The United States. I have zero interest in going to a country where I could get kidnapped by masked goons or have my phone stolen by the government for sharing memes they don’t like. I have no interest in going to a country where I could get shot and killed randomly by some whacko who had a bad day and decided to shoot up the place. I have no interest in going to a country where I could be charged thousands of dollars for getting hurt. And I have absolutely zero interest in giving my money to a fascist country that regularly threatens my country’s sovereignty and whose economy is on the brink of total collapse. That dumpster fire can stay down south, thank you very much.
Every time I look at the United States and everything that’s been going on there, it only makes me more proud to be Canadian and ever more vigilant to prevent the same from happening to us. We have our problems, sure, but at least we have actual healthcare, no mass shootings, and no fascism.
I have no interest in going to a country where I could be charged thousands of dollars for getting hurt.
Tbf, you can go to like half of the countries in the world and the heathcare is just as horrible, and the locals always try to scam you, so its not unique to the US.
(But I don’t disagree with your other points)
I’ve only ever been out of the country one time.
My boss and I wrote a paper that got us invited to an international conference, that took place in Palermo, Sicily.
It wasn’t high on my list of places I want to visit, but free overseas work trip to Sicily!
It was pretty disappointing in many ways. The whole time I was there I constantly felt like I was about to be robbed or scammed.
The taxi drivers are nuts, we were sure we were going to die multiple times just on the ride from the airport to the hotel.
The accommodation in the city was pretty cheap but most places had awful reviews, so we splurged and chose a 5 star hotel near the conference venue. It ended up being the equivalent of a 2 star back home. Mold in the bathroom, paint peeling off walls in the bedroom, exposed wires poking out of every electrical outlet. The hot water didn’t work in the shower for 2 of the 4 nights we were there. At the buffet breakfast they served cold toast, warm yoghurt, and spoiled milk. You couldn’t make it up. And that was the best accommodation in the city.
When we walked from the hotel to the conference centre, we were walking past piles of garbage that people just dump on the streets. Apparently that’s a normal thing. There’s nowhere else for garbage to go. Sometimes it gets picked up by the city collectors, usually it doesn’t.
There were no pedestrian crossings, and cars don’t stop at red lights. So the traffic is constantly flowing at full speed on all the roads. Often the only way to get to where you need to go is to walk out in front of traffic, don’t make eye contact with any driver, look straight ahead, clench hard, walk sure, and change your underpants when you get to the other side.
It wasn’t all bad. The food at the restaurants was amazing. I had some very good authentic Sicilian pizza. They serve cheap pints of Heineken at every restaurant and bar. If you like oily fish such as sardines, pilchards and anchovies, you’re in heaven because it’s their staple, they serve them on everything. The locals love cannolis and eat them like crack. They were served for desert at the conference, at the gala dinner, and at every restaurant we went to. I wasn’t a fan of them.
I liked the novelty of being in a different country for the first time, but I wouldn’t go back to Sicily again.
Huh, interesting. I’ve been to Sicily on a student exchange. My experience was totally different, but it’s maybe because I didn’t stay in Palermo. I’ve been to Taormina and other smaller towns. It was beautiful, both the towns themselves, the nature, the weather and the view of the sea. These local towns are old and mafe for pedestrians, so almost no cars. All the local shops are run by mom and pop and everybody knows each other. They invite whoever is walking by the shop to eat lunch together. We took the bus from my host’s home to the neares town and we drove through lavender fields, it was amazing.
Not to say your experience wasn’t genuine, but it sounds like it’s Palermo that wasn’t very pleasant, not Sicily in general. I would definitely recommend the smaller towns.
America. I visited maybe 15 years ago and felt like I was a criminal in the passport control. Super-authoritive people, iris scanning, fingerprint scanning, photography…
Ill stick to europe.
And it’s all theatre. It’s never actually stopped real criminals.
Out of the places I have actually been, there are none I would say I would never want to go to again.
I do, currently, wish I was not in my home country though.
USA
Australia. Not that it was wholly terrible. It just wasn’t what I expected and I overcooked it by staying for 2 years.
To be fair, it could never have lived up to the super-positive stereotype it has here in the UK.
We think of Aussies as fun-living, friendly, witty, laid-back beautiful people who are down to earth yet somehow savvy and open-minded. They love a drink and a BBQ and have a ‘live and let live’, inclusive attitude. Basically everything we Brits would love to be if we weren’t so repressed.
I think this cliche comes from a cross between Crocodile Dundee and through meeting the thousands of charming Aussies who end up working behind bars when they visit the UK in their youth.
Also, with the British weather being what it is, we imagine anywhere with a sunny climate would encourage people with a similarly sunny disposition.
Anyway, I’ll spare you the details, but having travelled extensively throughout Australia - well beyond Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - I found little of the stereotype I’d expected and quite a lot of the opposite.
I did meet some great people, but they were mainly Irish 🤣
Yeah I mean, we’ve been heavily influenced by the US and UK historically, so we have a deeply racist disposition. Our treatment of Indigenous Australians is as much of a blight on our history as it is for other English-speaking nations like the US, Canada and South Africa. I do still strongly believe we’re doing better in a lot of ways, for example we’ve started using indigenous place names, acknowledging traditional land ownership and other steps. But we’re far from perfect, and if you come here with that conceptualisation then you’ll definitely be disappointed.
Understandable.
I know a few Australians and they are racist and nasty.
I know one who is kind, though.
I went to four different cities in China and at least a significant proportion of people seemed very selfish and out for themselves across the board, I’m not going to say never but it’s definitely at the bottom of my list of places to return to.
“Never again” is stronger than I’d put it but we probably won’t be vacationing in France again because god forbid a guy doesn’t want to eat animals.
Edit: for some positivity, I loved every trip to Germany and also Austria, the latter so much in fact that we went to live in Vienna for a short time. If not for my partner I’d move right back.
I’d go to France again but Paris: never again
People’s Republic of China.
Was born there, probably ain’t ever going back.
So much conservatism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, ableism especially against people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities, even if the condition was mild.
Massive government corruption, inadequate safety regulations, when it come to the internet and press, those get censored, can’t even have fun watching foreign media.
Complete lack of understanding for people suffering with depression nobody take it seriously, spritualism is applied to medical issues.
Hukou system limiting the very little rights you have. (I had a rural Hukou and that sucks)
To top it all off, this is a country that have rejected me for being the 2nd child born in my family (during the One Child Policy). Legal papers were denied, the government effectively refused to ackowledge my existence and demanded/extorted a large amount of money, a “fine” they call it. My parent’s didn’t have it so it took several years of saving up for it, before I could get legal papers and legal recognition of my existence. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihaizi)
When I was a kid, I didn’t know it at the time, but when my mother explained my origins, I feel like society basically just rejected me. An outcast, an anomoly, something that shouldn’t have existed. All for the sin of existing without a government permission-slip.
Did the rural Hukou mean you cannot move into a city?
You can, but there are rights being limited.
For example, even tho I was born in Guangzhou, I was still treated as though I was born in my father’s village in terms of Hukou (the actual place of birth on the birh certificate would be with Guangzhou as the birthplace, but that doesn’t matter to Hukou).
Even though my parents work in Guangzhou (广州), I couldn’t attend public school in Guangzhou, and my parents have to pay for a separate, privately-run “school”, which according to my mother, was worse than the officially government run public schools. But they still had the same “patriotic education” (This “patriotic education” would be considered indoctriction by most westerners). Same with my older brother.
If my family hadn’t left China, my mother told me I was gonna have to go back to somewhere in Taishan (That’s 台山，not 泰山) to continue beyond primary school because of there was supposely problems with getting enrolled in a Guangzhou middle school / highschool or something.
So like you’re basically treated as immigrants… sort of…
(I don’t know all the details of Hukou, I might ask my parents about it later.)
But even in the US, for example, even undocumented immigrant children (at least before the current admin, idk about now) could still enroll in public school, meanwhile China is denying their own citizens from attending public school, just because their ancestry is different. You could be born in Guangzhou and live your entire life there, and still have problems with your rights. It’s like countries within a country.
P.S. I remember my mother said she was a teacher before giving birth to me, but becuase she violated the One Child Policy, she can’t ever get any government-related jobs ever again, that includes being a teacher, or possibly even working at state-owned factory/warehouse.
That’s very interesting. I heard it could be harder to change your hukou in some instances than it is to change citizenships.
Why do people shit on the sick and disabled, but revere doctors?
When the former is the only reason for doctors to exist in the first place. Shouldn’t we laud sick/disabled people in a sense for allowing an entire respected field to exist?
If you’re going to shit on them, then shit on the people who are trying to help them, too. Be consistent.
Wow. I always thought if id been born in China that would be one of the worst developed places to be. Thats unfortunate but glad you got out
Would probably depend where in China. I think you’re better in China than in a lot of African countries or North Korea.
That is terrible, I am glad you got out, where do you live now?
US, got here in 2010s. Then, the ironic twist of fate, we got the 2017-2021 authoritarian test run, and now the 2025-ongoing shitshow lolol. Out of one hell, into another 🫠. Autocracy, here we go again!
I have hopes tho, Americans are rebellious and the recent protests keeps me hopeful. At least its not total apathy as with people in mainland China.
I’ve been considering moving to: Canada, Australia, and maybe Singapore; these have high levels of ethnic Chinese, which make intergration a lot easier, if I ever decide to try it, its all English speaking countries. (Thought about Taiwan, I can speak Mandarin, a bit, haven’t spoken it for over a decade; traditional Chinese is harder to read, I’d have to re-learn the language; but the biggest problem is that it’s a potential warzone so nope, don’t wanna get bombarded within like a decade)
But, anyways: Too depressed and tired to actually do the whole learning about a country from scratch thing again. Moving to another country is just an idea, the acual exexution takes a lot of energy, a lot of paperwork, it drains your brainpower. Probably just sit and wait this out, hopefully the spirit of American rebellion doesn’t die out. Need this flame to keep going.
Hope you are living better wherever you moved to. I’d buy you a drink if I could.
You are a miracle. Bless you for existing. Mother Earth knows no borders, she knows only life and rebirth. You are life. You are her. Together, we are the Earth. ❤️ You are not unwanted.
Yugoslavia, can’t, no longer exists.
If shit keeps going the way it is, the US.
Any good places for a dual citizenship application outside of the US? Asking for a friend.
Plenty of options, but you’ll be hard-pressed to target something specific without both skills and money.
The easiest option available to many Americans is to see if you can prove ancestry from a country with jus sanguinis citizenship that you have a direct link to. Some countries need it to be within a generation or two, other countries don’t have a specific cutoff point. But anticipate a long, bureaucratic process and costs to have documents translated.
The other easiest option is to marry a citizen of another country and move there together. But good luck with that.
But if either of those aren’t options, you’re going to have a hard time if you don’t have a college degree and don’t have experience working in a desired field.
The other easiest option is to marry a citizen of another country and move there together. But good luck with that.
It has to be a real marriage tho, like you have to be actually in love and not just doing it for the sole purpose of immigration benefits (otherwise it could be considered fraud).
It’s been the US for me for over a decade. Never going back there, most likely. And I was only visiting.
came to say if I ever leave the us I aint comin back.
I was thinking they were all fine enough, but actually you’re right. At least in the short term it doesn’t seem remotely worth it.
Vatican. Once you’ve visited it there’s not much reason to go back.
Genuinely excited to visit the homeland. Then I saw this today. A little less excited.
South Korea.
It was fine. Lots of people spoke English and there was lots to do and everyone was nice.
But after being in Seoul for two hours I was like: “oh”.
It felt just like America with more statues. I’m sure there is lots more to do and see that is more essentially Korean than Seoul was, and while I don’t have anything against it, I just couldn’t see making the effort to go back again given how familiar it all felt being from North America.
I don’t have a single bad thing to say about the country or my time there, but there are so many places in the world I’d love to see I don’t think I’d make the effort again.
Japan on the other hand.
I don’t have any “never again” countries because something bad happened. However, I find that a lot of Caribbean countries/destinations are pretty one and done for me.
