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I'm not going to that Hell Hole!

Mell

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Are there countries you would avoid visiting, because you don't like the politics, or you find the politics there off putting. Explain, your reasons.

Exclude countries at war, unless there is another reason besides the war danger that would prevent you from wanting to go there.
 
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I think avoiding a visit to a country because you don't like their politics is a little silly, in most cases.
 
Well, pretty much all of Africa and a number of countries in Asia and the Asian Pacific would be a start. Plus I would throw in a number of places in South America, such as Venezuela.

Those places are often dangerous to visit anyway.
 
I don't wish to go to any country where my being an American would be an issue.
 
Those places are often dangerous to visit anyway.

There are very few countries, which are actually too dangerous to visit, if they are not at war.
 
I can't think of a country I wouldn't visit due to just politics. Perhaps due to danger possibly relating to those politics (like Iran), but not the politics in general. I despise what Saudia Arabia does, but I'd love to visit there. In fact, I'd love to visit most of the countries in the middle east even though I don't agree with most of their politics. But their politics are irrelevant to my visit there.

Really, I don't consider politics at all when determining where I'd like to go.
 
That excludes most of the world then. :)

True!, during the Bush years especially. US citizens often used to tell people they are Canadian to avoid the negativitiy.
 
It's been my experience in traveling that being an American has been a boon. Sometimes too much so.
 
It's been my experience in traveling that being an American has been a boon. Sometimes too much so.

Must have changed a bit since my travelling times then. My American friend got chased with a scythe just for saying she was in fact American ...and that was in.....Greece.

I travelled widely and found in those days both the US and the English were not liked at all. Being Scottish I did not have any problem.
 
I think avoiding a visit to a country because you don't like their politics is a little silly, in most cases.

Well, sometimes you cant help how you feel.

I am so disgusted by Saudi Arabias new ''open minded'' tourist laws. They used to allow no tourists there except with transit visas for around a day at a time. Now, tourists can visit, except that women under 30 years old are only allowed in, if they are in the company of a man. That is just too disgusting for my sensibilities, even though I have and will again visit counties in the Middle East.

Almost all the time, I dont let the politics of a country put me off going there though. My boyfriend is much more particular in that area. He wont go to the Middle East or Israel, because their politics irritate him. He also wont go to Africa, because of the number of diseases there.
 
Perhaps due to danger possibly relating to those politics (like Iran), but not the politics in general. .

It is not so dangerous in Iran. Americans are only allowed in there though, if they are part of a guided tour, or on a tour by a travel agent.
 
I wouldn't avoid a country because they don't like the politics, but I would boycott traveling to a country that violated human rights (like many communist regimes). Personally, I wouldn't like to go to a country where the population is bigoted against Americans either. I went to Haiti in 2007, and they have one of the most corrupt governments in the world. People have the right to travel where they want to, but I would think it is stupid to not travel somewhere because you don't like the politics.

Honestly, if I was in another country I wouldn't comment on their politics unless someone living there had a political conversation with me or wanted to know my opinion on an issue. In nations where free speech is a right one can say what they want. But personally I would think it would be highly rude to go to a country (as a foreign visitor) and bash their politics. I've experienced foreigners coming here and bashing my country and our politics and I found it to be rude and offensive, so I wouldn't do the same in another nation.
 
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It's been my experience in traveling that being an American has been a boon. Sometimes too much so.

Well, they are frequently seen as people with lots money to spend and countries and many people generally like this. They are also seen as loud and pushy though, and used to be held responsible for the Bush politics by many they encountered.
 
I almost forgot one. I havent visited the US for a while and dont want to in the near future, because of their fairly recent weird new tourist visa rules, and numerous reports I heard about the immigration and customs hassling tourists on entering the US. They seem to be over the top with the paranoia these days.
 
Must have changed a bit since my travelling times then. My American friend got chased with a scythe just for saying she was in fact American ...and that was in.....Greece.

I travelled widely and found in those days both the US and the English were not liked at all. Being Scottish I did not have any problem.

In India I was treated like royalty for being American. In Mexico, we were treated well because they assumed we had lots of money. Ditto for Belize.
 
In India I was treated like royalty for being American. In Mexico, we were treated well because they assumed we had lots of money. Ditto for Belize.

I had a similar reaction in Haiti (outside of Port Au Prince). People treated us nicely because they viewed us as walking wallets. I can't blame them though because it is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Well, sometimes you cant help how you feel.

I am so disgusted by Saudi Arabias new ''open minded'' tourist laws. They used to allow no tourists there except with transit visas for around a day at a time. Now, tourists can visit, except that women under 30 years old are only allowed in, if they are in the company of a man. That is just too disgusting for my sensibilities, even though I have and will again visit counties in the Middle East.

Almost all the time, I dont let the politics of a country put me off going there though. My boyfriend is much more particular in that area. He wont go to the Middle East or Israel, because their politics irritate him. He also wont go to Africa, because of the number of diseases there.

Israel has more women doctors, scientists and engineers per capita than just about anybody.

Perhaps you should be the one to visit Israel.
 
Jamaica, but it's not the politics. It's the hostility of the general population.
 
Honestly, if I was in another country I wouldn't comment on their politics

The politics can have an affect on your visit to a country, even if you dont talk about it while there. For example, in Romania in 1989, I was almost arrested for talking with the Romanians at all. Or maybe it was the Romanians who were almost arrested... At the time, all Romanians who spoke with foreigners had to go to the police station and fill out a report about what they spoke about. At the time, of this incident happened in Romania, some Romanians distracted the policeman, while I got away. And, there was other weird stuff too, because of politics that happened even when politics was not spoken about.

And, in Iran, I would have risked a public flogging, if I went outside my room without a headscarf, because of politics. And lots and lots of weird stuff there.
 
Israel has more women doctors, scientists and engineers per capita than just about anybody.

Perhaps you should be the one to visit Israel.

I am not sure I understand the reason for this comment.

Anyway, I visit lot of countries, irrelevant of the number of women doctors etc in them....
 
The politics can have an affect on your visit to a country, even if you dont talk about it while there. For example, in Romania in 1989, I was almost arrested for talking with the Romanians at all. Or maybe it was the Romanians who were almost arrested... At the time, all Romanians who spoke with foreigners had to go to the police station and fill out a report about what they spoke about. At the time, of this incident happened in Romania, some Romanians distracted the policeman, while I got away. And, there was other weird stuff too, because of politics that happened even when politics was not spoken about.

And, in Iran, I would have risked a public flogging, if I went outside my room without a headscarf, because of politics. And lots and lots of weird stuff there.

That's not really politics, IMO. That's just customs and laws. Before I go *anywhere*, I familiarize myself with the area customs and laws that could apply to me. There are travel websites that provide those kind of 'warnings' to travelers to certain areas. I want to know what I can bring into the country, what I can bring out, what is customary to wear, what things could be illegal that are greatly different than my country, health issues, etc, etc. These are all things that any traveler should familiarize themselves with lest they end up on the wrong side of the law, or end up inadvertantly insulting everyone they come into contact with. (and then wonder why people are rude to them or treat them badly) But, I wouldn't consider any of that 'politics'.
 
In India I was treated like royalty for being American.
In India, god love em, they even loved the English! - not that I have anything against the English but considering the history.

In Mexico, we were treated well because they assumed we had lots of money. Ditto for Belize.

Yes, I am sure it depends on where you go and also how you travel. I was just travelling by local travel and it was 35 years or so ago so things were very different. If people did not like a countries politics, they frequently did not like the people all that much either and in those days where I travelled both the English and the US were more unpopular than anyone else - though the chasing with the scythe was indeed a random and severe reaction. No doubt just being a Greek and waiting for someone to chase him and stop him which is indeed what happened. She was in no danger.
 
I can't remember the city or if this is true everywhere in Iran, but my sister told me that many entrance doors actually have two different announcement chimes. One chime is for male visitors and the other is for female visitors. This allows the family in the house to know immediately which gender is knocking at their door and thus which family member should respond to the door chime. Sis says it is designed this way to avoid embarrassing the opposite gender in Iranian culture.
 
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