Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My daughter lived in Beijing for 15 months in 2014 and 2015, and while she was there she flew to Seoul a couple of times for concerts, as well as other parts of China on vacation, and then she went to Thailand for two weeks and then bopped around Europe--Helsinki, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, that I can remember--for a month or so on her way back. I met her in Amsterdam and we went to Paris and London for her last eight days of it.
She didn't sleep on beaches, but used hostels (except for her apartment in Beijing, of course). When I got there, we stayed in Airbnbs. I'm too old for the hostel nonsense.
She says the place she feels most unsafe is in the United States. I guess that would specifically be Albany, New York, where she lived after she came back to the USA, and Long island, where she lives now. She also bounces around a lot as a young single person. I've checked in with her and she's in Boston or Buffalo for the weekend.
She also had to go to Hong Kong in 2019 for an academic conference and decided after that to go by herself to some "glamping" place in the Philippines a five hour bus ride from Manila. Still didn't feel threatened by any humans, but she picked up a nasty virus while in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately one of the employees at the glamping site was a med student and nursed her through it.
That's true.
There are different safety concerns in the US
We traveled around Europe the summer before covid hit by train. I'd forgotten about the petty theft that's rife in Europe.
We got an hours long train from I think it was Geneva to Florence and as we entered the station the guy sitting in front of us released someone had swiped his laptop.
I thought back to the backpacking summer when it was stressed to keep everything close and on your person.
That's true.
There are different safety concerns in the US
We traveled around Europe the summer before covid hit by train. I'd forgotten about the petty theft that's rife in Europe.
We got an hours long train from I think it was Geneva to Florence and as we entered the station the guy sitting in front of us released someone had swiped his laptop.
I thought back to the backpacking summer when it was stressed to keep everything close and on your person.
Why is there a lot of petty theft? I don't know. It's just the way it it. It's a cultural difference.
Not that theft doesn't happen in the US but in the US if you're mugged the attacker will probably have a gun.
In Europe that's extremely unlikely. Theft is far more subtle and you probably wouldn't realise it happened until you notice something is missing
My daughter lived in Beijing for 15 months in 2014 and 2015, and while she was there she flew to Seoul a couple of times for concerts, as well as other parts of China on vacation, and then she went to Thailand for two weeks and then bopped around Europe--Helsinki, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, that I can remember--for a month or so on her way back. I met her in Amsterdam and we went to Paris and London for her last eight days of it.
She didn't sleep on beaches, but used hostels (except for her apartment in Beijing, of course). When I got there, we stayed in Airbnbs. I'm too old for the hostel nonsense.
She says the place she feels most unsafe is in the United States. I guess that would specifically be Albany, New York, where she lived after she came back to the USA, and Long island, where she lives now. She also bounces around a lot as a young single person. I've checked in with her and she's in Boston or Buffalo for the weekend.
She also had to go to Hong Kong in 2019 for an academic conference and decided after that to go by herself to some "glamping" place in the Philippines a five hour bus ride from Manila. Still didn't feel threatened by any humans, but she picked up a nasty virus while in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately one of the employees at the glamping site was a med student and nursed her through it.
Nothing like the education one gets traveling around...
My daughter just became a rolling stone as well. Got out from under her expensive apartment in San Francisco end of April, and now traveling from place to place as she can work remotely from anywhere. First a week with a friend in Oakland, then a week with us. Now in SoCal/Naples. We're all getting together for a family reunion in SLC mid-June where she will live for awhile. She'll meet us in NYC/NJ while we're there around the 4th of July holiday. Bali to stay with a friend living there after that, and maybe to apply for a masters program at the University of Edinburgh last we heard.
She's just floating around for a bit to see where she might eventually like to land. I often wish I had the opportunity to float around like that when I was her age, but always wanting to keep the money and my career going, then a family before I knew it, just wasn't in the cards for me. Not complaining though! My career had us enjoy four years in Hawaii where our daughter was in diapers on the beach all the time. Then our second was born there. They always complain they can't remember any of that though...
That's true.
There are different safety concerns in the US
We traveled around Europe the summer before covid hit by train. I'd forgotten about the petty theft that's rife in Europe.
We got an hours long train from I think it was Geneva to Florence and as we entered the station the guy sitting in front of us released someone had swiped his laptop.
I thought back to the backpacking summer when it was stressed to keep everything close and on your person.
I/we have had pretty much nothing but good experiences traveling. With our kids in Mexico, Europe, East Coast, lots of camping in the best National parks in California while they were young enough (and before my wife decided we'd had enough camping by the time the kids came of age).
In Rome, however, we were boarding the train at the Spagna Station (close to the Spanish Steps). After my wife and kids stepped on, I went to step on and was stopped by a young girl's arm extended across my waist from my right to where her hand had gripped the rail on my left. The train was packed and doors were about to close, so I gently removed her grip from the rail so I could move onto the train. I quickly moved past her and to the the poll a few feet away from her where I could stand.
We had a good distance to go before we were to get off, but at the very next station I noticed the young girl and woman with baby in her arms step off. Somehow I sensed something was wrong and reached down for my wallet and sure enough! Gone! Without a chance to tell my wife and kids anything, I jumped off the train and confronted the three who I just knew had made off with my wallet. They were gypsies...
Why is there a lot of petty theft? I don't know. It's just the way it it. It's a cultural difference.
Not that theft doesn't happen in the US but in the US if you're mugged the attacker will probably have a gun.
In Europe that's extremely unlikely. Theft is far more subtle and you probably wouldn't realise it happened until you notice something is missing
Its interesting thing you guys brought up. You feel safer in the states. thats a right powerful statement.
I am not suggesting that we are anywhere near safe enough. I would prefer criminals (those with history) feeling unsafe over woman and children, but as we see, more people feel woman and children is a price worth paying.
Its interesting thing you guys brought up. You feel safer in the states. thats a right powerful statement.
I am not suggesting that we are anywhere near safe enough. I would prefer criminals (those with history) feeling unsafe over woman and children, but as we see, more people feel woman and children is a price worth paying.
No I definitely wouldn't say I feel safer in the States.
It's just different.
It also depends on all sorts of factors. Where you live in the States is a main one.
I lived for 3 years of the border of Oakland and Berkeley, CA. I didn't feel safe there at all. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
I've told lots of stories before about my experience of living there. I don't want to bring the mood down so I won't go into all the details but to put it as briefly as possible when I was living there there was an average of 2 shootings per week. 5 houses down from my house there was an armed robbery, an old couple and their son, they had guns to their heads.
We had only been there a week and there was a drive by shooting and a one year old boy was shot in the head. I could go on but I won't.
Suffice to say we moved to the east coast as soon as we got the opportunity. We live in NY now. It's relatively a lot safer than where we were in CA.
As to Europe I don't feel unsafe at all in terms of I wouldn't worry about being attacked. But you do have to keep any eye on your belongings, that's the thing.
It's just a case of what you're used to, culturally.
I/we have had pretty much nothing but good experiences traveling. With our kids in Mexico, Europe, East Coast, lots of camping in the best National parks in California while they were young enough (and before my wife decided we'd had enough camping by the time the kids came of age).
In Rome, however, we were boarding the train at the Spagna Station (close to the Spanish Steps). After my wife and kids stepped on, I went to step on and was stopped by a young girl's arm extended across my waist from my right to where her hand had gripped the rail on my left. The train was packed and doors were about to close, so I gently removed her grip from the rail so I could move onto the train. I quickly moved past her and to the the poll a few feet away from her where I could stand.
We had a good distance to go before we were to get off, but at the very next station I noticed the young girl and woman with baby in her arms step off. Somehow I sensed something was wrong and reached down for my wallet and sure enough! Gone! Without a chance to tell my wife and kids anything, I jumped off the train and confronted the three who I just knew had made off with my wallet. They were gypsies...
post above makes a point of saying "they were gypsies"
why? i am wondering how race is relevant to telling this anecdote of having wallet stolen in Italy.
it's like someone saying they were a tourist in New York city and got mugged on the subway by a black man.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 05-25-2021 at 01:00 AM..
No I definitely wouldn't say I feel safer in the States.
It's just different.
It also depends on all sorts of factors. Where you live in the States is a main one.
I lived for 3 years of the border of Oakland and Berkeley, CA. I didn't feel safe there at all. Couldn't wait to get out of there.
I've told lots of stories before about my experience of living there. I don't want to bring the mood down so I won't go into all the details but to put it as briefly as possible when I was living there there was an average of 2 shootings per week. 5 houses down from my house there was an armed robbery, an old couple and their son, they had guns to their heads.
We had only been there a week and there was a drive by shooting and a one year old boy was shot in the head. I could go on but I won't.
Suffice to say we moved to the east coast as soon as we got the opportunity. We live in NY now. It's relatively a lot safer than where we were in CA.
As to Europe I don't feel unsafe at all in terms of I wouldn't worry about being attacked. But you do have to keep any eye on your belongings, that's the thing.
It's just a case of what you're used to, culturally.
I have often noted what a big difference it makes when it comes to the experience one has in California...
No doubt there are the good and bad areas in most big cities. Enjoyed Chicago not too long ago, for example, and where we stayed and walked about was wonderful. Go a few blocks in the wrong direction, and it's another story altogether. I know Oakland and Berkeley very well. I lived in Berkeley for awhile too, and both my kids lived in Oakland for a time. I had a very few experiences anything like you describe, but for the most part I enjoyed the better areas of these places and avoided the more dangerous ones. I lived in San Francisco too, and it's the same thing. Parts are simply hard to beat while others you best avoid altogether. I've also always said that property values tend to represent all the "good, bad and ugly" wherever you go, and no doubt the property values in the SF Bay Area are among the highest for all the reasons that make living in the Bay Area so desirable.
You certainly don't need to leave California to find "greener pastures" in any case, but I know many people who seem to see the glass as half empty here, including a lack of appreciation for the more liberal political ways, and I get that too. I've never considered the politics when it comes to where my wife and I chose to retire, which is perhaps the most liberal of counties in California, but I'm glad to say we feel very safe and happy here. If we didn't, we'd move too, but fortunately that's just not our experience here and hasn't been pretty much my whole life in California short of the 4 years in Hawaii which was pretty much the same in terms of enjoying a good, safe environment for our family.
post above makes a point of saying "they were gypsies"
why? i am wondering how race is relevant to telling this anecdote of having wallet stolen in Italy.
it's like someone saying they were a tourist in New York city and got mugged on the subway by a black man.
Nice try, but really? Do you know anything about gypsies? The problem they pose for authorities in places like Rome? Or should I say "some gypsies?" That it? Okay. Some gypsies...
The police explained to me that they watch the tourists at the subway stations to see which pocket they draw their wallets from to get their subway ticket. Once they know, they work their magic to get those wallets. If it were blacks who were known for doing this or known vagabonds of any kind, I would not hesitate to finger them in the same way. Does this mean all vagabonds are criminals? Of course not, but ask the police who to watch for and they'll tell you. Call this profiling if you like, and we all know when that is a problem too, but you should really take up your issues with them I think.
Or be sure to have your purse nice and handy as you pass a band of gypsies on the streets in Rome and be sure not to mention how they sliced the bottom of your purse open with a razor blade like they are also known to do there (per the police). Be sure to do those gypsies that favor of not mentioning them. And why did you pick the example of a black man in New York City???
Please...
Last edited by LearnMe; 05-25-2021 at 12:40 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
