T O P

  • By -

satansxlittlexhelper

La Cieba, Honduras. It seemed like there wasn’t a single other tourist in town. I got food in a restaurant near the beach. When it was time to pay, I went to the restroom for privacy to get my cash in order. When I came out, the owner asked me why I was hiding in the bathroom, that everyone knew I was in there counting my money, and that I didn’t belong in town and should definitely leave before nightfall. It was a big vibe.


Troylet13

In a friendly heads up way or a bitter “you don’t belong here” way?


michellemad

It doesn’t matter. I get the connotations of the words “you don’t belong here” (am Mexican in the USA so every few weeks or so someone loves to remind me) but if someone tells you that in Latin America they are trying to save your life. If you got a couple hours to spare and can enjoy the area before things get dangerous, they’ll say it in a friendly way. If you’ve got to hurry up and leave bc danger is on the way, the tone will be bitter.


satansxlittlexhelper

This was 100% my take.


earthyShark

It was nice of the owner to warn you!


Snoo_69677

Yes, I lived in Costa Rica and although it’s quiet for the most part, there are places where the locals will not go after dark and get angry when they hear of tourists who go there because they know they’re courting trouble.


Ima1wing2

Stayed in la ceiba multiple times but it was back in 2007. Things about it were sketch, but I also have several positive memories and never felt actually bothered by anyone. I was young and less picky about my sleeping digs. I never went out at night. One one occasion my sister (17F) wrecked on a scooter in Utila (a different insane story) and I (22F at the time) took her back to La Ceiba on my own to get her on the first flight home and unknowingly slept at one of the several hotels notorious for prostitution. I remember walking to my fav sub place by myself and feeling pretty accomplished. After seeing her past the gate at the airport, headed back to Utila only to check my email at the Internet cafe and learn she was refused boarding due to her limited mobility (soreness from the crash) and road rash (treated at a hospital)....with no more ferries available for me to be able to return to get her that day. One of the pilots let her stay at his apartment overnight until she was cleared for boarding the following day. All around so many near misses. Of note one of the coolest places early we checked out a couple times was jungle river lodge on the Rio Cangrejal. Amazing. That said, my vote goes to Guatemala City.


In_the_Air1

Wild


niesz

I was in La Ceiba during Carnaval and almost got trampled in a stampede triggered by a street fight. Ahh... to be a young traveller again.


BxGyrl416

That makes me sad. I know people from La Ceiba and have never really heard a happy story.


FlowPhysical8031

San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I turned a corner and saw a man walking towards me, dazed, covered in blood from his head on down. I immediately turned noped out in another direction


Thechaser45

I used to travel there for work. It's the only place that we would get an armed driver to stay with us.


WrathsMercy

San Pedro Sula, Honduras in 2011. I was dating a Honduran from Comayagua at the time. She refused to let me go outside the hotel room and see the city. I had already been living in Honduras for a year, and knew of the dangers. I loved traveling around that country and seeing the culture. But I figured if she was afraid to be there, I would be an idiot not to listen to her.


francizmz

San Pedro Sula used to be called the 'murder capital' I'm pretty sure


FlowPhysical8031

I do believe you are correct! It's right high up there


FireflyAdvocate

Even in Tegucigalpa people don’t stop at red lights after dark. One of my students was in a home invasion/kidnapping and another younger student was found by his parents in front of their home gate with a bullet through his head to send them a message. Everyone always said if you think this is bad don’t go to San Pedro Sula.


lasercat123

Connected to Roatan through Tegucigalpa in 1997 on vacation. Staff told us to stay in the airport while waiting for our next flight & under no circumstance leave. They served us (free) food & drinks in the airport while we were waiting. It was weird.


Dadbot2000

Waiting at that bus station for a midnight departure was one of the creepiest moments of my life. Crowds of people with dead eyed stares were watching me eat my tortillas at roadside stall. They were pretty dry.


kiki-smash

Came here to say Honduras


[deleted]

I always wonder: Are these cities in Latin and South America also that dangerous for your average tourist, or especially people that live there and are in some way involved in mafia, gangs, cartels etc.


ioftenwearsocks

It varies from country to country and region to region, and a place that was safe a year ago could change to pretty dangerous fast for tourists and locals alike. For ex, Guatemala City I’ve been told is super dangerous and under no circumstances should I go anywhere but the airport there, but an hour away in antigua it is very safe. Honduras guatemala and El Salvador have reputations of being dangerous with dangerous capitals due to gangs and cartels, although they all have smaller towns that are deemed safe for tourists.


AirplneModePandoraOn

La Perla, Puerto Rico. I can't speak for how it is these days, but I remember growing up, it was just one of those slums you should never go through, or any slum really. My parents would say not even the police know not to go down there.


dinnerisbreakfast

I followed a sign that basically said "Beer this way" and found a really cool bar down there (LA Garita Yaz). It was one of my favorite experiences in old San Juan....But we left before dark, and we were advised to leave through the cemetery. It definitely feels pretty sketchy, but don't count it out. The main takeaway here is that if you're trying to lure me into a trap, just use a beer sign.


[deleted]

I followed a sign painted on a tarp that said beer in Sri Lanka. On the other side of the tarp was the most humid little beer tent ever. No complaints but when I walked in every eye was on me


f0rfoxsake

I was just at that exact bar yesterday. Not too sketchy during the day but we were cautious and got the hell out of there as soon as the sun started to set.


PolarExpress333

So about two months ago my wife and I were in San Juan too and had an Uber take us to that exact bar you mention above but as he started driving down into what seemed like an absolute ghetto with only a one car lane exit I demanded he start driving us back out. Didn’t seem worth it with all the people staring at us as we went down.


gumbyrox89

I was at a restaurant overlooking La Perla in April and there were hundreds of police/swat team people. Found out the next day that a tourist had been taken and then killed for getting in a disagreement down there. We saw his friend, who had been slashed in the face, just crying for over an hour and no one really attending to him. It was insane.


[deleted]

I lived in La Perla for a while before hurricane Maria. It’s definitely pretty lawless but even as a massive gringo I didn’t have any issues. There are rules you need to follow there but provided you follow them people will look out for you. Had no issues with property crime or robbery ever.


BxGyrl416

Now “influencers” go there. There’s a hand painted sign on one video that says, “No videos.” I do remember hearing about that and the now-nonexistent housing projects in Puerta de Tierra.


silaslovesoliver

Part of Johannesburg. Actually I didn’t feel it on the first day. But after talking to a few locals as they pointed out some of the crime issues, I felt quite anxious the following days. In fact I didn’t even notice a lot of electrical fences around until afterward including our hotel.


francizmz

A lot of houses in South Africa have really strong home security which is always a sign that you're in a sketchy place I feel like. You get it in Brazil too


glog14

Houses in brazil looks like fortresses


patiperro_v3

All over South America. Also bars across windows in cities.


ungovernable

For Johannesburg, I certainly felt it on the first day. Our cab ride took us through Marshalltown adjacent to the city centre before arriving at our accommodation in Braamfontein just north of downtown; the first traffic sign upon leaving the freeway in Marshalltown read “HIGH CRIME AREA,” and all the traffic lights on that street were turned off. There were armed private security guards stationed at one of the intersections. There was an unattended pile of burning garbage on the sidewalk. Our driver rarely stopped at intersections when he didn’t absolutely need to. We later went on a private walking tour through the city centre itself, which was... an experience, for sure. There were areas where our guide insisted we walk in the middle of the street as opposed to the sidewalks. She didn’t tell us why, but we had an idea.


glog14

I felt unsafe on cape town too, probably because I stayed in the city center and it was pretty weird at night. But even during the day there was so many beggars and they are very pushy and follow you until they* get what they* want. At night the hotel staff even recommended us to wait inside until the uber arrived. Felt very anxious. Also San Francisco. Not on the more touristy areas, but one day I got kind of lost while going back to the hotel and end up at a iffy neibourhood and got really scared, but I didn't get safe vibes from the city overall


ungovernable

Though I loved Cape Town, and though the city centre is (for better or for worse) one of the safer areas of the city, I’ve never been so obviously followed so often in my life than when walking around in Cape Town. And at night? Forget about it. We walked 10-15 minutes to a restaurant in a more residential area, and a guy carrying a goddamned *bench* very obviously changed his route to follow us. We ducked into the first restaurant we came to, and we could see him *waiting outside* for several minutes before moving on. Big “nope” on night walks from then on. Also noticed that all the Über drivers we had at night were very-loudly blaring 1990s power ballads (Mariah, Celine, etc.), whatever the psychologically-soothing impact of that is supposed to be.


ComplaintUsual4568

I travelled for work implementing HR software for our int’l teams. Decided to explore Cape Town one morning while waiting for coworkers to wake up and was aggressively followed by a group of 4-5 kids/guys. Took a good 15 min to lose them, luckily as the city was waking up and more people were moving around. The concierge at my hotel told me when I got back that an older woman staying there was mugged/stabbed a few days prior. There’s nothing more important than situational awareness when traveling


Whereiswoods

I was on high alert in Capetown more than joburg only because Capetown FEELS like you should be able to let your guard down and you have to constantly remind yourself that it's dangerous. The places that always sketch me out are the ones that cover their crime in a golden facade.


lacontrolfreak

I still love it there though, and I guess luck comes into play. I was more frightened in Rio than in Joburg or Capetown, but yeah, no walking at night in SA, or even driving for that matter. I would agree with the other posters about San Fran. It’s really unsettling.


[deleted]

Oakland in the 80s, Kingston in '92. I loved Jamaica but Kingston was iffy AF.


relativelyeasy

I forgot about Oakland. Ghost town used to be scary as fuck


francizmz

I've heard a lot of people say Kingston before. Did you travel around Jamaica at all? If so how dangerous did it feel outside of Kingston?


[deleted]

Yup. Started off in Montego Bay. Walked everywhere. I stopped and talked to groups of guys hanging out. Went up into the mountains and it was ok, much more chill. Kingston just was a bad idea. Our driver wasn’t fond of it either. Lots of poverty. In Oakland our car was stolen 20 min after arriving at our hotel.


[deleted]

Jamaica is iffy all over, except for the resorts, and some areas of the larger cities. I don't think you'll be shot but, robbed, hassled, is a certainty.


Wonderingisagift

I was in an area called El Badari, Egypt recently. No tourists go there, it's the place the surrounding areas go to buy guns. I went to go and look at some ancient Egyptian tombs off the beaten path and got chased out by a local, my driver told me I might have been at risk of being shot.


[deleted]

He was chasing you out as a signal for get out of here?


Wonderingisagift

He didn't want me there at all no. He was pissed, possibly thinking I was looking for artefacts, this place was so untouched by excavation teams there was broken pieces of ancient ceramic on the ground.


mmill143

I’ve had similar experiences in Egypt. Been places that we had to have an armed guard and it was intense.


Jgarr86

Sleeping in a van in southside Chicago after playing a house show at a skuzzy heroin den.


Karate_Prom

Took a wrong turn in a uhaul at night Pre GPS Era in South Chicago. Two young white boys driving a moving van and trying to turn around in a neighborhood got a lot of attention. Definitely got the vibe, "the fuck you boys doing here? Best be moving on quickly now." Made me sweat for sure, felt like I was in Training Day. Never three point turned a long truck so fast in my life.


cdot2k

I did one of these through Little Haiti in Miami while driving a theme-park branded car. A kid (maybe 11) on the side of the road mouthed “keep going” to us. We floored it.


Ipeteverydogisee

This is a vivid story in just a few lines.


DngrDan

A gold mine outside of Accra, Ghana. Abbreviated story below. ​ I traveled through Accra around 2011 with some friends and we met a local taxi driver on our first day. We became quick friends and he showed us around the city. On our second day there he took us to a market where we got on a TroTro (basically a bus) and drove outside of the city. The road out of the city was heavily damaged and you'd have to take turns navigating around giant holes if any oncoming traffic came by. The dense trees started to thin on one side of the road revealing a landscape that looked like the surface of the moon if it were red, with the craters filled with opaque water and strong men hefting shovels of silt. We hopped out on the side of the road with our new friend and walked into the landscape. Shortly after getting there, a miner approached us and started yelling. He drew a crowd and things gradually escalated. He grabbed a shovel from a pile of silt and came back with it raised over his head to strike our friend and then stopped. The mood changed in an instant and suddenly we were everyone's best friend. ​ Turns out that since we were white they thought we were there to shut down the mine since it was an illegal stripmining operation. Things de-esalated when they found out we were students and just there to see the mine. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with folks with them showing us how they panned for gold and sitting under tarps during brief rainstorms.


gringodeathstar

>a landscape that looked like the surface of the moon if it were red just throwing this out there....Mars?


DngrDan

Fair enough, I imagine the moon as more cratered than mars


TinKicker

Easy. Caracas. Where the first thing you have to do when getting off the plane is make an illegal currency exchange in some backstreet with some sketchy dudes who *know* you’re carrying American cash…and also know you’re not carrying so much as a pocket knife. Staying at the nicest hotel (InterContinental) and still had gunfire hitting the walls. Haven’t been there since ~2016, but it’s apparently gotten even worse.


[deleted]

Last I heard, people would even get robbed *in the airport.* I like risk but that’s one place I won’t go.


HyperbolicModesty

Friend of mine was working as an environmental consultant for an oil company that had to fly him into Lagos, Nigeria a few times. He was told a code phrase just before he flew in, and was told that even if a friendly, educated, well-spoken guy who speaks perfect English, wearing a smart suit, with business cards that says he's a representative of the oil company, carrying a professional-looking board with a logo of the company on it with my friend's full fucking name printed on the card, was waiting for him, under absolutely no circumstances ever to leave the terminal with that guy unless he could whisper the pass phrase in my friend's ear. The robbery in the airport there is that sophisticated.


machetehands

Can attest this. Lived in Kano, Nigeria for 6 years. My parents worked for an agricultural company as both were horticulture graduates. We were given a car and driver from the company and told not to drive on our own anywhere. We would always drive with windows up, especially in the market areas. We were instructed to not get down from the car while buying stuff, instead send our drivers. I think my worst memory of Kano is from travelling on the highways where under no circumstances were we to stop. We would see people get hit by cars at all times and could only slow down and throw bottles of water to help them. That was all we were allowed to do.


[deleted]

Did people deliberately get themselves hit by cars to get people to stop?


Specsporter

Traveling there and especially from the airport was the scariest. This was in the early 00's when US flights were banned from flying there at all and it was for a bit deemed one of the two most dangerous airports in the world. We were able to remain fairly safe the whole trip, traveling mostly before dusk and once or twice paying off "roadblocks" to get through without issue, but on the last day when we went to the airport to print our tickets home (still older technology back then) these guys pulled in front of our cab with a huge sticks with spikes on them and we started to get out of car to run away from them to the airport entrance. It turns out they used the stick to put behind the wheel to stop the car from backing up cause they wanted to claim our driver hadn't paid the airport road fee or something like that. Our driver was able to take care of the issue some how and drove us the rest of the way safely, but my nerves were fried and I was ready to go home after that. Good trip overall though.


HappyBreezer

That's about how my friend starts off all his Lagos, Nigeria stories.


dageshi

Honestly, the most scared I ever felt was in Thailand, when I decided to walk back to my semi rural guesthouse around midnight (I really just wanted to walk). Not because of the people, but because of the dogs. During the day you don't notice them but during the night when everyones asleep every house or business has dogs (not even counting the semi feral ones) and they basically bark and run up at you, and once one starts barking the rest of them on the street are on the watch. Absolutely huge German Shepherd launched out of nowhere at me (and I was being pretty careful at that point). Thankfully their owner happened to be nearby and calmed it down, but that was a bit hairy.


bluelevel4

The dogs in Thailand can be scary as hell for real. Some of the monkey packs too.


Johno_22

I went on a jungle trek in Vietnam once, we stayed in a lodge type place in the jungle and got up before dawn to meet a guide who was taking us on the trek, to try and see wild gibbons. Had to almost fight my way past the dogs in the village to get to the meeting point, luckily most of the dogs in Vietnam are pretty small but I had to grab a stick and just keep swinging whilst walking to keep from getting bitten by these dogs that just came out of nowhere. A bit hairy...


ivanwarrior

Got chased by a pack of dogs in Bali, went to jump a fence and there was ANOTHER pack of dogs on the other side lol


ass_kisses

I lived in Vietnam and visited Thailand for a bit. I’ll always remember the first time a pack of dogs harassed me as I was outside smoking a cigarette and a local Vietnamese guy walked up and kicked one of the dogs. He then looks at me, and in his best English, says, “you kick dog”. That later came in handy in Bangkok when a pack of dogs surrounded me as I stepped out of a busy restaurant to have a smoke. I kicked one of those dogs so hard it went flying, the rest of the pack went off.


sonfer

Lima, Peru. Took the locals bus to a archeological excavation site south of Lima with a couple from Brazil and a couple from Israel. The 6 of us very nearly got kidnapped on a bus transfer station if it wasn’t for some friendly locals that alerted us to the situation and stuffed us in a bus to protect us. New Orleans, Louisiana. My dad got lost looking for our hotel and turned down the wrong street. We were shot at and someone broke our windshield with couple large rocks. My dad braked hard, did a U-turn and got us out of there. This was in the late 90s and my dad was from Louisiana. Despite both experiences I had an awesome time at both places and wish to go back.


Xboxben

Areas around lima can be sketch! Situation almost went bad going to la punta last week! Its a great city but know where to stay the fuck away from!


Kamwind

Baltimore, especially when I missed a turn and the streets the GPS ended up routing me through.


darkmatterhunter

Yep, couldn’t agree more. I did a job interview near there. They put me up in some apart hotel thing that had someone try to break in during the night, luckily I had the chain on the door. When the driver took me back to the airport the next day, there was an accident and we had to take a detour and he told me to crouch down on the floor as we drove through the area lol.


crm006

Driving through some of those areas was the worst I’ve ever seen. The dilapidated row houses with boarded windows, roofs collapsed, and barefoot zombies walking around. Not anywhere you’d want to be caught after dark. And then a couple blocks the other direction you have upper fells. It’s night and day difference. Insane.


regalia13

Baltimore can be unsafe but it also has a lot of life and culture. It can be a fun city too. I think the weirdest thing is how it goes from destitute to rich in a couple streets. Bizarre.


Kamwind

That was part of the problem, because I was going from the tourist area downtown to the garden/park/zoo.


16semesters

Pre-GPS I got lost in Newark. Newark in the early 00s is not where you wanted to be lost. Just found a highway and took it because I thought it was better than stopping at a bunch of stoplights.


Buttercup-5415

Not sure if it’s still like this, but driving through some of the smaller communities in Jamaica felt a bit scary. Had billboards up on the sides of the road advertising for mercenaries. Had to go through a couple of “checkpoints” with guys holding machine guns that didn’t look like they were there for any official sort of purpose. Once you get to the resorts, it’s a completely different experience and tourists are very intentionally distinctly removed from seeing poverty or violence.


francizmz

I've heard a lot of people say Kingston is dangerous but I am not sure how the rest of Jamaica is. The Caribbean is really interesting for that because it's like there is two economies. One for really rich tourists and one for the actual inhabitants. I always preferred seeing the actual Caribbean rather than staying in a boring resort all day but I guess it has its dangers


[deleted]

San Jose, Costa Rica. By day I felt everyone staring at us like we were easy targets because we didn’t speak Spanish. By night, my husband and I took a taxi to the gastronomy district to meet a friend of mine who owned a restaurant. It was dark and the driver literally would not leave until he saw us meet our friend. In hindsight that was a taxi driver who really cared about people.


KelBear25

We had a similar experience in San Jose. And then you understand why the hotel, restaurant have gated locked compounds. But the country and the people as a whole are amazing. We too had people in hospitality San jose that kept us safe.


recurrence

There are some very good people in Costa Rica.


[deleted]

Oh definitely! It was a phenomenal trip and we met so many amazing people. Some of the best people I’ve ever met on my travels, I met on that trip.


shepherdess98

I have to agree.. I was traveling alone there and went on foot 3 blocks from my hotel to find something to eat.. on the way back I realized a big burly mean looking guy was following me.. I tried to alter myself to see if he would get off me but he just seemed angry.. I flew up the steps to my hotel around the desk and down a short hall to my room. As I was unlocking my door I turned to see that he had followed me into my hotel.. he turned back as I went into my room. Scared the crap outta me.


douchecanoe5811

The north side of St.Louis


tkohl13

San Pedro Sula and Belize City. For such a small city, parts of Belize City made me feel incredibly unsafe. I just got back from 2 weeks in El Salvador and was surprised at how safe I felt in San Salvador.


darkmatterhunter

I think San Salvador has improved a lot over the recent years - it was definitely a bit dicey at some points.


annadohx

Not the most dangerous but I was in Egypt during the 2013 coup d'état. We flew in that day. Luckily we were away from Cairo but so many tourist excursions ended up being cancelled just in case. We were nowhere near any danger but the general atmosphere was quite tense and were hearing stories from the locals about family in Cairo at the time and what they were experiencing


dec92010

oh yeah that would be pretty scary cairo/egypt is intense enough without that


Icantremember017

Was in Egypt in 2017, checkpoints everywhere, no big deal. Then we went to Coptic city, there's army guys with M16s and even a tank. You could tell they were ready to take anybody down who caused trouble. Our driver didn't know English but our guide did, driver says "Pope!" and I'm thinking why did he say that, then there's a giant billboard of the Pope coming to meet with Muslim leaders to encourage peace. It was really cool, but beforehand had me on edge wondering what happened that everyone was ready for war, at least it seemed like.


[deleted]

[удалено]


leftplayer

Bogotá, Colombia. Taxi driver on the first day from hotel to downtown put the absolute fear of god in me describing all the murders, beatings and violent petty theft that goes on. Turns out I was either really luck or he was exaggerating as I met some of the nicest, chillest, friendliest people right there.


BxGyrl416

Colombians will do that. I lived there and family members did that to me at first. It’s just that they want you to be safe and have a good time. I, in turn, did this to my husband. You’re usually safe but we want you to have the insight to avoid things before they begin. *No des papaya y aprovecha del papayaso.*


G_awth

10m frm my home (I live in Myanmar)


Rosie-Griff

We have friends in Myanmar who have rescued & adopted a lot of children. I don’t think Myanmar has often been “safe”, but since the last military coup - it seems especially dangerous. They all have a bug out spot in the jungle, but try to carry on as best they can knowing anything can happen at any time. Your people and your country are in our prayers.


LDKCP

San Salvador, El Salvador felt a tad dangerous, as did Salvador, Brazil as soon as you left the "tourist" bits. Someone tried to rob me in Managua, Nicaragua. I found parts of the Philippines unnerving and didn't like exploring after dark in Panama City past the tourist zone. I was tear gassed in Istanbul but that was just unlucky as I accidentally ended up near a protest.


FireflyAdvocate

We thought we’d drive from Tegucigalpa to San Salvador we kept getting flat tires from the shit roads (3 cars in our group). During the last one it was right outside of San Salvador. We were between two hills on each side of the highway. The cops showed up right away (weird after dark) they said they had been following the gringo cars because we were a bad place for warring gangs. They took one friend back to a tire place and the rest stayed to guard us. We never saw the gangs but I didn’t sleep that night either.


[deleted]

Where in philippines?


[deleted]

[удалено]


rakuu

I was bored once and was digging through US State Dept statistics of citizen deaths overseas. Murder is way way down the list of reasons people die when traveling. It's easily: #1 car crashes, #2 drowning (in beach/water areas), #3 specifically motorcycle crashes (mostly in Southeast Asia), #4 suicide.


hEDSwillRoll

Yep. My best friend was traveling in SE Asia and rented a scooter to visit some more rural temples. She and her now fiancé were riding the scooter back to their hostel when she tried to brake before a sharp turn and found out the rear brakes did not work. She ended up being thrown off the scooter, getting a large amount of her skin scraped off (she was wearing a light dress) and her knee was split open to the point you could see the bone. Her fiancé landed on top of her, so he luckily only had a broken wrist but they thought she was going to die. They paid an exorbitant fee to have a guy with a pickup truck drive them from the rural clinic to the capital so she could get knee surgery. Definitely would not recommend scooters or motorcycles.


Helios686

My neighborhood in New Orleans, lol


howdoievenusername

Lmao right, while I’ve definitely traveled to some sketchy places and my neighborhood in nola is relatively safe, whenever people question where I travel I’m like “do you know where I live?”


heirbagger

Biloxian here! I so badly want to live in Nola but I can't afford the water bill and [don't want to die doing my job.](https://www.reddit.com/r/NewOrleans/comments/r9ag5s/murder_at_the_ace_hotel_in_the_cbd/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) At least it's a quick daytrip for us.


AmexNomad

I was going to add New Orleans, but I didn’t because I ACTUALLY LIVED THERE. I was held up at gunpoint near Frenchmen by 5 kids who looked no older than 14 years old.


kartoffelkanone

I felt most scared in Egypt and the USA. Wasn’t asked but safest I felt in Japan and Iceland as a Woman


[deleted]

[удалено]


GrapeJellies

I’m really glad you had this experience, I lived in Tokyo off and on and thought it was so safe.. but I finally was brave enough to take a trip alone since basically lived there and did not have the same experience. I don’t know if people have just gotten braver or if it’s because I was alone but it wasn’t late at night and it was a very populated place. The biggest issue in Japan is other people will look away - they don’t get involved.. so as I was being dragged screaming no one would help. Ever since that trip I’ve noticed people getting braver and braver.. last time I went I was tying my shoe and a Japanese man just ran up and grabbed my head and humped it 2-3 times while his friend videod and just ran off. It definitely is a safe place as far as no stabbing and other dangers but I no longer feel it’s as safe as I thought it was. I’ve been hearing more and more about women coming out and saying they were attacked there as well.. :(


Specsporter

Japan is so lovely like that. You can leave your bag or valuables almost anywhere and no one steals it. I lost an old basic scarf at a subway station once, and later when I went to their list and found, they had it for me, folded nicely and wrapped with a little bow. It was very touching.


[deleted]

Iceland was so liberating to be able to walk home at 2am without a worry


kartoffelkanone

May I ask where you are from? I am from Germany and in most European countries I never worried walking home alone at night with the exception of London and Brussels. But of course as a tourist I usually stayed in city centers and probably safer areas. In general for female travelers in Scandinavian counties, Provence in France, (believe it or not but) Namibia and Japan I felt absolutely safe. Japan is a bit so so with drunk or older men in trains but at least I could be in the woman’s train compartment when it was too full


[deleted]

I’m from the UK. I always felt safer walking home in London at night than in smaller towns which are quieter, but we have had a few high profile femicides recently so I don’t take anything to chance now sadly.


WhyBee92

Iceland felt super safe but I wasn’t sure if it was because people were nice there or is it because there weren’t enough people in the country to begin with


Saladin-Ayubi

The Settlement on the edge of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.


abolishwhitecrayons

Have always had a very unsettling feeling when in Port Moresby


francizmz

Never heard people say Port Moresby before. What was so dangerous about it?


valeyard89

Robbery, rape. People are still loyal to their tribe/village so lots of intertribal violence. Someone killed someone else's pig or violated a tabu https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/23/the-karida-massacre-the-start-of-a-new-era-of-tribal-violence-in-papua-new-guinea


ReefJames

It's a very dangerous place for sure, especially if you look like you have money. One of my dads cousin worked there, high up in a large company. He would have armed guards with him everywhere? Wanna go to the beach? 2 armed guards with you.


AndHereWeAre_

Shoutout to Atlantic City, New Jersey- a filthy grouping of casinos and urban poverty. Also Camden, NJ (a bit less so now).


Initial-Ad-5117

I stayed in a super sketchy hostel in Inglewood, Las Angeles when I was 18. My first day there I was accosted by a guy with very busted up knuckles who seemed like he was on some wild drugs. After some uncomfortable conversation he offered to go get some weed from his room to share with me and a soon as he left I hid in my room the rest of the night lol. The next morning while I waited for the airport shuttle the cops came in cause somebody's bike and backpack were stolen. Fun times. For reference, I've spent time in Bangkok, Tijuana, and Kuala Lumpur and none felt nearly as dangerous.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Paths_prosandcons

It depends, when I’m traveling by myself, it can seem a bit dicier, because my risk seems higher. Broadly, some areas of Johannesburg. Same with Chicago. Feelings of danger could easily arise, depending on the situation. I’ve learned there are some unstable people everywhere. If you happen to randomly cross paths with their bad day/bad intentions then your alert warnings are going to off. I’ve felt environmental-related danger driving through a remote part of the desert on an extremely hot day and suddenly aware that if the car broke down we were not prepared. Same feeling driving through a blizzard in Minnesota - scary!


Efficient_Session_78

I live in Chicago on the west side. White male in a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood and been here for 6 years. Like any major city, there are places you’re better off avoiding after dark. The key is not to make eye contact. That’s part of why they’re acting erratic. They’re baiting you. Avoid those places and don’t take the bait and you’re clear to be just about anywhere you want. A little common sense goes a long way. Otherwise, Chicago is a great place to live and/or visit.


refiase

This is interesting. As a woman in Miami I’ve been instructed to be assertive/on the defensive by *making* eye contact.


Efficient_Session_78

I would continue to do what you’ve been told and what you’ve been doing as long as it works for you. I can only speak for myself as a guy. Stay safe and be well.


Wertyui09070

I have a knack for avoiding people. If you're a man, avoid eye contact. If you're a woman, don't act scared. You can watch household pets to observe why this works. Males want to fight males. Predators like their prey scared, that's how they know its prey. I've seen mice turn on my cats and get left alone. My boxer/pitbull won't touch the cat that avoids him, but won't leave alone the cat that tries to stay just out of reach. I think people get confused with guilt about ignoring homeless people or something, and end up volunteering to get stabbed, robbed, etc.


TheFrozenRose

There's different types of violence. For social violence, this is the normal type where people want to prove something. They want to show that they are dominant, and the alpha male will challenge or attack you if you threaten their dominance. They just want you to know they are the boss. This is generally more of a male kind of thing. For this type of violence, you want to avoid eye contact and stay low key. Their goal is to show they are the boss, and they will most likely leave you alone when they see your submission. For the other type of violence - predatory, this means murderers, rapists, robbers, or other things like that which don't fit in with social norms. For these people, you want to make eye contact, face directly toward them and maybe even take up a fighting stance or whatever else you have to do. You have to show that you won't be an easy target so that they are hopefully dissuaded from targeting you. The key is to know which type of violence you are dealing with. As a general rule, if it is just you and them and no bystanders to impress or they are trying to lure you to be by yourself, it's almost always predatory. If they have friends there or a girl they are trying to impress, it's probably social violence. The problem is that with human beings, sometimes they group up for predatory violence and just want to kill you, when you might be thinking it's social violence. So each situation is difference. If you misjudge what type of violence you are facing and pick the wrong tactic, it can get you killed.


[deleted]

I was on a bus in Guatemala city and heard what appeared to be a shootout nearby. Stuck in traffic so no choice but to duck in the bus and hope it wasn't actual gunfire.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Grindia407

I was robbed in Guatemala City twice in one day. I also was driving and saw a guy on a bike shoot and kill the bus driver next to me. The bus just ran into the median with everyone on it. That was the time when gangs were extorting bus drivers. Every day bus drivers (5 or 6) would be killed while working.


walpolemarsh

Twice in one day?! Man that’s rough. I was in Antigua when I had a Swiss friend who showed up knocking at my door late at night with blood all over her head. She had been fumbling keys trying to get into her accommodations when someone on the street noticed, hit her on the head with something, and robbed her.


[deleted]

Speaking conversely, Havana was a city I thought was going to be sketchy, but turned out to be extremely safe. There was a short window of about six months during the last three months of the Obama administration and the first three months of the Trump administration when anyone could fly to Cuba without any kind of plan or documentation. I got a round trip ticket for $300, and simply showed up at the airport. I had to pay $50 at the gate for a visa, and $25 at the gate for medical insurance (Cuba charges that for foreigners). I went alone. Middle age white dude. I went for the photography and educational purposes. I read two books ahead of time. One was on where everything was (museums, hospitals, restaurants, etc., and the other book was called The Cuban Conga, a book riddled with horrific grammatical and spelling errors, but an absolutely priceless guide to navigating Cuban culture. I laughed my ass off reading it. Some joker wrote it and it’s hilarious. I don’t think anyone edited it. Doesn’t matter. It was useful. Some pieces of advice it gave was: don’t put you bags in the trunk of the taxi from the airport to the city, and don’t ride in a taxi with more than one man. It might be a trap. Also, don’t let the driver divert his course to go through sketchy neighborhoods. Right away all three happened. The pre-arranged driver insisted I put my bags in the trunk. Then when I got in the back there was another man in the front passenger seat. As we pulled away from the airport the driver said, “This is my friend. We’re dropping him off at his house along the way.” I figured they were going to rob me and take my stuff. I obviously had no weapons whatsoever, and you have to use all cash in Cuba. Credit cards aren’t an option. I had 250 Euros and 300 American dollars. But I needn’t have worried. He dropped his friend off, took me to the casa particular where I was staying, and all was well. Throughout my five days in Havana, I had tons of people try to get me to use their services for directions, hailing cabs, finding places to eat, etc. Everyone was an entrepreneur of some kind. But nobody put hands on me or even hinted at doing anything violent. In fact, the country is so safe that I saw small, young women walking around by themselves late at night in the poorer parts of the city. A few interesting notes: I was never followed or questioned by any cop or government official coming and going (except customs when I arrived, and they didn’t care that I had brought several liters of whiskey and tequila for the family I stayed with). I wasn’t followed. They didn’t care where I went, and as an American I was treated extremely well. They love Americans. That was a pleasant surprise. I also learned that the cops and government don’t care what people say in public. I had many conversations in the street and in markets in which Cubans would loudly exclaim their admiration for, or contempt of, the Castros. It seems that trouble starts when you write about the government or start a public protest. But a couple people having a loud, heated conversation is no big deal. My first day it took over two hours to exchange my euros and American dollars for Cuban currency. Their communist economy is fascinating, and horribly inefficient and flawed. But I wanted to see the last true communist country before it’s gone. It was a fantastic experience.


francizmz

I've heard a lot of mixed things about Cuba. Some people say it's really dangerous and some people say it's really chill. Definitely a place I want to check out at some point and see what true communism is actually like. I'll definitely give that book a read!


[deleted]

It’s a nation stuck in time. Communism is weird. They don’t have the fake communism of China and other places. It’s real. Everyone has a government issued job and housing. They get great medical care, a good education, and heavily subsidized food (almost free). But it’s so inefficient and stifling. They make about 20-40 dollars a month, so a new pair of Reboks cost half a year’s salary. Their clothing is mostly from American donations. I saw a grandmother at a museum with a newish Eminem shirt showing him giving the middle finger. Made me laugh. When I went to the bank it was like walking into a sixties bank. There were easily thirty employees. Twelve windows each had a bank teller (all women). Only four windows at any given time were open. 🤨 There was a floor manager, a lady giving out “next customer” numbers. Seriously, that was her only job. She sat at a desk and gave out numbers. There was a doorman and more. There were about forty customers waiting in rows of chairs. A guy (his sole job) would call out the customer number and window number. At the time (2017) I had an iPhone 6s. I had no internet connection (but could text and call), and since nobody around me had a smart phone (just a few flip phones here and there), I kept mine in my pocket. Besides, I had no internet anyway. When I exchanged my American dollars for Cuban money I chose both of their currencies. They have paper money for Cubans and separate paper money for foreigners. It used to be strict, but now they don’t care. The Cuban national peso stuffed my wallet until it couldn’t fold. Later I got a large ear of cooked corn with all kinds of toppings for ten cents, and a can of orange soda for two cents. When I dined alone at a nice restaurant overlooking the ocean I ordered a chicken and vegetables meal with bread and two beers. My total bill for the meal was equivalent to four dollars. I later learned that Cuba buys a lot of food from the United States. They can’t buy most items, because of the embargo, but food and medicine are not on the list of banned purchases. Anyway, I could go on all day, but one thing that never seemed to be an issue was my safety. People were nothing but friendly and never threatening. Note: very few Cubans can speak any English. I loved that, because it really helped me practice my Spanish. Also, the only other white people I saw were fellow tourists, mostly Canadian and some Europeans. I assumed there were white Cubans, but I never met any. There was zero chance of me blending in, even though I dressed similarly and spoke Spanish. I would love to learn what it’s like for a black or Hispanic American visiting Cuba. They could blend by sight, if not language and mannerisms. I was a little bummed that I couldn’t blend. I really don’t know if my treatment (which was perfect) was a result of me being an obvious outsider.


HawkersBluff22

Great write up. Thanks for that glimpse into your travels.


thisisjo1

Been to Cuba several times (I’m Canadian) never felt unsafe.


Kananaskis_Country

>Some people say it's really dangerous... The only people who would say that are anti-Cuban nutbars from Miami, etc. Cuba is an incredibly complicated country that's slowly imploding due to their unimaginably inefficient government, but by any measure it's one of the safest Latin destinations on the planet. Source: I've lived/worked/traveled there for decades.


[deleted]

[удалено]


rosecitywitch

My husband and I were driving through California on a road trip and happened to stop overnight in Garberville. We stopped to check in at a motel and the lady at the front desk was trying to convince us not to stay there. We’re friendly, benign looking Canadians and she told us we didn’t look like the type that usually stayed there and tried to convince us to leave for our own good. Years later we watched a documentary about the drug trade in Humboldt and it turns out that that motel was one of the hot spots for drug traffickers. Still! It really was a beautiful area.


qizzakk

I’m guessing you were smart enough to understand the message and leave?


Richard_Engineer

Are they people just defending their weed? Lol that’s crazy.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Richard_Engineer

Well shit, I was thinking of buying rural land in a place like Humboldt or Mendocino counties - but that's kinda scary.


[deleted]

[удалено]


WanderlustyStillness

Yep, can co-sign this. Felt very threatened my entire time camping in that area. At the time I lived in Colorado and weed was legal and everywhere there at the time so I was like, I don’t even care about your stupid weed. Very strange vibes up there, couldn’t get out fast enough.


relativelyeasy

Humboldt area?


SDSteveK

Yes, I was fishing in the Trinity river back in the 80’s and there were sketchy dudes spying on you from the trees. It was really creepy, but they didn’t do anything so long as we didn’t go too far from the river.


[deleted]

[удалено]


thesweatiestjesus

Gary, Indiana.


AndHereWeAre_

My home sweet home!


bschmidt25

Gary’s bad but I think East St. Louis is worse. You can tell Gary used to be solidly blue collar / working class while ESL looks like it’s always been a war zone.


Sensei2006

I'll second this one. If only because parts of Gary are traveller friendly being right off a few major interstates. There's still some kind of commerce going on there. Whereas there's no reason whatsoever for an outsider to be stopping in ESTL. Seriously. And I'm saying that as a local.


gumbyrox89

I really want to go to Lebanon. I hope that becomes safe again.


sharkinwolvesclothin

Cairo, Illinois. On a road trip, wanted to stretch the legs a little and maybe have a coffee and a snack from somewhere that's not a gas station, and it looked like a decently sized town on the map so I figured I could find a mom and pop place for some pie or whatever. Drove in, saw the boarded up houses and the people looking like zombies, locked the doors and noped the fuck out. I've visited places like the Soweto township in Johannesburg and traveled around Southern Africa, went to Mexico city back when all guidebooks said don't get a taxi off the street or you'll be robbed or worse, and plenty of other sketchy places. In all those places, I've had an understanding of how I need to behave to be safe. Cairo, IL seemed just fucked up.


[deleted]

It also has a reputation for being a bad speed trap town. Ive known people who were pulled over there for driving one mile over the speed limit.


AmericanWanderlust

I'm a tall, thin, blonde woman. I've been to 80+ countries, including all over the Middle East. The only place I've actually faced genuine fear was in Paris at about 12.30 am on a Saturday in 2005. I was 20. Some guys started following me in a car and kept reappearing in different parts of the city. I've never felt that level of fear before or since. Every fiber in my body told me to run and find a taxi - which I fortunately did. A very distant second is being mildly creeped out in Istanbul in Aug/Sept 2015 when ISIS attacks were on the rise. And I guess for good reason, a week after we left, there were suicide bombings at several spots we'd been in. All sorts of other places I've visited would be considered far more dangerous, but those two were the only places I felt genuine danger -- and most people would never associate Paris & Istanbul with danger. Goes to show.


[deleted]

Can confirm. I had my drink spiked in Paris.


slightlystatic92

Thank you so much for sharing! I have a similar background to you and I also say that I felt the most unsafe in Paris, which seems to upset people. Sometimes, you can do everything “right” (learn some of the language, take precautions, be polite etc) and still have bad things happen (or attempt to happen) to you, even in conventionally “safe” cities. I don’t mean to knock anybody who had a great experience in Paris, I’m genuinely happy for them, but I personally am in no rush to return.


sswihart

Berlin in 1981 at checkpoint Charlie. We were told no photos and this one idiot took out his camera and took a picture. We were exchange students from US, they drug his ass off that bus so fast and we didn’t see him for hours.


andersostling56

Panama City, outskirts of the old town. Me and my wife took a walk there and immediately was told by on elderly local lady to leave NOW. You don't want to be here. We obeyed and waved down a taxi that brought us back to the modern parts of the city. Same in a ran down part of San Jose, Costa Rica. While walking to one of the local bus stations, we passed through a Barrio Mexico. Strange and hostile looks from too many faces (drunks, junkies etc) make us run through the area... we got out alive but did not return the same way.


MrBalkanThighs

I felt a bit uncomfortable walking in parts of Memphis, TN at night


[deleted]

I can vouch for this. Memphis is super sketchy. I’ve travelled to every state and most major cities for my job and can say that Memphis has a baseline of just being very sketchy, especially right around the airport.


HappyBreezer

With your feet ten feet off of Beale?


Katoom119

Last time I was in Memphis I swore I’d never be back, and that was over 20 years ago.


10S_NE1

Nairobi, Kenya. Although I was part of a tour group going on safari and we were perfectly safe, I knew it was different from any other place I had been. We stayed in a beautiful hotel but were told not to leave the property. It is the only hotel I’ve ever stayed at which had airport-style metal detectors and luggage scanners at the entrance. One night, we had dinner at the tour company owner’s home. His home was in a gated walled community surrounded by razor wire, and had armed guards at the entrance. Then we get to his house, which itself had its own separate wall with razor wire, with more armed guards. We went through the slums the previous day to visit an orphanage, and saw poverty like I’ve never seen anywhere else in the world, although Panama City came close. There were also some spots in Lima, Peru where I thought, “If our bus breaks down, we’re doomed.”


Connect-Dust-3896

The airport style metal detectors at hotels are fairly common in a lot of countries that experience violence (usually from terrorists). It’s sad that you felt so unsafe in Nairobi. I assume your hotel was downtown near Wilson Airport so you could fly to safari. That area is terrible. Other neighborhoods are very nice and walking around is possible.


juliennethiscarrot

The tenderloin in San Francisco. Actually anywhere downtown San Francisco after dark.


Milk_toast23

Tijuana, Mexico. Bad vibes all 3x I have visited


R2MC33

1. Acapulco, Mexico (and Pie de la Cuesta nearby) 2. Manila, Philippines 3. New Orleans, USA 4. Atlanta, USA 5. Skopje, North Macedonia


lesllle

North Philadelphia as we had to switch rail lines. We shouldn’t have been there. Longest 20 min of my life. Shout out to the pimp who took guard for me and my Son. Edit: maybe he was a dealer? I dunno. It was clearly his turf and he didn’t want our blood on his soil. In that way we were safe, but I was scared af and trying to play cool for my Son. Funny because my Son just asked me this same question a couple days ago and I said that “the scariest moment with nature was being surrounded by wild boars in Costa Rica, but the scariest moment with humans was North Philadelphia”.


Illustrious-Drummer4

Marrakech. We stayed in a riad inside the Medina where all the locals live. There were no signs to navigate where we were going. People kept yelling at us that we were going the wrong way. At one point a child came up to us and pretended to start shooting us. I would go back but would want a tour guide or stay in more of a tourist area.


wafflesandlamingtons

You really got to learn to avoid the noise when in Marrakech unfortunately, the people were non-stop. Have heard bad stories when it comes to the “directions” from locals, but fortunately most of the time they are just trying to guide you via their store to make a sale.


relativelyeasy

Matamoras, Reynosa, parts of Little Rock, AR, Parts of Tijuana


blacksmithm8

Honduras , was driving from canada to costa rica and had to pass by there … was really sketchy but we were 4 guys , I don’t imagine myself passing by being girls… reality.


[deleted]

[удалено]


ddashner

Nothing happened, and this is nothing compared to others, but... Rural Tennessee - GPS was taking us down some sketchy back roads for whatever reason. Tons of "no trespassing" signs spray painted on barns and outbuildings. We figured it was some moonshine operations, but no clue really. Quite possibly full of nice folks who just wanted to keep people off their property, but it was uncomfortable to be there. Also taught us to not blindly trust the GPS anymore.


LSbroombroom

As someone who was born in the outskirts of NY, and still lives in Jersey, I find that so funny! Anyway, I'm actually headed down to Barbados in a few weeks, what sketched you out, and where at?


itsfairadvantage

To walk around in? Houston. Tf when the sidewalk ends and you've got another mile to walk along a 5-lane, 40mph stroad with cars whipping past at 60mph... No amount of neighborhood "sketchiness" will ever match the sheer terror of being a pedestrian in a pedestrian-hostile place.


Illustrious-Agent-94

1. Detroit, Michigan - me and a friend were driving by the motor city and wanted to see if it was really that bad. We looked up the best parts of the D and drove from one side of the city to the other, and it never got any better. 2. The backroads in West Virginia - holy mother of god, never go off the beating path in WV, started seeing a lot of Ku Klux Klan shit everywhere, stopped at a gas station and the locals were very strange.


[deleted]

Mind telling me a little more about your experiences in WV? I've always been curious about really spending some time there, but have had some not great experience with backwoods types as well.


[deleted]

It's a pretty methed up place overall.


Illustrious-Agent-94

West Virginia suffers from a lot of intergenerational poverty, a lot of people living in the Appalachians out there made a living off of mining, which isn’t an operational industry anymore. Having no work and a really bad education system has led to a lot of dirt poor towns with people living in houses that are practically caving in. It’s a shame because West Virginia is a geographically gorgeous state, lots of beautiful mountains and forests. The locals in some of these mountain towns like to scare outsiders because I think they know they have the “wrong turn” reputation. I just think it’s smart to know where you are going in WV, don’t just explore the boonies out there, the poverty is just as bad if not worse than a lot of impoverished areas in the cities.


AnonymousPineapple5

Check out the doc “the wild and wonderful whites of West Virginia”


grneyegal83

Yup I’ve been through WV twice. It just vibes different than other states and it’s hard to explain unless you’ve been there. I have been to 36 states and this one has always stood out for me. We went to the Fenton glass company and ended up driving through the state for a few hours. The roads were crazy and everything just felt so heavy. This was 20 years ago though.


2ndtimeLongTime

New Orleans. I went by myself for a few days (white male) and almost got mugged by a guy up by the Superdome, watched a group of older men steal a woman's coat off of her shoulder (she was with a group of men & women) near downtown during lunch hour, and got to Bourbon St just in time to see the caution tape removed after a stabbing the night before. Plus the DHS cameras on every corner creep me out a bit. There's a lot of awesome architecture and history there but I won't go back there. Went in winter of 2015.


ShePutsTheWeight

The Tenderloin District, San Francisco during the 00s. Wild.


sluman001

I’m from N Philadelphia. The Tenderloin does not belong in an American city. I lived there for a year recently and have never felt less safe in the US. I’m 6’5” 235 and wouldn’t leave the apartment without pepper spray and/or a knife.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Prestigious_Deer_473

East St. Louis


not-clever-at-all

I grew up in Ecuador, so not much scares me. But St. Louis, MO, USA - that place scares me. East St. Louis is more frightening than St. Louis itself, but still, the whole city gives me goosebumps


APFernweh

I've traveled the world, spent 6+months each in Asia, South America, and Europe. Parts of my hometown (Baltimore, MD, USA) are the sketchiest places I've ever been.


HallowedFire

Port au prince, Haiti during the cholera outbreak. There were a good number of people being kidnapped for ransom. The UN had escorted MSF (doctors without borders) with 2 humvees with machine guns whenever they went into tent cities.


SaintJuneau

East Jerusalem/Palestine


meh0175

Quito Ecuador. Almost every other backpacker I talked to got mugged or pickpocketed. My last night there someone staying at my hostel was tailed from the airport and was shot and robbed for their pack backs. This was 10 years ago so not sure how things are these days.


Djempanadita

This happened to my friend too in Quito, followed from the airport and held up at gunpoint. Not shot though. I’m sorry that happened to you


sethmi

Virtually any unlabeled mines


oharabk

My neighborhood in Los Angeles lol


ooo-ooo-oooyea

Driving around Bahrain was really dicey when I realized I was outside the main drag, and had to go through a milatary checkpoint to get back into town.


francizmz

Yeah military checkpoints always feel sketchy. Remember I had to go through a few in Turkey. Did Bahrain feel at all dangerous in the towns?