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You've got the idea. I've spent a lot of time around Vail/Beaver Creek/Eagle. Kind of the same type of place as Aspen.
But I am looking for east of Mississippi, or the islands. Plus, Aspen and Vail tend to be pretty pricey. I don't mind spending $200 a night for a good place (or even a little more). But I'm guessing almost everything around Aspen is at least $300 during the good times of year.
St. John in the usvi. Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos.
The murder statistics in the USVI are unbelievably high. I know that 90% of them are related to drugs/gangs. But nothing happens in a vacuum, and even if my family is at little direct risk, I just don't want to go to any place that has lots of crime or social dysfunction..............even if that crap is outside the "touristy" areas. A sick culture produces gangs and murders, and I want to go to an area that has a healthy culture. (Also, I HATE the idea of being confined to a small part of any place we travel, to stay safe). Part of me really wants to go to Christiansted. But there are a lot of murders in Saint Croix (relative to its size), and once you get a couple blocks away from the touristy downtown area in Christiansted, it looks like a bomb hit in some places. SO run down and sketchy. Sad.
Tell me more about Providenciales. I have started looking into it.
Crime? Run-down areas? Decent, laid-back people?? I've seen articles and comments that lump T & C in with the Bahamas, as far as messed-up places. (Bahamas is totally out, for me. I know that the smaller, outer islands in the Bahamas aren't that bad, but I also don't want a place that is hard to get to. There are no direct flights from Boston or New York to any of those really small, outer Bahama Islands. But there are some to T & C.....)
Last edited by maineguy8888; 04-15-2019 at 07:26 AM..
Thanks for the suggestion. Have always loved the idea of spending a week there. But two things:
I'm in Maine, so going even further NORTH in the middle of winter doesn't really appeal.....lol. (Could see myself going in the summer sometime, although it's so nice here in the summer that I usually just try to do staycations.......Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, etc.).
Second thing is their economy is bad.............unemployment around 15% right now. I imagine there must be quite a few areas that are run down. Drugs, etc.
Thinking outside the box, you might consider Havana. Doubt you'd encounter any crime there, but the reason is they'll be keeping an eye on you. And you might have to travel with a group.
Other than that, I can't really think of any Caribbean place that doesn't have any crime issues. These are violent times, and there are a lot of issues going on everywhere. If you want the east coast, you're also going to have difficulty finding a place that really has everything you want. You could come to Williamsburg, where I live. There really isn't much crime here, and not really anything I'd call a sketchy area. But it's not a beach town.
Martha's Vineyard, maybe? Or possibly Bethany Beach in Delaware?
Thinking outside the box, you might consider Havana. Doubt you'd encounter any crime there, but the reason is they'll be keeping an eye on you. And you might have to travel with a group.
Other than that, I can't really think of any Caribbean place that doesn't have any crime issues. These are violent times, and there are a lot of issues going on everywhere. If you want the east coast, you're also going to have difficulty finding a place that really has everything you want. You could come to Williamsburg, where I live. There really isn't much crime here, and not really anything I'd call a sketchy area. But it's not a beach town.
Martha's Vineyard, maybe? Or possibly Bethany Beach in Delaware?
Good to hear about Williamsburg. I enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg, and I know my kids would too. Plus I know there is lots of other things to do now (more than when I visited in the 90s).
How warm does it get there in April?
Cuba actually crossed my mind. Damned communists.......lol. I can't see myself spending any money which in any way would bolster the regime.
I know some islands have low crime and no real bad areas. I wish I could remember more about Barbados (was pretty drunk much of that week.........). I enjoyed my time there.
Sad to hear about Providenciales. I would be there in a heartbeat if they would get a grip on this. The unfortunate thing is that it starts to keep tourists away, then they have less income flowing in. That makes the problems even worse. It can be a death spiral.
East of Mississippi = Nova Scotia (next door to Maine)
Have almost made it to Wyoming (far northern Colorado), and really want to go sometime. I think I'll like it more than Arizona. So what are the towns or places in Wyoming that have almost no sketchiness?
Nova Scotia has some places that fit my bill, I know. But like I said, when it's nice here (May to October), I tend to stay close to home. Maybe we'll do a long weekend to NS this summer.
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