Americans dying in Dominican Republic resorts

[ATOMonkey]

Which 3.57 billion are you not counting

What's a couple billion southeast Asians between friends...

 

[JettaKnight]

uhhhh you just said that I need to travel in order to appreciate how good America is, but then you tell me the rest of the world really isn't "that" bad.

There's shades of bad my friend.

I'm not advocating people travel to DR, MX, Cuba, VN, DPKR... but Iceland is safe and very lovely this time of year...

I think you're sending mixed signals. If you tell me that fire is hot, I don't need to stick my hand in it in order to appreciate not being burned. I'll just take your word for it.

Fire is hot, and coffee is hot...

And yes, I'm sure there are nice places in the rest of the world with nice people as well. There are 4 billion of us wondering around on this dirt ball after all. However, we have mountains, plains, swamps, forests, deserts, cities, beaches, islands, oceans, rivers, etc. right here in the good old US of A. We also have a very diverse population. We have affluence, we have poverty, we have liberalism, we have conservatism, we have oppression and we have freedom, all right here. We don't have military occupation oppression, and that's something I don't ever need to experience.

The only thing we don't have is ancient architecture.

If you're saying all the rest of the world is merely some combination of military conflict, ancient architecture, duplicate landscapes to the US, and people that really aren't much more diverse than Americans...



Enjoy your life as you see fit (as will I), and we'll agree to disagree about the the merits of international travel.

 

[Sylvain]

There's shades of bad my friend.

This.When I travel to the UK I appreciate French cuisine even more.

 

[semperfi211]

My rule of thumb is to not travel to any place where I wouldn't trust their hospitals should one of us get sick/hurt

Three years ago while at Excellence Punta Cana my wife found out she had some large kidney stones from having excruciating pain in the middle of the night. We had about a 45 minute ambulance ride to the hospital. At the hospital they will let you die while waiting for your credit card to clear to pay for treatment. I had to call discover to let them know we were in the DR and had an emergency. After I got that settled they looked at her. Between the ER cubicle and being admitted to a room we spent about 16 hours at the hospital. An ultrasound determined that kidney stones were the cause of her pain. The doctor told us a couple stones would pass and a couple were too large and she would have to get them treated back in the states. They gave her pain pills, anti inflammatory pills and antibiotics to get us through the remainder of our week there. From what I saw of that hospital, I feel if you had a life threatening emergency there you are screwed.

 

[rosejm]

Which 3.57 billion are you not counting

I'd guess that included the 5 countries we don't want to visit: https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/half-world-s-poor-live-just-5-countries

 

[hoosierdoc]

I guess I'm a weirdo that doesn't need to leave America in order to appreciate. I can actually just listen and read about how horrible the rest of the world is without needing to experience it first hand.

I'm not so skeptical that I have to go somewhere awful to believe that it's actually awful.

adults can get to that point. Some can, many can’t. I think having kids travel abroad is a wonderful opportunity for them to get a reality check on our blessings we have

 

[ATOMonkey]

adults can get to that point. Some can, many can’t. I think having kids travel abroad is a wonderful opportunity for them to get a reality check on our blessings we have

Agreed on this point. Especially if someone is prone to complaining.

 

[actaeon277]

 

[Bennettjh]

 

[femurphy77]

This.When I travel to the UK I appreciate French cuisine even more.

What? You don't like haggis?

 

[JettaKnight]

What? You don't like haggis?

Can you still get really haggis? I figured the EU banned all the tasty bits of the sheep.


PS - I found a restaurant in Bulgaria that serves horse, I'll all excited!

 

[Hkindiana]

Can you still get really haggis? I figured the EU banned all the tasty bits of the sheep.


PS - I found a restaurant in Bulgaria that serves horse, I'll all excited!

Horse is still commonly servd in Belgium (and I believe France). Half hamburger and half horse is quite tasty. A horse steak is a bit dry since there is not much marbelling in the meat. If you purchase any meat items from the fast foot stalls in Belgium, you are most likely getting horse in your sausages or burgers. I love "fillet American" which is freshly ground raw beef. Spead it on a fresh baked bun, add pickles and Worcestershire, and you have one of the most delicios breakfast foods out there.

 

[Sylvain]

Can you still get really haggis? I figured the EU banned all the tasty bits of the sheep.


PS - I found a restaurant in Bulgaria that serves horse, I'll all excited!

We have horse butcheries in France.Horse meat is pretty common in Europe.

 

[Brad69]

You can tell Sylvain has spent some time in the UK the food sucks!
I lost about 20 pounds in 6 months not a big fan of shepherds pie, kidney pie, haggis, Cornish pasty, chips and gravy I really only ate breakfast and lunch sandwiches.
The Belgian Army eats a lot of food most guys would be considered “overweight”

Bulgaria - meh ! Soviet satellite poor, kinda boring, lots of drunks, very pretty dark haired hazel eyed woman. The woman zero in on Americans if you have blue eyes it’s a plus they seems to want kids with blue eyes.
Just don’t give them your real name mine is Biff Smith when in Europe!

 

[JettaKnight]

You can tell Sylvain has spent some time in the UK the food sucks!
I lost about 20 pounds in 6 months not a big fan of shepherds pie, kidney pie, haggis, Cornish pasty, chips and gravy I really only ate breakfast and lunch sandwiches.
The Belgian Army eats a lot of food most guys would be considered “overweight”

Bulgaria - meh ! Soviet satellite poor, kinda boring, lots of drunks, very pretty dark haired hazel eyed woman. The woman zero in on Americans if you have blue eyes it’s a plus they seems to want kids with blue eyes.
Just don’t give them your real name mine is Biff Smith when in Europe!

I'll yet you know if I see any children looking for their dad, Biff Smith.

Poor country == cheap vacation in my book. If I (and my wife) can get a liter of beer for a $1, I'm a happy man.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I'll yet you know if I see any children looking for their dad, Biff Smith.

Poor country == cheap vacation in my book. If I (and my wife) can get a liter of beer for a $1, I'm a happy man.

Budapest, Hungary. Cheap as ****, and a good time. And Bratislava, don't go, cheap yes, but it really is like it's portrayed in Eurotrip. One of the few times I actually thought, I might get attacked overseas.

[video=youtube;gX-Uy6G4X7o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX-Uy6G4X7o[/video]

 

[Brad69]

JettaKnight,

Nice people, lots of old stuff to look at, good food, clean water, safe, cheap = Good Times

I don’t recall what the money called but like $50 gets you dinner and a belly full of beer.
The exchange rate was about two to one so your wealth doubled as soon as you get in country!

Note: Beware Of pickpockets it’s kinda of a lost art in the US not in Europe especially the old Soviet areas.
Not many English speakers I use the “point and grunt” technique to order stuff seems to work!

 

[JettaKnight]

Budapest, Hungary. Cheap as ****, and a good time. And Bratislava, don't go, cheap yes, but it really is like it's portrayed in Eurotrip. One of the few times I actually thought, I might get attacked overseas.

Bummer. I was really looking forward to watching Miami Vice, #1 new show!


My friends quote that line all the time.

 

[ghuns]

Yeah, but what FINE hedonism it is!!!

It does NOT suck.

 

[JettaKnight]

It does NOT suck.

Well, that doesn't sound like fine hedonism to me.