Italy, Germany, the UK, Mexico, Iceland, Morocco, the US, Belgium, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Senegal, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Russia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands.
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2025
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The only traveling I've done outside of the US was to Canada, very briefly.
What countries are most friendly to a vegan lifestyle? Which ones are most walkable and bikeable?
In Belgium we hired bicycles at the railway station at Ypres, biked around the countryside all day, then dropped them off and got the train back to Brussels.
As for the Netherlands... this is a typical railway station bike park.
That looks like paradise.
Unfortunately most humans have been duped. So India for instance would be an answer that someone might give but they only have about 9% as vegans. That's terrible because every other country gets lower in their percentage. As for biking I'm not sure I haven't biked in years
I've heard a little bit about India having their own issues regarding animal rights. 9% is still a lot better than 1% though.
Biking is my freedom, which means I'm very unfree.
Although they use milk, they consider egg a meat. They treat their cows like gods, so if you're vegan only for the reasons of animal suffering then I'd argue being vegetarian in India is philosophically identical
I'm in it for the health and benefits of plants
Been lucky enough to have been able to visit Hong Kong before the takeover, Germany, the Netherlands, India and my wife was able to go additionally France and Costa Rica.
Never had a problem with international travel and never felt unsafe in any of those places personally outside of trying to drive, just once, in India, was enough for me and took up my company's offer for a driver. My wife had no issues with any of her traveling with or without me either.
American here. I've traveled to Scotland and Italy. Both are amazing places that I would be proud to call home if I were a local. The only times I felt uneasy were when we traveled to areas known to have pickpockets. As opposed to my native red state wherein I have to worry that every person is concealed carrying and may "go off" for any slight annoyance.
I've only just joined lemmy.ml communities, is it US only or something?
As an European, just driving from Toronto to MontrΓ©al, you'll already be in a vastly different environment and may even experience culture shock. The same can be probably said of going from any of the US states to Mexico.
As someone who has ridden Mexico City's and Istanbul's metros, Americans should be fucking embarrassed of mass transit back home.
Atlanta ripped up their street cars and I'm still angry about it. So many towns in Georgia have old train stops that have been converted into museums or restaurants. My parents and I both have one, but there's no way for me to take a train to them. It's upsetting.
So did Pittsburgh and then never replaced it. The only way to get around the city is via bus. There is a light rail system but it basically only goes from the suburbs to downtown
They destroyed the railroad networks because they tried to force people to buy cars lol only America could do something that short sighted
It happened in the UK too, in the 60s. Some of the lines have been reinstated in recent years, but most were gone for good. Cars were the future! Really dumb.
It is a lot more complicated than that.
Most early 20th century mass transit networks were private businesses subject to government regulation. Most of the government regulation focused on controlling fares, so there was a lot of deferred maintenance. This was made worse as some mass transit systems were built to be a loss leader to support selling real estate.
Several mass transit networks went bankrupt due to the combination of fares not covering expenses and reduced demand due to completion with cars. Most American cities weren't equipped to take on subsiding or taking over mass transit, so they let the existing networks die.
Fair point about the nuance but this was a dumb mistake the government should have put development into them and expanded now they are regretting it. They think the solution to traffic was going to be Musk boring tunnels for Tesla's. It's like they forgot railroads exist
It was a dumb mistake, but it was a dumb mistake that had broader political support than the narrative that "car companies destroyed mass transit" suggests. It is important to recognize how a broad base of support was created in order to fight it in its current interations.
And I completely agree that Musk tunnels are a shit technology and that actual trains need to be built. I just think it requires understanding how politics functions rather than just accepting a corporate bogeyman.
GM did play a very large role in it though so you can say both but it def was pushed by the car industry to dismantle
Have you ever traveled inside of america?
Over 25 States. I'm American
I kinda ment that as a blanket statement for everyone. But 25 states is crazy!
ITT: OP Asks thought provoking question, then acts like an ass in the comments.
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My brother has the time and money to travel right now, but I'm having a hard time convincing him to go somewhere. He's one of the people who think every country except the US is dangerous. Oh, and also, only the US has "safe" food. π€¦ββοΈ
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Yeah I went to Japan for work.
I was supposed to go to Europe when I graduated high school, but my mom got cancer instead. And by the time my sister graduated I was disowned so our father and her went without me.
I still want to go to Europe, but unfortunately it's very far away. And I'd love to go back to Japan and see more than just factories in small cities. Tokyo was gorgeous but I only saw the airports and trains.
If the middle east were to stabilize and get really cool about a lot of things really fast I really want to see Iraq and Iran. I'd love to see Babylon and other early cities.
If you don't know less than 50% of Americans have a passport. The ones who don't, I really see the limitation in their thinking.
why do you think it's a thinking problem? applying for a passport costs money. travelling to another country costs even more money. not everyone has had access to the same opportunities.
anyways. i haven't gotten to travel out of the US, but it certainly ain't because i wouldn't like to. it just isn't financially feasible for a lot of people here.
Yeah this question really was "have you traveled to a different hemisphere". Ok ok, there's also central America and the Caribbean, but most American trips to either of those places are to resorts in impoverished nations unless it's to Costa Rica, which i hear is gorgeous, but is also the equivalent of Aussies going to southeast Asia, but more culturally similar.
Why don't we go to other hemispheres? Because they're very far away. I'd be shocked if Canadians were significantly more likely to go to other countries (us excluded), and they're quite a bit closer being further north. And a lot of Americans live between two mountain ranges in the middle of north America, where it's a flight to either coast before flying to a different continent.
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What does seem to be a point of agreement for Europeans that live in the States for years is that the US is so huge that for most people, there's no reason to leave. Whatever landscape you want can be had, from the tropics to the Arctic Circle. Geography makes it easy to never have a passport and experience 20 lifetimes of places. It actually is an amazing and diverse place.
That being said, getting an outside perspective of the world is an entirely different thing. Until an American gets their exceptionalism challenged by someone, it's an internal emotional paper tiger. It typically benefits Americans to leave the country.
I won't touch your point about most dangerous. I don't agree, but won't engage because I don't want to end up in a Palintir database. Delete this post unless you want CBP searching your phone next time you re-enter the country.
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I've been lucky enough to travel! I've been to France twice for work, Italy, Greece, Croatia, U.K, ABC Islands, Costa Rica, Columbia and Panama.
I've been to England and Scotland, and agree with you, this was in the 1980s and their idea of a dangerous neighborhood cracked me right up. London had no areas equivalent to what counted as a dangerous area in my city (though we have made great strides in the US since then in reducing violence, believe it or not. And in my city even more so, we went from so rough to relatively safe).
I don't think I would have called it free-er though? Safer for sure though, and healthcare so much better.
I love to travel and Iβve been very fortunate to visit many countries outside the US. I just spent 3 weeks in Iceland.
I think itβs a shame that more people donβt have the interest or means to travel outside the country more frequently because I think it provides a lot of perspective about the reality of other countries and America vs the image that America portrays of itself and other countries.
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During high school I did a summer study program in France and also briefly went to Amsterdam for a weekend.
In college I took a vacation with some college friends in Japan, going to several cities across the country. It's kind of funny, we're all weebs, but one of my friends learned Japanese in college and he's pretty much fluent. He actually speaks better Japanese than Chinese despite being from a family that immigrated over here from China this generation lol.
It was definitely nice seeing the different kind of things they had in those countries as well as a lot of the similarities. That said, I don't know that I know enough about them to talk intelligently about their modern politics.
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I've visited Switzerland and was very impressed by their infrastructure, not just their public transit but what they built way up in the mountains. Lots of little things like dams, waterwheels, gondolas, little railways to small towns. Amazing stuff you'd never see in the United States
I've been to Korea multiple times and every time I come back I dislike the US a bit more. From what I could see, the quality of everything, from food products to infrastructure to safety to interpersonal interactions with strangers, was better in Korea. Oh did I mention healthcare, dental, and vision? I don't have insurance there but all are super affordable and very fast.
The US is inferior in nearly every way and I don't understand why Americans are okay with that. Even our food is largely bad for consumption, like what the hell is wrong with us?
Something I really envy is the EU controls on food. Much of what passes for food here in the US is heavily processed, GMO, misleadingly labeled, etc.
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This post is a bit American-centric.
A better wording would've been, "Have you ever travelled outside your own country?"
Or, one could say, outside of a 1,000 km radius to an area with a different culture and language.
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