Oh No! Friends from Abroad Visiting America and Staying in a Hotel in a Sketchy City!! OH NO!!!

I just got a text message from some friends from Estonia who are vacationing over here in America. They're down in Miami now, but tomorrow they're flying to Newark Airport and will be staying at a hotel in Harrison, NJ. Where their hotel is located is safe, more-or-less. But they will be across the river from Newark, parts of which are definitely not very safe. I don't know why they picked that particular hotel, since they stayed in a very nice hotel in Midtown Manhattan the last time they visited. But now that I know that this time they're staying so close to Newark, I kind of feel obligated to let them know to be careful about where they go (especially since they brought their children with them). Any thoughts, or am I going overboard?

there are children who live in newark and survive to tell the tale

also, LOL that as i write this this thread is directly above the rolling "Is This Racist?" thread.

no help to you, but i like the 80s jarmusch ambience of a load of estonian tourists with cumbersome briefcases standing glumly beside a river in new jersey

suitcases, even

in general anyone should keep their wits about them in an urban setting

unless these are people who are prone to doing stupid things they should be fine

Assuage your conscience with the knowledge that you should probably be careful anywhere you go.

I mean I know Newark isn't great and all but is it really that bad? Also how much hanging out do you think they'll really be doing in Newark itself?

Also what other people said about cities in general.

Sorta what Nakh said but whenever I see rundown hotels or hotels in rundown areas I think about foreign tourists unknowingly booking rooms there and the look on their faces when they arrive by taxi and realize they're either in a hellhole, the middle or nowhere, or both. You friends are the family of my imagination.

no help to you, but i like the 80s jarmusch ambience of a load of estonian tourists with cumbersome briefcases standing glumly beside a river in new jersey

LOL now that i think of it, their hotel is right next to the Passaic River. in fact, this will roughly be their view from the hotel:

http://maudestandard.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/passaic_river_newark_nj_l.jpg

for a while newark was renowned as the car theft capital of the world

xp to enbb

i should note that the hotel where they are staying is actually pretty nice. so they won't be stuck in a fleabag in the middle of the ghetto at least.

i think that my fear is that they accidentally end up in one of the really bad parts of Newark - they're proficient but not fluent in English. i don't know if they're going to rent a car.

folks in newark are surprisingly friendly to eastern european tourists in rental vehicles asking for directions, they will even offer to drive the car to their destination for them

also, for those not NJ-proficient: Harrison is where scenes from The Sopranos were filmed, as well as a huge audition for show extras about 9 years ago.

T - I'm sure they'll be fine! Esp if they're not actually staying in Newark.

ENBB: ironically, if i knew that my friends were going to stay in Newark i would've actually recommended a Hilton in Newark -- where a lot of travelers (from elsewhere in the USA and abroad) stay, it has 24 hour security, and it's literally a walk from the trains to NYC.

i just got back from visiting my friends. turns out that they researched the hotels and specifically chose the one they stayed at (b/c it was affordable, it had good facilities for their children and it was reasonably accessible to public transportation to NYC). they were a bit unaware of how bad Newark was before they came, but they didn't go walking around there so it all worked out OK. they are having a good time over here in the USA so yay for them.

my mental image of estonia is way scarier than NJ (perhaps unfairly)

There aren't many places in Estonia sketchier than New York itself but if they've ever been across the border into Russia (as almost all Estonians will at some point) they're probably going to be familiar with keeping their wits about them.

i haven't been to Estonia myself, but from what i understand & the pictures i've seen it actually seems to be a pretty nice place (esp Tallinn). more Scandinavian than Russian.

"nordic" is the preferred term