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Well, I've not enough travel experience to be an expert, and I am a white woman - which is a different experience than being a man and traveling, I think, and certainly of being non-white - but I tend to look at it like this:

1) Do I know/can I quickly learn enough of the language to get by if I needed it?
2) Is the culture one different enough that I could make a blunder/what would I need to know to be respectful?
3) Do I actually want to go there alone/is it considered safe?

I'm sure the mere history of my life here as Avron the S'wit has proven that I suffer from naivety and friendliness in equal overabundance, so mind that, now, but... For the most part, I think most people are generally accepting and kind at heart and respect a good attempt at you not being overwhelmingly ignorant to their culture/life/home. I wouldn't go anywhere without a fair amount of research, myself...and I wouldn't run around trying to fit the ignorant American stereotype, hehehe.

That said, I don't think I've been anywhere really "rough around the edges"... Maybe Turkey? ("Rough around the edges" based on people's perceptions, I should say, not my own experience.) But shoot, plenty of places anticipate and have a lot of tourists, so it's not like they'd really be tough on you if you stay to the tourist places. If you wanted to go off the beaten path, yeah, I would say you have a lot more to consider.

But, to be fair, I train annually for the possibility of being ambushed and shot dead in my very mundane and average day job, so like...life is short, I guess?

There's just a lot of different factors you need to have in mind when traveling, and many things you can't predict even in day to day life. Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.

I like traveling alone, but I also enjoy having company. I've also got this dumb kind of luck that gets me into awkward or strange situations and gets me out of them in different stupid ways. I do have an irresistible urge to help anyone in any possible way in any situation - as long as my help isn't refused. My lucky star shines bright upon me on my journeys, let's hope it'd still be there tomorrow, as I'm getting into a bus early in the morning.

But people expect tea in England; Bagpipes in Scotland; Wine in France; etc

Very true. When I first traveled to Europe I landed in London and was excited to see what it's like, how it differs, etc. Very first thing I saw when leaving the plane was a SARS warning TGI Fridays.


I do (at some point). I know some travel companies specialize in this kinda thing so I would probably go that route.

I was thinking about this stuff yesterday and it reminded me of Mexico. I'd like to travel there some day but I know that depending on where you go it can be literally as bad as a warzone. I used to hang out with a Mexican gal who left because it was so bad. She has some really messed up stories. Also an acquaintance/friend of mine went there for vacation with friends a couple years ago and I asked her about it. She couldn't even cross the street. She was at a bar and wanted to go literally across the street for cigs and they wouldn't let her cause it was too dangerous. She had a great time but had to take tons of precautions.

Yeah, travel companies! The bonus I forgot to mention is, when you go with others/companions, you don't have to plan as much on your own. Bonus, bonus.


Haha. I remember seeing Burger King, Dominos, etc. in Turkey and being like, "Awww man, really?" Not only did they have a few interesting tweaks (i.e., köfte burgers), they even delivered!

I'd love to visit South America some day,especially to see Amazon river.

By the German border right now, tomorrow morning I'll be in Switzerland, going by bus.

Safe travels, Snehk! I hope you enjoy your trip.

There's (was?) a company near me that specialized in this kinda thing. They even offered trips to North Korea. Where's the Petra? Jordan? Petra is on my bucket list albeit under Egypt. I think Jordan is relatively safe.

Believe it or not I think Iran would be a fun trip. No Reservations episode of Iran was great.

More or less ditto. I'm a bit 50/50 on the river but the jungle interests me. I'd like to see the mountainous rural areas of western SA.


I went to a McDonalds in Rome that claimed to be the fanciest in the world but after googling it I couldn't find much to back up said claim. Only thing I remember about it was the interior was incredible. I imagine the menu was different but I think I still just got a big mac. When in Rome....ya still get a Big Mac.

Delivery McDonalds sounds awesome. Didn't you work in NYC? I saw on Supersize Me that they delivered for free was this true or not? Nowadays you can obviously get what you want delivered via Uber but apparently it's not the same as having the company itself deliver. Apparently they make the food upon order, then your food sits and gets cold while Uber person gets there then delivers to your house.

I haven't tried it myself I'm just going off reviews.

I don't eat fast food, so I wouldn't know, haha. But I'd believe it. I usually went out to eat because...well, because I like being outside and it was the city! So many things I miss about the city now that I've spent some 5 years in the country/the South. Hard to imagine I'll be back up near the sprawling bustle of the urban lifestyle in just a few short weeks.

Actually, I'll be back in NYC in August, although it'll be for Hamilton. Woohoo.

The now-closed travel company in my town had a booklet or two for Antarctica. I asked if anyone ever looked at those; they said no.

It was nice to use a travel agent for my Ireland trip a couple years ago. I’d found the exact tour we were interested in online first, but decided to go through the travel agent because their services were free (they got commissions from the tour companies/hotels/etc), I felt it was more reputable than whatever site I found it on, and they were able to help us with stuff like flights, hotel, and bus/train routes for the part of our trip that we were on our own after the tour ended. I’d never planned a trip before, and am a rural girl who’d never taken so much as a city bus at that point and didn’t understand public transportation, so that helped a lot.

On my bucket list:
- Ireland again (possibly several times, there’s just so much to see, and the mood there and the people are lovely)
- New Zealand
- Japan
- possibly Peru (especially Macchu Picchu)

I'd like to go to Mexico to see anything Aztec - what a cool civ they were

You and I share the final three there as destinations to visit (I had to pass up Japan this year, sadly!), and it seems we've both been to Ireland! What a small world. One day!


On another note, I stumbled on an old thread where I was voted least likely to ever change my avatar... Happy to say I've seen that one through.

Gal I've been occasionally mentioning here is in the hospital. She's ok and all nothing serious. I want to visit her but there're a couple issues, one being I'm confident she wouldn't do the same for me. That may sound cold but the older I get the more I realise I'm a lot more empathetic towards others than others are towards me or themselves. This actually causes problems in my life and I need to work on being a bit more normal in this sense.

Still, I wish I could just be a nice guy no strings attached.

Visited some wonderful places! Just returned from the trip to glacier - we had to go back before we reached it. I was terribly hangover while moving up as well, so the day was just a way through horror, and I found out that I sent several gibberish drunken messages to a random person. Nevermore!

I'll try to get to the glacier another time!

Can't remember who here likes Red Dwarf, but dedicated a thread to its' discussion

I think empathy is an important thing the world could use more of...but there is definitely something powerful, and very healthy, I expect, in knowing its power and its limitations. Don't give it up completely, but practice knowing when you have to put down boundaries for yourself. It's a good lesson to learn, and took me a long, long time.

There's a poem by a poet called Rumi that goes, "For I am like the candle / Burning only makes me brighter." Which is true. Sometimes you are the candle and you get brighter. But sometimes you got to, or may get, burned a couple of times before you find that balance. c: Just don't fault the flame for its nature in the process.

You watched? You liked? Ack, I still haven't seen it. Was it better than JW?

I still need to see it too D:

Last night I just saw Christopher Robin, and oh boy it was a goodie

Hey Leroy, how ya handling red tide season?

Very much liked it. Better than JW.... I dunno. I'm inclined to say yes.


I don't think this affects Jax (or FL's eastern coastline). Not sure.

Hey, if you're just givin' it away willy-nilly, I am more than happy to accept the terms of this arrangement.

So having just moved, I realized that I have, more or less, moved one time for just about every year I've been alive. Hmm. Got just five (US) states under my belt, but if I never see another moving box again...it will be fantastic. Of course, that is the goal with this move, so here's hoping!

Good to know - something I will definitely see.

I watched Mumma Mia 2 last night at the Cinema. Despite hating the first one, I thought the second was ok to watch.

Went through the first week of my summer job abroad (Germany, in freezers of a restaurant). The place is not that far from my sister's house (with whom I'm living), people are generally nice and the wage is decent (especially considering that when I'll get back to Poland, I'll get much more out of it exchanging euro to złotys). I've got very flexible work hours and get a free dinner every day. Too bad that I don't know German that well, and boss has to give me simple instructions all the time to make everything clear.

You know what's annoying: the price of anything media related

I've been building up a cd collection for some time and the cost is adding up. I can pull this off cheaply but it doesn't always work great; some cds are no good, some can't be found used and have to be bought new, some are in good shape but album case/cover art is missing etc.

Started getting into comics.... Ha! wayyyy too expensive. So I just sneakily talk about how great comics are around my friend who really enjoys them. This way he buys more and I get to borrow them.

And now my precious SNES games: some of the games I want can be literally 2x the cost from when I bought them new. What's annoying about this is sometimes I'll think of a game where I'm basically the only 1 who really got into it, I'll look it up then realise the game is $100+ used with no box or manual.