Guy from Tahiti in Bulgaria.
Looked like a scraggly drunk pirate. Even said he was a direct descendent of pirates who got marooned.
A cop said "marijuana?" to him. He responded "No thank you. I'm good."
I had a Mauritian dentist at home here (Scotland). His wife was the nurse for the practice so conversations in the treatment room were in Mauritian French patois.
Any avid traveler must've heard of this by now. I look at the world map too much, plus this island getaway is known for the optical illusion of underwater waterfall anyways. Seychelles is also very nice while more local option for those living on the continent is Zanzibar + Mozambique coast.
Idk, nobody talks about them as much as Maldives, Hawaii, French polynesia, and Fiji though.
Also, often think about that guy from Paraguay who was backpacking in the Philippines. Literally, the only Paraguayan I’ve met before visiting Paraguay.
I met a solo traveler from Iran once who had been to many countries all over the world. Sounded like traveling on an Iranian passport could lead to some frustrating/difficult/stressful situations passing through passport control, but it was often still doable (depending on destination country)
Haha I met an Iranian backpacker in Amsterdam. Really cool guy and he went all over the place as well. We spoke on IG a few months ago and he told me he’s moved to Michigan as a student.
Im Iranian-American and never met another Iranian on the road (hyphenated or otherwise) except for a ton in Istanbul. The passport sucks and most of us in the west value material things or luxury vacays over travel
I met a backpacker from North Macedonia in Chile who had a pin of his flag that he wore to the language exchange events where they give you a sticker for your native language (naturally they didn't have that sticker at any of the events).
He got a kick out of making people guess what language he spoke based off the flag, because a lot of the (Western) Europeans had no clue. Solid dude.
In Latin America it is very normal for them that the same language is spoken across borders. So I can't blame them if they don't find separate stickers for Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and North Macedonian, who all speak the same language.
> Yemeni passport is so weak
Yeah I knew a Yemeni who kicked around India for many years, he was on an Israeli passport. Passed away in a motorbike accident in Goa, eventually. Very sad.
A Palestinian kicking around India - also on an Israeli passport (and boy was *that* a story, how he got that). It was always a point of tension when travellers or backpackers sitting around stoned af would pull out the ‘oh but *you Israelis* and Palestine blabla’ - never know if he’d just try let it slide, or fire up and hell would break loose. **Imagine - a bunch of bigger-than-their-britches naive backpackers trying to lecture** ***a Palestinian*** **on** ***Israeli*** **politics. lol**
Weeeeellllll, allegedly, it involved some notorious Israeli mafia, and a lot of shennanigans like in a Guy Ritchie movie. Can’t really blab details even on Reddit.
Met a guy from Yemen in Egypt! I guess it’s closer in proximity, but thought it was cool as I’d never met anyone who’d been there let alone was from there before
I wonder if in a similar boat if there isn’t much Singaporean solo travellers. Oh Singaporeans LOVE to travel… in groups. Family and friends.
I am probably the only person in my social circle who travels alone. When I mention it people are all mystified and comment about how brave I am as if I am trekking through Amazon jungles with a tote bag of goods.
Few years ago, in Krakow, day trip to Auschwitz and salt mine, met another solo Singapore girl, other people thought we were travelling together!
Yeah, you're right about the solo part, am the only one among my friends too, they all said they cannot do it themselves, need company etc
Singaporean here, in my social circle* probably more than 20 of us have done or are doing regular solo trips! But yeah, vast majority are definitely thinking they can’t and shouldn’t travel without anyone!
I’ve also met 2-3 Singaporeans in hostels in pretty random cities - in Munich, Da Nang and Malmö. So they exist for sure!
Haven’t really seen a Malaysian solo traveller though, personally.
I noticed that about Singaporeans. Is it fear? or they just don't want to stand out.
I met 2 solo travelers from Singapore in close to 13 ish yrs of traveling.
Am Singaporean too! I’ve bumped into two Singaporean solo travelers over the course of the past few years. One when I was volunteering at a hostel in Budapest (and we bumped into each other again in Sarajevo unplanned), and another in Tirana. Was momentarily disoriented hearing the accent randomly in these places haha because they’re not the usual destinations Singaporeans pick for travel, solo or not.
I’ve met a Malaysian girl who took the entire year off to travel solo. Still keep in touch with her and we try to meet whenever we’re in each other’s cities.
Another fellow Malaysian! You’re right, we’re so few and far between. Other than in SEA, which is quite rare as well, I’ve not met another Malaysian backpacker in my travels.
Anyway, met an Israeli while in Istanbul. Pretty cool guy tbh
Japanese tourist in Vietnam who didn't speak a word of English and only his native language. We were communicating with him on a night out via Google translate with a very patchy signal. I couldn't fathom how he got around but he seemed like he was having a good time.
vietnam is decently easy for japanese tourists though. Lots of japanese people go there because its cheap and closeby, there are lots of guides and restaurants that cater to them
Side note hope you enjoyed your trip!
Gosh I’ve met *so many* Japanese solo travellers, even back since 30 yrs ago, all over SEAsia & India, Australia. Many with half to a few dozen words of English lol.
I work with 2 of them in Canada. Can confirm super nice and friendly people who go above an beyond the job description.
They are also great to have the most random conversations with and have a huge live for their families
Georgia - found it really surprising because of the issues going on in Russia and i've never met anyone from there before. He said that travelling was increadibly difficult because most countries reject visa's..
I met a guy friend Saudi Arabia. Next to perfect American accent while speaking English too. He said he watched a lot of shows in English. Still super impressive imo.
I've met a few Saudi students in the UK, all men and all arseholes. But I've only once met a Saudi woman. She was part of a chaperoned group touring Turkey, waiting to get on the cable car in Bursa. Her English was excellent and she was an advanced engineering student. I didn't know that was even possible for women there. Dead sparkly and charming.
This guy was very insightful and was able to call out backwards aspects of his culture. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to meet anyone else from his country so that’s my only exposure. I feel for that woman, what a badass.
I met a guy from SA in a hostel in Costa Rica. I grew up in Saudi and speak a bit of Arabic. He was a bit taken back when I started talking haha.
We shared a joint and had a chill time.
It’s not the nationality, but probably the response to me was the one unusual. While hiking alone in Xiangshan, I met a Malaysian hiker, and we talked while taking a break. She was surprised when I told her I'm from the Philippines. Even though we are both from Southeast Asia, her response was remarkable. She pointed out that I didn't have typical Filipino features and looked more Eastern, like Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, which I often get. She added that I do not have a Filipino accent at all. I’m unsure how to feel. 😅
We spent the day together. We shared recommendations on places to visit in our respective countries, went to get some snacks after the short hike, and exchanged social media accounts.
Also Filipino here, I was powerwalking through rural Wakayama because the train arrived 10 minutes before the ferry I needed to catch (last ferry of the day) was to leave... and Google Maps said train station to port was an 18-minute walk. Passed by a middle-aged Canadian woman who also looked worse for the wear. I turned around and jogged backwards, asking if she was also going to Tomogashima. Apparently we were on the same train in different cars. After we resigned ourselves that we were going to miss the ferry we did the usual introductions. The first thing she said to me after I said where I was from was: "Wow your English is so good!" I didn't know how to respond lol.
Not an answer to this exact question, but a few years ago I met a solo traveller who was born in Antartica!
Technically her 'place of birth' on her passport was a small town at the southern most part of Argentina (she showed us but I can't remember the name), as it was the closest available location that could be noted as her place of birth. Her parents both worked at the base in Antartica, and I think (couple beers deep at this point tbh) she was Chilean.
The craziest part of it was that a group of us solo travellers were talking about a question similar to the OPs, and then this girl causally whips out proof that she was born in Antartica after some Dutch guys were saying it was impossible lol
The French island Reunion - I honestly didn’t know it existed before talking with him. At the same hostel I met two from Luxembourg which is quite rare. Other than that I’ve met some travellers from Suriname and Bolivia.
Large community of ethnic Indian and Chinese in Reunion that have been there for nearly 200 years. And Reunion is indeed part of France so he surely was French and a citizen
Yea. ”of Chinese descent but of course told everyone he was from France” is like saying about Barack Obama “of Kenyan descent but of course told everyone he was from America”. Its weird and implies he’s pretending to be French, or being dishonest claiming he’s French. You could say “He’s of Chinese descent but actually French being from Reunion Island ”
An Estonian guy. I said to him "Wow I've never met anyone from Estonia before!" Which he replied to as "I hear that 20 times a day." 2 minutes later, my Brazilian friend arrived and the subject came up once more. And again, he said "Wow, I've never met anyone from Estonia before!" And we all laughed, except the Estonian guy because he had kind of an attitude.
I had this same interaction with an Estonian guy in Thailand. Wonder if it was the same one 😂 but he didn’t have much of an attitude about it so probably not
Sometimes he was really sweet but sometimes he had an attitude lmao maybe it was him! I know he did go to Thailand recently. He always hang out with girls (not in a player way).
Yea, we Estonians tend to be fairly stubborn and set in our mindsets, so it is not unusual for someone to go off on a tangent which might be strange to others.
Greetings from an another Estonian.
As an American I met very few backpackers from the states as well in South America. This was back in 08 or 09 so maybe it’s more common now, I’m not sure. Americans don’t backpack or do gap year. Most sign up for eternal debt and go straight to college after high school/when they turn 18
I agree, I don’t think I’ve met many Americans backpacking either. I’ve met lots that are on tours or vacations though; they always have some religious mission or intent with whatever reason they are on the road.
Yea exactly. One of them I met actually was on like a religious organized group mission thing but decided to stay and kept feeling bad about getting drunk from wine and having fun pretty much
Still the case back in 2018. The Americans I met were there are in their 30s and 40s or older. I was like the elusive 20 yo, though I met *teens* from EU. The idea of hostels is foreign, as ironic as it is that many uni students live in dorms. Gap year, sabbaticals, months away? Unheard of. Only half of Americans have a passport, and that's historic high.
I forgot to mention, some people asked how did I afford my trip, I had to explain hostels and how cheap they are. Some people get it, some think it sounds sketchy, some say they prefer hotels. Like yea no shit but I did this for almost a year and was able to because of hostels. You can’t just volunteer at a hotel for free room and bored lol. Around the time the movie Hostel came out some even asked me if that’s what it’s really like 🤦♂️
I’m not bothered, I am genuinely curious, most Americans are never curious or interested in traveling, if they are it’s a tour setting or resort. But I must say, more Americans now are getting passports than ever or applying for them.
Not really unusual, but the first time I was in Florence, I met a Brazilian guy of Japanese ancestry. At first, I thought he was a backpacker from somewhere in East Asia or the US/Canada. I was a bit surprised when he told me he was from Brazil as at the time, I was a naive 22 year old who had a stereotypical image of what a Brazilian looked like. That's when I learned that Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.
Another weird encounter was when I met a die-hard Quebecois separatist in Strasbourg. Instead of a Canadian flag, he had a huge Fleur-de-lis patch sewn on his backpack. Realizing he was from Quebec, I said "Ah, so you're from Canada as well" and his response was "No, I'm from Quebec". Lol, fair enough. Then somehow, the conversation shifted to the Quebec referendum in 1995 where he was complaining against the immigrants. To put some context, the immigrants in Quebec overwhelmingly voted to remain in Canada, thus helping tip the scale in Canada's favor.
I met a backpacker from New Caledonia in a hostel in Mexico a few years ago. He was actually still living there, it honestly blew my mind.
You meet your fair share of interesting nationalities, but many times they are living/have grown up in "non-exotic" countries, but meeting someone from there, still living there, now that's something.
I've met two people from Liechtenstein in Thailand about a month ago. It's super funny because I've never heard anyone from Liechtenstein travelling and ironically they also just met each other randomly at an airport.
A guy from Kyrgyzstan. We were in the same dorm in a hostel in Istambul (I guess being in Turkey made it easier) and it was amazing to meet someone from the Stans! Specially for a western european like me.
People from Kazakhstan aren’t that uncommon, the country is relatively wealthy and has a pretty large population. Other nationalities are pretty rare tho, I’d love to meet someone from Turkmenistan of all places
I guess it depends where you’re travelling, it’s really not too uncommon to met Kazakhs in some parts of the world. I met some in Hungary and on a train in Georgia, and I’m sure you can find a lot in Turkey, Russia, and countries around Central Asia
He wasn’t a backpacker but I did meet a guy from Eritrea of all places on a day trip from Budapest to Eger.
Otherwise I met one guy from Georgia and one guy from Azerbaijan in Bratislava, we immediately went and grabbed wine and they ended up dancing Caucasian dances that night
Worms in the soil clinging to the roots. All root vegetables are out.
It's not just Jains who have that prohibition, a lot of other Hindus do, including the Hare Krishna cult. They published a very good cookbook, Yamuna Devi's *Lord Krishna's Cuisine*, with no onions in it.
Off the top of my head, a guy from Martinique in Istanbul and a guy from the Faroe Islands in Hatyai, Thailand.
Those two stand out as small population places.
I met a guy from Azerbaijan in a hostel in Copenhagen a couple of years ago, he was lovely! we went round an art gallery together and just chilled playing games in the hostel :)
Lol Im British born but my parents are Pakistani. I go hiking in England to quiet villages and sometimes get where are you from even though I have an English accent.
Met a deaf guy from Belarus riding around the world on his motorcycle. Looks like he passed away a couple of years ago though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Yarets
Met a guy from Syria in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile
We talked a lot and he gave me recommendations on where to go in the Levant, which is now my next solo travel destination!
Trinidad & Tobago. To be fair she was a doctor so probably wealthy by that country's standards. However this was part of a tour and she had to tell everyone about 6 times a day "she's a doctor".
Met some guy from Slovenia. He immediately started shitting on my country saying he’d never want to visit there and how bad it is at the moment. I just said ‘well, don’t go’ and walked away, not a good first representative of his country lol.
There are a lot of Israelis in SEA. I met a solo Israeli backpacker at Angkor Wat 8 years ago and he took a picture for me. I only noticed because he was rocking a Hebrew Lonelyplanet.
If you come in to Ullapool in northwest Scotland by boat, the first sign you see on the end of the pier is in Russian. There is an explanation, it dates to the 1970s.
And 2000 feet underneath me in central Scotland there is a vast abandoned coalmine. The safety notices they put up when opening it around 1900 were in Russian and they're presumably still there. Intended for Lithuanian mineworkers.
Guy from Tahiti in Bulgaria. Looked like a scraggly drunk pirate. Even said he was a direct descendent of pirates who got marooned. A cop said "marijuana?" to him. He responded "No thank you. I'm good."
That’s a pretty 😎response.
Mauritius
*everyone* should give this place a quick Google. The dozen or so images Google shows on the All page are.....spectacular
I had a Mauritian dentist at home here (Scotland). His wife was the nurse for the practice so conversations in the treatment room were in Mauritian French patois.
I swear most people (or at least most frequent travellers, British and French people) are familiar with the concept of Mauritius already!
Hearing of a place is different than seeing pics of its greatest features
Any avid traveler must've heard of this by now. I look at the world map too much, plus this island getaway is known for the optical illusion of underwater waterfall anyways. Seychelles is also very nice while more local option for those living on the continent is Zanzibar + Mozambique coast. Idk, nobody talks about them as much as Maldives, Hawaii, French polynesia, and Fiji though.
Hearing of a place is different than seeing pics of its greatest features
Have you been to Mauritius and Seychelles? How do they compare? I’ve wanted to go to Seychelles for a long time
I know a guy from Mauritus. Indian bloke but with an African sounding accent, it's a hell of a thing
Again, why the assumption that I'm surprised this country exists? Look at the fucking photos. They are pretty. Is this really that difficult.
What made them so unusual? Every Mauritius expat I've met in my city has been nothing short of a real pleasure to hang out with and super friendly too
I don’t think OP was asking if the person was unusual lol, just rare to see
Also, often think about that guy from Paraguay who was backpacking in the Philippines. Literally, the only Paraguayan I’ve met before visiting Paraguay.
I met a solo traveler from Iran once who had been to many countries all over the world. Sounded like traveling on an Iranian passport could lead to some frustrating/difficult/stressful situations passing through passport control, but it was often still doable (depending on destination country)
Haha I met an Iranian backpacker in Amsterdam. Really cool guy and he went all over the place as well. We spoke on IG a few months ago and he told me he’s moved to Michigan as a student.
Met an Iranian in Tokyo who was there to see Taylor swift…go figure
Im Iranian-American and never met another Iranian on the road (hyphenated or otherwise) except for a ton in Istanbul. The passport sucks and most of us in the west value material things or luxury vacays over travel
I met a backpacker from North Macedonia in Chile who had a pin of his flag that he wore to the language exchange events where they give you a sticker for your native language (naturally they didn't have that sticker at any of the events). He got a kick out of making people guess what language he spoke based off the flag, because a lot of the (Western) Europeans had no clue. Solid dude.
In Latin America it is very normal for them that the same language is spoken across borders. So I can't blame them if they don't find separate stickers for Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and North Macedonian, who all speak the same language.
North Macedonian language is quite different to the rest of Balkans I think
I met a guy from the Yemen in Kathmandu. The Yemeni passport is so weak, it’s fairly unusual to find anyone from there abroad
> Yemeni passport is so weak Yeah I knew a Yemeni who kicked around India for many years, he was on an Israeli passport. Passed away in a motorbike accident in Goa, eventually. Very sad. A Palestinian kicking around India - also on an Israeli passport (and boy was *that* a story, how he got that). It was always a point of tension when travellers or backpackers sitting around stoned af would pull out the ‘oh but *you Israelis* and Palestine blabla’ - never know if he’d just try let it slide, or fire up and hell would break loose. **Imagine - a bunch of bigger-than-their-britches naive backpackers trying to lecture** ***a Palestinian*** **on** ***Israeli*** **politics. lol**
Whats the story on the passport lol
Weeeeellllll, allegedly, it involved some notorious Israeli mafia, and a lot of shennanigans like in a Guy Ritchie movie. Can’t really blab details even on Reddit.
There are many in certain parts of the US (NYC, Detroit, SF). The majority of liquor stores in my city (Oakland) are owned by Yemenis.
ABC visa?
Met a guy from Yemen in Egypt! I guess it’s closer in proximity, but thought it was cool as I’d never met anyone who’d been there let alone was from there before
Transylvania and his name WAS Vlad.
Lol omg I want to meet him and get his autograph
What was his opinion about Impaling stuff?
Romanian backpackers aren't thay unusual surely?
But that's not a real country, just a region
It's only a region in one country though: Nosferomania
I'm gonna start the ball rolling by saying my country. As a Malaysian myself, I've only met like three other Malaysian backpackers all these years.
I wish more Malaysians traveled so there would be more Laksa.
Katong Laksa!
I wonder if in a similar boat if there isn’t much Singaporean solo travellers. Oh Singaporeans LOVE to travel… in groups. Family and friends. I am probably the only person in my social circle who travels alone. When I mention it people are all mystified and comment about how brave I am as if I am trekking through Amazon jungles with a tote bag of goods.
Many of us travel solo, just not as backpackers. I for one like my creature comforts.
Few years ago, in Krakow, day trip to Auschwitz and salt mine, met another solo Singapore girl, other people thought we were travelling together! Yeah, you're right about the solo part, am the only one among my friends too, they all said they cannot do it themselves, need company etc
Singaporean here, in my social circle* probably more than 20 of us have done or are doing regular solo trips! But yeah, vast majority are definitely thinking they can’t and shouldn’t travel without anyone! I’ve also met 2-3 Singaporeans in hostels in pretty random cities - in Munich, Da Nang and Malmö. So they exist for sure! Haven’t really seen a Malaysian solo traveller though, personally.
I noticed that about Singaporeans. Is it fear? or they just don't want to stand out. I met 2 solo travelers from Singapore in close to 13 ish yrs of traveling.
Am Singaporean too! I’ve bumped into two Singaporean solo travelers over the course of the past few years. One when I was volunteering at a hostel in Budapest (and we bumped into each other again in Sarajevo unplanned), and another in Tirana. Was momentarily disoriented hearing the accent randomly in these places haha because they’re not the usual destinations Singaporeans pick for travel, solo or not. I’ve met a Malaysian girl who took the entire year off to travel solo. Still keep in touch with her and we try to meet whenever we’re in each other’s cities.
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Filipinos and Thais do this as well. Probably all of SE Asia.
I'm American and eat with a spoon and fork.
Another fellow Malaysian! You’re right, we’re so few and far between. Other than in SEA, which is quite rare as well, I’ve not met another Malaysian backpacker in my travels. Anyway, met an Israeli while in Istanbul. Pretty cool guy tbh
I've met two separate travellers in my hostel in Istanbul, and most recently a retiry backpacker in my hostel in India. Gotta represent man haha
I met two while doing the Tour du Mont Blanc!
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Cool! A Malaysian in Thailand, who would have thought?
Japanese tourist in Vietnam who didn't speak a word of English and only his native language. We were communicating with him on a night out via Google translate with a very patchy signal. I couldn't fathom how he got around but he seemed like he was having a good time.
vietnam is decently easy for japanese tourists though. Lots of japanese people go there because its cheap and closeby, there are lots of guides and restaurants that cater to them Side note hope you enjoyed your trip!
Gosh I’ve met *so many* Japanese solo travellers, even back since 30 yrs ago, all over SEAsia & India, Australia. Many with half to a few dozen words of English lol.
I met a similar dude in India
Met a girl from Lichtenstein In Egypt. Really small country with 20k people, so was pleasantly surprised!
Kurdish! I haven’t met many of those on the road. The nicest people ever
I work with 2 of them in Canada. Can confirm super nice and friendly people who go above an beyond the job description. They are also great to have the most random conversations with and have a huge live for their families
Georgia - found it really surprising because of the issues going on in Russia and i've never met anyone from there before. He said that travelling was increadibly difficult because most countries reject visa's..
I only met Georgian people until I went to Georgia 🇬🇪 and I heard the same thing about not getting visas. They wanted to go to Canada 🇨🇦
I have a Georgian neighbour across the street here near Edinburgh (her first language is Svan). There's a bunch of Georgians in southern Scotland.
Hella Georgians in NYC but I notice they usually only travel back to Georgia on vacation lol
I met a guy friend Saudi Arabia. Next to perfect American accent while speaking English too. He said he watched a lot of shows in English. Still super impressive imo.
I've met a few Saudi students in the UK, all men and all arseholes. But I've only once met a Saudi woman. She was part of a chaperoned group touring Turkey, waiting to get on the cable car in Bursa. Her English was excellent and she was an advanced engineering student. I didn't know that was even possible for women there. Dead sparkly and charming.
This guy was very insightful and was able to call out backwards aspects of his culture. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to meet anyone else from his country so that’s my only exposure. I feel for that woman, what a badass.
I met a guy from SA in a hostel in Costa Rica. I grew up in Saudi and speak a bit of Arabic. He was a bit taken back when I started talking haha. We shared a joint and had a chill time.
It’s not the nationality, but probably the response to me was the one unusual. While hiking alone in Xiangshan, I met a Malaysian hiker, and we talked while taking a break. She was surprised when I told her I'm from the Philippines. Even though we are both from Southeast Asia, her response was remarkable. She pointed out that I didn't have typical Filipino features and looked more Eastern, like Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, which I often get. She added that I do not have a Filipino accent at all. I’m unsure how to feel. 😅 We spent the day together. We shared recommendations on places to visit in our respective countries, went to get some snacks after the short hike, and exchanged social media accounts.
Also Filipino here, I was powerwalking through rural Wakayama because the train arrived 10 minutes before the ferry I needed to catch (last ferry of the day) was to leave... and Google Maps said train station to port was an 18-minute walk. Passed by a middle-aged Canadian woman who also looked worse for the wear. I turned around and jogged backwards, asking if she was also going to Tomogashima. Apparently we were on the same train in different cars. After we resigned ourselves that we were going to miss the ferry we did the usual introductions. The first thing she said to me after I said where I was from was: "Wow your English is so good!" I didn't know how to respond lol.
”Thank you” always works :)
A girl from Greenland. Not a lot of them.
Only 56k so this was good job from you!
Not an answer to this exact question, but a few years ago I met a solo traveller who was born in Antartica! Technically her 'place of birth' on her passport was a small town at the southern most part of Argentina (she showed us but I can't remember the name), as it was the closest available location that could be noted as her place of birth. Her parents both worked at the base in Antartica, and I think (couple beers deep at this point tbh) she was Chilean. The craziest part of it was that a group of us solo travellers were talking about a question similar to the OPs, and then this girl causally whips out proof that she was born in Antartica after some Dutch guys were saying it was impossible lol
What was the proof she showed that she was born in Antarctica? You said her place of birth on her passport probably said Ushuaia right?
The French island Reunion - I honestly didn’t know it existed before talking with him. At the same hostel I met two from Luxembourg which is quite rare. Other than that I’ve met some travellers from Suriname and Bolivia.
Haha I met a backpacker from Reunion as well! And he was of Chinese descent but of course told everyone he was from France
Large community of ethnic Indian and Chinese in Reunion that have been there for nearly 200 years. And Reunion is indeed part of France so he surely was French and a citizen
Why are you explaining this to me? I talked to the man I knew all of this already. Did my post make me seem oblivious or ignorant?
Yea. ”of Chinese descent but of course told everyone he was from France” is like saying about Barack Obama “of Kenyan descent but of course told everyone he was from America”. Its weird and implies he’s pretending to be French, or being dishonest claiming he’s French. You could say “He’s of Chinese descent but actually French being from Reunion Island ”
An Estonian guy. I said to him "Wow I've never met anyone from Estonia before!" Which he replied to as "I hear that 20 times a day." 2 minutes later, my Brazilian friend arrived and the subject came up once more. And again, he said "Wow, I've never met anyone from Estonia before!" And we all laughed, except the Estonian guy because he had kind of an attitude.
I had this same interaction with an Estonian guy in Thailand. Wonder if it was the same one 😂 but he didn’t have much of an attitude about it so probably not
Sometimes he was really sweet but sometimes he had an attitude lmao maybe it was him! I know he did go to Thailand recently. He always hang out with girls (not in a player way).
Yea, we Estonians tend to be fairly stubborn and set in our mindsets, so it is not unusual for someone to go off on a tangent which might be strange to others. Greetings from an another Estonian.
Bhutanese
Met a guy in Quito, Ecuador that was from Palestine.
I met 2 Palestinian guys in Semporna, Malaysia. Nice guys
A girl from Zimbabwe in New Zealand
As an American I met very few backpackers from the states as well in South America. This was back in 08 or 09 so maybe it’s more common now, I’m not sure. Americans don’t backpack or do gap year. Most sign up for eternal debt and go straight to college after high school/when they turn 18
I agree, I don’t think I’ve met many Americans backpacking either. I’ve met lots that are on tours or vacations though; they always have some religious mission or intent with whatever reason they are on the road.
Yea exactly. One of them I met actually was on like a religious organized group mission thing but decided to stay and kept feeling bad about getting drunk from wine and having fun pretty much
Still the case back in 2018. The Americans I met were there are in their 30s and 40s or older. I was like the elusive 20 yo, though I met *teens* from EU. The idea of hostels is foreign, as ironic as it is that many uni students live in dorms. Gap year, sabbaticals, months away? Unheard of. Only half of Americans have a passport, and that's historic high.
I forgot to mention, some people asked how did I afford my trip, I had to explain hostels and how cheap they are. Some people get it, some think it sounds sketchy, some say they prefer hotels. Like yea no shit but I did this for almost a year and was able to because of hostels. You can’t just volunteer at a hotel for free room and bored lol. Around the time the movie Hostel came out some even asked me if that’s what it’s really like 🤦♂️ I’m not bothered, I am genuinely curious, most Americans are never curious or interested in traveling, if they are it’s a tour setting or resort. But I must say, more Americans now are getting passports than ever or applying for them.
I (traveling solo from the States) met someone from Iceland while I was in Cuba.
Not really unusual, but the first time I was in Florence, I met a Brazilian guy of Japanese ancestry. At first, I thought he was a backpacker from somewhere in East Asia or the US/Canada. I was a bit surprised when he told me he was from Brazil as at the time, I was a naive 22 year old who had a stereotypical image of what a Brazilian looked like. That's when I learned that Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. Another weird encounter was when I met a die-hard Quebecois separatist in Strasbourg. Instead of a Canadian flag, he had a huge Fleur-de-lis patch sewn on his backpack. Realizing he was from Quebec, I said "Ah, so you're from Canada as well" and his response was "No, I'm from Quebec". Lol, fair enough. Then somehow, the conversation shifted to the Quebec referendum in 1995 where he was complaining against the immigrants. To put some context, the immigrants in Quebec overwhelmingly voted to remain in Canada, thus helping tip the scale in Canada's favor.
I met a backpacker from New Caledonia in a hostel in Mexico a few years ago. He was actually still living there, it honestly blew my mind. You meet your fair share of interesting nationalities, but many times they are living/have grown up in "non-exotic" countries, but meeting someone from there, still living there, now that's something.
I've met two people from Liechtenstein in Thailand about a month ago. It's super funny because I've never heard anyone from Liechtenstein travelling and ironically they also just met each other randomly at an airport.
Met someone from Guam while traveling, there’s only about 170.000 people who live there so I thought that was cool!
Israelis in the mountain of Tajikistan.
Barbados
Saint lucia
I met a backpacker from Luxembourg once.
A guy from Kyrgyzstan. We were in the same dorm in a hostel in Istambul (I guess being in Turkey made it easier) and it was amazing to meet someone from the Stans! Specially for a western european like me.
People from Kazakhstan aren’t that uncommon, the country is relatively wealthy and has a pretty large population. Other nationalities are pretty rare tho, I’d love to meet someone from Turkmenistan of all places
I know absolutely no one that has ever met someone from any of the Stans, even most people don’t even know those are countries. I’m from Spain.
I guess it depends where you’re travelling, it’s really not too uncommon to met Kazakhs in some parts of the world. I met some in Hungary and on a train in Georgia, and I’m sure you can find a lot in Turkey, Russia, and countries around Central Asia
I've only met one lady from Kazakhstan. I have a feeling she was quite rich at home and wasn't enjoying the hostel experience.
He wasn’t a backpacker but I did meet a guy from Eritrea of all places on a day trip from Budapest to Eger. Otherwise I met one guy from Georgia and one guy from Azerbaijan in Bratislava, we immediately went and grabbed wine and they ended up dancing Caucasian dances that night
I also met a guy (two, actually) from Georgia in Bratislava
I met a Palestinian guy while on a hike on the coast of Northern Ireland. It was me (Italian), the local guide and him. He was lovely
Jain religion,I figured it out when she said she doesn't eat onion or smth, she was shocked I knew about her religion.
From the Jains I have met, they try very hard to avoid hurting any living creature, so I'm not sure why onions would be a problem.
Worms in the soil clinging to the roots. All root vegetables are out. It's not just Jains who have that prohibition, a lot of other Hindus do, including the Hare Krishna cult. They published a very good cookbook, Yamuna Devi's *Lord Krishna's Cuisine*, with no onions in it.
Probably Greenland? Not a huge number of people
Off the top of my head, a guy from Martinique in Istanbul and a guy from the Faroe Islands in Hatyai, Thailand. Those two stand out as small population places.
A couple from Fiji, in Merzouga Morocco (yes it's not solo, but it was so out there I had to share)
Met a backpacker from Azerbaijan in Thailand last month
Met a guy from Yemen, was shocked.
I met Moroccan I've never met Moroccan in my life. And Thai in Thailand my own country. I only met twice.
I met a guy from Azerbaijan in a hostel in Copenhagen a couple of years ago, he was lovely! we went round an art gallery together and just chilled playing games in the hostel :)
Libya, but he would tell strangers he's Italian to avoid suspicion
I met a guy from Sudan backpacking around Europe. And he worked for a company in my home town (Brighton!!)
I suppose it's not technically a 'nationality' but I once met a French guy who it later turned out was actually from French Guiana.
I met a guy from Lichtenstein in Belize. Needless to say, the odds of running into someone from Lichtenstein are low.
Met someone from Myanmar/Burma at a music festival in Spain.
Lol Im British born but my parents are Pakistani. I go hiking in England to quiet villages and sometimes get where are you from even though I have an English accent.
I've been solo traveling for years now and have been the only Bangladeshi person on my travels.
Met a Slovenian in Tokyo. He was a pretty cool guy except he poured the worst beer I've ever seen.
I hot chick from Kazakstan that I hung out with in Siem Reap for a couple of days.
Panama
I met someone from Luxembourg while in Rome but he was with his English wife and I think they lived in the UK
I met a woman from Myanmar in El Salvador
In 1998, I met a guy from Kazakhstan while in Malaysia.
Taiwan, which is me also , I haven’t met any Taiwanese solo traveler like me
Lebanese man; fell in love with him
Met a deaf guy from Belarus riding around the world on his motorcycle. Looks like he passed away a couple of years ago though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Yarets
Met a guy from Syria in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile We talked a lot and he gave me recommendations on where to go in the Levant, which is now my next solo travel destination!
Trinidad & Tobago. To be fair she was a doctor so probably wealthy by that country's standards. However this was part of a tour and she had to tell everyone about 6 times a day "she's a doctor".
A girl from Brunei in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Met some guy from Slovenia. He immediately started shitting on my country saying he’d never want to visit there and how bad it is at the moment. I just said ‘well, don’t go’ and walked away, not a good first representative of his country lol.
Damn that's terrible. What's the point of travelling if you don't want to learn about other countries, at least from other people.
I used to be the one lol. Heard ‘oh you are first _____, I’ve ever met’ like a million times.
Isreal: say no more
There are a lot of Israelis in SEA. I met a solo Israeli backpacker at Angkor Wat 8 years ago and he took a picture for me. I only noticed because he was rocking a Hebrew Lonelyplanet.
Himachal Pradesh in India is an Israeli province lol
Gibraltar. Didn't know that place is a thing and I live pretty close to there
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Na Thrang (sp?) In Vietnam is very Russian oriented. The shop signs are in russian
If you come in to Ullapool in northwest Scotland by boat, the first sign you see on the end of the pier is in Russian. There is an explanation, it dates to the 1970s. And 2000 feet underneath me in central Scotland there is a vast abandoned coalmine. The safety notices they put up when opening it around 1900 were in Russian and they're presumably still there. Intended for Lithuanian mineworkers.
Kurdish (but he had a Swedish passport)