# Which global cities have you been to/not heard of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616 "2007-04-11T08:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/1 "2007-04-11T08:13:12Z")
To complement the American and Canadian cities threads, which [global cities](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cities) have you been to? (Modified slightly to stay reasonable in its context.) And which ones have you not heard of, if applicable? Technicalities count as long as you explain them. 😃 As for me, I’ve spent significant time in Chicago, Tel Aviv and Denver; lived within two hours of LA and Richmond and spent enough time in both to count; and lived within an hour of Baltimore and DC and spent a pretty good amount of time in both as well. Of all of them, I’ve probably spent the most time in DC. Not coincidentally, I’ve also lived closest to DC. I’ve spent a total of 12 hours in New York City, spread across two days cooped up at JFK. Amazingly, I’ve never been to Tijuana, even though I’ve spent the better part of the last 10 years within a couple of hours of it by train, plane or automobile. And I can’t say there are any cities mentioned there that I haven’t heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/2 "2007-04-11T08:21:49Z")
I’ve only visited Sydney twice (I’m still new at the travellin’ game). Never heard of Abidjan. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/3 "2007-04-11T08:40:21Z")
London NYC Frankfort LA Singapore Moscow Amsterdam Boston Jakarta Prague Washington, DC (homebase) Warsaw Budapest Istanbul (was Constantinople) Manila Miami Munich Philadelphia Vienna Dubai Baltimore Richmond Saint Petersburg ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/4 "2007-04-11T08:43:05Z")
I’ve been to three of GaWC’s four top Alpha cites (New York, Paris and Tokyo). If we count stopovers (which I know we don’t), then I’ve done London, too. I’ve also been to Singapore. I haven’t been to any of the Beta cities. Of the Gammas, I’ve been to: Boston, Taipei, Washington and Montreal. Of the developing cities, I’ve been to Vancouver. The biggest one I can’t identify (though I have heard of it) is Almaty. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/5 "2007-04-11T08:51:25Z")
Have heard of all of them. Of that first table, I have been to all the ones listed in the Americas except for Vancouver and Toronto; most European ones. Haven’t set foot in the other continents yet. I’m really wondering why does Barnacity get 4 points, the one thing Madriz has on it is more central government offices and that isn’t much of a positive point for me. Madrid traffic is even worse than Barcelona, but I guess they don’t count that as a “service.” Many “big service companies” have offices in both Madrid and Barcelona; a “big service company” that has two offices in Spain will have them in those two, but one that’s got only one may choose either location. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/6 "2007-04-11T09:09:44Z")
And Barcelona (or at least FC Barcelona) was the locus of Catalan rage against the Castilian machine during the Franco era, right? That’s got to count for something. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/7 "2007-04-11T13:36:22Z")
Amsterdam Boston Chicago Cleveland Columbus Detroit London Miami Montreal New York Ottawa Paris Philadelphia Rome San Francisco Toronto Vienna Washington, DC Soon to be added: Barcelona Madrid ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/8 "2007-04-11T14:15:45Z")
Well, I _live_ in Toronto, so that takes the cake right there. 🙂 Seriously, which of those lists in the linked Wikipedia article should we be using? From the 1999 GaWC list, I’ve been in: (Alphas) London, New Yourk, Paris. Chicago, Frankfurt (Am Main, presumably; I changed trains there) (Betas) San Francisco, Toronto (Gammas) Amsterdam (if you count changing planes at Schiphol airport), Washington, Stockholm, Montreal, Copenhagen (Evicence of) Helsinki, Detroit, Vancouver, Calgary I’ve heard of all of them, though I’m a bit shaky on exactly where Almaty, Aarhus, and Abidjan are. (“Somewhere in Central Asia… or maybe not.” 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/9 "2007-04-11T14:23:05Z")
Kinda embarrassing that I hadn’t heard of the very first city on the list. I had to click the link to discover that it was Bombay under its proper name. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/10 "2007-04-11T14:29:52Z")
Of the alpha and beta cities, I have been to: \* London \* New York \* Chicago \* Hong Kong \* Los Angeles \* San Francisco \* Sydney \* Toronto And I visited Mumbai before it was called that (more than 50 years ago!) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/11 "2007-04-11T14:46:05Z")
London New York Paris Chicago (where I currently live, officially) Los Angeles Milan (really a crappy city, why is it so high on this list?) San Francisco (my hometown!) Mexico City Rome Dublin Tel Aviv Cleveland Detroit Columbus I know what you’re thinking: “Cleveland, Detroit, AND Columbus? Damn girl, you only go to the most exciting places!” Ohhhh, yeah. It’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/12 "2007-04-11T14:47:28Z")
\>accidental double post\< ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/13 "2007-04-11T15:35:12Z")
I may not have heard of the largest city on the planet, but I have been to: London New York City Los Angeles Frankfurt Milan San Francisco Toronto Zurich Brussels Madrid Amsterdam Boston Dallas Dusseldorf Geneva Houston Washington, DC Montreal Rome Atlanta Barcelona Hamburg Minneapolis Munich Athens Dublin Luxembourg Philadelphia Vienna Birmingham Cleveland Cologne Detroit Lisbon Rotterdam Seattle Stuttgart The Hague Vancouver Antwerp Baltimore Bologna Calgary Columbus Dresden Edinburgh Genoa KansasCity Leeds Richmond Tiajuana Turin What can I say? My mom and I travelled a lot when I was younger. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/14 "2007-04-11T16:31:15Z")
Amsterdam Boston Chicago Detroit Edinburgh Glasgow Houston Kuala Lumpur London Los Angeles Madrid Manila San Francisco Taipei Toronto Vancouver ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/15 "2007-04-11T16:32:09Z")
From that list, I’ve been to (not counting airport stops): Chicago (Lived and went to university, 6 years) Toronto (Visit regularly, wife’s family is from there) Washington, D.C. Atlanta Minneapolis (Lived and worked, 2 yrs) Athens Cleveland (My hometown and current location!) Detroit Columbus (Visit regularly, family) Tehran (And Isfahan, lived 2 yrs) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/16 "2007-04-11T17:11:19Z")
Of the alphas and betas: London (and lived there for several years) Paris Frankfurt Los Angeles Milan San Francisco Sydney Zurich Brussels Mexico City. And of the rest: Amsterdam Duesseldorf Geneva Melbourne Prague Bangkok Rome Stockholm Barcelona Berlin Budapest Copenhagen Hamburg Miami Strange ordering though… Frankfurt higher than Sydney? Berlin lower than Stockholm? WTF? Out of the non-ranked ones, yes I’d heard of them all and could tell you where they are, and have been to: Auckland, Dublin, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Birmingham, Bratislava, Cologne, Lisbon, Manchester, Rotterdam, Vancouver, Adelaide, Antwerp, Edinburgh, Leeds, Wellington, Nairobi and Harare. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/17 "2007-04-11T17:32:09Z")
Abidjan – Sounds vaguely familiar Atlanta – Not been to Chicago – Been to Copenhagen – Not been to Dallas – Been to Delhi – Not been to Frankfurt – Been to Geneva – Not been to Hong Kong – Been to Houston – Been to İstanbul – Not Jakarta – Not Karachi – Not, no idea where it is though I recognize the name London – Been Los Angeles – Been Mexico City – Not Miami – Been Moscow – Been Mumbai – Dunno it New York – Been Osaka – Not Paris – Been Philadelphia – Not San Francisco – Been São Paulo – Not been, not sure where it is Seoul – Not been Shanghai – Been Singapore – Been (just running from one terminal to the other in the airport) Sydney – Been Toronto – Not been Tokyo – Been Vancouver – Been Washington DC – Not Zürich – Not ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/18 "2007-04-11T17:56:42Z")
I’ve been in all the U.S. cities, many times in most. Of the foreign cities on the list I’ve been to Sydney, Ho Chi Minh(Saigon) and Tijuana. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/19 "2007-04-11T18:35:34Z")
I’ve been to all Canadian and American cities on that page, plus London. I’ve heard of all of them. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616/20 "2007-04-11T18:35:52Z")
Tokyo Miami London NYC L.A. Chicago Vancouver Paris Mexico City San Francisco Dallas-Ft. Worth Philadelphia Houston Washington D.C. So essentially, only 5 outside of the U.S. The only one that didn’t ring a bell was Abidjan. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-global-cities-have-you-been-to-not-heard-of/399616.md?page=2)