Foreign Travel?

   / Foreign Travel? #201  
I met a Dr and his family, other son also a Dr. from Venezuela.
We met on a trip to Galapagos and traded pictures/emails for a while.
After "the Election" , he sent me a note that he could not email me anymore.
He and his family were scared, though he could say none of this in email.
Have not heard from him since.
I had a coworker whose family had a small apartment in a Venezuelan resort town.
The government took it over and kicked out his aunt who had been living there.

This is the Dr. in a picture I took. Felt so bad for him and his family. Who knows what happened to them.
IMG_0851.JPG
 
   / Foreign Travel? #202  
The statute of limitations is past...but I smuggled a suitcase sized satellite communication system into Bogata, Colombia for my employer during a highly confrontational communications worker strike which cut off all international telephone and data lines.

The satellite in a suitcase was expensive high-end technology at the time and needed by the airline to process Customs and pre-flight paperwork to continue flying planes in and out of the country.

It was back when drug smuggling from Columbia was rampant, so high risk with everything being watched closely by both sides.

Babysat it for ~2 weeks, sweating bullets the whole time as it would have been ugly press and high impact if found by the striking Comm Workers or Columbia Customs folks.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #203  
The statute of limitations is past...
I'm always amazed by the interesting history some of you folks have. That's one to write down, for the great-grandkids to be telling each other! :oops:
 
   / Foreign Travel? #204  
We worked on some crazy stuff in the 80's, can't give details still as classified for a few more years.
But I worked very large cameras and transported quite a bit of "stuff" out of the country under military orders.

The good part was I could bring back stuff that I would never think of without this paperwork.
Like Cuban rum and cigars.

I think the last time I brought back a case of rum, it was $1.75 a bottle for the good stuff.
Cigars I only brought back once, since I don't smoke and gave them to relatives and friends.
I also brought back hand sewn tableclothes and other items that would cost hundreds in the states for a few US dollars at the site.

I think some of the guys got carried away, as one transport plane not only had our stuff, but was full to the point where they had trouble closing the ramp with so much furniture :cool:

For years I could not go to certain countries, because I had gone there "non-commercial" flights as a civilian. They still found out who we were, I an sure the team and I had a file in some countries.

Things went kind of sideways at the end of the project, and the gov decided it was getting too dangerous and our tech was getting outdated. They canceled the project to fund other ones that were more modern as replacements.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #205  
I used to bring Cuban cigars back from Europe. Then I realized that, by the late 1990's / early 2000's, all of the best cigar makers had moved out of Cuba to the Dominican Republic, in order to keep selling to American customers despite the embargo. So, I was sticking my neck out for something that really wasn't any better than what I could already buy here! :ROFLMAO:

I do miss the pre-Euro Europe, though. A dollar used to buy 2.12 Deutchmarks, meaning traveling, lodging, and shopping in Germany were all very cheap. Italy was even better. Now a dollar is only .85 euro, and things that used to be 1 DM are nearly 1 Euro! Traveling in Europe has doubled in price, since the start of the EU.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #206  
You only live once. Yet, sometimes that can be shorter than others... :)
 
   / Foreign Travel? #207  
I remember being in Athens right after they converted to Euro, what a mess.
People who had been doing fine were now not able to afford the same lifestyle.
Not long after we saw on the news that their were runs on the banks.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #208  
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I'll be in Dublin in August! But I've also been there in Sept/Oct/Nov, and it can be quite a bit colder than here. Ireland never gets truly cold, like our northern states, but it also never gets truly hot.
It will be interesting if you notice the changes that have been happening Dublin, and the rest of Ireland, over the last few years. There is much that is happening in Ireland and Northern Ireland that is not getting covered in the usual media outlets, and if covered, not telling the whole story.

We were in Ireland one year in late June and early July. There was a heat wave, not really bad for us, but the natives where wilting in the mid 80's. 😁 Flip side, one trip was in late May, and the natives were still bundled up in winter coats. :D

I had read how bad the roads were in Ireland and thought they were making it sound worse than it was in reality. However, driving up a hill one "hot" afternoon, and having the car slide like it was on ice because the asphalt was melting, finally made me understand they were not exaggerating. :ROFLMAO:
 
   / Foreign Travel? #209  
My wife and I are headed to Ireland this November. It will be my first time really being out of the country. Well, except for the Caribbean a couple decades ago.
We went to Ireland a couple of years ago, we loved it. It was our first visit to Europe also.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #210  
I've spent a good deal of time in Ireland in the past, but this particular stop will be just one evening, as a stop over from a longer trip in contintental Europe. Enough time to meet up with an old friend for dinner in a pub and a walk around town, but not much more! So, other than news from my friend, I might not notice much change.

I used to travel to Europe every year, and in fact work there a few weeks per year. But not so much, any more.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #211  
The weird little costs have crept in. Like the ETA requirement for the UK. Yes, it is only a few bucks or so. But still, its sort of an entrance fee that wasn't there 10 years ago. People visiting the USA are saying there are fees like this also now, applied to them.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #212  
London is very built up and the South bank went from scary to nice, with pubs, restaurants and lots of little markets and shops.
Italy seemed about the same but more tourists.
Switzerland hasn't changed much.
Paris was nuts, but we both worked in Paris for a long time so found it easy to get around the tourist crush, except when taking the son to the Eiffel tower, much faster if you have restaurant reservations.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #213  
I've spent a good deal of time in Ireland in the past, but this particular stop will be just one evening, as a stop over from a longer trip in contintental Europe. Enough time to meet up with an old friend for dinner in a pub and a walk around town, but not much more! So, other than news from my friend, I might not notice much change.

I used to travel to Europe every year, and in fact work there a few weeks per year. But not so much, any more.

We have spent more time walking around Dublin than any US city. Only got a bit nervous in one area near the Guinness Store House, not because of people directly, but just the trash, graffiti, barbed wire, razor wire, etc. It was a nicer, newer area but it was off. We did have an issue with a beggar on our first trip who was a bit aggressive but that can happen in any city. Had to deal with one in Leiden as well. Just a city thing.

However, over the last few years, violence is up in Ireland, including against tourists. Some of the attacks were in places we have walked. There have been a couple serious incidents and who knows how many unreported one. I keep reading 20-25% of the population is now not born in Ireland. The government is letting in undocumented, military aged men mostly from the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Some are flying into the airport, somehow don't have a passport, but are then allowed to stay. Even the government admits that 80% of the men they have let in are not there legally. This is barely covered in RTE or the other Irish media.

Ireland has seemingly had a homelessness problem since Cromwell visited but it has gotten worse, much worse.

Your friend should know where to go and places to avoid. :)

From what I have been seeing, Ireland has changed quite a bit since we visited prior to the pandemic, and the change is not good. Even in the rural areas there are problems.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #214  
The weird little costs have crept in. Like the ETA requirement for the UK. Yes, it is only a few bucks or so. But still, its sort of an entrance fee that wasn't there 10 years ago. People visiting the USA are saying there are fees like this also now, applied to them.
The EU has ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) that we now have to do, well will have to do, but it keeps getting pushed out into the future. Now it is for some time in 2026 the last I read.

Supposedly, this was because the US had a requirement to check people entering the US, and then the EU did the same. The irony is that the US, UK, and EU countries just let people flow across the border without checking ID. It is No Border, No Country for some, but not for others.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #215  
I am so very glad that we started traveling 20 years ago. And quickly filled out our must see "Bucket List." Italy, France and England. Its all different now. You need a well ahead established time slot for just about anything, when 20 years ago we use to just show up to the site and get in. That just doesn't happen anymore. We did get to experience all of the A list sites. Which now, when I look them up, need at least a month ahead reservation.
I'm under the impression that the UK ETA is in fact in place now. So we both signed up, did the requirements, which are rather difficult to follow, and paid for them. WATCH OUT FOR INTERNET SCAMS. The first few sites, google gives, are not the official site.
It has gotten weird that since Brexit, soon we will need both A UK ETA and and a EU ETA, if we are traveling and visiting both the UK and the EU.
:)
 
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   / Foreign Travel? #216  
Yeah, I've watched it all happen, being there nearly every year since the mid-1990's. But the trouble is, I'm in a different country each year, and while some of the changes are common to most, it's not all universal.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #217  
Yeah, I've watched it all happen, being there nearly every year since the mid-1990's. But the trouble is, I'm in a different country each year, and while some of the changes are common to most, it's not all universal.
We have only spent a great deal of time in Ireland and the Netherlands with a week or so in Scotland which was on a boat visiting smaller port towns with only a short time in Glasgow.

One of the expressions, and law, they have in some/many European countries is "anti-social behavior." It really fits so many problems. We did not really see many/any issues in our travels in Scotland and Ireland, other than beggars. In Dublin we did see way too many homeless people but Ireland has had a homeless problem since Cromwell's visit. Having said that, they should have fixed the problem decades ago but have only made it worse. We talked to an American living in Ireland who told us how time consuming it was to do a small addition to his kitchen. It really was horrible, and as I have read since then, part of the problem.

There have been court cases, where people have built homes on their own land, without planning permission, because they were HOMELESS. They could not get planning permission to build on their land, even being homeless. They built anyway, were taken to court and threatened with prison if they did not tear down their home. Tearing down the home will make them homeless again. That state has no housing available for them at all..... You can't make this up. It is right out of Orwell.

BUT, the government has plenty of housing available for the horde, of military aged men arriving illegally. Native Irish, forget about it. There are been too many cases made public of Irish people being kicked out of housing to be replaced by the newly arrived. The government pays more for housing for newly arrived, aka, the illegals, than they do for their own people. It is unreal.

In the Netherlands, we have seen quite a bit of "antisocial behavior" on the trains and buses. It was not from the Dutch but from the newly arrived and very obvious. We were taking a train from the airport to where we were staying and I was in the area where one can keep a bike, luggage, stroller, etc. An older Dutch dude got on the train, and seeing the luggage, asked if I was moving to the NL. I said no, just visiting. You could tell he was not happy with all of the people moving to the country. On our first visit, we were waiting to go on a tour of a building and an older Dutch couple was waiting as well, and started a conversation about the newly arrived. An interesting conversation but I sure was not starting it. :) The Dutch have this thing were they keep blinds open most of the time, even at night. Kinda odd to be honest but it is their culture. One does NOT walk by a home and stare inside, which is obviously rude, but the newly arrived do look. And it is not just a glance either. It is spying. We saw this in the last house we rented. The Dutch did not do this. We noticed that the newly arrived are not following Dutch cultural norms, even the few we know about, and this is really anti social.

We had similar conversations started by our "neighbors" in the NL I really wish we could have talked to them more.

In Ireland there will be violence. It has already started at a low level because the government is not enforcing the law equally and blatantly ignoring what is happening. What is scary, and very Orwellian, is how the government and media are hiding what is happening. It is like they are following 1984. There have been incidents across the island from groups that are usually, historically at odds with each other, against a common problem. The irony, is that the Irish and UK governments have created a situation which might cause the splitting of the UK and the joining of Northern Ireland and Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement has the process defined but the will most certainly has not been there at all. I did say might, and quite a bit would have to happen, but events are happening. It really is unreal what is going on over there. The UK has a political way out of the this mess, and the political solution has started, even with the current government canceling local elections. Ireland is the bigger problem/danger because NONE of the political parties are against what is happening even though the vast majority of the Irish do not like what is happening. When a people don't have a political solution...
 
   / Foreign Travel? #218  
We travel a fair amount.. A few places I won't go... Chicago, Baltimore, Portland, NYC, .... Ukraine.. Just to name a few. We go to Cabo every year for 2 or 3 weeks and it's always been on one list or another for travel warnings. .. Im what I would consider fairly street smart and steer clear of areas that would be prone to problems.. And have never ever felt threatened by the locals we associate with. Im also a fairly large person ..6-3' 220 pounds so most bad actors may look elsewhere for an easier target. ..
 
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   / Foreign Travel? #219  
I agree about Baltimore, NYC is great and most of Manhattan below 93rd street is really safe.
Chicago has it's spots, especially by the lake and park.
Never been to Portland, probably won't go anytime soon.

NYC is great once you ditch the tourist spots. We used to live there 20+ years ago and still love going there, it's just gotten expensive to take the train in.

My Father loved Cabo, I have yet to go.

San Francisco really went down hill, but still has some great sites to see. By the Pier etc. better by day.

LA , stay away from Downtown, more towards West Hollywood and your fine. Tourist stuff by the Chinese theater is fine by day.

Some of the shore communities south of LA have amazing little ports with great views and restaurants.
South out of San Francisco to Carmel is one of my favorite rides in the world.
 
   / Foreign Travel? #220  
As much as many like to disparage California, you can't deny how beautiful and vibrant it is. I was working near Santa Barbara last week and really had an enjoyable trip, from a relaxing and trendy hotel to a really nice beachside dinner.
I'm heading to San Jose later this week, near the Cisco campus. It might be that many people now work remote, but I can't help but notice how much commercial vacancy there is in that area.
 

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