I’d go into much greater depth but that’s a very bad idea now.
Travellers always ignore West Africa which is a big mistake.
It’s apparently hard to get to some of those countries. Maybe not Morocco but others surely.
A person I knew who visited Algeria said it was super hard to get into when she visited. The visa process was old-fashioned and byzantine. Also super inconvenient if you happened to live in America anywhere but the east coast. That said, she said it was totally worth it.
Morocco and Algeria are North Africa my dude, which kind of underlines my point about people ignoring West Africa.
Oh. Apparently, Algeria borders the region defined as West Africa. Was off by a bit. Whether Morocco does depends on what the status of Western Sahara is.
It is true that people know little about West Africa. The average traveler in the developed world is just now discovering Egypt as a viable destination which seems to be a gateway country to the continent as a whole. And of course, Egypt isn’t West Africa.
Yeah but the average traveller is someone who just wants beaches so they head to Sharm.
It’s not exactly what you think of when someone says Egypt.
Mali looks like an elite country if your only goal is seeing incredible things and you have no concern whatsoever about your physical comfort, safety, and hassles.
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There was a surge of colleagues and friends of mine who went to Hurghada during the spring since direct flights from Prague recently opened to there. I was disappointed when I heard that a good lot of them just stayed on a compound the vast majority of the time.
Could sound pretentious to say this but if you spent your whole trip to Egypt on a compound, did you really visit Egypt?
My issue is that I’m reliant on medication to control my seizures. If I lose my meds or run out of them for some reason and can’t get them in a country I’m in, it’s game over. So I need to be in an area where I can get my meds in an emergency. Not sure if every country in Africa has that. So I’d have to be careful where I go. My meds also keep me out of some of the Middle East since I have found conflicting information on whether or not my meds are legally allowed in some of those countries.
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No you didn’t really and you probably ate a lot of Western food in your hotel, even if you did have an Egyptian Theme Night one evening.
It’s just a beach resort like Sharm and others in Mexico and Cuba. You could be anywhere in the world with a similar climate and coast.
Mrs. Tilted and I are doing a 2 week road trip around Western Sicily in October. I couldn’t get excited about mainland Italy for some reason but I’m pumped for this trip. Anyone been?
how much weight do you give to the State Department travel advisories when making plans? Just bc it came up, I looked up Mali and it’s on the lolno list
but some it its neighbors are OK
And Armenia is at level 2, be careful
The State Department warnings about Colombia were on the scary side (Level 3 for the country in general and Level 4 for some specific areas). But after doing a bit of research they seemed pretty overblown, at least for the areas we went to.
With that said, the Mali warnings are pretty strong, and if you look at the other countries on the Level 4 list it would definitely give me pause.
The State Department warnings about Mexico and Central America are all over the place.
One move they like to do is put out the exact the same status on a region, but as a press release. The press breathlessly picks it up every time, and when I was on my trip I got an email from my Dad every time. I presume this is some kind of political football going on between the US and Mexico.
State departments are always exceedingly cautious.
I mean they have Germany, Italy and France at level 2 ffs
If it’s level 4, it’s probably a no go but I wouldn’t rule it out immediately unless it was an active war zone. I considered going to Nagorno-Karabakh (level 4 under the Armenia description) until I heard that it was under siege. Very tragic.
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I pay almost no attention to those things. Even if certain areas in a country are exceedingly dangerous, it’s very rare that an entire country is.
I was in Pakistan last summer which is always a 3 or 4, but the Gilgit Baltistan region in the north is very safe and has been for a long time
I’ve been to places with pretty serious travel warnings in place, but 2023 Mali is probably beyond what I ever would have had the stomach for, even at my prime.
But the reason I flag it in discussions of West African travel is that it seems to have a bunch of world class destinations: Dogon Country, Djenne, Mount Hombori, to name a few.
Any level 1-2 I’d travel to without hesitation.
Level 3 I’d travel to, but make sure the areas I’m staying are on the safer end.
Level 4, probably wouldn’t travel to any of them except probably Iran if I could somehow get a visa.
Mexico for example, is generally pretty safe in most areas, but could get very dangerous in a few areas. I’ve been in about 20 of the states and have never felt unsafe in any of them, although a couple states were known for being narco-heavy, just not in the particular cities I was staying.
USA itself would probably be a level 3 if they applied the same standards lol
Also, those levels already seem out of date. Argentina seems to be creeping up on the danger level as unrest continues to grow from the economy. My friend from Canada moved there to be w/his girlfriend and her son just outside of Buenos Aires and has suffered 3 robberies in the past year and is moving to Uruguay instead. The kid (a teenager) even had a gun shoved in his face).
They moved to a nice neighborhood, but it borders a pretty bad area and my friend, a white guy, is probably being constantly sized up. It seems like they probably should’ve just stuck to one of the more popular areas with plenty of foreigners. Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to visit Argentina.
I’ve never actually paid attention to those advisories though. Usually you can go to reddit, like r/digitalnomad, type in the country name and often get up to date info on if the place is getting too dangerous or not (more often than not, they’re still safe, just need to be a little more cautious).
My first day in Yerevan was simply too hot to stay out in the sun for too long. So I interrupted my walking around with trips to museums. Didn’t necessarily stop me but I was reapplying sunblock and downed at least 6 liters of water today and I’m still thirsty.
The city is not visually amazing. If you’re a person after aesthetics, you’d really have to PhotoShop your pics to get them. That said, the Cascade Complex is quite impressive. I was told that you were supposed to see Mount Ararat from the top of it but I guess it was too hazy for that to happen. Apparently, it lights up at night and looks way better but I’m not climbing it again.
I got the Yerevan Card which was 100% worth the price. Complementary pickup/drop off from the airport. SIM card with 2 GB 4G which saves a ton on roaming charges from my Czech phone. Free half day tour out of Yerevan (tomorrow). Free entrance into museums in the city (made the Yerevan Card especially useful). Free metro entries. For 48 hours, I paid $47.
As for the museums, one (Yerevan Museum) was pretty meh. Another (Museum of Armenian History) was good but a bunch of it was closed off due to construction. I tagged along a private tour with some Armenian-Americans visiting as a group from California. The third I went to (Matenadaran) was a pretty niche museum that didn’t pique my interest. However. the museum itself is quite beautiful. A wedding couple was actually having photos taken outside of it.
The highlight of the trip was without a doubt the Armenian Genocide Museum. First off, it was a crazy walk to get there in this weather. The last 15 minutes were uphill which was absolutely brutal in 100+ degree heat but it was 100% worth it. There’s no way you can respect anybody who denies the existence of the Armenian Genocide after going there and seeing it all laid out for you. Saw a few old ladies sitting down and crying at some points while there. It is without a doubt the single unifying issue among Armenians both diaspora and at home. Probably the darkest attraction I’ve been to since visiting Dachau.
Probably going to eat dinner soon. Not sure where though. Then to a CouchSurfing meetup.
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I came across an Australian woman as I was asking about the buses in Yerevan (the numbering system recently changed). She knew the system extremely well and I asked if she had repatriated. Given her pale skin and red hair, she definitely didn’t look like a stereotypical Armenian but it turns out she did with her husband.
I was expecting a reason related to her connecting deeply with her Armenian roots and feeling a need from within to be there rather than Australia. Something along those lines. It’d make for an interesting conversation if she was willing to have it.
But nope. She didn’t like the direction Australia was going in regarding COVID. Obviously, I didn’t ask for more detail since antivax conspiracy theories are not what I want to hear on vacation.
I mean how much do you have to hate Australia to move to Armenia? Not dissing Armenia but objectively by any measure the quality of life is substantially better in Australia than here. And it isn’t like repatriating is cheap. Even she admitted that life was tough in Armenia and it doesn’t take much effort to see that. Just being outside this afternoon wasn’t easy.
The near complete absence of western tourists and expats (west ranging from Turkey to North America) is quite surprising. When do you come across them, they normally have an interesting story of some kind that details why they are here. One Canadian was doing relief work in Sudan before civil war forced him to evacuate and telework. So he’s been traveling through the ME and Central Asia for the last month. Another was an American studying in a university in Russia who left due to the invasion of Ukraine. Wish I had more time to ask her questions but it was board game night. Aside from the ones I mentioned earlier, that’s really all I’ve seen.
Russian-speaking tourists vastly outnumber all other languages combined which means that English proficiency is pretty low even in the hospitality industry. I have a feeling that’s going to change in the future where people will want to shift to learning English over Russian especially as Armenia continues to try and push itself into the mainstream as a tourist destination and Russia continues to be well…Russia.
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There may be other reasons she and her (presumably Armenian) husband settled there and not Oz that she didn’t want to talk about with a stranger.