International travel plans with all these politics going on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

Mixing with locals is so cliche. Cosplaying Anthony Bourdain impresses nobody and most locals don’t want to hear you yap about your travels.

Says Mrs All-Inclusive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I went to Western Europe both last summer and summer before last and Russian tourists were all over the place, having a great time and nobody was bothering them. If Europeans were leaving Russians alone, I think you are fine as an American unless your destination is literally Greenland or perhaps Denmark or Venezuela.

Yeah, although at this point any Russians traveling around Europe are Putin opponents (or at least not supporters) who fled to avoid conscription or sanctions or whatever. Also at least some of those “Russians” are actually Ukrainians, a large number of them are native Russian speakers. I was just on a cruise and they had at least two cruise staff dealing with all the Russian speakers — both had “Ukraine” on their badge.

I don’t disagree with your larger point but I think the Russian example is somewhat complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't even talk politics when I'm in America with my American friends, with whom I agree politically. We all understand we are aware of what is happening and we prefer to avoid doom-discussions to preserve our mental health.

I especially avoid doom-discussions with strangers, who I have to assume are informed by a cult of online misinformation. If on the random chance we agree, I'm avoiding doom-discussions.

With strangers, in another country? If I was traveling with someone who brought up politics with a stranger in a foreign country, I would abandon them.

Again, I doubt you travel the same way that I do. I'm about to go on a solo trip to Latin America for a month, for example, and I'm fluent in the language. In the past, I'd never bring up politics with anyone I'd meet. But things are different now. The first question anyone is going to ask you is where you are from. I'm not going to lie and say I'm Canadian or any of that bullshit. Nope. I'm going to say I'm American. And once you do that when you're abroad nowadays, you're going to hush the crowd around you. The reaction is palpable. Especially if you're older and white. The assumption is that you're a Trump supporter, and it's a major turn off for 90 percent of people who don't live in the USA.

So you make clear from the outset that you hate the guy, there's a collective sigh of relief, and the conversation more often than not goes in another direction. Sure, sometimes folks will want to continue with the political discussion, and that's fine too. It's our patriotic duty to reassure humans who have never been to the United States that not all of us have lost our minds.

The bottom line is that pre-Trump it was much easier to avoid discussing US politics with foreigners abroad, but now you almost have to or you'll be treated as a pariah.

This is so nutty. I’m in Central America right now and there is no “palpable, hushed reaction” when people learn I am from the US.

+1
It's as if the the pp is living in some type of alternate reality caused by too much social media, fake news, social isolation, etc.

+1

PP needs a social media break.

Can we get real for a minute? Which do you think is more likely right now in the rest of the world—that nobody gives a flying f__k about what the USA is up to right now or that they all think we’ve lost our collective minds?

I find it extremely hard to believe that any of you who say you’re in Latin America right now and perceive no difference are actually talking with locals and tourists from other countries beyond your drivers and your servants in your all inclusives. I also suspect few of you are here for more than a week or two.

Some of us here are expats. Perhaps some do live in all inclusive resorts. I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, I went to Western Europe both last summer and summer before last and Russian tourists were all over the place, having a great time and nobody was bothering them. If Europeans were leaving Russians alone, I think you are fine as an American unless your destination is literally Greenland or perhaps Denmark or Venezuela.

Yeah, although at this point any Russians traveling around Europe are Putin opponents (or at least not supporters) who fled to avoid conscription or sanctions or whatever. Also at least some of those “Russians” are actually Ukrainians, a large number of them are native Russian speakers. I was just on a cruise and they had at least two cruise staff dealing with all the Russian speakers — both had “Ukraine” on their badge.

I don’t disagree with your larger point but I think the Russian example is somewhat complicated.

Fair but I am a native Russian speaker (ironically from the Eastern part of Ukraine which until fairly recently was majority Russian speaking) and a LOT of these Russians were neither but clearly Russians from Russia who were wealthy and having a great time and still being treated absolutely normally.

I honestly think that unless you are wearing MAGA gear, you are going to be fine most places. At most someone might start a conversation about what’s going on (I was also traveling in Europe during the Iraq war and people got into conversations about Bush at the time.) This said, if he does invade Greenland, my calculus would change but only for certain places. I wouldn’t go to Northern Europe then for example, but going to Chile or Switzerland or Korea would be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

This was a trip to visit a "local" who literally lives there. Please STFU with your suspicions.

Uh huh. One local. One time. And for how long, and in what language, and how many other locals and non-USA tourists did you meet?

Plenty, but I don't have to justify my trip to some rando on DCUM. Our family had great time and the "locals" were welcoming. A weird hill to die on so please follow the advice above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

Mixing with locals is so cliche. Cosplaying Anthony Bourdain impresses nobody and most locals don’t want to hear you yap about your travels.

Says Mrs All-Inclusive

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

This was a trip to visit a "local" who literally lives there. Please STFU with your suspicions.

Uh huh. One local. One time. And for how long, and in what language, and how many other locals and non-USA tourists did you meet?

Plenty, but I don't have to justify my trip to some rando on DCUM. Our family had great time and the "locals" were welcoming. A weird hill to die on so please follow the advice above.

I'm a DP

Suppose in Spain you only encountered service people - drivers, servers, concierge, tour groups, etc... And suppose you had a great time. Everyone was friendly.

What would be the problem with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

This was a trip to visit a "local" who literally lives there. Please STFU with your suspicions.

Uh huh. One local. One time. And for how long, and in what language, and how many other locals and non-USA tourists did you meet?

Plenty, but I don't have to justify my trip to some rando on DCUM. Our family had great time and the "locals" were welcoming. A weird hill to die on so please follow the advice above.

I'm a DP

Suppose in Spain you only encountered service people - drivers, servers, concierge, tour groups, etc... And suppose you had a great time. Everyone was friendly.

What would be the problem with that?

It ruins the Evil Americans Because of Trump narrative.

[Anonymous]

I think things have changed drastically in the past two weeks. There are many anti-USA protests today, thousands of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

This was a trip to visit a "local" who literally lives there. Please STFU with your suspicions.

Uh huh. One local. One time. And for how long, and in what language, and how many other locals and non-USA tourists did you meet?

Plenty, but I don't have to justify my trip to some rando on DCUM. Our family had great time and the "locals" were welcoming. A weird hill to die on so please follow the advice above.

I'm a DP

Suppose in Spain you only encountered service people - drivers, servers, concierge, tour groups, etc... And suppose you had a great time. Everyone was friendly.

What would be the problem with that?

Also a great point. We happened to speak the language (or at least tried until it was clear English was better for everyone heh), relied on only public transportation, toured by ourselves with the huge help of our family member who actually lives there.

Someone else said a few posts earlier, just don't be an idiot and you'll be fine with travel to most places in Europe right now. I understand this could be changing drastically as more and more international incidents occur from the US, but we were live streaming CNN/BBC for all of the Venezuela news and wondered if it would impact our trip. We left 1/4 and like I said earlier, there was one flippant trump comment during our entire stay (it was actually pro-trump, but we ignored).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is amazing.

Am pretty sure the only travel some of these posters have done (maybe it's the same one who keeps posting) is in their imagination.

I go overseas all the time. Nothing has changed. Most people are nice anywhere. Very few talk about politics, especially American politics. They have their own politics and issues (incidentally, migration is a huge one in Europe). Have two more international trips coming up. Am confident nothing has changed.

haha yup - went with an extended family of 5 to Spain over the New Year(who allegedly hates tourists, but definitely relies on tourist $$$). Everyone was very friendly and we heard 1 random Trump comment over the course of 7 days.

Yep, you don’t mix with any of the locals either. Just as I suspected.

This was a trip to visit a "local" who literally lives there. Please STFU with your suspicions.

Uh huh. One local. One time. And for how long, and in what language, and how many other locals and non-USA tourists did you meet?

Plenty, but I don't have to justify my trip to some rando on DCUM. Our family had great time and the "locals" were welcoming. A weird hill to die on so please follow the advice above.

I'm a DP

Suppose in Spain you only encountered service people - drivers, servers, concierge, tour groups, etc... And suppose you had a great time. Everyone was friendly.

What would be the problem with that?

Also a great point. We happened to speak the language (or at least tried until it was clear English was better for everyone heh), relied on only public transportation, toured by ourselves with the huge help of our family member who actually lives there.

Someone else said a few posts earlier, just don't be an idiot and you'll be fine with travel to most places in Europe right now. I understand this could be changing drastically as more and more international incidents occur from the US, but we were live streaming CNN/BBC for all of the Venezuela news and wondered if it would impact our trip. We left 1/4 and like I said earlier, there was one flippant trump comment during our entire stay (it was actually pro-trump, but we ignored).

People seem to assume all sentiment towards the U.S. will be negative, when political trends in many parts of the world are swing to the right in reaction to years of liberal politics. You might be as likely to be cheered as booed, but neither is likley if you're behaving like a normal, nonprovocative, tourist.

[Anonymous]

My only concern would be that I’ve seen recently people are having issues with their passports coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think things have changed drastically in the past two weeks. There are many anti-USA protests today, thousands of people.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My only concern would be that I’ve seen recently people are having issues with their passports coming back.

+1

[Anonymous]

My concern is getting stuck if Trump does something else stupid