Oof. Are you ready for this? Recently, a man we’ll call Joe explained he is from a developing country that he admits was pretty dangerous as a kid. However, he noted it’s significantly evolved in the last twenty years.
According to Joe, his wife has watched too many movies and television shows that show his home country in the worst light possible. However, his family still lives there, working in professional industries, including agricultural, educational, legal, and medical fields.
For example, one of his cousins owns several companies making sugarcane waste products, earning more than Joe. His mother and grandmother regularly travel back to visit family. It is safe enough for a middle-aged and elderly woman to travel.
He visits all the time, too, and loves seeing family. Everything there is so cheap it is very cost-effective for Joe to take long vacations there. After more than five years of dating and ten years of marriage, his wife finally agreed to visit his homeland.
The Plans
They planned to visit for a couple of weeks this summer. One week in his hometown, visiting family. Alternatively, one week in a resort city where dozens of cruise ships stop daily. “It would be safer than San Francisco.”
However, all she has done since agreeing is tell everyone how frightened she is to go and how she is “only going because I wore her down.” Joes has dealt with it for over a month. Recently, her uncle and his family from out of town came over for dinner and her parents.
During the dinner, she carried on about how scared she was. Her aunt informed her they had visited the resort city on one of their cruises. She shared some pictures on her phone with her. However, his wife continued discussing how dangerous it was there and how terrified she was.
Ultimately, Joe called his family and apologized for not visiting them this year. He also canceled their reservation at the five-star hotel he had booked.
Instead, he got a nice hotel in New York and tickets for two shows on Broadway. Unfortunately, they are only going for a week because of the price difference between the two vacations.
Finally, he told her about it, and she was furious about canceling the hotel and taking her to New York instead. She had told her coworkers at the school where she works how brave she was for going to a third-world country. She also exaggerated that they would be staying in a hut.
However, Joe clarified they would stay with his uncle, who “has servants.” The hotel was more extravagant than any place they had visited since their honeymoon.
He said he honestly believed he was doing the right thing. Elaborating, his wife has done nothing but complain and tell everyone how scared she is about traveling there. Was he wrong? Here is what the internet had to say.
She Wanted Attention
One person suggested, “Your wife wasn’t scared. She was trying to get sympathy for being “so brave” to go there. I am sure she knew there was no hut involved, and she was looking forward to going, but all this attention she could get was irresistible.
You should talk with her about why she needed to barbarize your origins and your family to make herself seem more significant.” A second added, “You can just call it racism. That’s what it really is.” More people than I can count individually accused her of being racist.
Cartagena City
One person nailed it when they said, “From the way you describe it, it sounds like one of the cities you were going to was Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. I’m from Colombia and visit there all the time.
That city is beautiful and has a fantastic tourist reputation. Most big cities are safe as long as you avoid the specific area—the same as most cities in America. There are places in Baltimore, New Orleans, and Oakland that I won’t go near.
Too bad she busted your chops so much that you canceled your trip. Some of the hotels in the old city of Cartagena are amazing. Try again, though. It is a beautiful country and deserves to shed its reputation. She will love it.”
Joe confirmed that he was from Columbia. “We were going to stay in Medellin with family, then head to the Caribbean coast and stay in the walled city in Cartagena.”
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So Profoundly Disrespectful
Finally, one explained, “That was so profoundly disrespectful of her, and you even rescheduled a different trip. This behavior on her part is disturbing and xenophobic. I can’t even imagine how unpleasant it would have been for your family to deal with ‘OMG, how can you even be happy here?’
And ‘I’m so glad my partner immigrated to my superior country and can have a good life there.’ And ‘Have you ever been shot at by gangsters?’ And so on.”
What do you think? Was this Redditor right to cancel the vacation and plan a new one to satisfy his wife, or is she wrong to be mad that he didn’t discuss it with her first? This article is inspired by the internet and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Savoteur.
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