Suburban Plowboy
Platinum Member
Interesting thread. I did some overseas travel when I was young, but after that, I didn't go anywhere for many years. My Dad and I used to cross to the Bahamas on his boat, but the Bahamas don't count. Any country that will let you in with a driver's license is not a real country.
I got engaged to an African lady, and then I found out just how hard it was to get her here to visit while we waited for a green card. Our government does not trust Africans one bit, so getting a tourist visa was about as easy as getting a ride in the presidential limo. It was not going to happen. Meanwhile, she could have walked across the border illegally and been offered plane tickets, a debit card, and a free hotel.
I learned how powerful a US passport was and how worthless one from Africa was. We tried to meet abroad for the engagement and marriage, but she could not get a visa to much of anywhere, and countries that were visa-free for her were not very appealing. Other African countries. Bermuda. The Bahamas. Some dump in South America; I forget which. The Philippines (Filipinos said don't go).
I wanted to take her to Europe, but I found out Europeans are very racist when it comes to tourism. Africans get into Europe illegally, but Europeans do their best to come up with excuses to deny travel visas to Africans who do things right. If you're a celebrity, a billionaire, or a ruler, you will probably get a visa, but they turn away people who are very obviously legitimate visitors.
A couple of African professors went to England several times to organize an academic conference. They got through more than once. When they tried to return to attend their own conference, the UK denied them entrance. This is the kind of BS European countries pull all the time. The way the Italians treated us was especially abominable.
We got turned down by Sweden, Germany, Czechia, Italy, Ireland, and probably some other countries I can't recall. I had abundant assets. My wife had a lot of money in the bank. We had proof our marriage was real. No criminal records. Travel insurance. Paid tickets in some cases. Paid hotels. Paid tours. A very expensive wedding ring. And she was from a country that isn't a big supplier of illegals. Didn't matter.
On top of the systematic racism, coronavirus was a huge barrier to travel. Flying during the crazy mask years was also pretty awful. I researched online to find the least-effective, most comfortable masks there were, and I perfected strategies to violate the rules as much as I could. Lufthansa was the only airline that enforced the stupid rules without mercy. Big surprise there, huh?
I probably flew with covid three times. I always tested negative no matter whether I was sick or not. That was helpful. My life would have been chaos if I had been forced to stay overseas in quarantine while my pets rotted in a boarding joint and my business went berserk.
I didn't want to go to Africa, and she wanted to see the world. We managed to make it to Egypt. I carried her ring through customs with my mouth shut and proposed on a Nile Cruise.
The people were surprisingly nice, and I guess everyone should see the historical sites once, but other than that, no thanks. The country was filthy. Cairo is full of half-finished buildings because of a tax wrinkle. It is literally impossible to drive there unless you have been raised in Egypt. They make Italians look like sissies. I saw a guy driving a van in horrific traffic at high speed, about a foot from the vehicles around him, with his baby daughter standing on his lap.
After that, we exploited a mistake the Turkish government made, and we got her into Turkey. The main lesson I learned there was that Oliver Stone is even more of a bag of manure than I thought, and that's saying a lot. Him and his friend Billy Hayes. Midnight Express (book and movie) is nothing but a sack full of fetid libels. Stone and Hayes are disgusting, greedy liars who damaged the Turkish tourist industry for decades.
The Turks were great. They are extremely clean; considerably cleaner than Americans. The restaurants were spotless. The sights were excellent. Everyone was nice to us. Finally, it was cheap.
They have a dessert chain called Hafiz Mustafa. I would to back to Turkey just to eat there. The most flawless, delicious desserts imaginable. Both Western and Middle Eastern.
We bought a Vuitton knockoff backpack for $35 at the Grand Bazaar because my wife needed to carry things, and it has held up for 4 years. The quality is amazing. We thought we were getting it as a stopgap and kind of a joke, but now we wish we had bought more leather goods.
We managed to get into Ireland once, although an embassy Karen stopped us the second time, basically concluding my wife was a 304 and that we were pretending to be married so she could have the great privilege of living in Ireland.
I thought Ireland was not much of a place to visit but probably a great place to live. The people were wonderful, although a lot of them were not Irish. The landscape is very pleasant. The sights are kind of dull, the architecture is like the grubbier parts of Boston, the sweaters are really cheaply made, and the food is not very good. I figured they would at least be able to make fish and chips, but we tried a bunch of places, and Long John Silver's is much better.
Driving a manual transmission from the wrong side of the car on narrow roads that are really just paved ditches was pretty interesting.
Someone here says Guinness is better over there. Draft Guinness tastes exactly the same. I'm a homebrewer, and I make stout myself. I have had enough Guinness run through me in almost half a century to know Guinness very well. There is no difference. I can't tell you about bottled Guinness, because Guinness has made some pretty awful bottled beer in the past. Not the same recipe.
People say US Guinness is pasteurized, which makes a difference, but it's pasteurized in Ireland, too.
Interesting fact: Guinness is a light beer. It is very low in alcohol, and it's also low in calories. Arthur Guinness created it to be a session beer working men could drink without getting hammered.
My wife is allowed to visit Singapore and Hong Kong without a visa, so we went to Singapore for a couple of weeks, and a year later, we went again and spent 5 days in Hong Kong along the way.
I have never had any interest in visiting the Far East, because I figured it would be crowded and dirty and that I would not find the ways of the people compatible with mine, but Singapore was a joy. The people could not be nicer. There is no crime. The food centers and restaurants were interesting, if not always great. The weather, oddly, was very pleasant, even though Singapore is almost on the equator. Miami's climate is much harder to bear. We now feel like Singapore is a second hometown, which I definitely did not expect.
Hong Kong was also nice. The HK people were pleasant, and it seemed like the food was fantastic everywhere. Safe streets. Unfortunately, everyone is terrified of the nasty government communists, and the best people are trying to get out. Also, mainland people move to Singapore and bring their bad manners.
We went to Mexico because my wife needed expensive dental work, and Cancun is great for that. The people were good to us, the dental clinic was wonderful, and the food was not bad. Basically, though, Cancun seemed like a giant bar where most people were hung over until 2 p.m. It smells like a bar. Also, the police kidnapped three American girls while we were there, on the beach behind their hotel, and ransomed them for $300. I don't understand why anyone goes to Mexico unless they need dental work.
It wasn't until my wife moved to the US that we were able to go where we finally wanted: Europe. We had to drive to Atlanta to apply for a Swiss visa, and they gave it to us. This was three years after we got married.
I had been longing to show Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands to my wife. I have never had any interest in the British Isles, even though we ended up going to Ireland out of desperation. I have relatives who went to Ireland to celebrate our Irish blood, which makes us so witty and artistic. Problem is, we're like 1.5% Irish. Why is it so many Americans want to think they're Irish or American Indian? Anyway, I never wanted to go to the British Isles even though most of my ancestors came from there. London looks like a nightmare these days, and what else is there?
I got engaged to an African lady, and then I found out just how hard it was to get her here to visit while we waited for a green card. Our government does not trust Africans one bit, so getting a tourist visa was about as easy as getting a ride in the presidential limo. It was not going to happen. Meanwhile, she could have walked across the border illegally and been offered plane tickets, a debit card, and a free hotel.
I learned how powerful a US passport was and how worthless one from Africa was. We tried to meet abroad for the engagement and marriage, but she could not get a visa to much of anywhere, and countries that were visa-free for her were not very appealing. Other African countries. Bermuda. The Bahamas. Some dump in South America; I forget which. The Philippines (Filipinos said don't go).
I wanted to take her to Europe, but I found out Europeans are very racist when it comes to tourism. Africans get into Europe illegally, but Europeans do their best to come up with excuses to deny travel visas to Africans who do things right. If you're a celebrity, a billionaire, or a ruler, you will probably get a visa, but they turn away people who are very obviously legitimate visitors.
A couple of African professors went to England several times to organize an academic conference. They got through more than once. When they tried to return to attend their own conference, the UK denied them entrance. This is the kind of BS European countries pull all the time. The way the Italians treated us was especially abominable.
We got turned down by Sweden, Germany, Czechia, Italy, Ireland, and probably some other countries I can't recall. I had abundant assets. My wife had a lot of money in the bank. We had proof our marriage was real. No criminal records. Travel insurance. Paid tickets in some cases. Paid hotels. Paid tours. A very expensive wedding ring. And she was from a country that isn't a big supplier of illegals. Didn't matter.
On top of the systematic racism, coronavirus was a huge barrier to travel. Flying during the crazy mask years was also pretty awful. I researched online to find the least-effective, most comfortable masks there were, and I perfected strategies to violate the rules as much as I could. Lufthansa was the only airline that enforced the stupid rules without mercy. Big surprise there, huh?
I probably flew with covid three times. I always tested negative no matter whether I was sick or not. That was helpful. My life would have been chaos if I had been forced to stay overseas in quarantine while my pets rotted in a boarding joint and my business went berserk.
I didn't want to go to Africa, and she wanted to see the world. We managed to make it to Egypt. I carried her ring through customs with my mouth shut and proposed on a Nile Cruise.
The people were surprisingly nice, and I guess everyone should see the historical sites once, but other than that, no thanks. The country was filthy. Cairo is full of half-finished buildings because of a tax wrinkle. It is literally impossible to drive there unless you have been raised in Egypt. They make Italians look like sissies. I saw a guy driving a van in horrific traffic at high speed, about a foot from the vehicles around him, with his baby daughter standing on his lap.
After that, we exploited a mistake the Turkish government made, and we got her into Turkey. The main lesson I learned there was that Oliver Stone is even more of a bag of manure than I thought, and that's saying a lot. Him and his friend Billy Hayes. Midnight Express (book and movie) is nothing but a sack full of fetid libels. Stone and Hayes are disgusting, greedy liars who damaged the Turkish tourist industry for decades.
The Turks were great. They are extremely clean; considerably cleaner than Americans. The restaurants were spotless. The sights were excellent. Everyone was nice to us. Finally, it was cheap.
They have a dessert chain called Hafiz Mustafa. I would to back to Turkey just to eat there. The most flawless, delicious desserts imaginable. Both Western and Middle Eastern.
We bought a Vuitton knockoff backpack for $35 at the Grand Bazaar because my wife needed to carry things, and it has held up for 4 years. The quality is amazing. We thought we were getting it as a stopgap and kind of a joke, but now we wish we had bought more leather goods.
We managed to get into Ireland once, although an embassy Karen stopped us the second time, basically concluding my wife was a 304 and that we were pretending to be married so she could have the great privilege of living in Ireland.
I thought Ireland was not much of a place to visit but probably a great place to live. The people were wonderful, although a lot of them were not Irish. The landscape is very pleasant. The sights are kind of dull, the architecture is like the grubbier parts of Boston, the sweaters are really cheaply made, and the food is not very good. I figured they would at least be able to make fish and chips, but we tried a bunch of places, and Long John Silver's is much better.
Driving a manual transmission from the wrong side of the car on narrow roads that are really just paved ditches was pretty interesting.
Someone here says Guinness is better over there. Draft Guinness tastes exactly the same. I'm a homebrewer, and I make stout myself. I have had enough Guinness run through me in almost half a century to know Guinness very well. There is no difference. I can't tell you about bottled Guinness, because Guinness has made some pretty awful bottled beer in the past. Not the same recipe.
People say US Guinness is pasteurized, which makes a difference, but it's pasteurized in Ireland, too.
Interesting fact: Guinness is a light beer. It is very low in alcohol, and it's also low in calories. Arthur Guinness created it to be a session beer working men could drink without getting hammered.
My wife is allowed to visit Singapore and Hong Kong without a visa, so we went to Singapore for a couple of weeks, and a year later, we went again and spent 5 days in Hong Kong along the way.
I have never had any interest in visiting the Far East, because I figured it would be crowded and dirty and that I would not find the ways of the people compatible with mine, but Singapore was a joy. The people could not be nicer. There is no crime. The food centers and restaurants were interesting, if not always great. The weather, oddly, was very pleasant, even though Singapore is almost on the equator. Miami's climate is much harder to bear. We now feel like Singapore is a second hometown, which I definitely did not expect.
Hong Kong was also nice. The HK people were pleasant, and it seemed like the food was fantastic everywhere. Safe streets. Unfortunately, everyone is terrified of the nasty government communists, and the best people are trying to get out. Also, mainland people move to Singapore and bring their bad manners.
We went to Mexico because my wife needed expensive dental work, and Cancun is great for that. The people were good to us, the dental clinic was wonderful, and the food was not bad. Basically, though, Cancun seemed like a giant bar where most people were hung over until 2 p.m. It smells like a bar. Also, the police kidnapped three American girls while we were there, on the beach behind their hotel, and ransomed them for $300. I don't understand why anyone goes to Mexico unless they need dental work.
It wasn't until my wife moved to the US that we were able to go where we finally wanted: Europe. We had to drive to Atlanta to apply for a Swiss visa, and they gave it to us. This was three years after we got married.
I had been longing to show Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands to my wife. I have never had any interest in the British Isles, even though we ended up going to Ireland out of desperation. I have relatives who went to Ireland to celebrate our Irish blood, which makes us so witty and artistic. Problem is, we're like 1.5% Irish. Why is it so many Americans want to think they're Irish or American Indian? Anyway, I never wanted to go to the British Isles even though most of my ancestors came from there. London looks like a nightmare these days, and what else is there?
