What are your favorite and least favorite countries you've visited?

[Deleted member 196663]

I keep hearing people say French people are rude. IMO, that's just a ridiculous stereotype that's validated by confirmation bias.

 

[DoomPatrol]

I keep hearing people say French people are rude. IMO, that's just a ridiculous stereotype that's validated by confirmation bias.

You'll hear that about people in NYC too, but a huge chunk of them are friendly. They just have so much shit going on and so many people doing stuff that it's hard to address everyone you see. Taking the time to say hello to someone you pass is seen as holding them up from wherever they are trying to get to.

 

[HunterSdVa29]

I keep hearing people say French people are rude. IMO, that's just a ridiculous stereotype that's validated by confirmation bias.

I beg to differ

travel from Saarbrucken, Germany over the border to Metz or Strasbourg, France...

and tell me the people aren't noticeably more rude, expecting of you to understand their culture, etc...

stereotypes exist for a reason

 

[MicroBrew]

I keep hearing people say French people are rude. IMO, that's just a ridiculous stereotype that's validated by confirmation bias.

I've been to France a couple of times , and in my expereince I did not find them rude.

 

[DoomPatrol]

I beg to differ

travel from Saarbrucken, Germany over the border to Metz or Strasbourg, France...

and tell me the people aren't noticeably more rude, expecting of you to understand their culture, etc...

stereotypes exist for a reason

Thankfully, Americans are highly accepting of other cultures.

 

[Deleted member 196663]

I beg to differ

travel from Saarbrucken, Germany over the border to Metz or Strasbourg, France...

and tell me the people aren't noticeably more rude, expecting of you to understand their culture, etc...

stereotypes exist for a reason

Being rude and being more rude than Germans are two different things.

P.S. I've done that trip and don't agree. And just because stereotypes exist is not evidence that they are true.

 

[deise69]

I beg to differ

travel from Saarbrucken, Germany over the border to Metz or Strasbourg, France...

and tell me the people aren't noticeably more rude, expecting of you to understand their culture, etc...

stereotypes exist for a reason

 

[HunterSdVa29]

fair enough guys, in my defense I said it was still a legit trip

I think much of the 'rudeness' stereotype comes from their less than willingness to converse in English (the opposite of almost every other country in Europe), and the way they have their service industry, i.e. waiters don't come check on you all the time you may feel forgotten if you're used to US style service

I didn't think they were rude to me personally, just different attitudes is all

 

[The_Renaissance]

Too many to list, but off the top of my head:

Favourite
Guatemala
Colombia

Least Favourite
FYR Macedonia (just boring, really)
Thailand (lovely country but way too many roided up wankstains from the UK/Australia strutting about)

 

[HunterSdVa29]

Thankfully, Americans are highly accepting of other cultures.

word? remind me where i stated that Americans were exemplary travelers and well versed in other cultures...

oh wait

 

[Space]

I am shocked that you lived in Venezuela. Care to expand?

My family moved to Caracas in 1997 for my dad's job (I was in junior high school at the time). This was Pre-Chavez. There was still crime and inflation, but nowhere near what its become. We lived there for 4.5 years, during which Chavez was elected and the country started going downhill. Still, it was fun in many ways; I liked my friends and school (though a ghetto had built up around it), the country has basically every type of landscape from deserts to jungles and snowy mountains (love Merida and the surrounding Andean area). Of course there's a lot of dummies living there and the local food isn't very good, so at times civilization there felt like Idiocracy, and one time a stray magnum bullet hit our home, but you can't have it all. Overall we were lucky; most families we knew had their homes broken into or they were robbed. We left before shit really hit the fan too.

 

[kickboxjh]

All you UK haters, i'll bring you on a grand tour of Luton, im only 20 miles away from there, we'll have a blast!

Can't argue with that.

 

[Trotsky]

My family moved to Caracas in 1997 for my dad's job (I was in junior high school at the time). This was Pre-Chavez. There was still crime and inflation, but nowhere near what its become. We lived there for 4.5 years, during which Chavez was elected and the country started going downhill. Still, it was fun in many ways; I liked my friends and school (though a ghetto had built up around it), the country has basically every type of landscape from deserts to jungles and snowy mountains (love Merida and the surrounding Andean area). Of course there's a lot of dummies living there and the local food isn't very good, so at times civilization there felt like Idiocracy, and one time a stray magnum bullet hit our home, but you can't have it all. Overall we were lucky; most families we knew had their homes broken into or they were robbed. We left before shit really hit the fan too.

To be fair, standard of living improved dramatically under Chavez (not "downhill" by any statistical measure at all) and the upward trajectory was solid until post-coup when he cracked down on private enterprise and turned it into a petro-socialist state and after his death when the administration took on exponentially more cronyist bloat.

As far as cuisine goes, that is the universal hallmark of an isolated socialist state: regulation and rationing of produce makes for pretty uninventive and therefore unspectacular food.

Either way, it's very cool that you got the chance to live there. Between the incompetent regime in perpetual (and increasingly authoritarian) scramble and the shocking violence of the right-wing opposition, it's a very, very sad state of affairs in Venezuela. You have to feel, especially, for their lower class and its darker-skinned demographics that saw the most gains under Chavez and are now starting the bear the brunt of his fallen regime.

Did you feel the presence of any racial tensions when you were there? And, if you don't mind my asking, are you a darker skinned person?

 

[Trotsky]

fair enough guys, in my defense I said it was still a legit trip

I think much of the 'rudeness' stereotype comes from their less than willingness to converse in English (the opposite of almost every other country in Europe), and the way they have their service industry, i.e. waiters don't come check on you all the time you may feel forgotten if you're used to US style service

I didn't think they were rude to me personally, just different attitudes is all

People always say that the UK is the US of Europe, but I'd say France is much closer when it comes to snooty ethnocentrism. I could totally see getting the French equivalent of "speak American, you terrorist" while visiting.

Also, no need to defend yourself. Everyone has different experiences abroad and we know it's all subjective: it's not like any country is all-bad or all-good.

 

[Denter]

Very interesting thread!

\

Less ideal visits

1) Egypt, hassling my white friends that traveled with me, crowded, dirty.

2) Paris, rude citizens, had to wait forever to see Mona Lisa, they disliked speaking English, not service minded personnel at restaurants.

3) Las Vegas, not a gambler, David Copperfield's show was boring, he felt like he had done this same act a million times, bought a steak for $150 not including sides and it tasted bland. Too hot as well.

Thanks, everyone I know who has traveled to Egypt has reported the constant harassment of women, even women with their husbands/friends, and constant attempts to rip them off. I'm sure some people have had a good time, but that's just the anecdotes Ive heard.

 

[PubliusVentidius]

''In Paris it's considered rude not to blow smoke in someone's face and walk away if they ask you a question.''

Joking aside, french people were very friendly when I was in Paris, the problem was that it was January and the weather was shit and depressing every single day. I wanna go back during spring or summer to properly visit the city. I didn't even visit the Louvre when I was there for some reason.

 

[Space]

To be fair, standard of living improved dramatically under Chavez (not "downhill" by any statistical measure at all) and the upward trajectory was solid until post-coup when he cracked down on private enterprise and turned it into a petro-socialist state and after his death when the administration took on exponentially more cronyist bloat.

As far as cuisine goes, that is the universal hallmark of an isolated socialist state: regulation and rationing of produce makes for pretty uninventive and therefore unspectacular food.

Either way, it's very cool that you got the chance to live there. Between the incompetent regime in perpetual (and increasingly authoritarian) scramble and the shocking violence of the right-wing opposition, it's a very, very sad state of affairs in Venezuela. You have to feel, especially, for their lower class and its darker-skinned demographics that saw the most gains under Chavez and are now starting the bear the brunt of his fallen regime.

Did you feel the presence of any racial tensions when you were there? And, if you don't mind my asking, are you a darker skinned person?

No, I'm half Hispanic but I have white skin. I didn't feel any racial tension though; never any insults thrown my way based on skin color. Things are more divided along class there because there are mestizos who became rich there.

 

[Bloodworth]

Favorite USA

 

[Trotsky]

No, I'm half Hispanic but I have white skin. I didn't feel any racial tension though; never any insults thrown my way based on skin color. Things are more divided along class there because there are mestizos who became rich there.

Okay. I don't have personal knowledge of the issue, but I know that darker skinned persons of native-genealogy are disproportionately part of the lower class that benefited from Chavez and that (supposedly) the man that was burned to death this past week was presumed to be a Chavista on the basis of his dark complexion. But, at the same time, I know that the Venezuelan populace seems to pride itself on the lack of outright racism. Either way, I'm glad to hear you didn't perceive any.

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

Favorites
Poland
Germany
Japan
Switzerland
Greece

Worst
Serbia
Brazil
France
Canada