Where the most Americans are locked up abroad
Every year, a couple thousand Americans find themselves behind bars in a foreign country. And, while getting arrested can obviously screw up your vacation, there is a way to increase your chances of an incarceration-free trip -- it's called actually behaving. If that's too much to ask, just do your best to avoid these five State Department-deemed hotspots where the most Americans end up in the slammer.
5. Hong Kong, China
Some of America's favorite pastimes -- like baseball, or bitching about the government, or searching for "Tiananmen Square" on Google -- are illegal in China (Ok, maybe not baseball), so it could be our love of free speech that keeps getting us in trouble in Hong Kong. That, or we keep overstaying our visas.
4. Toronto, Canada
Americans sometimes take their wild party hijinks north of the border rather than down Mexico-way. And Canada, it turns out, has some freaky laws. For example, it's illegal to make purchases with too much change, or to build snowmen on a corner lot, or to repeatedly mimic a Canadian saying "aboooot". That last one may not be true, but it'll explain why the mounties pick on you.
3. Nassau, Bahamas
How is it that over 100 Americans are arrested every year in this island city? Simple. Cruise ships dock here on the regular, offloading thousands of thirsty hillbillies who want to stretch their sea legs in the city's bars and offend the locals with stories about Razorback football (ohhh snap), and who then get thrown in the clink to sober up.
2. London, United Kingdom
Obviously, there are a million ways to offend the oh-so-reserved British (least of all, insulting their teeth... OR Andy Murray!), but they're just so damn polite -- it's hard to imagine the Bobbies tossing all those yanks into jails, or gaols in Ye Oldy Worldy speak. But they do. And it's usually not even football-related.
1. Tijuana, Mexico
Mexican jails are so popular with Americans, they oughtta have TripAdvisor ratings. Over 1,000 of us lose the right to do tequila shots off a prostitute's belly in Mexico every year, and the top spot for doing time is TJ. What's everyone getting busted for? While you'd think drunken, disorderly conduct would be the leading offense, it's actually drug and firearm possession that take the cake. Ok, that's actually not a surprise either.