HELP!!! Visiting LA, Las Vegas, Washington and NY.

[sudsmaster]

Gee I dunno.

In my younger travels, I've been to LA, Long Beach, etc. I NEVER felt unsafe on the streets there. There are definitely some places in SF I would not go after dark - or even in broad daylight. Way back in the 70's I visited Manhattan, and learned that in some areas there was even a safe and a dangerous side of the same street, and I observed that one fine evening (the thugs were on the other side of the street, a wide street, but I had my tennis shoes on and knew I could outrun them, they knew it too).

There are also places in Dublin I was warned not to venture into after dark (the main park, as I recall).

Japan, I felt safe anywhere, although I did get some strange looks when I boarded a tiny antique (pre wwii) trolley car in Matsuyama. I later learned that it was a treasured remembrance as it was one of the few pre-wwii relics that escaped the near total bombing we subjected Japan to during that war.

American greyhound buses? I think they are ok once you get out of the big cities. But I would prefer Amtrak if one is not going to go by car or plane.

And I'm not sure that anyone coming from Brazil would be bowled over by the summer heat in LA, Chicago, New York, etc. Maybe Phoenix, but they'd probably love the fact that it's a dry heat.

 

[panthera]

Safety is to a large extent something

You create for yourself - or you don't. When my boyfriend found out I was walking from the library in Chestnut up through Lincoln Park to meet him every evening I got a lecture delivered at 120db that basically consisted of:
Wrong skin color
Wrong language
Wrong caliber gun (apparently anything smaller than an 18" turret mounted was too small)
Definitely wrong place, wrong time and just plain wrong.

So we compromised. I waited for him at the library. He never walked through the park except in uniform and armed and with two other policemen who lived in our direction...

But sure, every American city has its safer and less safe areas. A consequence of treating minority groups like dirt for too long.

Still, San Francisco felt safe. I stayed out of Franklin Heights after everyone told me I was a nut case. I didn't go walking by the Presidio at night alone (there was a group of soldiers who were luring and beating up on gay men at that time around there). I never, ever made the mistake of spitting out chewing gum or throwing anything down on the sidewalk in the Marina...those Italian housewives could have taught the Green Berets a trick or two...

But the dangers in San Francisco were manageable. Now, when I lived in NYC, I did pay attention to what my colleagues told me and never went out alone. But we were in a not so safe area of the city.

I don't think anyone from Brazil will be overwhelmed by the heat and humidity, that is true - but I think many visitors underestimate it, so it is always worth mentioning. Just like people traveling from sea level to over 2,000M should take it easy the first day or so.

 

[earthling177]

At the risk of annoying people, I will say that Brazil is a very large country with many different climates. And yes, people from there *can* be overwhelmed by the heat/humidity here. It just depends on where in US we're talking about and where in Brazil they came from.

 

[dogboy44]

We should always look to Germany...

...for a lecture on the mistreatment of minorites.