Eastern Ukraine isn’t an ideal tourist spot at the moment.
Common tourist places during tourist season are usually the worst. I took a 10 day trip to Paris one summer and it was a mix of the most popular tourist places (Louvre, Eiffel tower, etc) and some underground shit my sister found.
Every tourist place was jam packed with annoying tourists, costly and had tons of scammers surrounding it. Every less known place was really awesome, aside from one sketchy neighborhood we had to walk through where we were followed for a while.
I’d also say that Northern Europe has generally been much more pleasant to travel through, for me.
Not sure what answers you looking for, if you want to have a carefree vacation just read some reviews of specific countries and regions.
If you are backpacking or planning a multi-country trip I would check the crime rates of the places, there are many websites with the statistics available, like THIS
As a general rule of thumb popular places and big cities will have the highest crime rates, while smaller cities and countryside the lowest.
Also I would avoid solo trips and backpacking in general in the rural parts of less-developed countries, like Romania, etc.
Pretty much thats it. Europe as a whole is probably one of the safest travel destinations in the earth with some planning and common sense.
Ignorant North American here but I’m now legit wondering what happens to people backpacking-possibly-solo through places like Romania. 😬
Natural hazards like “If you twist an ankle you’ll get no comms service and be eaten by a bear.” aside, of course.
Buddy system is never a bad idea. :)
No problem, its not some golden rule you should follow (especially from an internet stranger) but it’s mainly bad roads, bad economy (poor police/ambulance availability), the little Roma villages/gipsy makeshift living areas, where I would not show up alone with any valuables (similar to gipsy ghettos near big cities) and last but not least wildlife. While bears and other predators are not uncommon, rabid dogs are also a possibility.
Before somebody accuses me hating Romania (its a beautiful country with incredible landscapes and the capital and developed parts are very popular tourist destinations), the above is also applicable for many other europen countries. This is why I strongly suggest doing some research before planning such trips, as the relative safety and enjoyment of a holiday can vary from region to region within a small country. This is why its borderline impossible to give a straight answer to the original post.
Yeah this makes a lot of sense, thank you for elaborating!
I think I understand the idea: Plan things out, have backup plans, have some sense, and one should be fine. You can’t just expect to get a friendly rescue within the hour.
I think this is common here in North America too, for instance, people get into trouble because they treat a National Park like a theme park, and underestimate the realities of the wilderness.
They won’t have maps, or enough water, or will try to pet a buffalo, or poke around in caves, or snap selfies dangerously close to the edge of the Grand Canyon. It’s insane how little they consider the dangers of the wild.
Depends. Are you white? Would you be recognizable as a “foreigner”? In the latter case avoid all of Germanys provinces, especially in the former East. Do not travel alone and be wary of the cops. They are usually the same groups as the local Neonazis.
I’m white af, but, as an American, I didn’t get treated as rudely anywhere else in Germany than Berlin. Still had a great time overall in the city, but, not really in a rush to go back.
My friend and I were standing at a bar mulling over the menu, just kind of murming to one another over what drinks we wanted while we were waiting for the bartender to finish up with his other customers. It wasn’t busy, but he was attending to other people. When he was finally done, he approached us and I said “Hi how are you?” with a smile. He didn’t say a single word to us, just took the menus from in front of us and put them on the back shelf, and then turned away.
So we left. Our money clearly wasn’t good enough there, and we spent it in another bar across the alleyway instead.
When he was finally done, he approached us and I said “Hi how are you?” with a smile.
There’s probably the problem. Don’t ask a german “how are you”, they will interpret it as the start of a conversation, not a greeting. You might either get weird looks or a detailled personal and medical history of that person. In food service, you get to the point. A “Excuse me” or “Can we order please” is a way better way to initiate an order.
As a Dane I’d guess they didn’t realize Americans use it as a greating and so assumed you to be initiating a conversation unrelated to ordering, possibly with bad intentions.
It would be a little like starting the conversation with a “how is your mother”, it would signal way more familiarity than was had, come way out of left field and be generally unwanted when you are working if you don’t have time to stop for the conversation that would ensue.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you did anything wrong necessarily, it’s just a cultural difference that likely causes misunderstandings if none of the parties are aware of it. I’d liken it to a Eurpean going to a restaurant in the US, not tipping anything and how both parties may feel the other party to be rude after the fact if the server let their dissatisfaction show.
I could of course be wrong and they may just have been an ass, plenty of those in tourist heavy areas for sure. Just something to consider if it could have been the case.
I have read of tourists coming to Vienna and thinking there is anything worth seeing north of the Danube.
Unless you count the UN headquarters, there isn’t. All of that is a completely unstructured and boring mix of industrial, commercial and residential zones mostly built after WW2 like you find anywhere in the world.
I visited Vienna in 2015 and that’s one of the places where I’d gladly move if I could.
Andorra. Full of motor bozos, duty free shops, terrible cities in the valleys. A tax haven joke country. Nice mountains i guess.
Don’t come to Greece, over tourism is a huge problem here…
I feel you lol. I wish less people came to Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto. It’s a bit ridiculous sometimes. The culture people come looking for is slowly dying or becoming a fake version of itself because legit stuff is being pushed out of historical centers, in favor or tourist attracting alternatives. The issue of overpricing (because all the English, German, French, etc, visiting Portugal earn way better than us here in average) is ludicrous, it’s becoming harder to enjoy the places we used to go 15 or 20 years ago.
sighThat’s really sad, because one day I wanted to go and learn Jogo do Pão. I hear it’s a dying art but they’re trying to keep it alive.
lol
I believe “jogo da bolacha” is a more common name here X)Lmao I was confused but I think I see where I got it wrong. I said “bread game” instead of “stick game”. XD
Apologies for butchering the language. :)
…Lol the machine translation of “jogo do pau” appears to be…Less than polite? Hahaha.
So, clarification: I think rural stick fighting from Portugal would be really cool to learn. :) lol
Actually, the traditional Jogo da Bolacha is also a thing. If you’re in Portugal and someone asks for you to join, YOU JOIN. It’s extremely rude for foreigners to refuse the Jogo da Bolacha. Specially if the inviter winks at you. It’s also good manners to announce you’ll loose the first few times, while you learn. If people are surprised by this just smile, lick your lips and say you’re the Cookie Monster. You’ll be accepted among us very quickly.
Okay. You. You’re a sneaky sneaky one, you. LOL That comment made me laugh so hard.
So, sadly, with my internet-ruined mind, I kinda guessed this when someone said “cookie game.” Over here in NA it’s called “limp biscuit” (like the band), and knowledge of the concept alone is enough to hope it’s just an urban-legend joke and nobody’s actually played it. 😂
“I am the Cookie Monster” ROFLMAO!!!
Messed up, but really damn funny. XD
Aaaaaah, that makes much more sense lmao
The “jogo do pão”/“jogo da bolacha” is silly and dirty kids “game”, I was quite confused how you even knew about it x)
But yeah, jogo do pau is pretty cool, though I know little about it. It’s another slowly dying bit of our culture.
This was a hilarious case of language misunderstanding. XD
I’m still laughing at how accidentally switching two similar words meant that comment must have sounded REALLY freaking weird to you LOL. I learned a valuable lesson here.
Yeah, in NA this is called “limp biscuit”…there was a popular band named after the concept. Gross. 🤢
XD I was caught very off-guard, ngl
Yeah, in NA this is called “limp biscuit”…there was a popular band named after the concept. Gross. 🤢
Nice to know x)
The Dutch!
Zeg makker
Kokosnoten zijn geen specerijen
anders hadden we ze wel GeKoLoNiSeErD!
