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jyrka posted:Which places? As great a visit it was, I found New Orleans to be sketchy as gently caress. One of the Aussies who staying at the same hostel was held up at gunpoint the previous night, and there was a shooting down the block from the hostel one of the other nights. The area wasn't that great, but it also was only a ten minute ride from the French quarter.
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Oct 17, 2016 00:42
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qhat posted:As great a visit it was, I found New Orleans to be sketchy as gently caress. One of the Aussies who staying at the same hostel was held up at gunpoint the previous night, and there was a shooting down the block from the hostel one of the other nights. The area wasn't that great, but it also was only a ten minute ride from the French quarter. Oh, totally. I haven't been but I have heard from other people that it was sketchy as gently caress. I haven't experienced any real problems since I got here, though, except for the one security guard who screamed at me because I accidentally went somewhere I wasn't supposed to (plenty of people did the same after me. It wasn't obvious). I wouldn't be able to do much if someone robbed me, but I just keep my head up and try to look like I know where I'm going and that I'm not some tourist who's lost.
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Oct 17, 2016 14:00
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Octy posted:I wouldn't be able to do much if someone robbed me, but I just keep my head up and try to look like I know where I'm going and that I'm not some tourist who's lost. This is the biggest thing yeah. Most of the people who I've met that have had problems were doing really dumb poo poo, like walking around drunk at 2am with their bags, or just walking around sketchy areas after dark wearing typical touristy clothes (that Aussie guy was wearing a florescent tank top with board shorts at the time lol). If in doubt though, Uber makes taxis so cheap nowadays anyway so really there's no excuse.
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Oct 20, 2016 09:42
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This (risk -- in the financial/time/jobs sense) came up some time ago and I walked away from the conversation really bothered. I've not done any international travel aside from short stints in Mexico, though I've traveled to visit family in various parts of the U.S. (living near Mexico) and have traveled for academic conferences or academic collaboration. As a kid we never took family vacations or anything because we couldn't afford it. As an adult, I still can't afford it. I don't even have a passport (it was once possible to just go to and from Mexico -- at least border towns -- with a driver's license) Now I'm about to wrap up my doctorate but I'm almost 30 and responsibilities are growing. No kids (yet) but my spouse is beginning to pressure me. I went to grad school with the notion in mind that I would have these opportunities via collaborations and such -- turns out that's reserved for a select few very old tenured people. Meanwhile, nearly all of my American friends have had the opportunity and do the Facebook humblebrag-travel thing sometimes three times(!) a year. They also live with their parents in the interim and are seasonally unemployed. They also pull out those 'inspirational' travel quotes which is really funny, because for all their horizon-broadening they seem to be totally unaware of class issues. Used to not bother me but now it does. Most of my other friends are either immigrants or refugees from various parts of the world. My step-father came here has a refugee. I've had a lovely international experience of sorts as a child, but I'm starting to get real salty (obviously) about being perpetually unable to go abroad. I feel like grad school has removed, rather than enhanced choices. At least in the sciences I can expect some domestic travel at least once or twice a year I guess. I'd love to backpack across north Africa after I finish, but I just don't see how I'll ever have more than two weeks off anytime soon. Meanwhile I'm getting older. There was a job with the UN that was perfect for me -- good pay, interesting work in my field, lots of travel. I thought about dropping out and taking that job but didn't. Now all I can see are unpaid internships. Ugh.
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Oct 22, 2016 14:16
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If you want to travel a lot, you have to make sacrifices. You say that you want to backpack around Africa before you get old but won't have more than two weeks off forever? Why not? Finish grad school and take six months to backpack around Africa. You say you thought about dropping out and taking a job. Why didn't you? If you're just going to sit there and think about doing things you want to do, you're never going to do any of them. Experiencing life requires more than sitting around wishing things would fall into your lap.
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Oct 22, 2016 15:17
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If you haven't got kids, you've got loads of opportunity to go traveling. Your qualifications and experience aren't going to evaporate into thin air once you take a femtosecond off. Once you do have kids you can pretty much forget about backpacking, so stop faffing around and get it done.
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Oct 22, 2016 16:27
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Coming from one of those jerks who goes on trips three times a year- just buy the drat ticket. Everything follows from that. I know quite a few grad/Ph.D. students who have taken a semester or a year off to do their own thing. If you want to accomplish something, find an internship that's applicable to you and spend some months traveling afterwards. Or if you have connections in another country, see if they can help you take a working holiday in a city. Get a job bar tending or whatever there and go on a bunch of weekend/week-long trips.
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Oct 23, 2016 11:15
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Traveling is great and all. Be don't be so hard on yourself if you didn't manage to leave your country. The United States itself is a vast country with all sorts of different kind of geographic climates and sub genres of food. And when you do travel and meet other American expats, everyone's always bitching and groaning for a burger/mexican food. US is a relatively nice place to be in. New York, LA are cultural capitals of the world, and the Pacific North West is like Switzerland on a budget. Heck, Washington DC offers free museum entries wherever you go. Don't discount USA so soon.
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Oct 23, 2016 15:51
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Kudaros posted:As a kid we never took family vacations or anything because we couldn't afford it. As an adult, I still can't afford it. If you don't have children or huge medical bills or whatever, then I'm sure you can scrounge up $2000 over the next year or two and spend 10 days in Croatia or whatever. Look at secretflying.com and wait until there's a deal for getting from [your airport] to Istanbul/Berlin/whereever for $300. You'll find it eventually unless you don't live anywhere close to a major airport. It's not hard and not that expensive--for a single person with no debts--to do a trip like that. Yes, lots of people are insufferable about it, but they're usually < 25 years old too and they're on their first ever trip and they rave about how ~*~*~ life changing ~*~*~ it was. No one older than 25 is a "citizen of the world." Save up, then take 2-3 months off after you finish your PhD, travel around then. I did that for four months, it was easy to manage. (I had lined up a job to start already before I left, though—which I highly recommend doing if possible.) Backpacking around North Africa would be dirt cheap, like easily could do it for $800/month. Algeria and Tunisia are a lot easier if you speak French or Arabic. In Morocco everyone speaks like 5 languages for some reason. The UN is a phenomenally bad employer for entry-level jobs. Seriously gently caress the UN. In NYC they paid something like $900/month, which is a lot more than the $0/month they pay interns in Geneva. Alternately, look for a job in a foreign country and move there (I did, twice). This is a lot harder and not as much fun as traveling, though, especially if you move somewhere where you don't speak the local language. Saladman fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Oct 23, 2016 |
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Oct 23, 2016 18:41
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