For me it was Brasov in Romania. It was more beautiful than I had expected and really liked the vibes of this medieval city.
Merida in Mexico. It’s not a tourist city, but I was there during a weekend and there were all sort of family events organized at the market, it was really fun and inclusive. We sat down to watch a kids play and got brought into the play as “ghosts” (we’re white) so the kids would run up to us and pretend to be scared (we’d play it up), and at the end everyone gathered around us and thanked us for being sports. The rest of the day was just an immersion in actual Mexican culture and friendliness.
Not what I expected just dropping into the city on the way to see ruins, we stayed an extra couple days just to enjoy it. Maybe it’s gotten more urban and stand-offish, this would have been a decade ago.
When I went to Brussels, Belgium I was shocked to find out there are no fast food restaurants in the entire city, even the airport.
Nice to see them support small businesses.
Aren’t there hundreds of independent fritures (small places that serve traditional Belgian fries)?
Nice to see them support small businesses.
yeah. Franchising is for successful ideas and other chump games. I’d rather support local strangers and a local land baron than local strangers and a remote land baron with service level objectives. Fuck those people I’ll never know instead of those people I’ll never know.
San Antonio. I was going to visit family and honestly was dreading it, but the downtown core is surprisingly pleasant. Extremely walkable, semi easy to get around, and the river walk is honestly pretty nice. (Not nice nice, I’d say it’s like a Vegas lite, everything is a little garish, but not too much).
Getting outside of SA was annoying though, car centric hellhole, endless sprawl, no way to get around. But - downtown is nice.
Seoul. I was barely 18 and got stationed there. I was expecting grass huts and donkey carts based off MASH or other movies I’ve seen.
But I was legitimately shocked. Like you know in movies when someone goes through Tokyo for the first time and they are starting struck, that was me in Seoul.
What? You went to Seol in 2002 and expected grass huts? Never heard of LG or Samsung?
I assume Seoul looks a lot like it does in Agents of Mayhem which is to say, one of those futurist curvy paradises of white concrete and vert (flowers, bushes, trees) with pop-out holographic cute Pokémon-like creatures who deliver scientific factoids or PSAs (which didn’t inform gameplay, just life in Seoul).
Osaka Japan. I love it there. There’s so much to see and do, and beautiful parks and shrines everywhere.
Great food, too. One side of my family is from Amagasaki so I’ve spent way more time in Osaka than other places in Japan. Great city.
The food is otherworldly. Not just in taste, but in variety.
Also, the retro electronic scene is so much better in Osaka than Tokyo. I always come back with 2 large suitcases full of LaserDisc and old video game consoles and peripherals.
