After spending last severe (well, rainy) winter in Montenegro my wife and I became curious about places to escape next winter altogether.
As a result of our internet research, we did not find any place that:
- whould offer a warm sea in January
- would be as safe as Montenegro
- would be as inexpensive
Good and poor sources were:
1.
Good:
smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/
Travel Advisories Index - Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Although Montenegro is not covered (refer to Serbia, perhaps),
many sought tropical destinations are covered.
Costa Rica's coverage is in sharp contrast with (2.) below and with Wikipedia praising it as 'No.1 in happy countries index'.
No, Aussies warn, Costa Rica is dangerous. Suriname seems to be the safest place in tropics, yet with reservations.
2.
Poor:
visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/scor
This rating is outright wrong and misleading (with respect to too many countries).
Montenegro is ranked 88 out of 148 or so.
One penalty is for 'exporting major arms'.
But Montenegro does not produce any arms.
And it does not import arms according to the same rating.
It is then probably getting rid of unnecessary arms.
Another penalty is for too many security officers per capita. But in summer visitors increase the entire country population by more than 100%, maybe that's why police is needed? (Personally, I don't notice any police other than very courteous road patrol).
3. None of the above:
There is a popular rating of world's cities
mercer.com/qualityofliving
It omits Montenegro altogether, why?
Our conclusion:
Unless you are determined to go 'down under' Australia, stay in Europe.
Any other suggestions?
