I am having serious 2nd thoughts now Hurdleking. Muchos Gracias for input.
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Sounds like Atlantic City two streets removed.
The island is poor. The only apparent income comes from tourism. I can take the muggings, robbery & rape (all of which probably have a 1:1 correlation to alcohol)
The thing that always kills my day is the constant hustle on the street. I lack the asshole chromosome and the endless polite declining is stress I can do without.
Look, if you haven't traveled much and have a subsidized vacation at Atlantis - do it. Explore a little, hit a local beach outside of the resort. Always a bunch of beachside little bar/food shacks. Just to get a taste of island.
I'm built the same way, but there's a lot of gas station hustlers in Houston. After a while you sort of build a resistance to it. Saying no and not feeling shitty about it is a learnable skill.
Once you've got it, it's easy to shoot down telemarketers and Jehovah's Witnesses. Sometimes it even feels satisfying.
I wasn't really applying it to Bahamas, but sort of veering off topic to say it doesn't have to feel stressful. But I can certainly understand why you wouldn't want to deal with that on vacation.
The gas station thing is weird for sure. They typically give you a sob story about needing gas money or bus fare due to unusual circumstances. I've seen a few try to provide documentation to prove they're not a bum. In that way it's pretty similar to the Borovetz scam.
So my mom goes on a trip to some relatively high end destination with her two sisters every year.. They rotate but each year one of them gets to pick the destination, Aunt Shirley is such a fucking snatch btw.. Anyway, not too long ago one of them chose Atlantis for their annual trip. There is now a picture somewhere in my mothers house of the 3 sisters (Lenin, Stalin & Hitler) posing in an Atlantis swimming pool with a dolphin.. Place is a soulless tourist trap for people to donk it up..
Not a bucket list destination imo..
In general I am anti-all-inclusive because the food usually sucks (or is mediocre).
Good food is important to me on vacation. I can eat lots of shit at home and not really be bothered by it, but when I go on vacation, I really like to have nice meals, and all-inclusives just don't provide that. Since the food is unlimited and included, they don't want to spend a lot on it or try too hard to prepare it well.
Cruise ships also suffer from this problem, but most offer "specialty restaurants" for a small upcharge, which are fairly good. I eat in those every night when I cruise, and never set foot in the main dining room.
In some "nature" destinations, such as national parks, the food is always going to suck, and that's the price you pay for the remoteness of the location. The remote areas of Utah are absolutely horrendous when it comes to food, for example. But if you're going to go to a resort, it kind of sucks when your meals aren't good.
OK guys thanks to all for your input. Now hit me with some places that are nice, warm, excellent food, and have poker and slots in or out of the country excluding Nevada.
I'd like to go to Turks & Caicos some day. Heard it's expensive but beautiful & doesn't have all-inclusives which you'd think would improve the food options.