So i've got a trip planned for Mexico in September

I've traveled there before and there is a reason why it is so popular with North Americans. By virtue of some sort of agreement our nations have, American and Canadian can get 6 months visa on arrival without paying for or applying for anything. If you want to stay longer, there are a lot of options to do so and this is why you will commonly hear the term "snow birds" when you are down there.

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Mexico's main attraction for most people in the beaches and with two very long coastlines it is easy to understand why that is. The beaches on the gulf side have the clearer water that everyone loves but a general absence of waves. On the Pacific side there are places with world-class surfing and that is the side I prefer. Getting around Mexico is also very easy and cheap with flights being as low as $30 and depending on what sort of luxury you are after, the buses are damn near free.

I suppose we could say that Mexico is kind of like "training wheels" for inexperienced international travelers. There are stories of Mexico being dangerous but after spending nearly a year in total across several trips I can say that unless you are really unlucky that this is not the case. I would say that most of the areas of Mexico are actually safer than the USA. I've been robbed a grand total of twice in my life and neither theft was violent it was just a con. Once it was in Virginia of all places and the other time was in South East Asia. I have never encountered any even potentially dangerous situations in Mexico. I don't know why it gets a bad rep but this probably has something to do with cartels and gangs but unless you are running in the circles that likes to obtain hard drugs, this isn't something you are going to encounter there anyway.

I think if you just use your head a bit and stay out of obviously bad parts of town that you are not going to get into any trouble in Mexico. I have spent enough time there that I don't think that this is just luck on my part, the Mexican people are just like any other people in that a vast majority of them are kind and lawful. When people talk about how dangerous Mexico is I think the first thing that you should ask them is "have you been to Mexico and if so, where did you go?" If the answer they give you is "just across the border" to the drunken and drug-riddled prostitute towns within sight of the United States well, you have your answer there. Of course those places are dangerous.

If you are in Mexico for scenery and regular tourist things like beaches and national parks though, I genuinely believe that it is much safer than the USA.

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It irritates me when I see reports like this from the US State Department because as someone that has been to all the continents except the really cold one in the South, I think that the United States itself is actually considerably more dangerous than almost all of the countries that I have traveled to, especially in the large metro areas. Mexico City is one of the most populated cities in the world and I regard it as dramatically safer than New York, LA, Chicago, Detroit, and especially places like Baltimore and Washington D.C.

The US needs to come off of their high horse because I know a ton of people that have been violently robbed in America, I don't know anyone that has experienced the same in Mexico. This could be because of the fact that the cartels, which are of course responsible for a great deal of the crime in Mexico have vested interest in having the tourists not come to harm. People that I know that live full time in Mexico and claim to know cartel members have told me that tourists are "off limits" as far as crime is concerned because the cartel makes a ton of money on the fact that the tourists are there. I obviously can't verify this claim but it does make sense to me.

This time I am going to be spending almost all of my time in the southern part of Mex because a friend of mine lives near lake Chapala, which I hear is horribly contaminated with pollution so that is a shame but I guess not entirely surprising.

I have never been to this part of the country before so I am really looking forward to it!