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Old 01-05-2015, 01:37 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,618 posts, read 86,577,260 times
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Suppose you had an opportunity to visit, say, Venezuela or Nigeria or Pakistan. Be specific -- exactly what are your reasons for not wanting to go? what are you afraid of, that might happen to you if you spent a couple of weeks visiting there?

Are your reasons political, or economic, or philosophical, or do you actually fear that you might come to some harm? Or that people will be inhospitable? Or that your time will be wasted if not spent at a beach or resort or museum? Is learning about a new place not one of your reasons for traveling? Do you trust the media to tell you about those places and then consider yourself already knowledgeable?

Imagine that you are in such a place as a tourist or visitor today -- what do you think your day would be like?

The purpose of this thread is not so much to discuss the pros and cons of such reasons, but to just find out from readers what kinds of reasons they harbor regarding travel to "bad" places. So explain your motives, but don't be argumentative or comment on other people's reasons, please.
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Old 01-05-2015, 01:49 PM
 
7,274 posts, read 5,237,091 times
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For me it's simple - risk/reward.

Deep down I'd say I fear going to a place considered or proven to be bad. There are enough places to visit in the world that aren't considered bad overall (almost always bad sections in good places), thus I don't feel it necessary to do so.

I'm not a history buff, so going abroad to see a bad country from a historical perspective doesn't interest me. If it's tropical, already been to Hawaii and the Caribbean, so a different tropical place isn't exciting. If it's a cold place, I'd go to northern Canada or Alaska first. I guess I have no real reasons to go to such a place.
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Old 01-05-2015, 02:04 PM
 
5,570 posts, read 7,228,279 times
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Simple. I just don't have any interest in those locations.
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Old 01-05-2015, 02:08 PM
 
Location: NYC, CHI, UK
520 posts, read 596,570 times
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The only "bad" countries I wouldn't visit are ones where I feel my personal safety would be at risk, like kidnapping or a high risk of being sexually assaulted. I have no problems visiting a country where their politics or philosophy are vastly different, but I value my personal health and safety.
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Old 01-05-2015, 02:17 PM
 
12,064 posts, read 23,095,666 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gramercy View Post
The only "bad" countries I wouldn't visit are ones where I feel my personal safety would be at risk, like kidnapping or a high risk of being sexually assaulted. I have no problems visiting a country where their politics or philosophy are vastly different, but I value my personal health and safety.
I agree with this.
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Old 01-05-2015, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Honolulu/DMV Area/NYC
30,462 posts, read 17,888,365 times
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The food and people would drive me to visit all of those places (I LOVE Nigerian, Venezuelan, and Pakistani food!). Things working against me going (and this is more so for Nigeria and Pakistan) are the threat of violence; we've all seen how destructive Boko Haram and the Taliban can be. Venezuela has some problems with violent gangs, but I'd be less on edge visiting there.
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Old 01-05-2015, 02:26 PM
 
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,940 posts, read 36,711,281 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gramercy View Post
The only "bad" countries I wouldn't visit are ones where I feel my personal safety would be at risk, like kidnapping or a high risk of being sexually assaulted. I have no problems visiting a country where their politics or philosophy are vastly different, but I value my personal health and safety.

This, but it would have to be an extreme threat. The only places I really wouldn't visit would be those I couldn't afford to visit.
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Old 01-05-2015, 03:17 PM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
13,520 posts, read 21,998,550 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Suppose you had an opportunity to visit, say, Venezuela or Nigeria or Pakistan. Be specific -- exactly what are your reasons for not wanting to go? what are you afraid of, that might happen to you if you spent a couple of weeks visiting there?
If I had an opportunity (i.e. spend someone else's money) to visit these places, the only reason why I wouldn't go is fear for my own personal safety.

If I had to spend my own money to travel, given that my money and time are limited, I'd have my own prioritized list of places I'd like to see which may or may not include these places.
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Old 01-05-2015, 03:43 PM
 
14,985 posts, read 23,758,508 times
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There are so many reasons beyond safety and political, almost too many reasons to list:

Too expensive
Too hot
Too cold
Significant Other doesn't want to go
Simply not interested (i.e. beach vacations, carribean cruises)
Been there before, or a place just like it before.
Visa requirements are a pain.
Too far (I do enough flying accross the world for business)

If it's a place I otherwise want to visit, I weigh the risks vs rewards and would probably go there anyways.
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Old 01-05-2015, 06:05 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada
3,394 posts, read 5,504,122 times
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The only time I would avoid going anywhere is if there is an active conflict in that specific location, but not necessarily one within the same country. That is, assuming it doesn't seem reasonable that the conflict would reach precisely where I'm going.

Tomorrow I am actually taking the bus from Belgrade, Serbia to Pristina, Kosovo. There is a bridge in Mitrovica between the region that seperates the country's Serb population from the overall majority of Albanians. It has had a reputation for some violent tensions between the two ethnicities given some serious land disputes. Offending licence plates are removed before crossing the bridge on either side and bad things have happened over some crossings. There's even a small UN presence I believe. Maybe that scares a lot of people away, but I've never heard of a public bus being targeted, and playing by the rules with a private vehicle seems safe enough anyways. I would never tell my mom about this, though.
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