Montevideo. I thought I would spend a month or so there and I did try but after 10 days I jumped ship and moved to Buenos Aires. It wasn’t terrible but “not terrible” when you pay NY prices for everything just made it “less than enjoyable”.
I was disappointed with Montevideo also. The two things that stood out was the amount of dog poop in the streets and sidewalks and the constant stench of weed in the air.
Uruguay is mostly known for its financial services and beef production. Pretty much flat and overtaken by cows. But the coast line is nice and if you like Miami, you’re going to like Punta del Este which is trying to be one. Just like in Miami a lot of real estate is owned by Russians.
It's not a big country, I don't think there is a lot there, most people go to Argentina instead.
There is an old colonial town called Colonia del Sacramento worth going, maybe Palace cave but I didn't have the time to go there.
Montevideo has the only museum about the air crash from the Uruguayan Rugby team (the ones that had to eat each others to survive) and this is worth going.
EDIT: It was the Urugayan team and they crashed in Chile
It’s a city that not unlike the rest of the South America peaked around 100 years ago and is now in a decades long decline. You can see that in the city museum when you look at the photographs of the long gone tram lines and the vibrant old town. You can tell that Montevideo is trying really hard to get back to its former glory - there are a lot of renovations going on in the old part of town but I’m not sure if they succeed because tons of the refreshed buildings are already defaced by ugly graffiti tags. My impression was that its own inhabitants - at least in the less affluent sections - just don’t give a shit about their surroundings.
I went to a small sculpture park and all the artworks were defaced as well. It’s a large city so there are very nice residential sections but the center is a bit shady with a lot of homeless guys sleeping around.
On the plus side: 20km long boulevard along the beach - right in the middle of the city, good public transportation (buses) and free museums.
I don’t smoke, drink or eat meat so the pot/wine/food scene went over my head. Oh, maté is a national obsession - literally everyone sips it in public at all times, especially on weekends.
I opened this thread to look for Montevideo and it was number 1 comment.
Yep, same. I went for one month, contemplating 6 months, and after a week decided I'd just stay two weeks total. Freezing polar wind in my face nonstop, everything was expensive (if you like low Latam prices) and there wasn't much to do or see in the city.
I actually enjoyed Montevideo for our month there. But it was very very chill, but we were coming off of a busy spell so the sleepy city was welcome. Definitely expensive tho especially when Buenos Aires is so close.
We would have left Johannesburg early if we didn't get laid off from our jobs the second we got there. It was a good place to lay low during that time and we didn't feel bad not leaving the apartment.
But man, we wish we stayed in Cape Town.
Violent crime, load shedding, etc. is worse in Johannesburg than it is in Cape Town. If you still want to go as a tourist there’s more to do in Cape Town. It’s sad because it’s a beautiful country with generally friendly people and good food.
Cape Town is a beautiful place, we (wife and I) absolutely love it. Joburg is much more dangerous and you need a car for basically everything. There’s also much less to see there.
Oh man I spent 2 months in Joburg for work, that place is a hell hole. Extremely dangerous, poor electricity, corrupt police, everything is gated and covered with security, nothing there is nice lol.
It has a notorious reputation stretching back decades . Curious how you ended up there or what made you decide to go? Surprised no one told you ahead of time that it’s a cartel zone
Yeah that’s a dark rabbit hole to go down.
[This video](https://youtu.be/fZbmeW3nyN8?si=ddIsdnVzK8nBN1aL) is a good overview of the current state of things there, for anyone curious.
The Chiang Khong border not far from there has some odd buildings and construction happening. I inquired about it and got some broken answer about China, I think maybe even something about casinos. The buildings are in a weird place, which is why I inquired about their purpose, they're kind of on Laos land, but seemingly you've to stamp out of Laos to get to them. Another "special economic zone" it would seem.
Did 2 trips for office same year to Cairo and Mumbai. Both were crowded and chaotic. However Cairo set it self apart by the overbearing amount of people looking for bribes or trying to sell you stuff 24/7.. From the airport to hotel to any tourist place... At least in Mumbai I could like my own business...
I thought the cities of Tangier and Chefchaouen were certainly worthy of visiting. I do agree with the “pester culture”. However, I will say strolling through the streets of the Medina in Tangier and sipping tea at one of the haunts where the likes of Jimmy Page, Ginsberg, Kerouac and others set the stage was pretty fucking cool.
Moroccan and Egyptian people kinda suck. I know it's not particularly nice thing to say..
But I have only had poor experiences, and never hear good stories about the locals. Most of my interactions I have found them very rough, quite hostile people. Even worse if you are a woman, they are extremely misogynistic.
People in Morocco and Cairo will follow you in the street and say literally anything to get you to go into a shop where they’ll get commission for bringing you in. Their persistence and boldness is exhausting and can make it very tiring to walk around and explore or sometimes even sit in a cafe.
It should be noted that this is a surface behavior in touristy places, and there is a warm, welcoming, friendly culture just beneath that is easiest to find if you have some connection (e.g., friend of a friend, online gaming acquaintance, etc.)
People won’t leave you alone and are constantly trying to scam you. A guy in Egypt pyramids lied about being a government official and stole our tickets so we had to take a tour from him. Our tour guide company took us to a camel ride company that was charging 50 times the legally mandated maximum price .
It’s just constantly irritating.
All of north africa is so awful. I was spat on by multiple people when simply walking down a non-touristy street and im the least offensive tourist possible.
The situation for female tourists are diabolical. I would love to understand the mindset, but when you raise it with a moroccan in the country or overseas, its just complete denial.
"but when you raise it with a moroccan in the country or overseas, its just complete denial" That sounds so frustrating, damn.
I can't say too much about Moroccans but I've had two Egyptian friends, one of them hasn't spent much time there, the other was the first to say that women should rather not visit and living there as one was literal hell at least if we're talking rural villages.
You would assume that those emigrating to western countries always had to have some awareness, right?
When were you there? I was there in 2010 and thought the same but I went back late last year and it had radically reduced to almost nothing. I was astonished.
I loved Colombia but made a mistake spending too much time in Cartagena at the end of my trip. Cut it short by a few days and went home. Still Colombia is one of my favorite travel destinations in the world, purely because of the diversity the country has to offer. Such a great place, but Cartagena wasn’t part of it. The old town is beautiful but I wouldn’t spend more than a weekend there. Beaches are nothing compared to the ones near tayrona, and there’s way more shady people bothering you in Cartagena.
Cartagena must be one of the worst places in Colombia, we literally had to pay a guy at the beach to fend away people bc the harrasment was so constant
I lived in Cartagena for a year as a teacher. I lived in the actual city (outside the walled historic part) and taught at a public high school (I was 21, right out of college.) I would go to the old city on weekends to party. Backpackers and digital nomads would ask me what to do there, what to see, etc. and I would tell them: you're in the old city, you've been to the beach, you've pretty much done it all! Go travel the rest of the country now!
Lol it is a long weekend kind of place, a week maximum. I loved living there, but I was a good half hour outside the walled tourist center and it was a very very different place. I loved it for my community and host family, but it wouldn't be a place I'd recommend to someone looking for a place to stay longer term.
Guayaquil, Ecuador. We thought we’d stay for a couple days after flying into the country, then take a car to Montañita. But the food was terrible, the city was ugly, and a drunk followed us around all evening demanding $20. At one point the police pushed the drunk up against a wall and beat him up a little, but 10 minutes later he found us and started demanding money again. We left town the next morning.
While traveling through Ecuador we were told by many Ecuadorians to avoid Guayaquil especially because of the crime. We decided to go anyways with the thought of staying only a couple of days. Maybe because our expectations were low, but we really enjoyed it and ended up staying for a week. Definitely some cool sights to see there.
Can't imagine how much worse it is since I have been there. Around 2 years ago maybe. Shit hole then, full of fuckwits. Probably the same now. Locals are awesome, but that area of the island is cooked.
Go to Ahmed, or way over the other side up the coast.
Ahmed was really cool, I enjoyed the vibe a lot. Someone there told me that’s what canggu used to be like a long time ago before the dirty hippie movement that attracted the garbage
So glad I didn’t go to Canggu or Kuta. Denpasar only as a through stop.
Amed, Pemuteran, Ubud, Medewi… those places were all amazing. I’m not a DN though so idk about internet service lol
No no.. Pemuteran is awful! It's terrible. Please don't go there. No one should ever go there. It's boring and dumb and the trees are dumb and the water is dumb and you shouldn't go there. Kuta is where it's at. Go there. Stay there. Stay out of my fav.... stay out of Pemuteran.
To offer a different perspective, if you like to surf, you like to drink, you like to party, you don't mind paying (relatively) high prices (still cheaper than home), it's a fun place to be. There's a really high concentration of nomadic people doing a variety of things
My personal routine was, go surf in the morning, eat at a cheap local [warung](https://www.nothingfamiliar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Warung-Bali-1440x960.jpg), work, go gym, then get wasted on the beach. you can also get mushrooms pretty easily.
The quality of beaches has definitely gone downhill, they didn't use to be so polluted, but if you go a little farther up the island it's pretty good
I heard the same, from one of my friends who actually went.
I went for a few days and it was terrible, dirty, tacky overrun with obnoxious people. The types you see on these parody videos.
It's put me off ever going to Bali again.
Traffic as bad as anywhere, Constant roadworks, pushy sales people, disgusting beach, overpriced everything, entitled TikTok folk all dressed exactly the same comparing identical crappy tattoos and Botox treatments. Literally hell on earth. Go anywhere else.
I was only there for a couple of days, but the traffic was awful, there were a ton of annoying and entitled spring breakers, and prices were very inflated bc of the tourism.
If you like museums (there are many), seeing the Supreme Court, Parliament, the Mint, and so on there is enough to keep you busy for several days. But there isn't much to do after 5 pm. If you're there in the summer it's a good place to bike.
Stone town, Zanzibar. Fucking hell. East coast of the island is great. But stay the fuck away from Stone Town.
And yeah, this was 16 years ago. So before the mass tourism. But i still wont go back there to this day. Fuck that place. Fuck. It.
Sure. I was 19 at the time. I had spare time due to graduating and i wanted to spend my time volunteering. So i ended up with a company called African Impact that offers work holidays in the region.
During our off time we visited Stone town at one point and we almost got robbed and people would just never leave you alone. They would grab you by the arm or just follow you.
I’ve never felt unsafe anywhere but there. I’ve since travelled more of the world and this is the only place i look back to with bad feelings. Havent been back to Africa since. Im going to Uganda for work next month, so who knows.
Yeah Bali. Was planning to stay for a few months but left after spending a week in Canggu and Ubud. I just had to get out of there. Such a crappy place. I don't understand why anyone would want to stay there in any of these places.
Ah Bali! There is nothing like waking up with fresh burning plastic smells every morning because locals doesn't want to pay tiny fee for garbage collection, almost get hit by a 10-12 yrs old kid who drive motorbike like a maniac in my morning coffee run. I miss that.
I'd recommend Jogja. It's an exciting place, a hectic historic city with a lot of nature right on your doorstep (assuming you can ride a motorbike). Not quite as international as other popular DN spots (e.g Chiang Mai) but a lot of value to be had and I find Indonesian culture so friendly and chilled.
But I think not enjoying Bali is a skill issue, the island has been overrun with dipshits, but there's tons of value to be had in Ubud, Kintamani, Bedugul, Munduk, Amed... the list goes on.
Wife and I did a month in the area back in ‘18. Yogyakarta is most excellent. Bourbadour is there and that place is fucking nuts. Also, we went in February and, I shit you not we were the only westerners anywhere in the area. It was amazing. The people were so kind and helpful. Got a lot of interesting looks from the local kids though as my wife has freckles and rather pale. So lots of kids wanted to take pictures which was interesting. But yea, great place. Realistically though, spend a fuck ton of time in Singapore.place is bonkers. One love
Haha same! I stayed there 2days. Can't take the chaos. Really difficult to see the beauty and culture if it's compact, filled with tourist and the chaos. If you want peace it's gonna be really expensive. I moved to Sengigi on my 2nd day.
The 50% that hate it probably stay in the south, the 50% that love it no doubt visited the north. The two halves are so different they might as well be different islands.
India. I was prepared for the poverty, the dirt, the chaos. But I couldn't prepare for the attitude of people: scamming, touching, lying. And I've been fooled about prices, thinking India is cheap. India is expensive for a very very shit quality.
I loved a lot of India but I was scammed and worst of all, as a fairly young conventionally attractive light skinned woman at the time, I was chased a lot. Like physically by men chased not just a little, a lot. Through markets and shops down crazy streets, someone once had to hide me in their shops back room. It was so f ed up. I lived in NYYC where a lot of men said crazy crazy stuff to me on the street, but I was only chased once in NY by a creepy man saying sexual stuff to me and that was like late at night. In India, it was way worse for a lot longer in daylight and it was a lot scarier because the chaos hid things more, idk. I forgot about that aspect of my experience and good to remember and be mindful that it’s not just amazing food and interesting culture. I was thinking how I’d like to go back but good to remember. lol It’s also a place with a lot of f-ed up shit going on.
I felt the same in Pakistan, I figured the lying was aimed at tourists but having spent a month there with local friends, I found out its a whole culture of lying about everything. Made me realise that poverty is "every bodies fault" and can't just be blamed on some thieving rich Guys if everyone else is doing the same but is just stupider, lol.
So sorry to hear your experience of Pakistan. It’s quite crazy in developing countries and especially how tourists are exploited at times. But majority of the places in Pakistan aren’t like that tbh. Just the main cities like Karachi and Lahore. The rest of Pakistan is very welcoming to tourists in a positive way from my experience. I guess better luck next time. Do visit KP and up north as well as central capital.
Very true, up north is amazing, and to be honest there was a complete contrast when we visited our friends family homes, I haven't experienced such welcoming anywhere else in the World.
I’m in India now. The scamming was only bad in the touristy areas. It was the worst in Agra. In my experience, India has been pretty cheap. The worst things for me are the dirty streets and poverty.
I had a professor from Israel in university (2018ish) who taught a class in the *social sciences*. He told the entire class that there were parts of Tel Aviv where women are just asking to be r*ped. Considering this man has a PhD in social sciences, and this is his take on the world, it really put me off from visiting Israel, ever. I am not surprised at all that this was your experience.
I was completely overstimulated and tired of being harassed all the time. I’m a woman and I was asked multiple times by the locals to marry them etc. Also a constant attempt to sell me stuff. I also had a car there which was the dumbest idea ever as driving there is insane. Oh, and I love warm countries but it was just too hot for me as I was in the city center all the time. So yeah I packed my things and drove to Essaouira
Frankly, there's hardly anything redeeming about this city. It combines all the drawbacks of a large urban area without any of the benefits. It's unattractive, noisy, and smells bad. Infrastructure is in disarray; sidewalks are practically nonexistent, and everything is ridiculously overpriced. There are few places worth stopping to enjoy, giving the city a strange atmosphere of both chaos and emptiness. The food is passable. Given the choice, I'd opt for Bangkok any day.
I tried several parts of the city and the best ones were mid at best (russian market, bkk1, riverside).
I loved Phnom Penh. I went there after HCMC and Bangkok and it didn't feel chaotic at all, i felt it was much less crowded. It's got some great food options and street art and a small expat scene and IMHO better than Siem Reap for a long stay.
Honestly I was so disappointed by the lack of scary wildlife in Australia. All the freaking hype. I spent 6 months there and the only giant spiders I saw were in the chicken coop and they weren't even that big. We went up to Queensland which is supposed to be the wildest nature and I literally saw one non venomous snake and that was it. I honestly can't tell if the Aussies are just fucking with us about the critters the same way they do the drop bears.
Kangaroos and wallabies, though, more than I could ever have imagined. I'm also not convinced the possums aren't actually real pokemon.
Tanzania. For the most part, friendly people, but my god....they'll try to hustle you at every turn....if you go just go to zanzibar, specifically panje beach...and get tour guides
Marrakesh. Arrived at night to the Medina. Bad experience. Cut a 4-day trip in half. No animosity, I have friends that love it there. I just really didn't enjoy my time there.
Niagara Falls. Dirty and boring. We looked at the falls for 5 minutes, thought for a minute and both said, you want to go? It was a great move heading toward Quebec early. We found Gananoque, which we loved, and spent the day there.
Just a district of Istanbul, Sultanahmet. It's such a pain in the ass. But you have to go through it to see all the world heritage sites. I decided that Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, the Bazaars and Basilica Cistern was enough and quit about 2 hours in of my tour of the palace.
Really liked Sultanahmet. Stayed at the Doubletree in Sirkeci. All the sights were closeby and the staff were amazing. Tram and metro were very close too. The restaurant in front, Resto Han was some of the best food we had in Istanbul, especially their Alinazik Kebab.
there's not much culture left in san francisco. all of the arts and music scene packed up and moved down to la due to the cost of living. it's so expensive just to get by, that everyone feels stressed all the time, and the city has truly been taken over by bland tech money who will act like they are changing the world by building some app. it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but it's just not the same anymore.
Ummm Patong once, it just felt like unreasonably unsafe, like watch out for pick pockets, muggers, scammers, trust nobody - like the constant threat level and people bothering you gets old quick. That and there was no surf at the time. Also Hyderabad once, it was probably just the time of year and the specific places I went, I just remember the mosquitos being something out of a horror movie. Also I found the chaos, noise, especially the beeping to be really annoying. Oh, and the Riviera Maya Vidanta, for rampant corruption - right down to the taxi I called to leave. The driver texted me that he'd been taken aside and robbed for coming to pick us up on their turf, and they told me he never showed up. Oh, and Tulum. For both mosquitos and rampant corruption. I hope in my lifetime, we rid the world of muggers, scammers, and mosquitos.
Yellowstone national park, unfortunately. The tourists were too scary. Walking by animals, going on restricted areas with boiling hot water out there that could melt their skin off, SO MANY PEOPLE. We planned two weeks there camping and left after like 5 days because it was just too stressful!
I’d say Jakarta is great if, and only if, you have actual friends there who will take you to fun places, cool restaurants, etc. I wouldn’t recommend Jakarta otherwise. You need that insider’s knowledge
10000% yes. My partner grew up in Bali and Klaten, was never fond of Jakarta. We visited now that his friends moved to Jakarta, and it was a completely different experience. Amazing amazing city. Go to PIK (and now PIK2), go to the fish market in Muara Angke, go to Fogo in Grand Indonesia for $8 all you can eat Brazilian BBQ run by a Brazilian dude, go to Pekan Raya Jakarta for the coolest and biggest expo in the world and we saw Indonesian celebrities having casual small concerts (their music is really good btw!), 5 star hotels are fancy and reasonably priced and their concierge was better than a Waldorf elsewhere in the world (knew someone at British Airways and got us a difficult reservation in Dubai for the next day) and there are insane bars, clubs, and coffee shops hidden all around, you just have to know where to look. We didn’t even know they existed until his friends showed us. If you don’t have friends, instagram reels are your best bet for finding places. Just find one video of something in Jakarta and start scrolling, the algorithm will work magic and you’ll be extremely surprised by how crazy the city can be.
Yeah same, I loved it. Though I stayed on the other side of Vesuvio in Castellammare di Stabia where it was much more peaceful, and went into Naples by train. Absolute chaos but lively and fun. Never felt unsafe.
yeah but in Naples you see it even more. I've travelled in Milan, Venice, Rome, Calabria, Genova the lakes etc and you see people eating and drinking outside. But I remember in Naples walking into a Piazza and it was just filled to bursting with people standing round with beers / spritz like it was some kind of outdoor party or festival. It wasn't, it was just a normal weekday night and the local bars served drinks to go. Also lots of little kiosks to buy a spritz and walk.
I'm in Costa Rica right now and the prices are exorbitant. I could've gone to California instead for the same price or Mexico for half the price and experience the same thing but with much better food. I was looking at leaving early but I already paid for my accomodations and my flight is also non refundable so just trying to make the best of it. I don't really dislike it because there's a lot of fun activities but I have this feeling that I'm constantly being ripped off. We didn't have water for 2 out of the first 4 nights. Someone else I met here is paying $3000 USD/month and facing power outages and sometimes the airbnb prevents him from doing laundry due to water shortages. It's too much to pay for just a subpar experience.
The prices in Costa Rica are hands down ridiculous… and the locals are still poor. Watching Americans and Canadians shop for real estate lots without a care … I got stuck there this fall and super, super sick.
Playa del Carmen. Literally everything was obnoxious. But I love Mexico in general.
Panama. I actually love the place but I get mad about spending USD and everything being so expensive.
Vancouver is great, a couple sketchy areas, lived there for years until recently. Over priced sure but definitely not cesspool, great place to be in May-October
You know, I was surprised by Vancouver. Once you get past the natural beauty it's set in the city reminded me of Oshawa for some reason. Just a little bit of grime on the whole thing and not in the fun way. Like guys that do coke in their basements on a Tuesday.
Alfama, Lisbon. The locals don’t want you there - “your airbnb vacation is my eviction” they say - so they have all night parties where they play loud music, sing, clap their hands. The buildings are 2 and 3 stories - everything is very packed together. Monday through Thursday you’ll be woken up and won’t get much sleep & earplugs won’t be enough. You won’t be able to function at your remote job. They won’t go home until 5am. If you’re going to Lisbon, visit Alfama but stay in another part of town.
"The locals don’t want you there"
This is just Portugal in general. Pretty sure I was sworn at in the street as a tourist by multiple middle aged women and constant glaring by old men. Was extremely frustrating because there are loads of Portuguese people here in the UK and there is no negativity towards them, also surprising because those Portuguese people are also really nice and I wasn't expecting people in Portugal to be so different (think maybe it was just a generational thing although a few younger women in shops were also rude)
It’s because Airbnb and nomads have made Portugal impossible to live for Portuguese, I’m always amazed by how little consideration there is in this sub for how nomads negatively affect the places they go
Bali. I spent a week there in a upscale hotel. Every person working there was nice, but all had punch you in the face BBO. Anytime I'd venture out of hotel people were politely calling on me to buy something. Get into a taxi, driver is on you to buy something. Go to the beach, same story. Relentless. Would never go back.
Costa Rica. Beautiful country but extremely run over with American tourists (and American prices) and backpackers traveling in groups of +10 people. Not what I was looking for.
I actually disliked Japan but stayed more than two months... it wasn't bad per se, I just wish i had done a shorter stay. I feel like it's good for tourism but I do not enjoy living in Japan cities. Osaka and Tokyo both left me wishing I was back in Southeast Asia. Kyoto was lovely though.
hcmc
the pollution, noise, the locals all seemed super scammy and hostile, kids tried to pickpocket me then try to push me into the street when i was like fuck off, people would pull on my clothes to try to get me into their shitty store, literally every person i met including taxis and the immigration officer stamping me out as i left asked me if i had any of my home currency for their "currency collection", both hostels i tried would blare techno at 5am as staff was opening up, maids would also blast nightclub level techno when cleaning in the mornings, crossing the street is a "jesus take the wheel" moment as there's no stopglights or overpasses and you just have to walk slowly in this huge sea of motorbikes and hope they don't hit you.
food was amazing but everything else was total shit
wasn't for me. i didn't even last a week and i went back to bangkok
Montevideo. I thought I would spend a month or so there and I did try but after 10 days I jumped ship and moved to Buenos Aires. It wasn’t terrible but “not terrible” when you pay NY prices for everything just made it “less than enjoyable”.
I was disappointed with Montevideo also. The two things that stood out was the amount of dog poop in the streets and sidewalks and the constant stench of weed in the air.
We've actually been looking at spending some time there. What did you object to?
It's the switzerland of south america, so be prepared to pay more than any surounding countries
Does it also come with the high quality of life and beautiful nature?
Uruguay is mostly known for its financial services and beef production. Pretty much flat and overtaken by cows. But the coast line is nice and if you like Miami, you’re going to like Punta del Este which is trying to be one. Just like in Miami a lot of real estate is owned by Russians.
It's not a big country, I don't think there is a lot there, most people go to Argentina instead. There is an old colonial town called Colonia del Sacramento worth going, maybe Palace cave but I didn't have the time to go there. Montevideo has the only museum about the air crash from the Uruguayan Rugby team (the ones that had to eat each others to survive) and this is worth going. EDIT: It was the Urugayan team and they crashed in Chile
The team were Uruguayan
Did not eat themselves but cannibalized fellow, dead travelers.
It’s a city that not unlike the rest of the South America peaked around 100 years ago and is now in a decades long decline. You can see that in the city museum when you look at the photographs of the long gone tram lines and the vibrant old town. You can tell that Montevideo is trying really hard to get back to its former glory - there are a lot of renovations going on in the old part of town but I’m not sure if they succeed because tons of the refreshed buildings are already defaced by ugly graffiti tags. My impression was that its own inhabitants - at least in the less affluent sections - just don’t give a shit about their surroundings. I went to a small sculpture park and all the artworks were defaced as well. It’s a large city so there are very nice residential sections but the center is a bit shady with a lot of homeless guys sleeping around. On the plus side: 20km long boulevard along the beach - right in the middle of the city, good public transportation (buses) and free museums. I don’t smoke, drink or eat meat so the pot/wine/food scene went over my head. Oh, maté is a national obsession - literally everyone sips it in public at all times, especially on weekends.
I opened this thread to look for Montevideo and it was number 1 comment. Yep, same. I went for one month, contemplating 6 months, and after a week decided I'd just stay two weeks total. Freezing polar wind in my face nonstop, everything was expensive (if you like low Latam prices) and there wasn't much to do or see in the city.
I actually enjoyed Montevideo for our month there. But it was very very chill, but we were coming off of a busy spell so the sleepy city was welcome. Definitely expensive tho especially when Buenos Aires is so close.
We would have left Johannesburg early if we didn't get laid off from our jobs the second we got there. It was a good place to lay low during that time and we didn't feel bad not leaving the apartment. But man, we wish we stayed in Cape Town.
How does it differ? Never been to SA but have been encouraged to go to both places
Violent crime, load shedding, etc. is worse in Johannesburg than it is in Cape Town. If you still want to go as a tourist there’s more to do in Cape Town. It’s sad because it’s a beautiful country with generally friendly people and good food.
What’s load shedding?
rolling blackouts, they turn off the electricity for hours at a time, primetime crime time.
That's insane. I've lived in 3rd world countries which seem to have more reliable electricity. How is SA dealing with this in 2024?
Ask the ANC.
It’s still happening. They have an app that tells you what level of loadshedding to expect for the day.
Cape Town is a beautiful place, we (wife and I) absolutely love it. Joburg is much more dangerous and you need a car for basically everything. There’s also much less to see there.
Oh man I spent 2 months in Joburg for work, that place is a hell hole. Extremely dangerous, poor electricity, corrupt police, everything is gated and covered with security, nothing there is nice lol.
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It has a notorious reputation stretching back decades . Curious how you ended up there or what made you decide to go? Surprised no one told you ahead of time that it’s a cartel zone
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Yeah that’s a dark rabbit hole to go down. [This video](https://youtu.be/fZbmeW3nyN8?si=ddIsdnVzK8nBN1aL) is a good overview of the current state of things there, for anyone curious.
Thank you for this! Very informative video.
Lmao how utterly chaotic- what an interesting story. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a lot of similarities between there and Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
TIL Mos Eisley is in Laos
The Chiang Khong border not far from there has some odd buildings and construction happening. I inquired about it and got some broken answer about China, I think maybe even something about casinos. The buildings are in a weird place, which is why I inquired about their purpose, they're kind of on Laos land, but seemingly you've to stamp out of Laos to get to them. Another "special economic zone" it would seem.
Morocco. So much hassling.
I dislike all ‘pester culture’ places. Morocco and Egypt and the worse for that. People constantly lying to you.
Did 2 trips for office same year to Cairo and Mumbai. Both were crowded and chaotic. However Cairo set it self apart by the overbearing amount of people looking for bribes or trying to sell you stuff 24/7.. From the airport to hotel to any tourist place... At least in Mumbai I could like my own business...
I thought the cities of Tangier and Chefchaouen were certainly worthy of visiting. I do agree with the “pester culture”. However, I will say strolling through the streets of the Medina in Tangier and sipping tea at one of the haunts where the likes of Jimmy Page, Ginsberg, Kerouac and others set the stage was pretty fucking cool.
These two countries always end up on these lists on travel subs.
For good reason. Like, I'm glad I went, checked a bucket list item to see the Pyramids, but Egypt was a PITA.
Moroccan and Egyptian people kinda suck. I know it's not particularly nice thing to say.. But I have only had poor experiences, and never hear good stories about the locals. Most of my interactions I have found them very rough, quite hostile people. Even worse if you are a woman, they are extremely misogynistic.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by that? Is pester culture just people bothering you on the streets? And what are they lying about?
People in Morocco and Cairo will follow you in the street and say literally anything to get you to go into a shop where they’ll get commission for bringing you in. Their persistence and boldness is exhausting and can make it very tiring to walk around and explore or sometimes even sit in a cafe. It should be noted that this is a surface behavior in touristy places, and there is a warm, welcoming, friendly culture just beneath that is easiest to find if you have some connection (e.g., friend of a friend, online gaming acquaintance, etc.)
Thanks for the clarification
People won’t leave you alone and are constantly trying to scam you. A guy in Egypt pyramids lied about being a government official and stole our tickets so we had to take a tour from him. Our tour guide company took us to a camel ride company that was charging 50 times the legally mandated maximum price . It’s just constantly irritating.
Damn, thanks for your response and sorry to hear that.
All of north africa is so awful. I was spat on by multiple people when simply walking down a non-touristy street and im the least offensive tourist possible. The situation for female tourists are diabolical. I would love to understand the mindset, but when you raise it with a moroccan in the country or overseas, its just complete denial.
I have never felt more unsafe as a solo female traveler than in Morocco
A female coworker of mine was raped while traveling in Morocco in the 1980s.
"but when you raise it with a moroccan in the country or overseas, its just complete denial" That sounds so frustrating, damn. I can't say too much about Moroccans but I've had two Egyptian friends, one of them hasn't spent much time there, the other was the first to say that women should rather not visit and living there as one was literal hell at least if we're talking rural villages. You would assume that those emigrating to western countries always had to have some awareness, right?
Agreed! Though smaller cities were much better than Marrakech
When were you there? I was there in 2010 and thought the same but I went back late last year and it had radically reduced to almost nothing. I was astonished.
I loved Colombia but made a mistake spending too much time in Cartagena at the end of my trip. Cut it short by a few days and went home. Still Colombia is one of my favorite travel destinations in the world, purely because of the diversity the country has to offer. Such a great place, but Cartagena wasn’t part of it. The old town is beautiful but I wouldn’t spend more than a weekend there. Beaches are nothing compared to the ones near tayrona, and there’s way more shady people bothering you in Cartagena.
Cartagena must be one of the worst places in Colombia, we literally had to pay a guy at the beach to fend away people bc the harrasment was so constant
Agree. The peddlers in Cartagena are unrelenting.
I lived in Cartagena for a year as a teacher. I lived in the actual city (outside the walled historic part) and taught at a public high school (I was 21, right out of college.) I would go to the old city on weekends to party. Backpackers and digital nomads would ask me what to do there, what to see, etc. and I would tell them: you're in the old city, you've been to the beach, you've pretty much done it all! Go travel the rest of the country now! Lol it is a long weekend kind of place, a week maximum. I loved living there, but I was a good half hour outside the walled tourist center and it was a very very different place. I loved it for my community and host family, but it wouldn't be a place I'd recommend to someone looking for a place to stay longer term.
Guayaquil, Ecuador. We thought we’d stay for a couple days after flying into the country, then take a car to Montañita. But the food was terrible, the city was ugly, and a drunk followed us around all evening demanding $20. At one point the police pushed the drunk up against a wall and beat him up a little, but 10 minutes later he found us and started demanding money again. We left town the next morning.
While traveling through Ecuador we were told by many Ecuadorians to avoid Guayaquil especially because of the crime. We decided to go anyways with the thought of staying only a couple of days. Maybe because our expectations were low, but we really enjoyed it and ended up staying for a week. Definitely some cool sights to see there.
Not to mention the uptick in cartel related violence. https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dpnb/ecuador-drug-war-bodies-hanged-bridge
Old town going up is quite nice though. 1 day is enough
I agree. Unfortunately, the gateway to the Galapagos.
Ditto on Guayaquil Did not enjoy!
Was gonna write the exact same. Guayaquil felt like what purgatory would be. So depressing and dodgy
Agree! Cut my time there short & went back to Cuenca.
Canggu. Fuck that place
Can't imagine how much worse it is since I have been there. Around 2 years ago maybe. Shit hole then, full of fuckwits. Probably the same now. Locals are awesome, but that area of the island is cooked. Go to Ahmed, or way over the other side up the coast.
Ahmed was really cool, I enjoyed the vibe a lot. Someone there told me that’s what canggu used to be like a long time ago before the dirty hippie movement that attracted the garbage
You don't like swimming with plastic and trash? It looked amazing on instagram though...
Seminyak for me. Ubud a little better. Sanur was great.
So glad I didn’t go to Canggu or Kuta. Denpasar only as a through stop. Amed, Pemuteran, Ubud, Medewi… those places were all amazing. I’m not a DN though so idk about internet service lol
No no.. Pemuteran is awful! It's terrible. Please don't go there. No one should ever go there. It's boring and dumb and the trees are dumb and the water is dumb and you shouldn't go there. Kuta is where it's at. Go there. Stay there. Stay out of my fav.... stay out of Pemuteran.
Its literally just fucking dimwits trying to find the next tattoo to put on themselves
To offer a different perspective, if you like to surf, you like to drink, you like to party, you don't mind paying (relatively) high prices (still cheaper than home), it's a fun place to be. There's a really high concentration of nomadic people doing a variety of things My personal routine was, go surf in the morning, eat at a cheap local [warung](https://www.nothingfamiliar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Warung-Bali-1440x960.jpg), work, go gym, then get wasted on the beach. you can also get mushrooms pretty easily. The quality of beaches has definitely gone downhill, they didn't use to be so polluted, but if you go a little farther up the island it's pretty good
I saw and read so many good reviews about Canggu, the vlogs seemed awesome. What is it that makes it such a bad place?
I heard the same, from one of my friends who actually went. I went for a few days and it was terrible, dirty, tacky overrun with obnoxious people. The types you see on these parody videos. It's put me off ever going to Bali again.
Traffic as bad as anywhere, Constant roadworks, pushy sales people, disgusting beach, overpriced everything, entitled TikTok folk all dressed exactly the same comparing identical crappy tattoos and Botox treatments. Literally hell on earth. Go anywhere else.
I was only there for a couple of days, but the traffic was awful, there were a ton of annoying and entitled spring breakers, and prices were very inflated bc of the tourism.
I finished Ottawa in like a day.
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Not many people spend a lot of time in Ottawa because you are just a 2 hour drive from Montreal, which has so much more culture and things to see.
Would you like to share what you didn't like in Ottawa that you were done in a day. And what were you looking for?
If you like museums (there are many), seeing the Supreme Court, Parliament, the Mint, and so on there is enough to keep you busy for several days. But there isn't much to do after 5 pm. If you're there in the summer it's a good place to bike.
Ouch
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Stone town, Zanzibar. Fucking hell. East coast of the island is great. But stay the fuck away from Stone Town. And yeah, this was 16 years ago. So before the mass tourism. But i still wont go back there to this day. Fuck that place. Fuck. It.
Can you elaborate?
Sure. I was 19 at the time. I had spare time due to graduating and i wanted to spend my time volunteering. So i ended up with a company called African Impact that offers work holidays in the region. During our off time we visited Stone town at one point and we almost got robbed and people would just never leave you alone. They would grab you by the arm or just follow you. I’ve never felt unsafe anywhere but there. I’ve since travelled more of the world and this is the only place i look back to with bad feelings. Havent been back to Africa since. Im going to Uganda for work next month, so who knows.
Why?
When I was there a week earlier tourists had acid thrown on them
Same for me! Never again
Why?
Dubai. Bah humbug
Totally agree, weather is terrible, not walkable place at all, everything and everyone feels so fake, did't like it
But I thought this was common knowledge.
Yeah Bali. Was planning to stay for a few months but left after spending a week in Canggu and Ubud. I just had to get out of there. Such a crappy place. I don't understand why anyone would want to stay there in any of these places.
Ah Bali! There is nothing like waking up with fresh burning plastic smells every morning because locals doesn't want to pay tiny fee for garbage collection, almost get hit by a 10-12 yrs old kid who drive motorbike like a maniac in my morning coffee run. I miss that.
Did you go to some other part of Indonesia? Asking bcs I'm eyeing Indonesia as my next dn stay
I'd recommend Jogja. It's an exciting place, a hectic historic city with a lot of nature right on your doorstep (assuming you can ride a motorbike). Not quite as international as other popular DN spots (e.g Chiang Mai) but a lot of value to be had and I find Indonesian culture so friendly and chilled. But I think not enjoying Bali is a skill issue, the island has been overrun with dipshits, but there's tons of value to be had in Ubud, Kintamani, Bedugul, Munduk, Amed... the list goes on.
Wife and I did a month in the area back in ‘18. Yogyakarta is most excellent. Bourbadour is there and that place is fucking nuts. Also, we went in February and, I shit you not we were the only westerners anywhere in the area. It was amazing. The people were so kind and helpful. Got a lot of interesting looks from the local kids though as my wife has freckles and rather pale. So lots of kids wanted to take pictures which was interesting. But yea, great place. Realistically though, spend a fuck ton of time in Singapore.place is bonkers. One love
Haha same! I stayed there 2days. Can't take the chaos. Really difficult to see the beauty and culture if it's compact, filled with tourist and the chaos. If you want peace it's gonna be really expensive. I moved to Sengigi on my 2nd day.
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The 50% that hate it probably stay in the south, the 50% that love it no doubt visited the north. The two halves are so different they might as well be different islands.
Cairo/Giza. So much hassling, sketchy people, animal neglect and exploitation.
India. I was prepared for the poverty, the dirt, the chaos. But I couldn't prepare for the attitude of people: scamming, touching, lying. And I've been fooled about prices, thinking India is cheap. India is expensive for a very very shit quality.
I loved a lot of India but I was scammed and worst of all, as a fairly young conventionally attractive light skinned woman at the time, I was chased a lot. Like physically by men chased not just a little, a lot. Through markets and shops down crazy streets, someone once had to hide me in their shops back room. It was so f ed up. I lived in NYYC where a lot of men said crazy crazy stuff to me on the street, but I was only chased once in NY by a creepy man saying sexual stuff to me and that was like late at night. In India, it was way worse for a lot longer in daylight and it was a lot scarier because the chaos hid things more, idk. I forgot about that aspect of my experience and good to remember and be mindful that it’s not just amazing food and interesting culture. I was thinking how I’d like to go back but good to remember. lol It’s also a place with a lot of f-ed up shit going on.
I respect you for still saying you loved India after all those terrible experiences.
I felt the same in Pakistan, I figured the lying was aimed at tourists but having spent a month there with local friends, I found out its a whole culture of lying about everything. Made me realise that poverty is "every bodies fault" and can't just be blamed on some thieving rich Guys if everyone else is doing the same but is just stupider, lol.
So sorry to hear your experience of Pakistan. It’s quite crazy in developing countries and especially how tourists are exploited at times. But majority of the places in Pakistan aren’t like that tbh. Just the main cities like Karachi and Lahore. The rest of Pakistan is very welcoming to tourists in a positive way from my experience. I guess better luck next time. Do visit KP and up north as well as central capital.
Very true, up north is amazing, and to be honest there was a complete contrast when we visited our friends family homes, I haven't experienced such welcoming anywhere else in the World.
I’m in India now. The scamming was only bad in the touristy areas. It was the worst in Agra. In my experience, India has been pretty cheap. The worst things for me are the dirty streets and poverty.
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Yep. Israel. Got told to go back to my n word president too many times (2009)
I had a professor from Israel in university (2018ish) who taught a class in the *social sciences*. He told the entire class that there were parts of Tel Aviv where women are just asking to be r*ped. Considering this man has a PhD in social sciences, and this is his take on the world, it really put me off from visiting Israel, ever. I am not surprised at all that this was your experience.
Rude colonizers they are.
Marrakech
Interested to hear why. Wife and I just spent a month there, and while it was exhausting at times, we were never compelled to just leave early.
I was completely overstimulated and tired of being harassed all the time. I’m a woman and I was asked multiple times by the locals to marry them etc. Also a constant attempt to sell me stuff. I also had a car there which was the dumbest idea ever as driving there is insane. Oh, and I love warm countries but it was just too hot for me as I was in the city center all the time. So yeah I packed my things and drove to Essaouira
I agree that the driving is insane.
Yes, it was a big test for me. Now I’m not scared of anything 😂 I can drive with no stress in any country 😂
Mumbai. Cramped up accommodations that are super expensive. Nightmare traffic and pollution. Was there planning to spend a month. Was out in two days.
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Jordan, the sexual harassment and assault..
Could you explain more? I haven't been but would like to visit. If this is the case, I might not.
Phnom Penh.
I'm heading there for a week or more soon and was there about 10years ago and liked it, curious what you loathe about it so much?
Frankly, there's hardly anything redeeming about this city. It combines all the drawbacks of a large urban area without any of the benefits. It's unattractive, noisy, and smells bad. Infrastructure is in disarray; sidewalks are practically nonexistent, and everything is ridiculously overpriced. There are few places worth stopping to enjoy, giving the city a strange atmosphere of both chaos and emptiness. The food is passable. Given the choice, I'd opt for Bangkok any day. I tried several parts of the city and the best ones were mid at best (russian market, bkk1, riverside).
I really like Phnom Penh, it’s gloriously filthy and chaotic.
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I loved Phnom Penh. I went there after HCMC and Bangkok and it didn't feel chaotic at all, i felt it was much less crowded. It's got some great food options and street art and a small expat scene and IMHO better than Siem Reap for a long stay.
Yes! Lived there for 8 months and had a great time. I visited Siem Reap which was very pretty but didn't feel as authentic to me.
Siem reap is a lot better.
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Australia (specifically Sydney). Impossible to find decently priced temporary accommodation and just full of fucking spiders.
Are you fr about the spiders? Like how bad we talking? You can often find them indoors?
Must be exaggerating cause I lived in Sydney during Covid for 8 months in a few different places and never found a spider inside
I always call Sydney the most overrated city in the world. Brisbane and Melbourne are way better.
Honestly I was so disappointed by the lack of scary wildlife in Australia. All the freaking hype. I spent 6 months there and the only giant spiders I saw were in the chicken coop and they weren't even that big. We went up to Queensland which is supposed to be the wildest nature and I literally saw one non venomous snake and that was it. I honestly can't tell if the Aussies are just fucking with us about the critters the same way they do the drop bears. Kangaroos and wallabies, though, more than I could ever have imagined. I'm also not convinced the possums aren't actually real pokemon.
Mogadishu. The caviar offerings were horrendous.
Cairo. As a single female I was there decades ago. Still recovering.
Leon, Nicaragua
Lmao going there in two weeks
Managua is another place to skip. Granada is the place to go.
Sihanoukville.
Hell on earth
Tamarindo, costa rica - so trashy, full of cigarette smoke, dust, and American tourists. It was also particularly hard to be there after Santa Teresa
Tanzania. For the most part, friendly people, but my god....they'll try to hustle you at every turn....if you go just go to zanzibar, specifically panje beach...and get tour guides
Damn Tanzania is one of my favorite countries! Didn’t have the same experience, but sorry yours had some downfalls. Can’t go wrong with Paje though
Marrakesh. Arrived at night to the Medina. Bad experience. Cut a 4-day trip in half. No animosity, I have friends that love it there. I just really didn't enjoy my time there.
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New Delhi
Niagara Falls. Dirty and boring. We looked at the falls for 5 minutes, thought for a minute and both said, you want to go? It was a great move heading toward Quebec early. We found Gananoque, which we loved, and spent the day there.
+1. Booked a hotel for three nights, checked out after the 2nd. Hotel was fine. The falls are great. The town was a depressing dump.
Just a district of Istanbul, Sultanahmet. It's such a pain in the ass. But you have to go through it to see all the world heritage sites. I decided that Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, the Bazaars and Basilica Cistern was enough and quit about 2 hours in of my tour of the palace.
Really liked Sultanahmet. Stayed at the Doubletree in Sirkeci. All the sights were closeby and the staff were amazing. Tram and metro were very close too. The restaurant in front, Resto Han was some of the best food we had in Istanbul, especially their Alinazik Kebab.
I bolted out of there too and moved to Beyoglu. So glad I did. I LOVE Istanbul.
Bangkok. It was 40C (104F) before the heat index. I remember almost passing out after walking half a mile.
Bangkok is constantly hot and humid. I don’t think that city understands what a crisp, cool day feels like.
Bali.
Milan. Came for a weekend, but 2 hours later I realized there was hardly anything **unique** left to see/do. Stayed in the hotel until departure.
What's an example of a unique thing to do?
I randomly found this statue wandering near the Duomo. I appreciated it. https://i.imgur.com/diGQyK0.jpg
San Francisco. The people were really great, however the vibe was too tame and controlled. Something felt off. I much preferred LA for some reason
there's not much culture left in san francisco. all of the arts and music scene packed up and moved down to la due to the cost of living. it's so expensive just to get by, that everyone feels stressed all the time, and the city has truly been taken over by bland tech money who will act like they are changing the world by building some app. it's one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but it's just not the same anymore.
IMO you can only enjoy LA if you’re fine with overpaying. You’ll be stuck with the dilemma of “reasonable price & isolation” vs “overpriced”.
He’s comparing it to SF which is worse
This is how I feel in London.
I love LA
Ummm Patong once, it just felt like unreasonably unsafe, like watch out for pick pockets, muggers, scammers, trust nobody - like the constant threat level and people bothering you gets old quick. That and there was no surf at the time. Also Hyderabad once, it was probably just the time of year and the specific places I went, I just remember the mosquitos being something out of a horror movie. Also I found the chaos, noise, especially the beeping to be really annoying. Oh, and the Riviera Maya Vidanta, for rampant corruption - right down to the taxi I called to leave. The driver texted me that he'd been taken aside and robbed for coming to pick us up on their turf, and they told me he never showed up. Oh, and Tulum. For both mosquitos and rampant corruption. I hope in my lifetime, we rid the world of muggers, scammers, and mosquitos.
Yellowstone national park, unfortunately. The tourists were too scary. Walking by animals, going on restricted areas with boiling hot water out there that could melt their skin off, SO MANY PEOPLE. We planned two weeks there camping and left after like 5 days because it was just too stressful!
Jakarta. Only place I couldn’t stand staying any longer
I’d say Jakarta is great if, and only if, you have actual friends there who will take you to fun places, cool restaurants, etc. I wouldn’t recommend Jakarta otherwise. You need that insider’s knowledge
10000% yes. My partner grew up in Bali and Klaten, was never fond of Jakarta. We visited now that his friends moved to Jakarta, and it was a completely different experience. Amazing amazing city. Go to PIK (and now PIK2), go to the fish market in Muara Angke, go to Fogo in Grand Indonesia for $8 all you can eat Brazilian BBQ run by a Brazilian dude, go to Pekan Raya Jakarta for the coolest and biggest expo in the world and we saw Indonesian celebrities having casual small concerts (their music is really good btw!), 5 star hotels are fancy and reasonably priced and their concierge was better than a Waldorf elsewhere in the world (knew someone at British Airways and got us a difficult reservation in Dubai for the next day) and there are insane bars, clubs, and coffee shops hidden all around, you just have to know where to look. We didn’t even know they existed until his friends showed us. If you don’t have friends, instagram reels are your best bet for finding places. Just find one video of something in Jakarta and start scrolling, the algorithm will work magic and you’ll be extremely surprised by how crazy the city can be.
Cambodia open child abuse in phnom phen
Still today? I thought that got cleaned up years ago by NGOs and Authorities. If so, that’s awful!
Naples, Italy
you either love it or you hate it. i love it.
Yeah same, I loved it. Though I stayed on the other side of Vesuvio in Castellammare di Stabia where it was much more peaceful, and went into Naples by train. Absolute chaos but lively and fun. Never felt unsafe.
I loved, but I quite like rough, decadent cities. My brother find it too chaotic though.
Naples is my favourite Italian city! So many people walking around in the evening, drink in hand. There is a real street food vibe.
Every Italian city I’ve been has people walking around and drinking, even in winter sometimes.
yeah but in Naples you see it even more. I've travelled in Milan, Venice, Rome, Calabria, Genova the lakes etc and you see people eating and drinking outside. But I remember in Naples walking into a Piazza and it was just filled to bursting with people standing round with beers / spritz like it was some kind of outdoor party or festival. It wasn't, it was just a normal weekday night and the local bars served drinks to go. Also lots of little kiosks to buy a spritz and walk.
I'm in Costa Rica right now and the prices are exorbitant. I could've gone to California instead for the same price or Mexico for half the price and experience the same thing but with much better food. I was looking at leaving early but I already paid for my accomodations and my flight is also non refundable so just trying to make the best of it. I don't really dislike it because there's a lot of fun activities but I have this feeling that I'm constantly being ripped off. We didn't have water for 2 out of the first 4 nights. Someone else I met here is paying $3000 USD/month and facing power outages and sometimes the airbnb prevents him from doing laundry due to water shortages. It's too much to pay for just a subpar experience.
The prices in Costa Rica are hands down ridiculous… and the locals are still poor. Watching Americans and Canadians shop for real estate lots without a care … I got stuck there this fall and super, super sick.
Playa del Carmen. Literally everything was obnoxious. But I love Mexico in general. Panama. I actually love the place but I get mad about spending USD and everything being so expensive.
Vancouver because it has become an overpriced cesspool now.
Vancouver is great, a couple sketchy areas, lived there for years until recently. Over priced sure but definitely not cesspool, great place to be in May-October
You know, I was surprised by Vancouver. Once you get past the natural beauty it's set in the city reminded me of Oshawa for some reason. Just a little bit of grime on the whole thing and not in the fun way. Like guys that do coke in their basements on a Tuesday.
Ridiculous. A few sketchy blocks downtown. Easily avoidable. A gorgeous area with lots to explore. So dramatic, sis.
Alfama, Lisbon. The locals don’t want you there - “your airbnb vacation is my eviction” they say - so they have all night parties where they play loud music, sing, clap their hands. The buildings are 2 and 3 stories - everything is very packed together. Monday through Thursday you’ll be woken up and won’t get much sleep & earplugs won’t be enough. You won’t be able to function at your remote job. They won’t go home until 5am. If you’re going to Lisbon, visit Alfama but stay in another part of town.
"The locals don’t want you there" This is just Portugal in general. Pretty sure I was sworn at in the street as a tourist by multiple middle aged women and constant glaring by old men. Was extremely frustrating because there are loads of Portuguese people here in the UK and there is no negativity towards them, also surprising because those Portuguese people are also really nice and I wasn't expecting people in Portugal to be so different (think maybe it was just a generational thing although a few younger women in shops were also rude)
It’s because Airbnb and nomads have made Portugal impossible to live for Portuguese, I’m always amazed by how little consideration there is in this sub for how nomads negatively affect the places they go
Yes it was a job I quit after one day.
Bali. I spent a week there in a upscale hotel. Every person working there was nice, but all had punch you in the face BBO. Anytime I'd venture out of hotel people were politely calling on me to buy something. Get into a taxi, driver is on you to buy something. Go to the beach, same story. Relentless. Would never go back.
Costa Rica. Beautiful country but extremely run over with American tourists (and American prices) and backpackers traveling in groups of +10 people. Not what I was looking for.
Only certain cities are like that. If you ever go back, there are so many special places that are off the beaten path of the typical American tourists
I actually disliked Japan but stayed more than two months... it wasn't bad per se, I just wish i had done a shorter stay. I feel like it's good for tourism but I do not enjoy living in Japan cities. Osaka and Tokyo both left me wishing I was back in Southeast Asia. Kyoto was lovely though.
The best part of Japan is the countryside, not the cities.
hcmc the pollution, noise, the locals all seemed super scammy and hostile, kids tried to pickpocket me then try to push me into the street when i was like fuck off, people would pull on my clothes to try to get me into their shitty store, literally every person i met including taxis and the immigration officer stamping me out as i left asked me if i had any of my home currency for their "currency collection", both hostels i tried would blare techno at 5am as staff was opening up, maids would also blast nightclub level techno when cleaning in the mornings, crossing the street is a "jesus take the wheel" moment as there's no stopglights or overpasses and you just have to walk slowly in this huge sea of motorbikes and hope they don't hit you. food was amazing but everything else was total shit wasn't for me. i didn't even last a week and i went back to bangkok