Tampa
Helen, Georgia Indiana |
+1000 We only spent 3 days in Tokyo and I so wish we'd had more time! Can't wait to be back! |
I meant I had lived in or traveled to almost every other country in Latin America. |
India was colonized and looted of 45 trillion dollars for 200 years by the British. It is poor and dirty because it was looted for centuries. USA and much of Europe is fast deteriorating so let's see what next 20 years will look like for them. |
Midwest.
New York. Miami. San Fransico. Las Vegas. |
Agree. The beaches around Fontaineblu were not too bad but the way Gianni Versaces home is now a restaurant was the oddest to me. |
Ohhh. DH has been trying to talk me into a weekend in Helen. No? |
Interesting. I feel like PR seems more authentic than other Caribbean places I’ve been to in the past. The separation between the locals and tourist areas are not as stark. And I think most Caribbean islands have hotels at different price points. PR does not have all inclusive resorts which can be a plus/minus for people. Did I fall in love with PR? Not really. But I liked their authenticity. I didn’t get a we don’t want you here vibe as much as we aren’t going to kiss your butts just bc you are tourists vibe. |
As someone who lived in India as an American expat for 3 years, hard agree on all of this. I traveled all over India and I loved it but this is a place where you want the 5 star hotels (and they're not that expensive either compared to western prices -- and they're nicer!). You want to hire a private driver and all that. We were required to stay in specific hotels as expats when traveling around India for work -- all 5 star hotels. We took domestic flights on specific airlines through India vs riding the trains and buses. I did this in my personal travel throughout India as well. I absolutely loved India, but I'd sure feel differently if I were taking an overnight bus crammed with people or staying at a cheap hotel. |
Yeah, definitely not a “we don’t want you here” vibe but moreso a “if things were different we would be living elsewhere” type vibe was my takeaway and the same for the travelers we met at the Marriott. It seemed like everyone was there out of the trip being in their budget whereas other destinations were more expensive. We were newlywed 20-something’s back then and couldn’t afford a trip to T&C. It felt like, atleast with the people we met and connected with, that it was a location that budget deemed versus a love for the island. |
100% I am partly North Indian and Sri Lankan and I agree along with my Indian friends. You need the luxury to enjoy India. |
The problem is that one person's "authentic" is another's "run down and scary." I personally love PR exactly because it's easy to find authenticity, but judging from the way PP is judging people making "budget choices" they're probably not the kind of person whose idea of an enjoyable vacation involves feeding street dogs scraps of your mofongo on an un-air-conditioned sidewalk while sipping a Medalla Light. |
My parents are well-off Indian immigrants from fairly wealthy families in India. We traveled this way to India yearly when I was a kid, and the few times I’ve been back as an adult, I also did it this way - staying at friends’/family’s luxurious private homes with AC and domestic help or at fancy 5-star hotels, hiring private drivers, and doing domestic travel by plane. I agree this can be done fairly cheaply if you’re calculating in USD, and the hotels are really among the most luxurious in the world, but there’s a very Marie Antoinette feeling to it given the obscene poverty just out of the window (or even inside the house, where even well-paid housekeepers and maids are earning the equivalent of $200/month) IMO. I get that tourists spending $$ is helpful to the economy, provides employment, etc., but the insane disparities made me uncomfortable even as a kid. They still do as an adult, and it’s one of the main reasons I find India such a tough place to visit. |
Florida and Jamaica |