U.S.A. what a shit hole
Genuinely excited to visit the homeland. Then I saw this today. A little less excited.
I’ve only ever been out of the country one time.
My boss and I wrote a paper that got us invited to an international conference, that took place in Palermo, Sicily.
It wasn’t high on my list of places I want to visit, but free overseas work trip to Sicily!
It was pretty disappointing in many ways. The whole time I was there I constantly felt like I was about to be robbed or scammed.
The taxi drivers are nuts, we were sure we were going to die multiple times just on the ride from the airport to the hotel.
The accommodation in the city was pretty cheap but most places had awful reviews, so we splurged and chose a 5 star hotel near the conference venue. It ended up being the equivalent of a 2 star back home. Mold in the bathroom, paint peeling off walls in the bedroom, exposed wires poking out of every electrical outlet. The hot water didn’t work in the shower for 2 of the 4 nights we were there. At the buffet breakfast they served cold toast, warm yoghurt, and spoiled milk. You couldn’t make it up. And that was the best accommodation in the city.
When we walked from the hotel to the conference centre, we were walking past piles of garbage that people just dump on the streets. Apparently that’s a normal thing. There’s nowhere else for garbage to go. Sometimes it gets picked up by the city collectors, usually it doesn’t.
There were no pedestrian crossings, and cars don’t stop at red lights. So the traffic is constantly flowing at full speed on all the roads. Often the only way to get to where you need to go is to walk out in front of traffic, don’t make eye contact with any driver, look straight ahead, clench hard, walk sure, and change your underpants when you get to the other side.
It wasn’t all bad. The food at the restaurants was amazing. I had some very good authentic Sicilian pizza. They serve cheap pints of Heineken at every restaurant and bar. If you like oily fish such as sardines, pilchards and anchovies, you’re in heaven because it’s their staple, they serve them on everything. The locals love cannolis and eat them like crack. They were served for desert at the conference, at the gala dinner, and at every restaurant we went to. I wasn’t a fan of them.
I liked the novelty of being in a different country for the first time, but I wouldn’t go back to Sicily again.
Huh, interesting. I’ve been to Sicily on a student exchange. My experience was totally different, but it’s maybe because I didn’t stay in Palermo. I’ve been to Taormina and other smaller towns. It was beautiful, both the towns themselves, the nature, the weather and the view of the sea. These local towns are old and mafe for pedestrians, so almost no cars. All the local shops are run by mom and pop and everybody knows each other. They invite whoever is walking by the shop to eat lunch together. We took the bus from my host’s home to the neares town and we drove through lavender fields, it was amazing.
Not to say your experience wasn’t genuine, but it sounds like it’s Palermo that wasn’t very pleasant, not Sicily in general. I would definitely recommend the smaller towns.
Yeah. You have a good point. My experience was only of Palermo. I understand other parts of Sicily are quite different. We did a short half day trip to the Trapani salt pans, it was nice to get out of the city but still very touristy. My favourite part honestly was driving through the small stretches of rural areas between towns.
Vatican. Once you’ve visited it there’s not much reason to go back.
I’ve only been to 18 countries but there aren’t any I wouldn’t go back to. My home country of the USA has become a shithole, but there are some people there I will probably go back to visit at some point, most notably my son. Although he’s coming to visit me first. Maybe I can hold out until the orange stain is removed.
If shit keeps going the way it is, the US.
Keeps going? I’ve been avoiding it for decades and I can see it from my porch.
Last time I visited the customs office emptied out into a literal ghetto. Like, an entire 4 blocks of ought-to-be-condemned housing with rusted out patchwork wrecks abandoned in yards and on the street (or worse following behind you). The corner gas station had more security features than most prisons in Canada, and every street sign had numerous bullet holes. That was their welcome mat 2 decades ago. F that shithole country.
Buffalo? Sounds like crossing the bridge into buffalo.
Detroit
Ahhh Detroit.
That scans.
I was thinking they were all fine enough, but actually you’re right. At least in the short term it doesn’t seem remotely worth it.
It’s been the US for me for over a decade. Never going back there, most likely. And I was only visiting.
Any good places for a dual citizenship application outside of the US? Asking for a friend.
Plenty of options, but you’ll be hard-pressed to target something specific without both skills and money.
The easiest option available to many Americans is to see if you can prove ancestry from a country with jus sanguinis citizenship that you have a direct link to. Some countries need it to be within a generation or two, other countries don’t have a specific cutoff point. But anticipate a long, bureaucratic process and costs to have documents translated.
The other easiest option is to marry a citizen of another country and move there together. But good luck with that.
But if either of those aren’t options, you’re going to have a hard time if you don’t have a college degree and don’t have experience working in a desired field.
The other easiest option is to marry a citizen of another country and move there together. But good luck with that.
It has to be a real marriage tho, like you have to be actually in love and not just doing it for the sole purpose of immigration benefits (otherwise it could be considered fraud).
came to say if I ever leave the us I aint comin back.
Generally? Haiti.
USA
I don’t have such a country. If I had to strech it I would say Portugal, because Portuguese sounds to me like someone is trying to speak Spanish, while chewing on a very chewy, chunk of meat.
That’s weird, I find Portugese to be much more pleasing than Spanish. Not the weird ‘b/v’ and exaggerated ‘s’ sounds and much more melodical.
The US, left for China and I’m likely never going back.
If China ever refuses to renew my visa I’ll be visa hopping in SEA like most broke american Travellers do.
I genuinely cant imagine ever living in an individualist society ever again. Theyre all so hateful.
I genuinely cant imagine ever living in an individualist society ever again. Theyre all so hateful.
I mean, Chinese society hates you for going against the CCP.
You gotta define those words for it to be true. The CPC certainly doesn’t care if you ‘go against them’, nor do any of the constituent parties making it up that rarely fully agree on anything.
Most citizens certainly dont, well to be specific most dont care. At all. They’re enjoying the fruits of their and their parents labor and trust their local elections.
Might wanna get another citizenship instead of relying on “visa hopping”. The US can pull the dictator moves and just revoke your passport and leave you stranded (remember: Snowden?), also, if you run into issues with local laws, you have no consular protection (I assume you wouldn’t want the US intervening, so that’s effectively no consular protection)
Yeah, working on that, some of us werent born rich or lucky enough to qualify for other passports.
And yeah if that happens and im somehow left stateless that’ll suck, but it’ll suck less than living in a dying fascist empire. Like infinitely less. I’m not the right color to just pretend to be normal and get a pass like most white liberals are planning to.
Yugoslavia, can’t, no longer exists.
Out of the places I have actually been, there are none I would say I would never want to go to again.
I do, currently, wish I was not in my home country though.
At the very least for the next few years, the US.
Otherwise Honduras, not that I didnt like my visit there but I can’t say I have a particularly compelling reason to return.
I don’t have a desire to go back to the UK. Don’t have anything against the place, there isn’t anything there that entices me. Of all the European countries I visited I found it the most boring.
but how though why do people refuse to go back to the us or uk?
I don’t know what more too say to you. Nothing entices about going to the UK. If I am going to spend the resources to go to another country it won’t spend those resources on a UK trip.
- France
- Italy
- Mediterranean Sea Cruise
- Germany
Are the European areas I would spend time and money seeing.
I live in the US so I don’t know what to say to you about that.
As somebody from the UK I understand your original comment but putting Germany on this list is interesting – I find German and UK culture to be very similar.
Culture isn’t a factor for me.
Why Germany is on my list:
- The bars and restaurants in Germany are orders of magnitude better than the UK.
- There are a lot less assholes in Germany
- I once lived there and it would be interesting to revisit those places.
- They drive on the correct side of the road.
- Germany women are a lot more approachable.
All subjective and I’m not going to disagree with you. I hope if you ever do find yourself back in the UK that you have a more enjoyable time.
All Subjective…
Of course the list of places that I want to visit is subjective…
I’m not looking for an argument, I was just commenting on the similarities of the cultures.
Always has been the US. I’ve never been there, and I do not want to be there.
“again”
You seem to be under the impression that this post is about travel experiences, which is reasonable but incorrect. The commentor you’re replying to has correctly deduced that this post is an opportunity for everyone to engage in the America Bad ritual and signal their tribal loyalty.
