The word “vacation” tends to conjure up images of white sand beaches, sun, drinks served in coconut shells and perhaps some palm trees. As happens to be the case, most of the places that “fit the bill” are in tropical countries. But traveling somewhere as a tourist and actually living there are two very different things.
Netizens who live or have lived in tropical climates were asked to share the realities of “living in paradise” and they did not hold back. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
- Read More: People From Tropical Countries Share The Reality Of Living There, Here Are The 40 Best Posts
#1
My spouse, who grew up in a developing, tropical nation, told me once, "sure, everybody is poor, but nobody goes hungry. There's food everywhere.".
Image credits: ListenOk2972
#2
Used to live in Taiwan as a kid, and we often travel to the south where it's tropical.
Spiderwebs and spiders the size of nobody's business. You cannot walk into a cool area without almost walking into one. And these are like the colorful, "come at me bro" spiders that can run at you at ungodly speeds.
Doesn't matter if you have like 3 layers on and 16 puffs of DEET, the only way you won't get bit by a mosquito is if your traveling partner is tastier.
And this is especially if you're actually living in tropical areas, but there's always a smell. Because it's so hot, there's always something somewhere rotting and the hot winds just spreads it everywhere. If you're lucky, the smell is masked by spices and good food, but more often than not it's like... the local polluted river or the nearest garbage bin .
Image credits: 10vernothin
#3
Hawaii is pretty dreamy in all honesty. I lived on a family members back patio for 6 months. The weather was warm but never hot. The rain was consistent but predictable. The real drawbacks were
1) bugs like you're in the Amazon. BIG stuff. Centipedes, cockroaches, you name it.
2) humidity and saltiness will infiltrate everything. Vehicles rust out in years not decades. Mold is everywhere. Nothing is dry.
3) hobos. Turns out Hawaii is the ideal place to be homeless. Free outdoor showers and fresh water from the beach bathrooms everywhere. Fruit grows rampant like weeds. Perfect temps year round.
4) isolation. You live on a small island. If it's not already there, you're not getting it. Visiting family off-island starts at $2k for the trip. Shortest flight to any where is 7 hours.
5) everything that's not local is expensive.
6) trash management is hard on an island.
Image credits: Smokenstein
#4
Sand!. It's course, it's rough, it's irritating, and it gets everywhere.
Image credits: algorithm_issues
#5
Sweat, mold on your shoes, and mosquitoes that treat bug spray like seasoning.
Image credits: RuseOwl
#6
I'm in Mauritius. All imported goods are relatively expensive and may be out of stock on occasion. Right now, there are quite a few medicines unavailable, and for several weeks we couldn't get sour cream at all and tomatoes were three times the normal price. Last year, it was onions. You get used to it though.
Because of customs, buying from Temu is always a risk, so there is a lot less choice available compared with other countries.
As a small, tropical island water is often in short supply and we've been following the rainfall statistics across the island and the reservoir levels, as we haven't had a cyclone in 2025 to fill them up. Fortunately, we've had an unexpectedly wet May, which means that we're probably good for the year and we can again wash cars, water gardens and crops. Tourists complain about the rain while we've been hugely happy about it. Now we go into a long, dry season, but who knows what next year will bring.
Image credits: Hour_Equivalent_656
#7
If island, high price package delivery, hurricane season, high grocery prices, flood/high tide damage.
Image credits: OzamatazBuckshankII
#8
Cons:
1. Everything gets mold and mildew. Washed a shirt but didnt wear it for week? Already smells like mold. Those books and board games you brought from the states? Decomposing
2. Bugs everywhere. House gets cleaned out by army ant patrols, giant cockroaches, scorpions, bullet ants, everything.
3. Non-local food is extremely expensive. Get used to not eating meals you grew up with. Also anything not made locally is expensive. Need a car? A beat up car from 1995 is $12K USD. Need child locks for your cabinets? They dont exist, or they cost $50.
Pros:
You live in tropical paradise, swim everyday in what looks like a filming location for Pirates of the Caribbean, all your friends are people who have chosen to live in a remote tropical beach town, so everyone you know is interesting, food grows all around you, eat literally hundreds of fruits you didnt even know existed before, get an amazing sleep rythm because the sun sets every single day all year at 5:30.
Image credits: OnodrimOfYavanna
#9
Mold, rot, things like flesh eating bacteria and staph being more common. also, such places seem to attract grifters and con artists, i assume because they are drawn to easy living.
small price to pay imo for living in beauty, imo at least.
Image credits: Old_Dealer_7002
#10
As an American desert native, I was pretty accustomed to transplants complaining how Arizona has “no seasons”. I always thought this was absurd.
When I lived in Hawai’i, however, I discovered just that.
There is a wet season and a dry season. Both seasons are wet in contrast to the desert, but the wet season notably wetter. Summer (dry season) is a little warmer.
But in general? Sunny every day. Rain showers in the mountains and foothills in the late afternoon. Rainbows.
It’s idyllic… but when every day is like that, and unlike in the desert there’s little diurnal fluctuation (night and day are both warm, very little temp difference)… time just sort of stops.
You could go to the beach today. But if you don’t? That’s fine. it’ll be the same tomorrow. Or the mountains. Or on a walk.
Everything is just always sort of the same so the impetus to get out is actually.. pretty low once you’re accustomed to that as normal. Time flies if you don’t have the inner ambition to make things happen, to make each day different.
Without having the contrast of unpleasant weather, the pleasantries of tropical island life become pretty dull as they’re just the backdrop to everyday living.
Just my haole perspective. .
Image credits: Hutchidyl
#11
Maybe not a country, but I spent six years in south Florida and found it wasn’t for me. If you’re used to seasons, you start to lose track of the passage of time because every day and every month looks the same. Huge bugs everywhere all year round. Cute little geckos and lizards everywhere. Get ready to shower every day twice, wash your clothes constantly from all the sweat, and always be mildly uncomfortable and hammy even indoors because it gets so hot at times that AC can’t keep up.
Personally, I thought it sucked, but possibly that’s just the Gulf of Mexico climate. Maybe the pacific islands are better.
Another big revelation: in more “built up” areas (like Florida), many of the palm trees are imported or carefully landscaped.
Image credits: IneptFortitude
#12
Pests, termites, storms and salt spray combine forces to make sure that stuff doesn't last, and/or requires way more upkeep costs and work than those of us on continents outside the tropics experience.
Image credits: KennyBSAT
#13
Paradise isn't paradise when you live there.
Image credits: Maleficent_Pear1740
#14
Salt air just KILLS your stuff, unbelievably quickly. Then it costs twice as much to replace it.
But I'm less than an hour walk or 10 min drive from the iconic beach shot here, and just heading off to see a few thousand of my favorite fish friends and hopefully a few turles.
Also, the people tend to be super chill. Huge shaka for that.
Image credits: PepperDogger
#15
Insects.
Image credits: nash3101
#16
Lived in Dominica for 2 years. Nothing gets done, everything metal dissolves in the salt air, groceries are inconsistent and unreliable (if you like strawberry jam and the store has it, you buy ALL of it because it might not be there for a year) roads are sketchy, gas is unholy expensive so you walk everywhere. It rains every day. Like EVERY day no exceptions.
You realize that all of those things don't matter. Walking is great. You live close to the earth and the tides. You go to market and the fish that get caught and the bread that gets baked by your neighbor are what you eat. Nobody advertises to you. There is no media and constant intrusion into your life about what you should be buying and doing. You know the people around you and they know you. If you have hard times they are there. In a country with 70k people total you k ow everyone in your town because there is no anonymity to crime. (If your laptop is missing the dude who has it is.. the culprit)
Island living in a lot of places would be considered third world. Honestly, that's OK. Some of the best years of my life were spent in a little third world country where everything was rough and unrefined and sometimes hard. Different isn't better or worse. It can just be different.
Image credits: Saminator2384
#17
Being warm and humid all the time.
Many people love smth like that. Me personally I hate anything above like 22 Celsius, I hate sweating and humidity.
I absolutely love having multiple seasons, the changing landscape and mood, I mean having real Spring, Autumn, Summer and Winter.
Image credits: vlatkovr
#18
Years ago a marine biology professor told our class, “living on oceanfront property can be a wonderful experience, but you have to have the means to walk away, because inevitably the ocean will take it all back.”.
Image credits: NewMexicoJoe
#19
Rain, mosquitoes, high humidity, and the same heat all year round.
Image credits: introverted_loner16
#20
Tropical storms, mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies, snakes, molds, humidity, heat, flooding, rabies, malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, tropical diseases, severe weather fluctuations, food spoilage, food poisoning and a lot more. The tropics are not for the faint-hearted.
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