This one goes out to my mostly fearless mom. She loved Amsterdam’s canals, museums, architecture, and tea. But every time she tried to appreciate her surroundings she was “almost run over by a lunatic bicyclist.” Her words, not mine. In reality, the crosswalk signage was just mildly confusing and she got freaked out by the sheer volume of bikes in the city. Fun fact: there are more bikes than there are humans in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, this tarnished her perception of a city that she would have otherwise loved.
Pro-Tip: Pay attention to the flow of traffic and traffic signals before stepping out into the street of a foreign city. Or as my grandmother would say, just be careful.