Countries you would never wish to visit?

[smeg]

Russia - freezing cold and not exactly friendly to folk like me, so I think I'll pass.

Been to Moscow it was awesome

 

[mikeyjh]

I've yet to get to the US but would really like to.

Am always amazed by the US has no culture statement. What the f*** do you consider culture? When you think of the film, music (the music!) amongst other things the US has given the world, how the frig can you say it has no culture?

It's hard to put your finger on, but outside the likes of New York & LA, you might describe it as having a somewhat homogeneous culture - Spend a lot of time in somewhere like Phoenix, you'll soon start to understand why people might say it....

 

[biddles911]

Mexico is great. Just go to the nice bits. Bit like saying you wouldn't visit the UK because... Croydon.

For places I wouldn't go.... Dubai, Turkey, Egypt. Oh and Tunisia which I've been to previously. Don't care if they have nice bits, they are horrible places where huge numbers of people (and women in particular) are treated like shit. No thanks.

Really want to go and watch cricket in South Africa too but the same rules apply.

Agree with you about Tunisia. Pretty country but people there seem to have total contempt for Westerners and hassle Western women well beyond an acceptable level. The twenty camels for your wife "joke" wears pretty thin after a while too!

Also don't like being sworn at just because I don't want to buy their crappy goods!

Otherwise fine!

Amazed at people writing off the USA. Huge country with diversity to match. Can't see how anyone can dislike all of it?

My only real problem with US is their immigration officials. Petty bureaucrats with mindset to match.......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Redundant Gigolo]

Really interesting thread this.

I've moved to Dallas three months ago and was a little sceptical before arriving. I've worked for American companies for a long time so been in and out - but this time it's different as living here for an extended period of time and finding apartments etc brings a very different slant to a view of a different city and country.

I absolutely love it.

I'm so surprised that people write off the States. It has a fascinating history - just as every country there are some unedifying parts to it and some people have some strange sad views on life.

However away from the well documented problems the people are fantastically friendly, the ability to travel cheaply and extensively on internal flights to get to places for weekends is amazing.

I have fallen in love with Dallas and Texas as a whole. I always have loved baseball so their fanatical love of sport is easy to embrace. Some of the most beautiful women you will ever see - and an economy that has managed to continue to grow means work is also a great upside.

The weather is a brutal in summer. But as it starts to cool down a little I'm hugely looking forward to the fall.

I will say though that FC Dallas are poor - I miss the Amex massively and am in painful misery missing Harveys.

Do not drink community mosaic. At 9% it's lethal and gives the worst hangovers ever!!!!

 

[W.C.]

Really interesting thread this.

I've moved to Dallas three months ago and was a little sceptical before arriving. I've worked for American companies for a long time so been in and out - but this time it's different as living here for an extended period of time and finding apartments etc brings a very different slant to a view of a different city and country.

I absolutely love it.

I'm so surprised that people write off the States. It has a fascinating history - just as every country there are some unedifying parts to it and some people have some strange sad views on life.

However away from the well documented problems the people are fantastically friendly, the ability to travel cheaply and extensively on internal flights to get to places for weekends is amazing.

I have fallen in love with Dallas and Texas as a whole. I always have loved baseball so their fanatical love of sport is easy to embrace. Some of the most beautiful women you will ever see - and an economy that has managed to continue to grow means work is also a great upside.

The weather is a brutal in summer. But as it starts to cool down a little I'm hugely looking forward to the fall.

I will say though that FC Dallas are poor - I miss the Amex massively and am in painful misery missing Harveys.

Do not drink community mosaic. At 9% it's lethal and gives the worst hangovers ever!!!!

My sister and family were in Houston for 3 years or so. Loved it.

 

[Whoislloydy]

I would visit any country

 

[DavidRyder]

Turkey/Egypt, or any hot beach resort. I prefer Autumn holidays, cooler weather, and going out doing stuff. I'd be bored stiff on a beach.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Really interesting thread this.

I've moved to Dallas three months ago and was a little sceptical before arriving. I've worked for American companies for a long time so been in and out - but this time it's different as living here for an extended period of time and finding apartments etc brings a very different slant to a view of a different city and country.

I absolutely love it.

I'm so surprised that people write off the States. It has a fascinating history - just as every country there are some unedifying parts to it and some people have some strange sad views on life.

However away from the well documented problems the people are fantastically friendly, the ability to travel cheaply and extensively on internal flights to get to places for weekends is amazing.

I have fallen in love with Dallas and Texas as a whole. I always have loved baseball so their fanatical love of sport is easy to embrace. Some of the most beautiful women you will ever see - and an economy that has managed to continue to grow means work is also a great upside.

The weather is a brutal in summer. But as it starts to cool down a little I'm hugely looking forward to the fall.

I will say though that FC Dallas are poor - I miss the Amex massively and am in painful misery missing Harveys.

Do not drink community mosaic. At 9% it's lethal and gives the worst hangovers ever!!!!

You've been there three months and already 'autumn' has disappeared from your lexicon.

 

[Cian]

Pretty much the entire Gulf, particularly Saudi.

 

[Bigtomfu]

Basically any Islaamic country under Wahaab or Salafist influence,as they are full of nutters.

A bit OT but if you haven't already you should watch Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis on iPlayer. All about the inevitable rise of Wahaabism as a consequence of the oil crisis in the 70's and the US jumping into bed with the Saudis.


Back on topic:

Have little/no desire to go to China and diminished desire to go to Iraq now Isis destroyed all the ancient ruins worth seeing.

 

[ofco8]

Why's that?

Probably my 2 favourite countries I've been to.

Completely agree. Australia and USA are great places to visit for so many reasons. Only been to Oz once but USA nine times. Never a duff visit.

 

[Peter Grummit]

Really interesting thread this.

I've moved to Dallas three months ago and was a little sceptical before arriving. I've worked for American companies for a long time so been in and out - but this time it's different as living here for an extended period of time and finding apartments etc brings a very different slant to a view of a different city and country.

I absolutely love it.

I'm so surprised that people write off the States. It has a fascinating history - just as every country there are some unedifying parts to it and some people have some strange sad views on life.

However away from the well documented problems the people are fantastically friendly, the ability to travel cheaply and extensively on internal flights to get to places for weekends is amazing.

I have fallen in love with Dallas and Texas as a whole. I always have loved baseball so their fanatical love of sport is easy to embrace. Some of the most beautiful women you will ever see - and an economy that has managed to continue to grow means work is also a great upside.

The weather is a brutal in summer. But as it starts to cool down a little I'm hugely looking forward to the fall.

I will say though that FC Dallas are poor - I miss the Amex massively and am in painful misery missing Harveys.

Do not drink community mosaic. At 9% it's lethal and gives the worst hangovers ever!!!!

I lived and worked in Dallas in the late '80s and have followed the Rangers ever since. Great season they are having, have you made it to many games? Saw them in Baltimore last month.

I agree that the people are open and friendly, and generous to a fault (I recall being given spare tickets for free at a ballgame). They can be somewhat insular mind:

"Where y'all from?"
"London"
"London, Texas?"

PG

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Would never want to go back to Ireland again, nasty dirty place and nasty dirty people.

All of them?

The entire population is nasty and dirty?

 

[Seagull58]

Agree with you about Tunisia. Pretty country but people there seem to have total contempt for Westerners and hassle Western women well beyond an acceptable level. The twenty camels for your wife "joke" wears pretty thin after a while too!

Also don't like being sworn at just because I don't want to buy their crappy goods!

Otherwise fine!

Amazed at people writing off the USA. Huge country with diversity to match. Can't see how anyone can dislike all of it?

My only real problem with US is their immigration officials. Petty bureaucrats with mindset to match.......


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used to love going to the US. After 9/11 the immigration became a nightmare,not just the bureaucracy but the rudeness of the officials. This also applies on internal flights where foreigners have the boarding passes marked so that they can be singled out for "random" checks when boarding. If you can get past all that aggravation it's a great place to visit, especially, in my opinion, San Diego, the Palm Springs area and Florida.

 

[Seagull58]

Really interesting thread this.

I've moved to Dallas three months ago and was a little sceptical before arriving. I've worked for American companies for a long time so been in and out - but this time it's different as living here for an extended period of time and finding apartments etc brings a very different slant to a view of a different city and country.

I absolutely love it.

I'm so surprised that people write off the States. It has a fascinating history - just as every country there are some unedifying parts to it and some people have some strange sad views on life.

However away from the well documented problems the people are fantastically friendly, the ability to travel cheaply and extensively on internal flights to get to places for weekends is amazing.

I have fallen in love with Dallas and Texas as a whole. I always have loved baseball so their fanatical love of sport is easy to embrace. Some of the most beautiful women you will ever see - and an economy that has managed to continue to grow means work is also a great upside.

The weather is a brutal in summer. But as it starts to cool down a little I'm hugely looking forward to the fall.

I will say though that FC Dallas are poor - I miss the Amex massively and am in painful misery missing Harveys.

Do not drink community mosaic. At 9% it's lethal and gives the worst hangovers ever!!!!

You can't go wrong with Sam Adams .Enough microbrews to keep you busy tasting for years also.

 

[brakespear]

With a few people getting very heated indeed about this thread this seems the best moment to showcase Icelandic types

with music this good, who wouldn't want to visit the place, hotties everywhere

No good to me, they're all geysers, Ithankyew (well, probably geysirs).

Anyway - Saudi, UAE, Australia, the bits of the US that have people in

 

[acheter]

Costa Rica
Japan
Russia
Puerto Rico
Italy

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

My daughter recently spent 4 months in India studying yoga, meditation and"cosmic energy".She had nothng but good to say about it. What is your concern?

Some friends on mine, also, drool over India, including my mate's daugher who is also drawn to the more OM-tastic side of life . . . . I have no time at all for tantric psychobabble, so these mystical delights would be wasted on me.

I'm biased the other way by one part of my job, which involves interacting with all 'research active' countries, and India, by a country mile, is the worst in terms of predatory publishing, and separately, for sending inappropriate research manuscripts to what is obviously not an appropriate outlet, in a manner that is almost unfathomably bonkers. I asked an Indian colleague if he had an explanation for this apparent cultural strangeness. His response was surprising, but enough of that.

The other reasons are that its too far away (he says, typing in a hotel room in, ahem, Vancouver), too hot, and at my age, frankly I'm not hugely interested in immersing myself in new cultures. At least, not by travelling long distances, far away from my cosy bolt hole. And, of course, they are rubbish al almost all sport, which is the most serious concern for me

 

[Guinness Boy]

I lived and worked in Dallas in the late '80s and have followed the Rangers ever since. Great season they are having, have you made it to many games? Saw them in Baltimore last month.

I agree that the people are open and friendly, and generous to a fault (I recall being given spare tickets for free at a ballgame). They can be somewhat insular mind:

"Where y'all from?"
"London"
"London, Texas?"

PG

We had a Texan from Dallas on our project in Taiwan. His only previous trip abroad had been to an all inclusive resort in Mexico. He lasted precisely two months, said "holy shit" and "holy cow" at literally everything he saw, ate nothing but McDonalds and Subway and drank nothing but water, coffee, coke and Coors Lite.

 

[Eggman]

Some friends on mine, also, drool over India, including my mate's daugher who is also drawn to the more OM-tastic side of life . . . . I have no time at all for tantric psychobabble, so these mystical delights would be wasted on me.

I'm biased the other way by one part of my job, which involves interacting with all 'research active' countries, and India, by a country mile, is the worst in terms of predatory publishing, and separately, for sending inappropriate research manuscripts to what is obviously not an appropriate outlet, in a manner that is almost unfathomably bonkers. I asked an Indian colleague if he had an explanation for this apparent cultural strangeness. His response was surprising, but enough of that.

The other reasons are that its too far away (he says, typing in a hotel room in, ahem, Vancouver), too hot, and at my age, frankly I'm not hugely interested in immersing myself in new cultures. At least, not by travelling long distances, far away from my cosy bolt hole. And, of course, they are rubbish al almost all sport, which is the most serious concern for me

They are great at Kabadi.