MM Sticker Found Under A Bus In Switzerland

[JPolen01]

I'm also pretty sure your friends story is how most swingers stories start.

No shit a friend of mine just came back from a cruise and this is exactly what happened. He was approached by a woman at one of the night clubs and started dancing with her only to find out her husband was watching from the bar. They went to the next bar and ended up back in their room (husband, wife, my friend) with 1 other woman she recruited. They told him they were swingers and he was wasted and went with it. Wild.

[Ryan T]

Check your credit card - many have travel insurance that will reimburse you for losses due to things like flooding.

I'm also pretty sure your friends story is how most swingers stories start.

I’ll check with Chase tomorrow and see if I can get reimbursed. 

As for your second point, his wife was hot, so I wouldn’t have complained.

[Apoc]

My Global Entry application is at nine weeks and counting. It looks like 11 weeks is the average, in part, because the government shutdown... although my kid was approved weeks ago. I get a toddler is probably easier to certify, but I didn't expect it to be weeks difference given I'm on an active Precheck. I wonder if being fingerprinted for a CCW helps or hurts me in this case?

[.RJ]

you're probably on some "list" with all the drivers license scans at your favorite stores

[Apoc]

weed and guns. yay freedom!

[WRXtranceformed]

Dominican Republic anyone?

[JPolen01]

I think I stayed at the same resort where some of the people have died. I bet it's cheap to go right now. Quite the gamble.

[Ken]

I think I stayed at the same resort where some of the people have died. I bet it's cheap to go right now. Quite the gamble.

Same - but it was super nice when i went, too. Roll those dice.

[WRXtranceformed]

It's probably fine if you don't drink any of the alcohol, eat any of the food or sleep in any of the rooms

Something similar actually happened not far from where we honeymooned in St. Thomas / St. John. An entire family got poisoned by methyl bromide and won a huge settlement from Terminix. I'd be surprised if it's not a similar situation:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/87m-settlem...-vacation/

[Senor_Taylor]

It's probably fine if you don't drink any of the alcohol, eat any of the food or sleep in any of the rooms

Something similar actually happened not far from where we honeymooned in St. Thomas / St. John. An entire family got poisoned by methyl bromide and won a huge settlement from Terminix. I'd be surprised if it's not a similar situation:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/87m-settlem...-vacation/

That's terrifying.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

It's probably fine if you don't drink any of the alcohol, eat any of the food or sleep in any of the rooms

Something similar actually happened not far from where we honeymooned in St. Thomas / St. John.  An entire family got poisoned by methyl bromide and won a huge settlement from Terminix.  I'd be surprised if it's not a similar situation:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/87m-settlem...-vacation/

holy shit...hits a bit close to home.  we stayed across the channel at sugar bay but that was back in 05.  i think i'm good to leave that area alone for a while.

[WRXtranceformed]

It's probably fine if you don't drink any of the alcohol, eat any of the food or sleep in any of the rooms

Something similar actually happened not far from where we honeymooned in St. Thomas / St. John.  An entire family got poisoned by methyl bromide and won a huge settlement from Terminix.  I'd be surprised if it's not a similar situation:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/87m-settlem...-vacation/

holy shit...hits a bit close to home.  we stayed across the channel at sugar bay but that was back in 05.  i think i'm good to leave that area alone for a while.

That's exactly where we stayed during our honeymoon.  That resort was awesome when we were there but it started to go downhill the last few years.  It was also heavily damaged by the hurricane that came through and I don't think it had reopened the last I checked

[Apoc]

Eh, I need to see data about whether a handful of tourist deaths are out of the ordinary before I get all skurred.

[ScottyB]

Eh, I need to see data about whether a handful of tourist deaths are out of the ordinary before I get all skurred.

for that area of the carribean?  yes and no i guess...for the USVI its definitely out of character.

[Apoc]

This isn't for tourists, but I suspect a handful of randomly clustered deaths has made it an interesting news story, which gets reported and makes it seem like a new problem.

http://vifreepress.com/2018/01/united-na...all-world/

The U.S. Virgin Islands has the fourth highest murder rate in the world, according to a study done by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Only El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela have more murders per capita than the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the latest statistics from the UNODC.

“Apparently, all else being equal, you have a one in 2,000 chance of being murdered,” the Virgin Islands Free Press’ crime expert said. “Not a large probability. But, imagine if that were the odds of dying in a plane crash every flight — nobody would be flying — that is for certain.”

In fact, the Caribbean has three countries in the Top 10 for murders. The U.S. Virgin Islands ranked fourth with 52.64 murders per 100,000 people, followed by Jamaica in fifth place with 43.21 and St. Kitts and Nevis was ninth with 33.55 murders per 100,000 residents.

[ScottyB]

thats interesting...didn't know that. i wonder how the locations of the murders works out, i.e. is it confined amongst locals to a highly localized area? i'd suspect that given their tourism industry, which is largely removed from the actual local people.

i do remember when we drove through Charlotte Amalie on the way from the airport we saw a lot of abject poverty until getting to the resorts, which were on the opposite side of the island/mountain ridge.

[Apoc]

I'm sure 99% are local violence that inversely correlates with socioeconomic status, but a couple deaths don't make a trend.

This is a really good book I'm currently reading related to our inherent bias to overvalue stuff like this - https://amzn.to/31Cqmgz

I get asked all the time about the dangers of travel, with the suggestion we're placing ourselves unnecessarily in the way of harm. The tl;dr of this book is first world people tend to think in "us vs. them" and are really, really bad at conceptualizing actual indicators of poor conditions.

[.RJ]

also, confirmation bias is a hell of a drug

[Evan]

This isn't for tourists, but I suspect a handful of randomly clustered deaths has made it an interesting news story, which gets reported and makes it seem like a new problem.

http://vifreepress.com/2018/01/united-na...all-world/

The U.S. Virgin Islands has the fourth highest murder rate in the world, according to a study done by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Only El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela have more murders per capita than the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the latest statistics from the UNODC.

“Apparently, all else being equal, you have a one in 2,000 chance of being murdered,” the Virgin Islands Free Press’ crime expert said. “Not a large probability. But, imagine if that were the odds of dying in a plane crash every flight — nobody would be flying — that is for certain.”

In fact, the Caribbean has three countries in the Top 10 for murders. The U.S. Virgin Islands ranked fourth with 52.64 murders per 100,000 people, followed by Jamaica in fifth place with 43.21 and St. Kitts and Nevis was ninth with 33.55 murders per 100,000 residents.

A deceptive and largely irrelevant statistic as it applies to Tourism.  Those murders are happening in inland resident communities, and largely gang driven,  with almost zero risk to tourists.  

The Nevis/St kitts stat you reference?   Last year we went to Nevis so we looked into it.   The murder rate  was because a couple gangs got their jimmies rustled (over I can only guess was the lucrative giftshop trinket trade)  and killed each other.   It was only a few murders (and none tourists),  but the population of the island is so tiny,  it made the "per capita" numbers look huge.

The stuff going on in DR is directly affecting tourists and resorts,    so if you want to equate that with gang violence just to try to make yourself look smart on the internet then you do you,  but I bet you don't  book a DR vacation...….



Now Mexico's cartel violence on the other hand is a different story......

[Apoc]

I'm sure 99% are local violence that inversely correlates with socioeconomic status, but a couple deaths don't make a trend.

You got me, Evan. My unwillingness to book 10 hours of flights to visit a country I've been to is a clear and valid statistic there's actually a problem and I'm just faking my opinion. Foiled again!

Interestingly, DR is the only one in the Top 25 (per traveler capita) I've actually been to. Mexico is most definitely on my DO NOT VISIT list.