Countries one doesn’t consider but should

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my first trip to Tbilisi Georgia and was amazed. Beautiful culture, that cheese bread thing - wow- their wine was nice and I really enjoyed interacting with the people. Of course they are no Italy or Spain but what a wonderful city. I went with a culturalExchange group and Georgia had the least people signing up. I would have never gone nor considered it. Now I’m wondering if I should broaden my horizons. Can you recommend other places where you were pleasantly surprised?

It’s called Khachapuri. Did you really go to Georgia and not learn that?!

I didn’t want to be disrespectful to their food or talk above the heads of readers.

Anyone familiar with the food should know the name. It’s very common. How did you like the khinkali and the badrijani? I’ll give you time to find a picture in Google.

The insufferable “traveler” is smug because she thinks Georgia is exotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai

Hell no

Why? I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was AWESOME. I was so pleasantly surprised. So safe that a solo female can walk alone in the streets at 2am and no one will bother you. Can you say the same for the DMV? Hell no!

Also the food was amazing, the beaches were pretty (women in tiny bikinis on the beaches despite it being a Muslim country). The “old town” was very historic and interesting to visit. The weather in March is fantastic. I highly, highly recommend Dubai!

It was built by modern slaves.

BS. It was built by south Asians who needed jobs to improve their situations. It’s amazing that so many of these south Asians still continue to live in Dubai despite it being such a horrible place! One of our drivers was an Indian man (of Christian faith) who has lived in Dubai for almost 40 years and he loves it. He told us he makes more money than he would ever dream of making back in his hometown. These folks are grateful for the jobs that Dubai offers them.

They confiscate workers’ passports. Of course they put on a show for tourists, like you describe.

[Anonymous]

Ghana and Namibia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai

Hell no

Why? I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was AWESOME. I was so pleasantly surprised. So safe that a solo female can walk alone in the streets at 2am and no one will bother you. Can you say the same for the DMV? Hell no!

Also the food was amazing, the beaches were pretty (women in tiny bikinis on the beaches despite it being a Muslim country). The “old town” was very historic and interesting to visit. The weather in March is fantastic. I highly, highly recommend Dubai!

It was built by modern slaves.

BS. It was built by south Asians who needed jobs to improve their situations. It’s amazing that so many of these south Asians still continue to live in Dubai despite it being such a horrible place! One of our drivers was an Indian man (of Christian faith) who has lived in Dubai for almost 40 years and he loves it. He told us he makes more money than he would ever dream of making back in his hometown. These folks are grateful for the jobs that Dubai offers them.

They confiscate workers’ passports. Of course they put on a show for tourists, like you describe.

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong (and clearly you’ve never even been there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I think that the tourism reputations places have are generally merited. Places that are great but not on the beaten path include Iran, Iraq, and Slovenia (in that order). Romania, Bulgaria and Albania are nicer than you might think, though a bit of a clean-up would make them nicer. El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras also have much to recommend them, though like Colombia the crime is not negligible.

Iran? Iraq?

I’ve been to Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Love seeing a fellow traveller (vs a tourist) on here!

Oh barf with this trope. Alex Garland wrote “the Beach” about you lot.

I have family in France who have visited Iran (and other “exotic” places) and they absolutely love it. Amazing architecture, kind people, delicious food, etc. It’s sad that Americans are so biased when it comes to other countries (and especially middle eastern countries).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that the tourism reputations places have are generally merited. Places that are great but not on the beaten path include Iran, Iraq, and Slovenia (in that order). Romania, Bulgaria and Albania are nicer than you might think, though a bit of a clean-up would make them nicer. El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras also have much to recommend them, though like Colombia the crime is not negligible.

Iran? Iraq?

I’ve been to Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Love seeing a fellow traveller (vs a tourist) on here!

Oh barf with this trope. Alex Garland wrote “the Beach” about you lot.

I have family in France who have visited Iran (and other “exotic” places) and they absolutely love it. Amazing architecture, kind people, delicious food, etc. It’s sad that Americans are so biased when it comes to other countries (and especially middle eastern countries).

Generally speaking, Americans have better reason to avoid these places than do the French.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that multiple people have said Slovenia. DH has Slovenian heritage and FIL was born there; it is high on our list of places to travel to in the next few years but I keep hearing about how it has just exploded in popularity in the last decade or so! Maybe just among the Europeans?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been to Iran and Iraq - lived in Iran for several years as a kid. Zero desire to go back. Yes there is interesting history there, and the people can be lovely, but unsafe for Americans and I still have PTSD from the harassment (physical and anti- American) from my time there. I know people who have gone for work who have been followed, their hotel room searched when they were out of it, etc. Hopefully PP had a better experience on her trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai

Hell no

Why? I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was AWESOME. I was so pleasantly surprised. So safe that a solo female can walk alone in the streets at 2am and no one will bother you. Can you say the same for the DMV? Hell no!

Also the food was amazing, the beaches were pretty (women in tiny bikinis on the beaches despite it being a Muslim country). The “old town” was very historic and interesting to visit. The weather in March is fantastic. I highly, highly recommend Dubai!

It was built by modern slaves.

BS. It was built by south Asians who needed jobs to improve their situations. It’s amazing that so many of these south Asians still continue to live in Dubai despite it being such a horrible place! One of our drivers was an Indian man (of Christian faith) who has lived in Dubai for almost 40 years and he loves it. He told us he makes more money than he would ever dream of making back in his hometown. These folks are grateful for the jobs that Dubai offers them.

Dubai is just a air polluting and water wearing monster in a desert. Who wants to fly around the world for such a monstrous Disneyland?

They confiscate workers’ passports. Of course they put on a show for tourists, like you describe.

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong (and clearly you’ve never even been there).

[Anonymous]

Brazil. And not just Rio de Janeiro. There is a lot to do and tons of neat places. https://globalgrasshopper.com/destinations/south-america/10-beautiful-places-visit-brazil/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that multiple people have said Slovenia. DH has Slovenian heritage and FIL was born there; it is high on our list of places to travel to in the next few years but I keep hearing about how it has just exploded in popularity in the last decade or so! Maybe just among the Europeans?

Yes. Slovenia is the new Croatia. Croatia got super slammed with tourism during the era of Game of Thrones over the last decade since so much was filmed there. Now that it’s become a really saturated tourist market, people are heading a tiny bit north to Slovenia. Slovenia is beautiful, especially in the winter, and especially if you do skiing and outdoor winter sports. Lake Bled is gorgeous any time of year and it’s easy to get around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Lovely, friendly, historic. Easy to do in one trip too.

Lot of sex workers and poverty though

Meh, poverty level is 20-22% in the Baltics. Italy and Spain are above 20% and people still seem not to factor it into the equation for travel, don’t they?Or to countries with much higher rates like Mexico, Brazil, St. Lucia, Fiji, the Seychelles, South Africa, etc.
As for sex work, we can all agree that’s everywhere….

[Anonymous]

El Salvador. Beautiful country and the nicest people. Avoid San Salvador.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that multiple people have said Slovenia. DH has Slovenian heritage and FIL was born there; it is high on our list of places to travel to in the next few years but I keep hearing about how it has just exploded in popularity in the last decade or so! Maybe just among the Europeans?

We were there many years ago and there were tons of tourists in Slovenia then. The country is small so it was overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took my first trip to Tbilisi Georgia and was amazed. Beautiful culture, that cheese bread thing - wow- their wine was nice and I really enjoyed interacting with the people. Of course they are no Italy or Spain but what a wonderful city. I went with a culturalExchange group and Georgia had the least people signing up. I would have never gone nor considered it. Now I’m wondering if I should broaden my horizons. Can you recommend other places where you were pleasantly surprised?

It’s called Khachapuri. Did you really go to Georgia and not learn that?!

I didn’t want to be disrespectful to their food or talk above the heads of readers.

Anyone familiar with the food should know the name. It’s very common. How did you like the khinkali and the badrijani? I’ll give you time to find a picture in Google.

The insufferable “traveler” is smug because she thinks Georgia is exotic.

PP here. Not at all. Georgia was great but far from the most exotic place our family has been.