Foreign Travel?

[WinterDeere]

When a cute 20 year old Italian girl approaches a middle-aged American man asking for directions, or to borrow his phone, you're about to see someone lose their wallet or phone.

 

[kenmbz]

funniest was in Rome when I was about 20 (yes, a long time ago), we approached a very pretty young lady and got charged by her chaperone from across a large square.
I had never seen a women that large move so fast before.

 

[JasperFrank]

Naples was not too bad, just like anywhere, know where not to be at night.
Train station is not marked well, ask for some help and you become very welcome and people will walk you over and make sure you get on the right train.

Paris used to be bad for "welcoming" but not so bad last time we were there.
Pickpockets and people watching our luggage was pretty funny, when we start to stare back.

No pocketbooks for the ladies and no fanny packs and all is well in most places.

"ask for some help and you become very welcome and people will walk you over and make sure you get on the right train. Italians are very good about this. They go out of their way to help you. I do love that country, cause they act that way. It is in their nature.

 

[NoTrespassing]

This is typical in Manila. Security is very tight there, metal detectors at all mall entrances etc. I don't know if the guns are loaded but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way.

 

[California]

I knew I had been in Venezuela too long (in Maracaibo, where the New Jersey refineries sourced their petroleum back then) - when I greeted an obvious newly arrived Texan oilman and his family, and got a cold rejection.

But on the other hand I enjoyed going to see regional villages by bus on my Sunday's off, and a coffee shop waitress out in the boondocks admiringly asked if I were a Spaniard due to an accent she hadn't heard before.

Long ago and far away. Nothing is the same there now.

 

[WinterDeere]

Long ago and far away. Nothing is the same there now.

That's a problem, everywhere. Even 80+ years ago, Hemingway was lamenting the fact that by writing about the running of the bulls, he essentially destroyed everything he loved about Pamplona.

The world used to be so much more varied and interesting, before global mass media started causing worldwide homoginization.

 

[kenmbz]

It's still pretty wild outside the cities though.
One of the differences in working within a country vs. just visiting.

I have been way off the beaten path in a lot of countries.

But yes, the global access to internet and media has deeply affected a lot of places.
Can really see it in Japan and especially parts of Europe.
Seeing crowds in foreign dress (compared to normal European dress). Restaurants that look like anything you might find in a US strip mall, etc.

In Japan, there is less bowing, but also less mumbled Gaijins.
Japanese food is also changing.
China has modernized and instead of bicycles everywhere like when my wife worked there, now it's clogged with cars in Beijing.

Everything changes over time, but in the last 30 years it has accelerated.

London looks so different then when I first went there in the 80's , even the south side of the Thames is all rebuilt and nice.