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Comment by soared | Hacker News Reader

Vacations work the same :) visit Puerto Rico now because everyone thinks it’s destroyed by natural disaster and political problems. Yeah it’s destroyed, but stunning beaches, resorts, golf courses, restaurants, etc for a fraction of the price.

Best golf course and lunch I’ve ever had were at the royal isabela in PR. Absolute ghost town, but $90 all in. Stunning place.

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This reminds me of a meme I saw a while back with a guy saying he makes vacation plans based on terrorist attacks, after which the tourist population and prices both drop noticeably.

The true “off-season”.

I've heard this one too, but why does that happen? Surely the last place you'd want to do a terrorist attack is somewhere that just experienced one recently? Not only will everyone be on high alert so you're less likely to succeed, but your impact will be diminished since your attack is now getting mixed in with the previous one.

I guess it might be more of a psychological thing of not wanting to go there because it feels weird to vacation at the place of a tragedy, but from a safety perspective, it seems like the best choice.

If a terrorist attack happened there, it's actually more likely that it would happen again. It's not a random act, like lightning.

Lightning doesn't actually seem all that random either. I mean on a small scale, yes, but it seems like general areas are more prone to lightning than others.

I’ve been considering a vacation in Sri Lanka for the same reason (plus the history!).

I’m like “is the smart or crazy?” And the US embassy is advising people to avoid travel because of terrorism.

And I’m still not sure if it’s smart or crazy, but my wife says “no fucking way” and she’s smarter than I am so she’s probably right.

Sri Lanka has had terrorist attacks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Sri_Lanka_Easter_bombings but since it was conducted by ISIS inspired/supported terrorists. It was a one off event though.

US travel advisory lists terrorism as one of the risk factors for Sri Lanka https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/... but it does the same for Germany https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/... In fact Sri Lanka is at Level 3 (Reconsider Travel) and Germany is at Level 4 - Do not travel! The level difference is due to Covid though

Note that some of the food served in Germany counts as an act of terrorism, though.

Same with England.

Sounds like Garp: “The chances of another plane hitting this house are astronomical. It’s been pre-disastered.”

https://youtu.be/AyecklLMuI4

Odessa is a steal right now I hear.

Rather crowded with foreigners from what I hear

I prefer to avoid Russian tourists, very loud and quite pushy.

I escaped to St Martin during the lockdowns. Still damaged from hurricane but rebuilding. French side best side, best food, beaches and people, and extremely affordable. Plus a busy airport with lots of flights because it's where the billionaires park before hopping on their yacht to St Barth (I saw roman abramovich's plane on the tarmac)

Any other PR suggestions you have?

All the general touristy stuff is worth doing as it’s all quick and interesting! We stayed a couple days in the city and then almost a week in a tiny tiny group of houses a short walk from the beach just outside of Isabella and enjoyed the quiet. Isabella is basically an 80s tourist town that is now unpopular, perfect for my trip.

Other than that, if the Airbnb price near the city is too good to be true.. avoid it :) not everywhere has recovered well! You can pack light and just buy most of what you need at Walmart also. Very easy and approachable trip.

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