Hi, On your travels, which country has the fondest memories for you and why? Mine is Chile. I was working there for 6 months in 1979 as a 23 year old. Chilenos are the nicest people IMO.
Spain and Portugal. Great climate, great beaches, great culture, great food and wine. Football aint bad either and they aren't too far from blighty.
For me, without any question or doubt..............JAPAN. Period. BTW that's the opinion of my wife too. Too many reasons why. However. Not actually being Japanese is always going to be a disadvantage unless you know how to 'charm and disarm' in Japanese
I met many Japanese on dive boats in Asia. I always found them to be the most unusual people and more different than any other nationality! What does 'charm and disarm' mean?
Don't know much about Portugal John but I love Spain also, particularly away from the sleaze of the coast, which affected everyone.
I first went to Spain in 1977, John. I remember the donkeys everywhere. Lots of older women wore black clothes. Spain has changed so much. I lived on the Costa del Sol for a while and didn't enjoy it. When you live somewhere that everyone just seems to want to get pished all the time, it can get boring quite quickly. Even the ex-pats who lived there seemed to be like this. The Spanish people are more stand-offish on the coasts too.
Spain is a big country and the "tainted" areas are just a small portion of the whole. Again, same as Portugal - though of course Portugal aint so big. A blast from the past on package tours to the Iberian Peninisula:
I spent 9 months working with navigation systems in a lot of the coastal areas. Once we went inland it was a different world.
Mine is Malta. Now Malta is a marmite sort of place - good for a holiday, but living there is a different matter, and the whole place is just a giant chunk of rock in the med., not many sandy beaches and one of the highest density of population in the world. But why do I like it? The people are the most friendliest I've ever met, there is a great sense of community, a strong sense of identity and of course the weather is just perfect (but does get a bit too hot in August). Malta I found, is a tolerant place, they don't expect you to speak their language, but they appreciate it all the same if you do. I was there for 2 years in the mid-90's, my old boss still calls me asking when I'm going back! Malta has been occupied by different imperial powers over the years, but they don't hold a grudge.
Quite a few, but Malta is a big English Language Schools destination, so its a good mix of all nationalities. I remember having a conversation with a guy from Libya when I was there, he seemed to be fascinated by Princess Diana at the time, he asked me if I knew her!! The press made out at the time that Libya was a bad place, but this was really down to Gadaffi, nearly all Libyans I met were friendly.
I never spent any time in Malta but landed there a few times leaving Libya for the UK. I knew people that had vacation there after stints in Libya. I heard from them about Malta being popular with Libyans. I think they (the Libyans) saw it as a place to let their hair down.
I can remember walking through the Gut and seeing drunken Libyans, wearing what had been spotless white uniforms, horizontal in the road. Evidently they had ignored the Prophet's advice on the affluence of incohol. My parents almost settled in Malta when they left Libya but that coincided with the rise of Dom Mintoff and the Malta Labour Party and they thought better of it.
The causeway between Sau'di and Bahrain was similar, smashed up luxury cars were abandoned on every trip - Rollers, Ferrari's etc...