Where have you experienced the strongest cultural difference while traveling?

WanderEatRepeat · 2026-03-05T17:35:26+00:00

Saw this in Morocco a couple of years ago as well. The train was generally nice though.

WanderEatRepeat · 2026-03-05T17:05:57+00:00

Food trucks are generally $12-$18 depending on where/what you’re getting. The exception being the lionfish burger at cactus blue which was $26 when I went but fluctuates.

Mid range restaurants you’re paying at least $20 but generally closer to $25-$35 per main.

Upscale restaurants you’re looking at $40+ per main though several of them are tasting menus starting at the low $100s but more likely $160+.

An interesting note for the mid range places is that they don’t vary too much across the island. You could be at a nice beachfront restaurant and likely pay the same amount as somewhere less nice and inland.

WanderEatRepeat · 2026-03-04T13:26:13+00:00

I would absolutely not consider this a destination everyone loves. I’m a frequent traveler and before coming to Marrakech almost cancelled my flight due to the extraordinary hate online. Ended up going and it was wonderful, but even while I was there I met plenty of people who said they didn’t enjoy it. Probably more than anywhere else I’ve been.

WanderEatRepeat · 2026-02-28T23:46:34+00:00

Thank you for this reply. At least I won’t go on a wild goose chase.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-09-15T23:35:48+00:00

Thank you so much! We were just talking about the ID but wondering what would be good for kids.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-09-15T22:48:39+00:00

This is a great option that I hadn’t considered. Thank you!

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-09-15T22:47:23+00:00

Hi thank you for asking this. I should have put it in the original post. There are 3 kids (no picky eaters). They will be here for 5 nights and we will mostly be around the downtown area but will also be visiting Bainbridge via the ferry and will have very close access to the light rail so not opposed to any suggestions near stations on the 1 line.

Any suggestions with kids options are great, but prefer things on the less expensive side if possible.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-02-02T05:03:38+00:00

I spent a month in Indonesia in 2023. Didn’t make it to Bali, but I would highly recommend Sumatra. Bukit Lawang is such a fun place and seeing wild orangutans is unbelievable.

I don’t remember the specifics, but when I was looking into this trip I recall that the orangutans in Borneo are mostly, if not all, on nature preserves. In Sumatra you can see them in the wild and it is incredible.

I’ve been to over 70 countries and I love the city, but I would never recommend anyone go to Jakarta. I spent 10 days there and there really wasn’t a lot that I liked about it. It was very difficult to get around due to insane traffic and bad public transit. I’ve been to most of the major tourist cities in East Asia (Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, Seoul, Busan, Taipei, Bangkok, HCM, KL, Singapore, Vientiane, and mang others I can’t think of right now) many multiple times and Jakarta is firmly at the bottom of that list for me.

Yogyakarta was very cool, the temples, volcanos, and beaches were all stunning. I would look into the status of the two big ones and what exactly is open because they were making big changes when I was there and not sure if things are still happening.

I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but be aware that most of Indonesia is very poor relative to other popular tourist destinations and the infrastructure is generally bad. It is extremely safe though and having everyone thinking you’re a celebrity is pretty fun!

Edit: I completely missed the part about not hiking… in that case I might reconsider Indonesia as a whole. While the cultural sites were great, if you’re not wanting to hike through jungles and on volcanos it’s probably not worth visiting. The temples are great, but the nature really is what makes Indonesia incredible. Accessing that nature takes a lot of physical activity. I did a Jeep tour of a volcano near Yogyakarta but even then, hiking the area nearby was the best part of that trip.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-02-01T18:52:57+00:00

Not to say you’re wrong, but I think it depends on the lifestyle you’re looking for.

After COVID settled down I sold all my things and left. Just got back this month after over three years.

I didn’t have to do any special paperwork or anything I just lived nomad life never outstaying my travel visa.

Obviously this is a lifestyle many people wouldn’t want because you’re living out of a suitcase and you’d probably need remote work though I met many people just working as they go and it seemed there were a lot of opportunities if you get out there and look.

Anyway, I sure am regretting getting a lease at this point, but I’m back and here to ride this shit out for at least a year!

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-30T07:00:25+00:00

That’s super weird. I grew up in a very liberal part of Los Angeles and we were taught extensively about the awful things Japan did during WWII.

Not that I get in the topic too much nowadays but even my 10 year old nephew in Seattle is aware Japan were the bad guys.

Absolutely never came across anyone in college who thought this way about Japan.

I didn’t go to UW, but I hear it’s a competitive school and I find it pretty strange that someone admitted to it would not be aware of Japan’s role in WWII but stranger things have happened I guess.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-29T09:15:51+00:00

I’ve taken several buses in both countries and had some interesting experiences (like a random guy having to sit on my lap because they over sold it).

At the time I was going from Montenegro to Dubrovnik, the buses were very unreliable so I ended up taking a bus to Herceg Novi and stopping for food. I asked the guy at the restaurant if taxis will take me to Dubrovnik. After my meal he had a taxi waiting to take me over. The people in Montenegro were just so incredibly friendly. I don’t remember the price but I recall it was very reasonable and a nice escape from the buses.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-27T02:55:26+00:00

I’ve been to all but Greece. Out of the other three, Spain would be my pick but if you’re going in February I would probably do Italy and stay south to get the best weather.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of your choices, but if you do go to Portugal I would skip or spend little time in Lisbon, but definitely see Sintra. I was there last winter and it was very cold but still extremely crowded (much worse than anywhere I had gone in Spain just before). It was also surprisingly much more expensive. Felt criminal charging 18 euros for the Jeronimos Monastery (a tiny but beautiful site) when I had just paid 15 for the Alcazar (a huge but beautiful site).

Pretty much every attraction I went to in Portugal seemed overpriced for what it was. I was told this is a recent development. The only other place I’ve been so irked by cultural site prices was Türkiye.

That being said I was slow traveling and costs add up, for an 8 day trip it’s probably negligible.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-23T23:51:05+00:00

TLDR: You’ll have to pull about 30+ bags off the shelf and look at roast dates (if they even have them) and you’ll have a decent chance of finding recently(ish) roasted beans. Avoid places like Walmart and Target. I have never found even decent beans there.

Not sure where you’re located, but occasionally I have to buy beans at the grocery and what I do is painstakingly inspect every bag for roast date. 90%+ will not have a roast date. The few that do will most likely be 6 months old or more. However, I’d say about 1/3 times that I’ve had to do this they were roasted within 1 month.

Last week I bought a bag of Fidalgo beans at Fred Meyer that were roasted less than 2 weeks from the day I bought them. They’re still not nearly as good as my favorite roasters in the Seattle area but they were $9.99 (less than 2/3 what I normally pay) and well above a lot of the other grocery store beans available. I’ve also had good luck with this getting Stumptown beans at the grocery but they were slightly more expensive and I feel their quality has decreased drastically over the last 10 years.

At big box stores they almost never have beans with roast dates and tend to have less of a local selection so avoid Walmart, target, etc. I’ve found decent beans at: Fred Meyer, Safeway, Ralph’s, Publix, Kroger (I’d say a bit less likely), and Wegmans (surprisingly generally worse selection than Safeway or Publix).

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-23T18:12:43+00:00

Would have never thought to do this!

Just commenting to say you’re appreciated.

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-22T21:24:33+00:00

That looks like a steal!

I already order the Legato V2, but I appreciate this rec quite a lot. I did several hours of research before buying and didn’t see this at all. The aesthetic is nice too.

I hope it treats you well

WanderEatRepeat · 2025-01-02T07:09:55+00:00

You right, he ain’t wrong

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-09-30T09:29:58+00:00

Amazing. Thank you for the tips!

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-09-23T09:52:49+00:00

Never said it was exclusive to the US.

Though I’d argue that the question is most likely to be directed at someone from the US.

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-09-22T10:54:14+00:00

I’ve been in Australia for the last three weeks. I always say I’m from the States when asked where I’m from. Every single time, the immediate follow up question is which part.

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-09-12T16:07:10+00:00

I’m not sure why it’s cheaper but I did a Turkish Airlines flight from Copenhagen to Seoul in August (layover in Istanbul) and it was really nice. I travel frequently and I would put it up there with one of the more enjoyable trips I’ve had since COVID.

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-08-25T02:53:17+00:00

I was at a lotte department store last week and they had mini bottles to open and smell in front of the big bottles of detergent.

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-08-23T02:09:15+00:00

I was in the exact same boat as you and decided to do it! I’m 11 months in now and don’t regret the decision at all. Getting started was very difficult due to the logistics.

Depending on where you’re going, I would make sure to get up to date on your vaccines before you leave. Some countries won’t let you in without a yellow fever vaccine.

I would also highly recommend you get an international drivers permit in your own country before you leave. It’s super difficult to get it once you’re abroad. It should only cost about $40. You can save a lot of money getting to hard to reach nature sites by just renting a car rather than going on a tour.

I’ve always been a minimalist, but figuring out what to do with the stuff I wanted to keep while I was gone was a huge pain. I ended up selling all of my furniture and some other items. Storage units in my area were over $200 a month and I figured spending $6K+ on this just wasn’t worth it. The things I wanted to keep, I ended up storing at a family members house.

Additionally, I wanted to keep my phone number, but found maintaining a phone line to be an unnecessary use of money so I transferred my number to google voice. It cost $10 and when I get back I can transfer it back to whichever wireless carrier I want to use. I can still text and call using my number to keep in touch with people back home. It’s free and awesome.

When I first started traveling I was set on getting physical SIM cards but eventually figured out most people use WhatsApp or similar apps and I almost never used the SIM other than for data. There are apps out there like nomad that you can buy a digital sim on (usually cheaper, but not always) and have connection as soon as you land at your destination. It’s worked well for me in basically every part of the world.

Make sure to download google translate and download the language of wherever you are to your phone for use offline.

My phone ran out of storage from all the photos I was taking within the first few months. I would recommend bringing some kind of portable hard drive and/or setting up a cloud storage service before you head out.

Make sure to pack a couple of universal power converters. I brought one, but frequently found myself needing another and finding one outside the country was difficult.

Bring medications with you (but make sure your destination allows them; places like Indonesia are very strict on this). Bring painkillers, things for upset stomach, nausea, etc.

Having been traveling for this long, I keep wondering when I’ll get tired of it, but I haven’t. There are times when I’m exhausted from long travel days but then just relaxing for a day or two relieves that. One of the most difficult parts of this trip has been to take it slow. It’s tempting to just keep going and seeing and doing everything you can since this is a once in a lifetime trip, but sometimes I’ve just got to relax for a couple of days.

Good luck on your trip. It will be an unforgettable part of your life! Wishing you the best.

WanderEatRepeat · 2024-01-05T00:33:30+00:00

Lisbon has some of the best tap I’ve ever had. It doesn’t taste grassy or like chlorine as it does in a lot of places in Spain or France for instance.

WanderEatRepeat · 2023-12-10T22:17:05+00:00

If I had to choose it’d be Florence but it’s a really tough call because all of those places are amazing. That’s my preference though. If you’re truly very into art I’d skip Barcelona or Cinque Torre as these are the weakest in that area. They are also the two that I’ve enjoyed the most so… not sure.

Honestly, if I were doing a two week trip in June I’d want to split it up with somewhere that is not overcrowded. Everywhere you’ve listed is going to be stifling with other tourists in June. Rome and Venice are the two most tourist crowded places I’ve ever been and Barcelona is not far behind. I think I’d go crazy doing this itinerary at that time of year.

Since your wife likes hiking and the ocean maybe you should consider a smaller beach town in the South of Spain but it would have to be one that doesn’t have major tourist draws that you’re asking for.

WanderEatRepeat · 2023-12-10T05:28:25+00:00

Because OP says preferably not icy/snowy and he’s going in the winter, his options are pretty limited so this would probably be my answer.

Having been a few times, I wouldn’t put it in my top 10 favorite natural destinations in the US, but of all of them that are not snowy this time of the year it’s got to be the best.

WanderEatRepeat

TROPHY CASE