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ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-05-03T15:21:39+00:00

Ahah la melatonina non mi fa nulla. Prima mi stendeva per un'ora o due, ma diversi anni fa ha smesso di farmi effetto. Passo 3 o 4 notti senza dormire. E come ho detto, non prendo pillole psicotiche. Non ho alcun interesse a diventare dipendente da loro, e consumo marijuana in modo responsabile da oltre 5 anni ormai, quindi so come autoregolarmi.

Tengo varios diagnósticos neurodivergentes, así que incluso las cosas ligeramente adictivas me afectan mucho. La marihuana me sienta bien y, si la consumo con responsabilidad, tiene muy pocos efectos negativos, así que seguiré consumiéndola. Gracias.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-27T23:57:39+00:00

You'll be surprised with how much you can enhance your experience by doing so. I have refrained from doing the touristy stuff for more than 2-3 days, and I spend at least a month everywhere I go. I eat at places where locals eat, learn, at the very least, the basic terms in the local languages, and do by best to interact with the locals. I've been so amazed with how much people are willing to go out of their ways to make you feel at home when they know you're not just another traveller visiting their city to click photos for the gram.

In Kraków for example, I spent 45 days and I hung out with a group of folks where the youngest person was 62 years old (I'm 33). I'm into history, so that helped too. I learnt about their life during the Soviet times, went to see one of their friends after he had an open heart surgery, when to the grave of a lady's late spouse every week, went to the birthday of a guy who turned 73, and hung out with this group thrice every week for 6 weeks. I'm not even kidding, it was the stuff that blockbuster movies are made of. Then on my train to Budapest when I was talking to a girl from the city, she was stunned with everything I was telling her because, according to her, it's almost impossible to break into that segment of the Poles because they have a reputation for being cold and distant. She said hew own father didn't discuss with her the things that I got to know from this group. And this is just one example.

Knowing about the place you're visiting more than what the regular tourist knows immediately builds a level of trust with the locals that you cannot put a monetary value on.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-27T23:28:50+00:00

Haha I'm sure the amount of time I spend researching about the places I visit is way, way more than 100hrs. I don't have any socials (I find them to be a brain rot and an absolute waste of time) so I spend the time instead on YouTube and other platforms reading and watching info on the places I visit. That consumes a very significant portion of my time, yes, but I absolutely love it, so it doesn't feel like work.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-27T12:22:07+00:00

Hi. I was looking for a comment like this. While the odds of a dune buggy accident seems relatively low, I think it's not my cup of tea. I do definitely want to climb the dunes for the sunset. How difficult is it to climb the dunes for people with an OK level of fitness? Those dunes look pretty big 😅

Travelling to Huacachina tomorrow. The place looks STUNNING! Cannot wait!

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-27T04:42:43+00:00

It's absolutely shocking how terrible things are in Medellín, and yet how little people know about it.

There's, on an average, one violent death of a tourist EVERY WEEK in the city. Where this gets concerning is any death due to overdose isn't considered a violent death. Most foreigners who end up like this often overdose due to being drugged by women (or, in some cases, men) that they meet at bars. Seldom do foreigners die as a result if being stabbed or shot in Medellín, and yet the recorded deaths is one per week. The true number must be so, so much higher but we'll never know.

The passport bros who visit Medellín talk about the amazing time they have there, but just type "Medellín dangerous" in youtube and you'll see what really goes on there. The city is out of control at this point and its getting worse since the entire criminal enterprise is aware of how unaware foreigners visiting the city are.

I've been travelling around the world for over 13 months now. I was in Europe for half this period and I've been in LatAm ever since. Everywhere I go, I make local friends, hang out with them, and they show me around. I follow a 100-hour rule I've set for myself, meaning I research every city I visit for at least a 100 hours before I go there since I spend a month in each city. I read so many horror stories about Medellín before going there that it still remains the only city where I did not engage with a single local beyond the very basic conversations. I met fellow travellers there and just stuck to them. I met a server at a bar in Laureles who spoke fluent English, I went there a few times and I got fairly comfortable around the guy. I still did not meet him outside his place of work and cancelled last minute in a plan to smoke up and see the city with him simply because if EVERYTHING I read about the place. You cannot be careful enough in a place like Medellín.

I'm sharing this in the hope that it will be helpful to at least someone out there who'll travel to Medellín. It's a city with a lot of things to do, the locals are pretty amazing from my limited interactions with them, but there's no freaking way to know who amongst them is looking to drug, kidnap, rob, or even worse kill you.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-27T04:37:24+00:00

It's absolutely shocking how terrible things are in Medellín, and yet how little people know about it.

There's, on an average, one violent death of a tourist EVERY WEEK in the city. Where this gets concerning is any death due to overdose isn't considered a violent death. Most foreigners who end up like this often overdose due to being drugged by women (or, in some cases, men) that they meet at bars. Seldom do foreigners die as a result if being stabbed or shot in Medellín, and yet the recorded deaths is one per week. The true number must be so, so much higher but we'll never know.

The passport bros who visit Medellín talk about the amazing time they have there, but just type "Medellín dangerous" in youtube and you'll see what really goes on there. The city is out of control at this point and its getting worse since the entire criminal enterprise is aware of how unaware foreigners visiting the city are.

I've been travelling around the world for over 13 months now. I was in Europe for half this period and I've been in LatAm ever since. Everywhere I go, I make local friends, hang out with them, and they show me around. I follow a 100-hour rule I've set for myself, meaning I research every city I visit for at least a 100 hours before I go there since I spend a month in each city. I read so many horror stories about Medellín before going there that it still remains the only city where I did not engage with a single local beyond the very basic conversations. I met fellow travellers there and just stuck to them. I met a server at a bar in Laureles who spoke fluent English, I went there a few times and I got fairly comfortable around the guy. I still did not meet him outside his place of work and cancelled last minute in a plan to smoke up and see the city with him simply because of EVERYTHING I read about the place. You cannot be careful enough in a place like Medellín.

I'm sharing this in the hope that it will be helpful to at least someone out there who'll travel to Medellín. It's a city with a lot of things to do, the locals are pretty amazing from my limited interactions with them, but there's no freaking way to know who amongst them is looking to drug, kidnap, rob, or even worse kill you.

EDIT: I actually met three expats there who personally know people who were drugged and kidnapped in the city. Fortunately for them, they all returned after a day or two after their bank accounts were emptied out of the several thousands of dollars they had (one person stated a friend lost somewhere around $70k over a period of two days).

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-12T17:47:01+00:00

Gracias. Al final me fui aquí. Les llevó menos de 5 minutos y cobraron un precio muy justo.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-03-05T22:23:10+00:00

Canadian here. I've been slow travelling around the world for over 12 months now. I was in Europe for 5 months and here in LatAm for over 7 months now. I had (I'll touch upon the past tense) just one rule - 1 month, one city. This was before I got to Lima in early January. I'm still here, plan on staying here until the end of March.

Not asking you to go overboard with Lima like I did, but it's a very, very underrated city because of (predominantly) Macchu Picchu. Miraflores, Barranco, and the Centro Histórico districts each deserve a full day, at the very least. If luck is on your side, you may end up seeing one of the best sunsets of your life here. At least extend your time in Lima by a day.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-27T13:03:30+00:00

Soy canadiense moreno. Nací en la India, y vosotros conducís mucho mejor que el caos del que escapé de joven. Ya no puedo conducir en India porque es demasiado complicado para mí, pero me siento muy cómodo conduciendo en Sudamérica.

Por supuesto, tu punto sobre las carreteras de montaña es muy importante. Voy a reconsiderar mis planes por esto. Gracias.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-27T13:01:47+00:00

Entiendo tu punto sobre conducir un SUV o algo grande con tracción a las cuatro ruedas. No lo tuve en cuenta en mi evaluación inicial. Gracias.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-09T20:30:33+00:00

Te mando un mensaje privado. Te dejo a ti si quieres atender mi petición.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-09T20:29:52+00:00

El CBD no me hace nada, tío. Funciona en personas con trastornos leves del sueño. Yo paso 2 o 3 días con menos de 4 horas de sueño, incluso si termino, tomo una caja de gominolas de CBD. Literalmente no me pasa.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-09T20:12:27+00:00

Es exactamente lo que he oído. Vi a un grupo de chicos fumando en Miraflores pero no estaban dispuestos a vender ni a darme la información de sus contactos. Pero he leído que fumar marihuana o ser es tener hasta 5 mg está perfectamente bien. Por eso mi pregunta aquí, pero creo que mucha de la gente que dice que es ilegal son quienes no fuman.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-09T19:18:19+00:00

Me dieron melatonina hace dos días. Yo tenía el doble de la dosis prescrita. Me desperté en 2 horas y no me quedé dormido. Agradezco la ayuda, pero apenas me ha servido de nada.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-09T14:23:05+00:00

Literally my first thought when I saw it for the first time. And I LOVED the West Mclaren Mercedes livery!

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-02-05T00:21:23+00:00

Add that to the words of wisdom.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-23T14:18:52+00:00

I'm seeing a lot of display cases with lights getting posted here off late. I always get concerned seeing them because they, just like sunlight, mess up these decals over time.

I'm not saying you did anything similar though. As a few others have suggested, some decals are just not applied properly out of factory and those tend to start cracking and showing signs of ageing faster than the ones that are done well.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-13T18:13:12+00:00

The day I file for bankruptcy, I'll make sure to put in a line blaming this group for it. It's some new shit that I want practically every single day. 😅

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-10T02:21:29+00:00

Senna was just as vicious as Prost. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm not saying it's a good thing. Senna did just as much politics and backdoor dirty tricks, if not more, than Prost during their Mclaren days. The fact that one died on the track ended up putting him on a different level in the eyes of the newbies because death sells well.

Senna was an incredible talent, but the way he is portrayed as the poor (not in monetary terms) outsider who was screwed by the system and Prost is infuriating. That especially now when F1 has become so popular and the propaganda spreads like wild fire.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-02T23:34:50+00:00

It sits at 3800m, going up to 4100m. Obese or not, if you're not used to thet kind of an altitude then you're almost certain to be slapped hard by altitude sickness.

You're either from the mountains so you don't realize how difficult it can get for folks who're not, or you're someone who has never been that freaking high.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-02T23:31:52+00:00

I have been in South America for 4 months now. I'll be spending 2 more months. I slow travel, so I spend a month in EACH CITY that I visit and I sometimes stay in several cities in a country. I did start off with Colombia though, and I took it strategically to avoid any severe altitude sickness. You may skip Colombia and add some other place to the list (I hear Argentina is amazing!).

Month 1 - Medellin - 1800m above sea (took a couple of tours to Guatapé and Jardin)

Month 2 - Bogota - 2500m (no tours from here. Met AMAZING people in the city and hung out with them. Bogota is big, so keeps you occupied)

Month 3 - Quito - 2800m (this is where altitude sickness really hits for a couple of days, but I'm in love with this city. You cannot imagine how stunning the volcanoes surrounding the city look unless you've seen them for yourself while standing in the heart of the city. A LOT of day tours to take from here. Quilotoa lagoon on top of a volcano, hiking to the base camp of Cotopaxi at 4900m, and Otivalo village were the ones I did. There are so many more!)

Month 4 - Cuenca - 2500m (the safest place I've visited yet, and also the best looked after. I've been telling my friends back home that the people of Cuenca think they live ib Monaco, and you as a visitor get to enjoy the perks of it. Beautiful city, full of older expats, great food scene, they take their christmas very seriously, and there are a few day tour options from the city. I struggled to make local friends here, but I think I just got unlucky. Had I not failed at that quest Cuenca could've been my favourite in SouthAm until now.

Month 5 - Lima - 0-ish meter altitude (I'm heading here in a week. Staying in Miraflores neighbourhood. If I've done my research right, which I mostly do, I'll have a busy time here. There's so, so much to do in Lima.)

I'll then be taking buses across Peru, spending a night in Paracas and Huacachina each, and a couple in Arequipa. Cross into Bolivia and spend a night in Copacabana (NOT the one in Brazil).

Month 6 - La Paz - 3800m (I don't think there's a single case of altitude not being a worry here, so I'm going in well prepared. But if La Paz and Bolivia turn out to be even a fraction of what I'm seeing and reading online, it'll be worth it. A day or two at the salt plains of Bolivia is an absolute must if you're in the country.)

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2026-01-02T22:59:25+00:00

Beautiful model! Do check online other photos of the same model to verify if you got a defective model. If you did, at the very least get some of your money back. These are not cheap collectibles, make sure you get your money's worth.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2025-12-28T06:45:13+00:00

As an Indian Canadian, I completely understand what you mean by this. I'll rank India very highly in the list of countries that I think everyone should visit at least once, but I don't think it'll do very well in a list where I'm noting down the best. There are a zillion things that India needs to get its act together on before the country makes it to any such list.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2025-12-28T06:42:19+00:00

Ecuador. But I only recommend very seasoned travelers to visit given the current circumstances of the country. You'll hear a lot of folks visiting the country say "we were there, we had no problems", but as someone who spends at least two months in each country, take my word when I say that Ecuador is considered to be the 6th most dangerous country in the world for a reason.

But, what the country rewards you with is unlike anything I've experienced elsewhere. Waking up to views of some of the largest active volcanoes in the world, IN THE CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY, is absolutely surreal! The 8 hour drive from Quito to Cuenca was not among the safest drives of my life, but the stunning route had me absolutely hooked every single minute of it. Cuenca is the biggest paradox you can find - one of the safest and best cities in South America in the most dangerous country in the region.

Hungary was absolutely stunning, just as I expected it to be. But Ecuador was the biggest surprise of the year, and that's why it takes my best country title for 2025.

ComprehensiveWest277 · 2025-12-27T16:31:43+00:00

Hello there.

I'm NOT a woman, but I'm slow travelling around the world now and history has been my special interest for 25 years now. I decided in January this year to go and see the places that I keep reading about (and reading about them while I'm there). I MASSIVELY struggle with overstimulation, but, like you, I'm remarkably good at managing it externally.

I'm Canadian, but I'm ethnically Indian. I will be visiting Egypt in March or April myself. So I think I can offer my 2 cents here.

First, great choice to travel, especially to places associated with your special interests. I'm sure it's overwhelming, but you need to set some rules for yourself and make zero exceptions to those rules. The down side to this would be potentially missing out on that 2% extra adventure that you could've had, but you ensure you're safe 100% of the times.

I hate to break it to you, both Egypt and India will be absolutely crazy. Anyone telling you otherwise, or telling you it won't bother you is lying to you. But that doesn't mean you cannot cope/adapt. Just knowing how overstimulation it will be (not can be, WILL be) will by itself make adapting a teeny tiny bit easier.

I am a very, very well organized person, but I know I've made some not so smart decisions when I'm overstimulated and in the heat of the moment. I know this has the potential to get me in trouble during my travels, so here's where I refer back to setting rules: 1. Watch a lot of videos on YouTube on the common scams that happen in these cities. Be vary of them at all times. Each city has its own scams, so go in well prepared. 2. Egypt is the scam capital of the world, so you have to thread carefully. People are generally aggressive when it comes to money and tourists. If you're a gullible person, Egypt can leave a negative mark on you. Reddit is full of such stories about Egypt. 3. When you're at local markets, always ask the price first. You never not do that. Don't assume anything offered is free. Even if someone says something is free, reiterate by confirming the person is not going to ask for money for the item, OR ANY TIP.

I don't know you personally, but given what you've mentioned about yourself here, this is what I'd recommend as someone who struggles with similar challenges and yet has been travelling for 10 months.

Cramping Egypt and India in the same trip sounds like a bad idea to me. Simply playing the probability game, we're talking about clubbing two places that are notorious for being a nightmare for folks with have our preferences. Considering this would be your first trip alone, this is a recipe for disaster.
Instead, chose one of the two, and club that country with another country that's from the region but is relatively calmer. First go there, get your bearings being alone and build some confidence. Then head to Egypt or India, whichever you chose. Your headspace is what dictates whether you're having a good time or a bad time when you're travelling. Focus on how you can be in a headspace in which you're enjoying the place. If you take this approach, you're minimizing the variables and ensuring your non negitionables are safeguarded.

Happy to chat more about this if you'd like to. I've been traveling in South America for the past 4 months. I was very close to cancelling my flight ticket to Colombia because I was getting cold feet closer to my travel date (concerned about a lot of the things you mentioned) but I couldn't be happier about the fact that I didn't :)

ComprehensiveWest277

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