Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not go back to India. Hard in many ways.

Only, if you are traveling like the poorest of the poor.

I only luxury travel to and in India. I fly business class in middle eastern airlines (Emirates or Etihad), stop over at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, go in luxury and comfort and minimize the impact of jet lag, Then, I either stay with my family/friends who have extra room, AC, well established homes and servants - or I stay in expensive 5 star hotels. I hire the best and most expensive touring vehicles available and drivers that are known to the family or have great reviews. And I travel mainly with family or friends. I also shop a lot and get all my bulky stuff couriered to US.

India is not a place to do on shoe-string budget travel. If you do that then you have to be inconvenienced sometimes. However, India is still incredibly cheaper than US or Europe so it boggles my mind that westerners want to travel in the way the poorest of the poor are travelling there. If you spend a fraction of your money that you spend in a Western country and stay in good hotels and take taxis from proper registered taxi service, you will have an experience of comfort and luxury.

Nothing beats the food in India. Not one country I have visited has better food than India (ok, Thailand is amazing food too).

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Regarding PR - San Juan for me atleast, I’m not sure which part of PR the previous posters visited but I noticed that it didn’t necessarily lack culture. It was moreso that it comes across as a budget choice for the people we saw at the hotel and the locals didn’t seem to want to be there either.

I will say that while I did not hate San Juan. I can’t say that I will ever go back. It’s just that there isn’t anything there to draw me back that I cannot see somewhere else.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not go back to India. Hard in many ways.

Only, if you are traveling like the poorest of the poor.

I only luxury travel to and in India. I fly business class in middle eastern airlines (Emirates or Etihad), stop over at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, go in luxury and comfort and minimize the impact of jet lag, Then, I either stay with my family/friends who have extra room, AC, well established homes and servants - or I stay in expensive 5 star hotels. I hire the best and most expensive touring vehicles available and drivers that are known to the family or have great reviews. And I travel mainly with family or friends. I also shop a lot and get all my bulky stuff couriered to US.

India is not a place to do on shoe-string budget travel. If you do that then you have to be inconvenienced sometimes. However, India is still incredibly cheaper than US or Europe so it boggles my mind that westerners want to travel in the way the poorest of the poor are travelling there. If you spend a fraction of your money that you spend in a Western country and stay in good hotels and take taxis from proper registered taxi service, you will have an experience of comfort and luxury.

Nothing beats the food in India. Not one country I have visited has better food than India (ok, Thailand is amazing food too).

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Regarding PR - San Juan for me atleast, I’m not sure which part of PR the previous posters visited but I noticed that it didn’t necessarily lack culture. It was moreso that it comes across as a budget choice for the people we saw at the hotel and the locals didn’t seem to want to be there either.

I will say that while I did not hate San Juan. I can’t say that I will ever go back. It’s just that there isn’t anything there to draw me back that I cannot see somewhere else.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not go back to India. Hard in many ways.

Only, if you are traveling like the poorest of the poor.

I only luxury travel to and in India. I fly business class in middle eastern airlines (Emirates or Etihad), stop over at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, go in luxury and comfort and minimize the impact of jet lag, Then, I either stay with my family/friends who have extra room, AC, well established homes and servants - or I stay in expensive 5 star hotels. I hire the best and most expensive touring vehicles available and drivers that are known to the family or have great reviews. And I travel mainly with family or friends. I also shop a lot and get all my bulky stuff couriered to US.

India is not a place to do on shoe-string budget travel. If you do that then you have to be inconvenienced sometimes. However, India is still incredibly cheaper than US or Europe so it boggles my mind that westerners want to travel in the way the poorest of the poor are travelling there. If you spend a fraction of your money that you spend in a Western country and stay in good hotels and take taxis from proper registered taxi service, you will have an experience of comfort and luxury.

Nothing beats the food in India. Not one country I have visited has better food than India (ok, Thailand is amazing food too).

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Regarding PR - San Juan for me atleast, I’m not sure which part of PR the previous posters visited but I noticed that it didn’t necessarily lack culture. It was moreso that it comes across as a budget choice for the people we saw at the hotel and the locals didn’t seem to want to be there either.

I will say that while I did not hate San Juan. I can’t say that I will ever go back. It’s just that there isn’t anything there to draw me back that I cannot see somewhere else.

Anonymous wrote:Tampa
Helen, Georgia
Indiana

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Miami.

Do not understand the appeal, at all.

You’re probably frumpy. And out of shape. And poor.

Meh. Not PP. also not poor or fat. But Miami is just plastic and fake. And overpriced AF. And there are better beaches.

+1000

Looking (real) good takes work. Anyone can buy plastic boobs, butt, and lips. And the beaches are trashy.

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm a PP who hated India but went years ago in my 20s with a friends for 3+ weeks. We did stay at pretty decent hotels actually. I think OP is right in that in India you MUST go first class all the way - no public transportation only 5 star hotels, 6 stars even LOL BUT I will also say that India is poor and dirty. That's all there is to it. So if you go to Agra to see the Taj, leave as soon as you are done so you do not see the hellhole that is the town of Agra. I mean you really cannot get away from the poverty and filth unless you just stay inside clean places so I kinda think that it defeats the purpose. As for food, I guess if you like Indian food of course you will enjoy food there but there's a lot of countries offering good food Again, I get that India is the center for spiritual retreats or used to be anyway but I'm just saying, manage your expectations if you go. It sounds adventurous and exotic but the reality is it's a hard trip in many ways.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't hate it, but wouldn't return to Paraguay.

It's just super boring. I lived in LA for 10 years and have either lived in or traveled to almost every country and Paraguay is definitely bottom 10%. Not that it's a tourist destination or anything, but for good reason.

Sure you have. Please, tell me more about your time in the DRC? How did you like Syria? Any rec's for Afghanistan?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hated Tokyo but loved the less crowded parts of Japan.

I haven't been and want to. I would take your experience into account when planning. So land in Tokyo and try to get somewhere else?

Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world. Truly. There's SO much there because it's a big place. Asakusa is totally different scene from Akasaka. It is more on the outskirts of Tokyo but you can stay in the city and still make it up to Asakusa. It's TOTALLY different vibe and we loved it. Shibuya is a totally different vibe than Aoyama - the latter is very high end. What I love about Tokyo is you can find everything - from food, shopping, and let me tell you I think the Japanese have the closest relationship with all animals than any other country, weird and crazy costume play, kitchy stuff, horror/amusement parks, TeamLabs, Tokyo has everything, I kid you not. NYC has nothing on Tokyo. Beijing/Shanghai are kind of like that but the Japanese are a LOT OF FUN. We would simply never see anything like what you see here in the US or in many other countries - they bring a sense of humor to stuff but they are also the nicest people ever. They have a lot of rules (eating without shoes at restaurants, trying clothes out without shoes, etc) culturally but Tokyo is a unique city among cities.