Lessons Learned from Some Recent International Travel

[Clusterfrack]

@Clusterfrack
Something to keep on the radar as you track the situation in Ecuador in advance of your trip. This is a pretty dramatic sign of how bad things are (in general) in Ecuador for their government to think this was an acceptable course of action. This will likely draw condemnation from the international community, and if the U.S. puts up a meaningful stink over it then I would expect retaliation in some form (even if just indifference) against US citizens present in Ecuador.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/06/a...kjalSR4HUU9Opy

But, props for the Ecuadorian prison being referred to as a "Deprivation of Liberation Center". That's like Nacho Libre had a baby with Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Fuck. This is exactly the sort of random instability that makes me avoid traveling in the 3rd world.

Thanks for send this.

[TGS]

Fuck. This is exactly the sort of random instability that makes me avoid traveling in the 3rd world.

Thanks for send this.

I suggest a family movie night of No Escape to get everyone pumped up.

I kid, I kid.

"Random instability" is a great way of putting it for countries like this: there's plenty to see and do, and you'll probably be okay...until you aren't. With that said, there's still some things you can track on your own to make reasonable decisions. Personally, for visiting somewhere like this, I'd be doing extra homework by way of tracking the news and social media in order to see what's going on with that instability and whether it's getting worse. Most of the bad shit seems to be isolated to the hinterlands, which isn't unique. There's plenty of metropolitan places I'd visit (like this) when visiting specific hinterlands is a veritably bad idea.

It's all just something to pay attention to. Don't go canceling your trip yet, seriously...the State Department is pretty cautious in its ratings, so I wouldn't have any qualms about visiting somewhere with a level 2 rating. But, set some objective "tripwires" to have that decision already made once the time comes if you start seeing certain trends in the news.