Do you feel safe or unsafe in beneficiaries native country?

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

We both feel safer in Canada than the US.

i'd not feel safer in canada if i wore a seal or tim horton's coffee cup costume

And watch out for your Timbits!

mine mine mine!

[alienlovechild 75]

Of all the countries I've lived in or traveled to it is the US where I've felt the least safe.

Didn't have anything bad happen to me in the Philippines but had a lot of bad things happened to me abroad that hasn't ever happened to me in the States.

Almost carjacked in Italy.

Pickpocketed and mugged in Hungary.

Assaulted on the street by a hooker in Vietnam.

Numerous taxi rip offs in various countries.

Grossly overcharged for dinner in Vietnam.

Bag stolen in the UK.

The difference is I know what to look for in the U.S. as a bad situation but don't always know it abroad. Plus, Americans are seen as rich abroad but in the U.S. I'm nowhere near rich.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Definitely felt safer in Canada. I loved to go for a walk in the evenings or after the sunset. It was always safe. Here, women by themselves risk abduction even near their own homes. Children are shot by guns in the schoolyard. The police need to wear bullet proof vests. I miss the freedom that comes from feeling safe. It doesn't seem to exist here. (And we live in what is considered a safe neighbourhood).

Edited August 23, 2009 by Kathryn41

[GabiandVi 34]

I believe that Canada is probably still safer than the US, but I don't think I would allow my daughter to run around unsupervised in Canada today the way we ran around unsupervised when I was a kid in America. And I know I wouldn't let her run around unsupervised in any country in Europe. Times have changed and there are dangers everywhere. I've never felt unsafe in America, but I don't go to the places I know are unsafe. Even at the different schools I've worked in here where teachers are "accidentally" punched in the face when there is a riot among the students, I don't really feel unsafe. I never felt unsafe in China, but I know of an American teacher who was raped outside of Beijing as she was jogging. It happens no matter how safe we think we are.

[sara..... 371]

im not from Canada but we spent about three months there i loved it, we landed in Canada after being over seas for a few years my little brother had to go to the hospital there and the difference in how we were treated there was like day and , no one looked at us like we were from another planet when we wore Islamic clothing, and almost everyone was so so nice, i was shocked at how well we were treated there, also the amount of mosques that we found was great.

if i was not an American i would make the choice of Canada just because its a really comfortable place to live.

sara

[alienlovechild 75]

no one looked at us like we were from another planet

We had crowds around us at times India but they weren't hostile for the most part just curious.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Always felt safe in Vietnam but the relatives always worried about and maybe for good reason. I tried twice to escape and go out alone while everyone was distracted after lunch and each time they did a massive manhunt to find me and shadow me and generally watch over me.

[Anh map 2,098]

Looks like there are some people scared to come out of their houses here in the mean streets of suburban USA. Are you folks sure that you aren't describing your kids' video games and not the world you peek at through the blinds?

Never felt unsafe in Vietnam. Got myself lost a couple of times walking around Saigon alone. Always found plenty of folks willing to help me with directions. Out away from HCMC I felt uneasy being stared at by the locals.

Did have an older man yell at me to "go back to America." I guess I should have lied and told him I was from crime free Canada. That was the advice some people gave to me before traveling.

[alienlovechild 75]

Never felt unsafe in Vietnam. Got myself lost a couple of times walking around Saigon alone. Always found plenty of folks willing to help me with directions. Out away from HCMC I felt uneasy being stared at by the locals.

Funny, Saigon was the place I liked the least traveling from Hanoi to Saigon.

Could be a city vs. country thing as I'm from the country and prefer to skip the major cities as I encounter more problems there if anywhere.

[ScottThuy 140]

Always felt safe in Vietnam but the relatives always worried about and maybe for good reason. I tried twice to escape and go out alone while everyone was distracted after lunch and each time they did a massive manhunt to find me and shadow me and generally watch over me.

They were affraid you were gonna drink the water or eat the food...

I feel safer there in VN than here in the US... it may be because I am 6' 2" and that is giant there... but I have never had a problem that Could not be dealt with easily... guys try to pull a fast one at every chance... or overcharged for food.. yep our fault... Had a prostute offer to make my son a man for 5 bucks.. I dont blame her.. he's handsome.. but only 12.. but I also saw many girls at 12 or younger with children in the minority peoples villiages...

was almost mugged in Italy...

been burglarized numerous times in US....

also been shot 1 time and stabbed another when I lived near Miami in the 80's

I have to say of all the countries I have been in.. Singapore made me feel the safest....

Roger that old man knew you were there to take a beautiful woman back to the US... I got lost in SGN as well and had no issues... I liked Saigon more than Vung Tau

Edited August 23, 2009 by ScottThuy

[Malrothien 6]

Definitely felt safer in Canada. I loved to go for a walk in the evenings or after the sunset. It was always safe. Here, women by themselves risk abduction even near their own homes. Children are shot by guns in the schoolyard. The police need to wear bullet proof vests. I miss the freedom that comes from feeling safe. It doesn't seem to exist here. (And we live in what is considered a safe neighbourhood).

Vancouver is nothing like that. We're having young men go missing with no trace. We're having a lot of gang violence (19 or so murders related to gang violence this year alone). Three child sexual molestations - random attacks. Police here are required to wear bullet proof vests, I have never seen otherwise in any place I have ever lived.

Hell, at one of the nearby malls, they have stabbings, death threats, bombs, etc. among other things.

I take transit to work and I try to ensure that I pay attention to my surroundings as much as possible and keep alert. There was a woman abducted in my neighborhood at 3pm on a weekday by the mall!

I definitely felt safer in the US than I have ever felt here in Vancouver.

[FinnLove 0]

I feel much safer in Finland than in the US!

Having red (okay, strawberry blonde at the moment!) curly hair with brown eyes does make me look like a freak to them though. ha! I've never seen so much straight hair in my life!

[Kurt y Dora 1]

Before I ever went to Colombia, my gringo friends warned me about how dangerous it was. My brother (whose wife is from Medellin) has never been to visit her family because he is "scared" to go there. I did some research about murders per capita and the top 10 worst cities in the US were worse then Medellin, so I jumped on a plane the first time with no worries. I have now been to Colombia 10 times, in Medellin, Cartagena, Bogota, Barranquilla and Santa Marta and at no time did I ever feel unsafe. I did get my Blackbery stolen on the Metro in Medellin - I had my Fiance's niece in my arms and someone grabbed it from my belt in the crowded Metro and zipped out the door at a stop. But this was the first time I have ever had anything stolen in my travels to over 30 countries in the last 8 years, so I figure it was just the odds catching up to me. My paisa friends always warn me about not wearing my jewelry, so I do take that precaution, but even when I have forgotten, I have never felt unsafe nor encountered any problems. I have a dark complexion (my fiance' and I joke because she is lighter than me and I call her my gringa and she calls me a Colombiano) and am short like the other Colombianos, so maybe I blend in well.

[dalegg 143]

Definitely felt safer in Canada. I loved to go for a walk in the evenings or after the sunset. It was always safe. Here, women by themselves risk abduction even near their own homes. Children are shot by guns in the schoolyard. The police need to wear bullet proof vests. I miss the freedom that comes from feeling safe. It doesn't seem to exist here. (And we live in what is considered a safe neighbourhood).

Goodness, where do you live?! From what you described I don't consider that a safe neighborhood!

I felt pretty safe in Vietnam- except when the police were doing their random checks in the hotels before my wife and I were officially married. But where I live you can still go for a walk after sunset, whenever. As a matter of fact, things were pretty quiet around here until just recently a swimsuit model from Buena Park (which is 5 miles from my house) was killed by a Canadian!!

[FinnLove 0]

Definitely felt safer in Canada. I loved to go for a walk in the evenings or after the sunset. It was always safe. Here, women by themselves risk abduction even near their own homes. Children are shot by guns in the schoolyard. The police need to wear bullet proof vests. I miss the freedom that comes from feeling safe. It doesn't seem to exist here. (And we live in what is considered a safe neighbourhood).

All police should wear bullet proof vests! They are dealing with criminals and need to wear them-I wouldn't say it's a sign that the US is unsafe. It's a sign that cops want to go home alive!