland, where I've now been living for years and will soon be headed towards citizenship. Not that it will necessarily be an epiphany and life changing for everyone, but worst case you'll get to see some interesting stuff and have a handful of firsthand expeiences with traveler mainstays like jetlag and confusion over currency conversions. Saladman fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Feb 20, 2016 |
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Feb 20, 2016 01:38
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TwoQuestions posted:I grew up among Freepers, and the sentiments expressed upthread are the norm where I come from. Everyone not in your immediate family is (supposedly) a threat, especially city people. I've purged most of my hometown's bullshit out of my head, but apparently I have more work to do. That's sad. Apart from how it's limiting your options geographically, people can and will pick up on that mistrust and keep their distance. It's a form of self-perpetuating isolationism. Push the world away and it will push back.
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Feb 20, 2016 01:41
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TwoQuestions posted:Mexico is Somalia Lite So first and foremost, this is a wild exaggeration/mischaracterization. If you're truly thinking about possibly traveling somewhere, the most important thing for you to do is to dispose of as many preconceived notions as you possibly can and actually listen to people who have been to certain places. As many people in this thread have said, homebodies like yourself - particularly Americans, I'm sad to say, being one myself - tend to have unbelievably skewed and inaccurate notions of the world outside their hometown, let alone their country.
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Feb 20, 2016 03:26
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Don't come to Australia whatever you do. Everyday we hear on the news of another tourist being eaten by the spiders and wombats that we got down here.
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Feb 20, 2016 07:28
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OP, as a foreigner person living in Japan (or "Gaijin" as people will call me, as they spit and hurl debris at me on the street) I can assure you that despite it's reputation as one of the safest countries in the world, it is truly fraught with terror and danger. When people see my supple white skin they immediately think "How can I take everything this person has for my own gain?". Every day I am accosted by both adults and children who shout "Hello!" to me, an obvious trap to lure me into a false sense of security. Oftentimes people invite me to their homes or restaurants under the pretexts of getting to know me, but I always decline as I read on the internet that this is typically a ploy to harvest my organs. The most harrowing experience thus far has been when I foolishly attended a local "Festival". Little did I know that it was nothing more than a satanic ritual, one of the demons even tried to accost me, I assume to violate me sexually and force me to become gay so that he could sell me as a sex slave. I managed to snap a photograph as I ran away, shoving the elderly and kicking the children who tried to stop me.  Learn from my mistakes. Never leave America.
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Feb 21, 2016 08:56
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drive to toronto for a weekend you loving goof troop jesus christ
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Feb 21, 2016 17:26
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pig slut lisa posted:drive to toronto for a weekend you loving goof troop jesus christ sounds risky
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Feb 21, 2016 18:41
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The Mekong countries, especially Thailand, are training wheels for international tourism. You have to work hard to gently caress it up. I know what it was like coming from that background. Show up here with nothing but enough money to live on and you won't look back.
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Feb 21, 2016 19:29
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Go to some all-inclusive and maybe book a day trip or two with the top rated tour company on Trip Advisor that does hotel pick-up. Make friends with a bunch of old people who complain about how ungrateful their adult children are.
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Feb 23, 2016 06:22
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Instead of giving more examples, I rather the OP come out here and post more. I'm curious why is the OP so selective on his choices. What's his rationale? Why is Florida considered fine but everywhere else in the world dangerous?
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Feb 23, 2016 06:28
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Chinatown posted:getting drunk in far away places with people from other far away places rules so much OP oktoberfest doesn't count lol i am an american who just spent the last three years living in italy. i went to istanbul, hiked in georgia and armenia, went to a conference in st. petersburg, spent christmas in qatar, etc. wandered around dozens of euro cities drunk off my keister with others or by myself, no worries. my parents were worried about me, but they're idiot fuckbois that watch nothing but cnn/homeland/24 all day every day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-M4AQRzwQ istanbul is god drat insane and i will go there again. and yes, i know that there was a suicide bomb last month that killed a few german tourists. don't care! americans don't realize how much more dangerous the us is than any country in europe and most others on other continents. combine all of the deaths attributable to vehicle accidents and gunshots and you will start to get the picture. life is pretty easy and safe when you walk to lunch everyday, take the train to work, walk to the market... i.e. not owning a car at all.
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Feb 23, 2016 08:31
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WaryWarren posted:oktoberfest doesn't count lol This is a hugely important point, I think. Driving is the most dangerous activity most Americans undertake on a regular basis, but we discount the danger because driving--and driving injuries/fatalities--is so ubiquitous. A shooting makes front page news because it's scary and rare; a two-car collision that kills one driver and injures the other for the most part gets a collective "meh". My favorite thing about Tokyo is that nearly every part of the city feels like it's made for me, not for a two-ton hunk of metal. Travel lets me experience that feeling, which is very difficult to get even in a city like New York, Chicago, or San Francisco.
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Feb 23, 2016 14:32
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