it would be a shame if one of the best posters in the travel forum decided to post less because of your idiotic trolling.

I have no idea how good his other posts are but that was ridiculous. There's nothing idiotic about my points.

There's so much to see in one country itself, generalizing a continent is pretty ridiculous.

I'm fairly sure the relationship is the reverse to what you suggest - ie police officers that carry guns are much more likely to get shot than those that dont. Its rare to see a policeman with a gun in the UK, although for sure we have our fair share of violent crime.


Bolivia, anyone? Sucre in particular, but anywhere in the country would be interesting.

Bolivia:- General overall outlook on my experiences there. I spent almost a month there traveling in Uyuni, Sucre, La Paz, Punco, Copacabana, etc.

Cost of Living: 10. Just like Thailand or other parts of SE Asia, Bolivia is very cheap. It was far and away the cheapest country I visited in my 3 month tour in South America. Food was dirt cheap, my hostel was like $6 a night or something ridiculous (and it was pretty decent- good beds/nice bathrooms/free internet/free breakfast).

You can live like a king for $20 a day. Overall, I wasn't really a fan of the food. It was pretty bland and meh. Was still very cheap, though.

Recreation- 9- Depending on what you like, really. Bolivia has alot to offer for those who love outdoors stuff. There is a wide variety of things to do (I hiked, rock climbed, fished for piranhas, swam in the rivers, etc). There wasn't much night life to speak of in most of the places. La Paz had some.

So if you're into bottles in the club every night, I wouldn't really say Bolivia is a 10. I'd rather go to Brazil if I were fully into the night club stuff.

But as stated, there is a ******** of stuff to do as a tourist. Uyuni has the salt flats, where you can go on different tours for different time durations.



You can rock climb in La Paz (as well as go down the famous 'Death Road' on a bike)-





you can swim in the rivers on the Amazon Basin (infested with pink dolphins, piranhas, cayman, and other critters)-



etc etc etc. All in all, Bolivia has alot of outdoors/adventure stuff to do. Sucre is a very nice town and seemed like a decent place to stay (if I were to pick a place to stay and learn Spanish, it'd probably be there). My traveling friend stayed there and studied for a month (I didn't stay with him).

How Scary- 4- Well...like all South American countries, there were definitely shady areas. Most of the crimes experienced were pick pocketing and other petty crimes. I wasn't really too scared overall. Most of the Bolivians were pretty nice and cordial. As long as you aren't an idiot (wandering around alone at night) I think you should be fine. That said, I do remember a night where we were walking back to our hostel and we saw a group of teens jump another teen...only to run when jumped teen's friends came running around the corner.



Poker Playing - No ****ing idea. Don't play poker while on trips...waste of time.


How Easy to Get There and Stay There?- 3. While it's easy to take a bus there from neighboring countries, Bolivia requires a VISA for Americans. While the amount of money is not really that huge (like $130 or something), it's more just a pain in the ass (in that you have to have your documents sent in). I actually just had all my documents prepared at the border and then got everything taken care of there from Peru...but still a hassle.

Overall-I liked Bolivia as a tourist. I don't know if I'd like to stay there for a long time. The girls were some of the homeliest of all south American countries (in my experience). If the cost is bearable, I'd rather just stay in Rio, Brazil (but then again, Rio was my favorite city on my trip). That said, if you don't have a big budget, Bolivia can be alot of fun for little money.

Wouldn't mind some reviews on California please San Diego etc..

Leeds, England
Experince, lived here all my life

Cost of Living - Typical for a large European city. More expensive than America for sure. It's the 3rd largest city in England. Less expensive than London for obvious reasons but more expensive that some smaller cities. A £25,000 ($37,000 USD) salary is just above the national average. A beer will typically cost you £2-£3 in most places but they can be found cheaper than that if needed (£1 a bottle some places). A weekly food shop a supermarket will cost you around £60-£80. Internet about anyway from £15-£25 a month. Very reliable cable internet services and the Wifi coverage is good throughout the country. Housing you can find a pretty broad range of costs to suite your needs. High end city centre flats can be as high as £800+ p/m. Cheaper areas located in the city can be found thanks to the large student population (largest in the country outside london) and rented housing. Obv cheaper to live outside the City centre. Transport around £2 on the bus. £3-5 in the taxi if its a short hop or roughly £1 per mile.

Health care is free. You'll need insurance if you plan to own a vehicle, which can be expensive.


nightlife & Recreation - As with England in general its a pretty diverse city. Lots of different sub cultures and non UK residents. Speaking English is going to be essential, we're pretty poor compared to our European neighbours when it comes to speaking other languages fluently. Fun, big vibrant city. Theres the yuppy business vibe, the grungey student vibe and everything in between. Lots of bars and clubs in the city. As mentioned the largest student population in England means the citys always got a youthful party element to it. Golf courses and countryside all within a short trip. Any activities that you'd expect in a large city you can get here.

How Scary? - 4. Very safe during the day. High police presence, especially in the city centre at night. I've never had a fight or been a victim of crime but every large city has crime so Leeds is no different. if you live a decent area and aren't typical the sort to get into bar fights you'll prolly not see anything. Culturally and religiously diverse so foreigners arent hated. People wont rip you off. its a one price for all system.


Poker Playing - Poker is legal. 4 main casinos in leeds. Merrion G, Alea, Gala, Napoleans. Offer a range from NL cash and low-mid buy in tourneys (£20-£50). Live cash is pretty soft with 0.5/1 or 1/2 on offer. Rake is usually capped at £100 pots and 5% i think. Alea has the softest cash games imo. It would be hard to make a living of the tourneys in leeds but Dusk Til Dawn poker club is about 1hrs drive away in Nottingham and offers much larger prize pools and buy ins. Or london is about 3-4hrs drive away if theres a big EPT or WSOPE on. In general you can get to pretty much anyway in the country from leeds within 4 hours max.


How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - Easy to get here. Major transport hub, especially the london airpots. Americans should have a 6 month stay with no Visa required. EU countries are free to come and go.


That should jsut about cover it.

OK, now this has GOT to be a level.

Are you telling us that you don't think the women in Venezuela & Columbia are, generally-speaking, not hot??

If so, you're right, they're not hot . . . they're on fire. Sorry for the derail, this is a great thread . . . I just couldn't help myself, everyone else please stay on topic.

thats why i said IMO..

can someone do this for Malaysia please? Either in general or KualaLumpur and Penang specifically. Going there for 3 months starting April.

this thread has great intentions but the problem is that everyones perspective and opinion from living in various areas is so subjective that it can sometimes render it obsolete. then there's so much variance involved that can affect peoples perceptions of a certain location and then as someone else mentioned.. talking about an entire country rather than city defeats the purpose somewhat too. I've been to some of the places listed ITT and have a 100% different opinion than that which was posted.

Great review, thanks. I'd like to visit Rio as well, but I have a wedding to attend in Sucre.

On the topic of playing poker, is it feasible to be able to expect to play online while in South America? I see the temptation of just treating it as a trip, but the reviews on here of various countries tempt me to want to extend my length of stay to a point where losing Supernova would become an issue. I was toying with the idea of setting up a base out there somewhere, playing a bit of poker and travelling around.......

On the thread as a whole:

To my mind it doesn't matter if people have different views of places. I am sure we are all sensible enough to realise any review is an individual's opinion, and take from it what we want. Its a useful and interesting thread of experiences and opinions rather than a definitive manual on each country/city mentioned.

There are some countries that are alright internet wise...but overall, meh. Bolivia had some sketchy internet. If I were to play, it'd be in Brazil/Argentina/Chile...but I didn't go to THAT many places in SA.

San Diego

Lived here 15 years.

Cost of Living: higher than the 2nd and 3rd world cities, obv, and higher than most US cities. But cheaper than the biggest non-US cities. Euros come here and love the electronics and clothing prices. Northeast Asians, too. They find electronics cheaper here, even, than many places in Asia.

Rent: browse here: http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/apa/

Eating out is cheaper than most places, fresh fruit and veggies plentiful (this is Cali). I don't think restaurant bills are bad. Not 3rd world cheap, but not 3rd world risky, either.

Utilities are super cheap. My elec/heating bill is about USD80-160 a month. Most places near the beach don't have or need AC; we have heat but haven't turned it on in 12 years (elec blankets, fwiw, on the coldest nights).

And, btw, living in a place where you don't need AC or heat is pretty much the definition of nice weather. San Diego is the gold standard for weather. Also, almost no humidity, nor mosquitoes (very few). This is near the coast, I'm talking about.

Crime: low, for the US, higher than most Euros and Northeast Asians are used to, I guess. But in the US generally, most crime is not stranger-involved. I lived in DC, and not the white part, for many years, without problems, because I didn't buy drugs and wasn't involved in gangs. Same in San Diego, or elsewhere in the US: if you aren't buying drugs, or picking up hookers, or flipping off gangbangers, it's a safe country. San Diego, especially the parts where you're likely to be, is safe. Worst crime I've suffered: left my car windows down in OB and had a radio stolen.

Poker: very good, second in the world only to AC, Vegas, LA and I suppose Foxwoods; that is, major tourist places, because San Diego isn't a poker-tourist destination. Actually, I should add that probably many places in the US join SD in the second tier, places like Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi. Anyway, O'11, in Oceanside, is excellent. For smaller games, the Indian Casinos are nice. There's enough 24hr poker action to earn a living (I have for 20+ years, although I don't actually play in SD much anymore). One drawback: with all the Cali low-stakes games, because they have a drop instead of a rake, the smaller games are nearly unplayable, imo. 2/5 and higher, the drop fits okay, and games at that level have free, good food.

Online: no probs. Euro/US class internet connections, obv.

Recreation: I've noticed pretty much everyone rates their city a 10. LOL at that. Sorry, but no. For one thing, if you walk out your door and sweat from the heat or shiver from the cold, it's already not recreational. Only thing I can think of we can't do here is ski (Big Bear is a few hours north) and hunt (actually, I'm ignorant about hunting). Great EVERYTHING else. I'm not even going to list them all. I'll just say that stop rating other places a 10. San Diego is a 10. You're <10.

Nightlife, though, it's probably only okay (I'm too old to be an expert) and I'd say the same for first class restaurants (on which I am pretty expert, having worked in world-class restaurants before picking up poker for a living). It's fine, though, for middle-class restaurants, and the working-class food here is, really, Mexican, and once you find your spots, great for that.

And, speaking of recreation: pot is basically legal here. Go see a doc, get a card (afaik they are always given), buy your weed in stores.

How easy to get to: come on, it's like all the other major 1st world cities.

But to stay? IMO, it's very easy. I've had illegal immigrants as friends for decades. Once in a while by accident someone gets caught, but lets put it this way: if you get arrested for, say, DUI, you STILL aren't "caught" for being an illegal immigrant. Only Border Patrol can get you for that. Despite all the ignorant US-bashing on this subject, I'm not sure there's an easier country to stay in as an illegal.

AFAIK the only way to get busted is to A) be stopped by Border Patrol for some reason and B) speak English with an accent (including an English accent, for that matter). Being white won't save you and being brown won't get you in trouble. It's almost entirely a matter of how you speak English.

What happens if you as a eu citizen gets caught by border police when leaving US after overstayed the visa for some years? Most countries just let the person go and maybe ban him from being able to get back in the country.

How difficult is it to leave the country without bordercontroll finding out that you have been in the country illegaly?

Thanks!

Nice write up, I went to San Diego for a while a few yrs ago and liked it. I notice you're continuing the trend of giving your own city a 10 for recreation.

Dublin, Ireland

Cost of Living: 2/10
Despite the banking system collapse, the death of the Celtic Tiger and the arrival of the IMF, Dublin is still a very expensive city. A decent suburban room will set you back €400 - €500 a month and a city centre equivalent will cost between €600 and €800. Saying this there are plenty of sketchy places that are significantly cheaper. Food, alcohol and petrol are between one and a half and double the price you would pay in North America.

Crime: 7/10
Dublin is pretty safe, no doubt there are dangerous parts of the city but anybody with a modicum of common sense should be well able to avoid them. If you are unlucky you might get leered at or leeched over by a stumbling heroin addict in town or be on the wrong side of a staggering punch from an intoxicated local on a night out but overall Dublin feels much safer than big cities in the US and the UK.

Poker 8/10
Ireland's capital boasts a decent selection of casinos, most of which hold nightly cash games and tournies. The players are soft, the rake is decent and the action is fast. Online poker is pretty much unregulated and you do not have to pay tax. Internet connections are sufficient to play poker but still lag behind North American and Continental standards.

Recreation 5/10
Ireland has notoriously unattractive weather and while Dublin is one of the driest parts of the country it does not have a climate which encourages an active outdoors lifestyle. The nightlife is decent but expensive. There is a great selection of pubs and clubs to suit most peoples tastes. The choice in restaurants is adequate with mosts tastes catered for however the local cuisine is almost non existent.

Ease of entry/residency:
EU citizen 10/10
First world country 5/10
other 2/10

Women 3/10
Don't come to Dublin for pussy. Irish women are ugly, both genetically and in the manner that they look after themselves. Additionally this fault is not tempered with the down to earth quality one might expect, in fact Irish women are fueled by a healthy dose of self delusion. Your typical 6 thinks that she is an 8 and your typical 8 thinks that she is a 10. This is due to the fact that there are essentially no 9's or 10's in the country. On the plus side, traditional Catholic morals are fast evaporating so one night stands are definitely possible, just remember that you will be shooting around 2 marks lower than you would in the US and a mark lower than in the UK.

nightclubs turn on the lights at 1.30am and close at 2am, which makes it a 1 for me

Well, when we go to Mexico, we just walk over the border, there are no US agents to pass. Even the Mexican agents don't do anything, except randomly stop vehicles. I've never been stopped at all when walking over. So I (non lawyer, not binding advice disclaimer) would suggest that's all you need to do: exit via Mexico.

Indeed. But there are two kinds of posters ITT: those who have been to SD, and those who still think some other city is a 10 for recreation. The beach cities, from IB all the way up to O-side are just wonderful places to live.

And I forgot another key, positive point about SD for poker: the proximity to LA and LV action without having to live there. It's very easy to hit the many major tourney those cities offer, from here.

Oh, and there are another "two kinds of posters ITT", those who rate crime 1-10 as low being good (low crime) and those rating high being good (as in, high safety). Fix it people: to be consistent, 10 is great, so low crime risk is 10.

Someone asked for Leeds/Manchester earlier...

Liverpool. Some of this might apply to UK as a whole too.

Smaller than both the above, Liverpool still has a lot to offer..

Experience: Been a student here for almost three years, I like to this I have a pretty good grasp and 'feel' for the city by now.

Cost of living: Probably a tad cheaper that Manchester and Leeds and a lot cheaper than London. You'll get a nice dockside apartment for about £450/month I imagine. I live in the suburbs in a shared student house and pay £60/week, all bills inclusive (inc. broadband).

Crime: Liverpool has an undeserved reputation for its crime levels. The common stereotype is that Scousers (Liverpudlians) are all burglars and muggers. They'll steal your stereo and TV etc. etc. Stats show that Liverpool is safer than most major UK cities. Liverpool went through a bit of a bad patch in the 80s I guess with the Toxteth race riots and so forth but that was because it was a city in decline then, its manufacturing base got annihilated by Thatcher and it left a lot of resentment. Now it's retooled itself as a tourism area/service industry dominated city (like many cities have had to) and it's bustling once more. It was named European Capital of Culture for 2008 and this led to a massive of investment. Cranes seem to always dominate the skyline and there's always some new bar/gallery/museum opening it seems.

Poker: Three casinos, all chains. Gala, Mint, Circus. Cash games and tournies run every evening. Games tend to be 1/1, although 1/2 runs at weekends. 5% rake, capped at £5. There's Manchester's Grosvenor a short drive away which apparently spreads cash games virtually 24/7.

Recreation: It's a thriving student city. Loads of bars, price of a pint is about £2.40 although you'll find a lot of sub-£2 places too. Liverpool is somewhat famed for its nightlife. It's a smaller city than its peers but people still come from miles for weekends here. There's also the fabled 'Scouser charm' I guess. There's loads more (two amazing and very different cathedrals, some of the best architecture in Europe etc. etc.) but we don't care about that right?

Ease of entry: Standard UK policies.

Women: Nothing special. If you're a decent looking guy and have a modicum of charm/charisma, you'll be able to pull on a night out.

Thanks to everyone for the latest updates. Would appreciate one on Austin, TX. Being moved there in a month.

yeah but then the next time you go back to the US there is no record of you ever having left. So isn't that just as bad?

You wouldn't be able to re-enter without going through the whole illegal immigration process all over again. So if you hiked over the border (current fees: about $2,500, with polleros in Juarez or TJ, and it's not a safe or pleasant hike), or flew in and overstayed a visa, whatever, you'd have to do it again. Mexican illegals here don't go home until they're going to stay home for a long time, and in fact at this point, most just go home only when planning to never return.

If you went home and then got another visa, which I suppose would be the case of most 2+2ers, I have no idea if US agents would be able to deduce from your passport that you'd overstayed your previous visa, and thus take enforcement action against you.

Nothing in this or any other post of mine should be construed as encouraging criminal behavior. Obey the laws.

Don't Europeans, Aussies and Kiwis get 90 day tourist visa's which renew themselves whenever leaving the country? If so, and you're in San Diego, why not just do a day trip/visa run to Mexico every 89 days.

Sadly we are not allowed to do that. We have to leave north america after 89 days, and if we go back to US to early they can refuse us entry becasue they can suspect we are there to illegaly work.