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.
#1
I live in the Caribbean… every day supplies are expensive as s**t. About a 500m walk from a beach view like this though… so meh.
Image credits: El-Grande-
#2
As someone living in Brazil, the reality isn't always as "sunny" as it seems. One of the biggest challenges is humidity, it can be unbearable, especially in the summer. Because of that, it's common to take three or more showers a day just to feel somewhat clean and refreshed. Walking outside at 12:00 is almost impossible, especially on foot, because the sun is so strong it feels like it's burning your skin. This intense heat makes biking and outdoor sports during the day extremely uncomfortable or even dangerous due to the risk of heat exhaustion.
Then come the insects, which are a constant nightmare. Mosquitoes and black flies (borrachudos) are particularly relentless. In the summer, they make it hard to enjoy any time outside (and inside the house), especially in areas near water or forests, you must always keep the fan on to drive them away or have an electric racket to k**l them. Not only are they annoying, but they also carry diseases like dengue and chikungunya, which are serious public health problems here. Honestly, the only times we get a break are during the winter months or when it rains heavily.
There are also other issues. For example, electricity bills skyrocket in the summer because air conditioning becomes essential, especially in urban areas, and not everyone can afford it, which makes the heat even more unbearable. Flooding during the rainy season is another problem.
So yes, the tropical dream has its beautiful beaches and sunshine, but it also comes with a lot of daily struggles.
Image credits: luiz_marques
#3
Sand!. It's course, it's rough, it's irritating, and it gets everywhere.
Image credits: algorithm_issues
#4
The thing your really need in places like Costa Rica- **a dry room** that treats the air to reduce humidity. That i s where you have to keep books and important papers. The salt air destroys everything metal and electronics have to be keep in a dry place as well.
Image credits: Personal_Economics91
#5
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
#6
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
#7
Honestly - i don’t mind the heat, humidity, bugs, giant k****r reptiles, k****r fish, k****r storms….its the tourists that make me unhappy.
Image credits: armhat
#8
If island, high price package delivery, hurricane season, high grocery prices, flood/high tide damage.
Image credits: OzamatazBuckshankII
#9
Sweat, mold on your shoes, and mosquitoes that treat bug spray like seasoning.
Image credits: RuseOwl
#10
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
#11
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
#12
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
#13
I worked in Fiji for year. It’s f*****g hot. Every. Day. And the humidity means everything organic goes mouldy. Mosquitoes. There is a permanent trickle of sweat down your back. Did I mention the mosquitoes? Spiders. BIG F*****G SPIDERS. Snakes. Lots of f*****g snakes. Mongooses which are cute, which eat the snakes, and then you realise your garden is full of snakes. Hurricanes. No creature comforts like chocolate. In fact no proper dairy at all. Everything imported is ridiculously expensive. Did I mention the three different types of mosquitoes? One carries dengue. One carries some sort of elephantiasis. One just hurts. Power cuts. The internet was really slow because it was in the middle of nowhere. There’s no proper medical facilities. My team member died three weeks after I arrived due to spinal cancer. There was no treatment on the island and her employer didn’t want to pay for her to go to Australia for treatment. So she just died.
#14
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
#15
Insects.
Image credits: nash3101
#16
Rain, mosquitoes, high humidity, and the same heat all year round.
Image credits: introverted_loner16
#17
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
#18
Paradise isn't paradise when you live there.
Image credits: Maleficent_Pear1740
#19
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
#20
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.
#21
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.
#22
In Hilo, we had these huge a*s purple centipedes that would always find a way in the house. Rats in our attic that were the size of small dogs. We had our car sit for a week while we went back to the mainland for Christmas and when we got back all the seats had mold on them.
Also, yard work. It was constant. If you let the yard grow for three days you were up to your knees in grass and bushes.
#23
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
#24
From the Queensland wet tropics...
* Your home will never be your own. Doesn't matter about fly screens on every door/windows, life just finds a way. I woke up the other day to find a tree frog happily dozing on my bedside table.
* You absolutely have to wash up everything as you go and clean every surface immediately after food preparation as otherwise you *will* have an army of ants and flies on it out of nowhere.
* Nothing dries properly, everything gets mouldy.
* When you first arrive, any kind of exertion left me sweating buckets. Your body does adapt, and it's not so much of an issue once you acclimatise... but it made my welcome to the place utterly miserable at first. Try to do something fun? Bad idea, arsehole.... especially as the biting insects *love* sweat.
Would I live anywhere else? . No illusions about how hard it can be, but no. This is home for good and bad, and I belong to this place.
#25
Don’t live directly, but I do spend a more than average time on a South Pacific Island.
A few things.
- Colonialism still has a huge mark. There are “expats” who own most of the businesses and the accommodations which take up about 2-3% of the island, but most of the places and otherwise are staffed by foreigners and Unemployment is north of 7.5%
- there is a lot of self sufficiency on the island. Work there is less important because there is not insistent rush to get things done *right now*
- there is a lot less interest in “becoming rich.” Life is very family and community based and when someone on the island is in trouble, then work *gets done* quickly.
- stuff from off-island is incredibly expensive. On island food is cheap as chips.
- Infrastructure is basic and not very developed. But they do had high speed internet over the last 3 years.
In short, mature/late-stage Capitalism hasn’t hit and I think the island is better for it.
It’s reminds me that the world doesn’t have to be like it currently is.
Image credits: wanderlustcub
#26
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.
#27
I grew up in Trinidad and also spent 7 yrs living in Costa Rica. It’s extra hard being poor in those places because of how little wages are. You most likely with live with mouldy mildewed shower curtains. No dishwashing machine or clothes dryer in most homes. Your toilet has a septic smell coming from it half the time (esp in Costa Rica was a huge problem is most places I lived). Critters in your home which is not bad expect for the ant colonies in your home which can develop rapidly in places you don’t normally check. Lizard poop in your home. Mosquitos and dengue fever are a problem.
#28
I've heard from people who lived on small tropical islands that it was very isolating. I suppose you're used to it if you're from there, and it doesn't matter as a tourist because the point is to be away from it all, but when you spend an extended period of time somewhere so remote and tiny you can feel trapped and get pretty bored.
#29
Lots of issues with mold. Keeping up with cleaning and painting your house is a lot of work. That's why even nice houses often look slightly neglected.
The jungle+environment takes over FAST. I know part-time expats that think they can leave a house empty for 6 months at a time and come back to all kinds of maintenance issues and insects.
But if you want me to say it isn't great, I can't. I was born and raised in Borneo and left at 18 for work. I have lived in 7 countries long term and more as a digital nomad and maintain a condo in Borneo. I will return to Borneo when I retire as it offers so much for so little money. It's safe. My city is 600,000+ people and offers modern shopping and infrastructure. My 3 bed-3 bath condo there has a pool, gym, and several amenities. I paid €85,000 for it. The only thing lacking is truly high paying jobs but it's also not a "poor" place that will depress you.
#30
1. Gets puking hot: Go outside from the AC, if you can afford it, and the heat punches you right in the gut.
2. Nothing dries, ever, and your clothes smell like mildew because you'll hang dry them. Not to mention the several species of mold growing everywhere.
3. Bugs are everywhere and everyone has roaches. It's so bad that I kept all of my food in the fridge.
4. There stretches of the day where it's just pain stupid to be outside.
5. Isolated places mean that there aren't many social options.
6. Typhoons and earthquakes will mess you up.
7. You just grow to expect that you'll have to deal with no power, water, or some of the normal things people take for-granted in the west, in rotation: Gas bottle out, no hot water or stove, power outage, time to sit in the dark, etc.
#31
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.
#32
I spent 8 months in south east Asia on many a beach like this.
It gets dark way too early (I'm used to British summers which are late).
Being constantly hot is draining.
You need so much more water which has to be bought and carried.
Sand is annoying (anakin was totally right).
You sweat so much it's never quite the massive relaxation you think it's gonna be.
Insects - mosquitoes & sand flies(absolute buggers I was itching for a week)
All that being said it is amazing but I'd quickly lose the magic if it was everyday. .
#33
Power outages constantly.
#34
Been there for a while. Sandflies suck.
#35
If you cannot afford to leave It’s a prison.
#36
Hawaii: Everything is crowded, heavy traffic in neighborhoods with a beach, tourists have zero respect for the wildlife and environment. Beaches and hiking trails are full of trash. All the nice areas that only the locals knew about got bombed to oblivion by social media. The amount of people moving here have raised the prices and displaced the vast majority of local families, sending them in to poverty or to live else where. 10.3% of hawaii's population is hawaiian. The homeless situation is absolutely atrocious, many western states that face cold winters send their homeless to hawaii on a one-way ticket. Crime is a nonstop issue. And to finish off my severely summarized list. Because of tourism and overpopulation, Hawaii is no longer self-sufficient. If left completely alone, zero contact, no one leaving or coming to hawaii, for several months with rationing, all resources will be totally exhausted except for water and electricity.
#37
I lived in the Talamanca mountains in Costa Rica, on a coffee farm. We could see both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea on a clear day. Often, the issues were how f*****g remote we were from almost anything. The nearest towns of like 10,000 people or so were about 45 minutes drive away, and a modern cosmopolitan city was 2.5 hours away.
The wildlife was a constant issue. Pit vipers? Yes. Very common. Biting insects that could chew your skin up through denim? We had those, and their saliva was an anesthetic so you wouldn't feel it until they'd taken a chunk out of your skin and left.
Also, jaguars would break into the fence around your chicken coop, k**l all of them as well as any farm dogs they could catch and there wasn't much you could do about it.
#38
Lived in Hawaii for about 7 years, not a tropical country but definitely tropical.
Being hot all the time is disorienting and seems to throw your body clock off if you’re not raised there. I definitely missed seasons. Hawaii has seasons but not like the mainland.
Solar radiation is hell on everything. Wood, plastic, metal, paint… if you leave anything out in the sun it ages quickly, including your self.
Saltwater erodes things as well and saltwater plus humidity is just odd. Open a bag of chips? Hope you’re eating it that day because they will be stale very quickly. Your “silver” ware will turn black as well. Heat and humidity will ruin most mainland clothes quickly which is why you see people wearing loose/linen type clothing. Walton Goggins on White Lotus was the only comfortable man on the show, he wore little and wore it low and loose.
Most tropical economies aren’t thriving and you just sort of accept that. That’s the price of paradise. You’re paid less, work hard, and don’t have a lot of back up at work.
#39
Ants. Effing ants everywhere- kitchen, dirty clothes hamper, any carpet ( quickly saw why all my friends only had runner rugs at the most).
Cost of living is high, many of the jobs are customer service and low-pay. The attitude toward natives vs foreigners is wack.
If you can't take heat and humidity without AC, Do NOT move to a tropical place. Learn to live as natives do, and you'll be fine. Try to fight it and you'll face the costs faster than you thought.
Learn metric.
#40
Harsh reality I see when I see this pic is relentless daytime heat, hot sand, insane mosquitos at dusk/dawn, going in the 90 degree water, now you are just hot and wet. Just knowing the beach is five minutes away and looking at it are good for me, I usually don't even go down on the sand anymore.
#41
Lived a degree north of the equator in Eastern Indonesia for two years and what got to me was the shear grinding monotony of the weather. For 9 months of the year it was constant heat and humidity, 12 hours day and night. Groundhog day again and again. Then we had the monsoon and got about 6 metres of rain over 3 months which was admittedly a change but not necessarily a positive one.
#42
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.”.
#43
My gf is from Hainan and says the main things are the size of bugs & pests.
#44
I really miss changes of the seasons.
#45
When we were looking for a paradise honeymoon, we chose Antigua because of its beautiful, tropic setting.
When we got there, it was indeed beautiful. However, if you look closer, you can see that the residents are poor and most of it is poverty. Beautiful, yet economy poor.
A tour guide was telling us a story about a half built house that was under construction for over a decade. The owner would add like one layer of bricks a year.
#46
I live in the Dominican Republic; we have four seasons:
* Hot and dry
* Hot and rainy
* Hot with sands from the Sahara desert
* Hot with hurricanes
You need to take two showers a day or you’ll be very uncomfortable and stinky. You have to have ceiling fans in every room or air conditioner if you can afford it. Mosquito nets on beds. Roaches are huge and they fly. Tarantulas are huge and curious, but they’re harmless.
There are no beaches in the country biggest cities. As one of the biggest islands, there is plenty of space to live away from the coast, so your stuff is not damaged by the salty air.
We have plenty of food and good connections so things are not as expensive as the smaller islands. We are self sufficient food wise and it’s inexpensive, but it’s not the same on the smaller islands.
#47
I live 10 degrees north of the equator, we suffer with a major littering and flooding issues, deforestation, really high prices on food and gas, humidity is unbearable from May - November, hot days and very warm nights at times, very very unsafe/ dangerous…… in my country there’s also natural gas and oil so that’s a plus.
#48
Because everything is imported, the cost of living is very expensive.
#49
No jobs.
#50
Most tropical countries are developing countries. There’s exceptions of course like Singapore, but if you live in a tropical country, odds are there is a lot of poverty and problems
Many island paradises also have seen brutal ethnic and religious conflicts, like Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines.
#51
Monotony. Sun rises and sets around the same time every day, seasons are pretty much the same all year round. It’s hard to really feel the year cycles and there’s not really a “cozy time of year”.
#52
Heatstrokes. Don't underestimate them. They can even be deadly.
Over head sun. Air so hot, you feel it burning your cheeks.
Heat headaches.
Tons of sweat and body odor.
Sunburn, tanning from hell.
Animals and birds dying from heat.
Birds dying from heat mid flight and crashing on the ground.
Pets literally going insane from heat.
High power bills.
#53
Floridian here. Doing anything and going anywhere in the peak tourist season sucks.
#54
I lived in Hawaii for four years. I was poor and pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck. But I would have been happy to live and die poor there.
#55
While barely in the tropics an not a country, Hawaii is a lovely place with wonderful people but I would not want to go to college here. The island is so densely packed into one city and it’s so expensive, many more homeless per capita than the mainland America. Traffic is horrible from west side to downtown and vice versa depending on rush hour. Most of the things you’ll see as a tourist are in no way representative of what it’s like to live here. I’ve lived here for about 5 years now, and do enjoy it, but those are most of the negatives I’ve seen from friends and myself.
#56
They are all full of poor people.
