I'm a woman in my mid-30's. I've visited Egypt once, for two weeks.
I'm pretty sure half the gropings of my entire life were during those two weeks.
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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I’ve traveled to dozens of countries and never met unfriendly people - unless I was in a bad mood and forgot a smile and a few nice words.
USA. Oh, wait. I'm not a visitor but a resident.
For now. Deportation is right away the corner brœther. They’re gonna send me back to Honduras (thats a joke, I am not in actual fear of being deported)
My partner is a refugee from a dictator country. I'd like to join the protests, but we're very deliberately not doing so to protect her. That's because I'm afraid for her safety. She a recognized human rights advocate who has been jailed. I'm selfish and want to keep her with me.
Chile. Maybe it's because I'm American but nobody there was interested in talking to me, sharing their culture or learning anything about me. I tried multiple times but all my interactions with Chileans were purely transactional and most of them seemed annoyed to have to deal with me. I've been to ~25 countries and wouldn't bother returning to Chile.
I mean we did help assassinate their president in the name of business interests and then installed a dictator that literally fed his own people to his dogs. But I don’t know if that represents all Chileans attitudes.
What a chilly reception.
USA 100% Ive been all over Europe, and to central America and the USA (I'm Canadian). The USA is by far the unfriendliest.
Really curious to hear details
I feel like there are two types of people you meet in the US: people who are very polite but hold hate in their hearts, and people who are very rude but are very kind when you get to know them.
Ever been to the States?
What states did you visit?
Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
America, by far, and that’s from someone living here. I’ve been to England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Iceland, Mexico, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Canada, and probably a couple others I can’t remember. I’ve been treated nothing but friendly, with genuine curiosity, even when I shouldn’t have been.
Every day in the US, someone swears at me.
Every day in the US, someone swears at me.
I generally don't get why swearing is apparently so normalised in the USA. At least in US-made content (from films to books to music to internet posts, everything) the word "fuck" is being used so frequently.
As a British dude I hate America the city's are all full of rude self obsessed people
To be fair a lot of us in the rural areas are insufferable self-absorbed douches as well.
Just came back from Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia to LAX. The Saudi airport staff and Saudia airline crew are both very helpful and friendly, and once I landed in lax the mood completely changed, it felt like that the immigration people hated to have me back into their country ;)
It feels that way returning as a US citizen too…
Agreed (as an American). Even Saudi Arabia has more hospitable people
I'm not American, I've visited many countries, and I agree.
France, if you don’t happen to speak French
Even when speaking French fluently, I guess an accent is enough
As someone who's lived there for six years (albeit mostly homeless); yes.
Even if you're trying to speak French, you'll get treated like you're speaking Swahili or something.
They just respond in English after hearing my childlike attempts to parle français
Sounds lucky. Normally they wouldn't bother.
And asking them to speak English is like an indecent proposal, I guess they’d react more favourably if you asked for a public blowjob
Just say 'excusez moi?' it's like a magic word to make them suddenly and eagerly speak English.
They won't do it otherwise, but if you threaten to pollute their language with your barbaric pronunciation they'll gladly jump on that grenade.
Next time just ask for une pipe
Been to Strasbourg. Never again.
I'm European and never left the continent. I found Copenhagen (Denmark) to be one of the least inviting places I've ever been. That's not to say Denmark is like this or even that I didn't have a good time in Copenhagen. It's just that pretty much everywhere, people seem to be in a hurry.
But my baseline in Europe is that everything is just amazing. People are nice, accomodating, helpful. Especially in the slightly smaller cities. I especially enjoyed Krákow and Gent.
Don't want to discredit your experience but...
Me and my wife visited Copenhagen for a short city break back before we were married (and before we had much money). People were very welcoming. For example, we visited a small wine bar and could only afford the very cheapest option, the owner did not care at all and happily hosted us for the duration. Same at the coffee spot across from the hotel - guy there helped us get our bearings.
Now, that's not particularly noteworthy compared to other places in Europe that we've visited, but we definitely never felt unwelcome. The only issue I had with Copenhagen is a me-issue, I'm not a seafood person at all, and that's a huge part of their cuisine. I'm fact, that's a recurring issue for me. Love food, but not seafood! But then love places that love seafood! Argh!
Not saying Copenhagen was all in all a bad experience, had loads of good ones too. It's just that in my limited frame of reference, Copenhagen was my least favorite. But it was still pretty good. I've had bad experiences in restaurants everywhere around Europe. But outside of general businesses, I found that I didn't like the vibe in Copenhagen. Sure, in restaurants people are nice. In venues if any kind things are good. It's a prosperous country. But in a way I found that just walking around the city it felt rushed, unkind. Even compared to a larger city like Lisbon.
That said, I didn't really felt at ease in for instance Catania or Rotterdam either.
I'd say Iraq, but being that I was there as a part of an occupying force, it's my fault they hated me for being there, so I totally get it. That aside, America (as an American) definitely has unfriendly people that one is forced to interact with on a regular basis.
Belgium
Of course, when I went it was part of an school exchange trip when I was 17. I was almost always with a large group of American teenagers with only a few teachers as chaperones. It's 100% understandable why people wouldn't want to be particularly friendly to us.
I just want to say while not overly friendly, my wife and I were in Belgium last year and as long as you don't insist on trying to speak English at someone who said "no English" it was a perfectly nice place to be... Even when we were off the beaten path
Rome, dirty place, except for the tourist sites obviously. Lot's people getting pissed when you ask something in English. Drinking water taps in the streets constantly running straight to the drain. Thank f**k our Airbnb host was a great guy and helped us a lot.
I only have experience with European countries, and from those I pick Austria. Very self-centered people; even service staff is very unfriendly (in the rare occasions where the staff is actually Austrian). Pet peeve of mine: I've never seen people skipping the queue as often as in Austria.
I see you've been to Vienna.
Go to the mountains (largest part of Austria, literally 2/3), it's much better there.
Oh no, I didn't mean for my pickpocketing scams with hostile service and aggressive touts to mean that I didn't want to be friends 😢. For sure the US though.
Where did you go in the US if I may ask?
Utah. Other than the staff at a restaurant everyone was rude. I think a motel manager may have lied about not having rooms, at the very least he made it clear he didn't like us.
Utah is a US state, not a country - you must be Murican
Utah is like another country to me.