Vacation spots your friends talked up but you hated

[Anonymous]

I’m also somewhat of a pollyanna when it comes to travel, but I have to say, Ocean City was the absolute worst. That said, my kids had fun at the beach and walking around the boardwalk so it wasn’t entirely terrible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you come off as very spoiled. Coming from the perspective of someone who can’t afford to travel much at all, I would seriously be over the moon to travel to all of these places. I think you need to take a lesson from the Pollyanna poster and get some perspective. We pulled enough money to go to Rehoboth for a long weekend last year and it was so much fun. Not disgusting at all. I can see labeling a hotel bad, but an entire tourist locale?

—green with jealousy, but a happy positive person in general

Like you, our family tends to have fun wherever we go and we are always grateful that we are able to travel.

Having said that, imagine how you would feel if you saved up for years for a big trip and then were disappointed. Imagine dropping $10k to schlep to Hawaii and then having a bad time. Waikiki used to be decent, but now it is really dirty and overrun with addicts on the street.

True. It's a balance. And of course it depends on each person's experiences. If you got food poisoning and got mugged in St Croix, you'd think it was the worst place ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first time I went to Los Angeles I was like “what”??? I feel like popular culture plays it up as this glamorous and super cool place and to be honest I found it very dirty, too spread out/car centric, and not particularly pretty. I liked San Diego 10x better.

Yes! I am originally from Asia and had this image in my mind of LA that did not match reality.

Agreed. I was super disappointed the first time I went to LA. I thought Hollywood would be beautiful and glamorous. Instead it was gross and seedy.

I think you have to be in the in-crowd to go to the glamorous places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m also somewhat of a pollyanna when it comes to travel, but I have to say, Ocean City was the absolute worst. That said, my kids had fun at the beach and walking around the boardwalk so it wasn’t entirely terrible

Yep OC is its own kind of thing -- but we still have fun when we go. Usually we just go for a weekend each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m also somewhat of a pollyanna when it comes to travel, but I have to say, Ocean City was the absolute worst. That said, my kids had fun at the beach and walking around the boardwalk so it wasn’t entirely terrible

Yep OC is its own kind of thing -- but we still have fun when we go. Usually we just go for a weekend each year.

To avoid all the oddballs, we had a boardwalk day when we went early as soon as the amusements opened and it was a lot better than going at night!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another one for the Outer Banks here. Was royally disappointed both times. And, it attracts some real weirdos. I’ll stick with the Jersey Shore for a beach to drive to.

+1

DC in NC. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, Myrtle Beach was disgusting. Strip mall hell and overcrowded beaches. Traffic was bad because of all of the RVs from Ohio. Never again.

Disgusting?

Unfortunately, yes. I found the place to be disgusting.

[Anonymous]

I've never really been disappointed by a destination, but re: Hawaii -- from DC, I can totally see how someone would be disappointed, particularly if they have experience traveling to the Caribbean. It's an incredibly long flight, and although the state is gorgeous, if you're looking for beaches the Caribbean is so much closer and cheaper. If you're looking for something with sightseeing, Europe is closer.

I grew up on the west coast and Hawaii was the "close" option, in which case I think it IS worth it. But to travel for 12 hours just for beaches? Not for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the Outer Banks, but we go to Hatteras (Frisco area) in September or October when the air and water are warm (but not too hot), and there aren't many tourists. We've splurged for houses with pools, and sometimes right on the ocean. It is beautiful and relaxing. But, I agree that the northern part of the outer banks isn't as great.

I've also always stayed at Hatteras. I love the OBX - I love relaxing beach vacations where you see very few people. We are also very sporty and love to fish and kayak.

I imagine the kind of people who hate it are the kind of people who love getting drunk and bro-ing it up at Do-me beach or Ocean City.

Nope. I hated it there. Mediocre beaches, crummy rentals, bad traffic. We love relaxing beach vacations, but not there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you come off as very spoiled. Coming from the perspective of someone who can’t afford to travel much at all, I would seriously be over the moon to travel to all of these places. I think you need to take a lesson from the Pollyanna poster and get some perspective. We pulled enough money to go to Rehoboth for a long weekend last year and it was so much fun. Not disgusting at all. I can see labeling a hotel bad, but an entire tourist locale?

—green with jealousy, but a happy positive person in general

Like you, our family tends to have fun wherever we go and we are always grateful that we are able to travel.

Having said that, imagine how you would feel if you saved up for years for a big trip and then were disappointed. Imagine dropping $10k to schlep to Hawaii and then having a bad time. Waikiki used to be decent, but now it is really dirty and overrun with addicts on the street.

When was this? I was there in the early 70s, and it wasn't great even then.

[Anonymous]

I've never been to Oahu but we got married on Kauai and it was amazing. The Na'Pali coast was amazing, there are snorkeling places everywhere, and there's a crazy desert in the middle. It's unreal. Maybe the people that didn't care for it didn't leave the resort? We stayed in a cottage and rented a car so we could do whatever we wanted.

Dying to go to the Big Island during Humpback whale season!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never been to Oahu but we got married on Kauai and it was amazing. The Na'Pali coast was amazing, there are snorkeling places everywhere, and there's a crazy desert in the middle. It's unreal. Maybe the people that didn't care for it didn't leave the resort? We stayed in a cottage and rented a car so we could do whatever we wanted.

Dying to go to the Big Island during Humpback whale season!!

Maui is probably better for whale watching. Not to knock the Big Island but the plateau that includes Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe,and Molokai is where the whales come to calf etc.

[Anonymous]

Florida and "beaches" in general, overrated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Total waste.

WHAT? We had such a blast here. Are you white? Maybe that's why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Captiva Island, specifically South Seas resort. It was just OK and it was also ALL white, no diversity. All of Sanibel/Captiva was. Never again.

This is the weirdest vacation criteria ever. Nice weather - check, nice beaches - check, nice accommodations - check, good food - check, convenient to fly in/out - check, good value - check. Not enough diversity? Oh, then I guess we won't go there. I've been to beaches all over the world, and I've got news for you, it's ALWAYS mostly white people.

Aren't you privileged. It makes people uncomfortable to be the only minority in a vacation destination, as if we can't relaxed. Plus, you must lead a very sheltered life if you only vacation where it is only mostly white people.

I’m the South Seas PP who didn’t like it. Yes, this. I’m actually white but my DH and kids are not. People stared and were not overly friendly. The not-overly-friendly part isn’t a big deal, we live in the DC metro so we are used to that. But we literally saw ONE black family and one Asian family the whole week we were there. So while it’s not like people were overtly rude or racist, DH felt uncomfortable as as “only,” which I understand as I’ve been in reverse situations with him where I’m the only white person, so I get it.

Besides that, I think I’m just not a fan of the Gulf side of Florida. We went in the summer so the water was like bath water. The food on the island wasn’t very good. The accommodations were just OK, nothing special. It wasn’t like it was the worst vacation ever or anything, but we had never been and we had high hopes. YMMV.

I mean, I live in North Arlington and I am not white. This (bolded above) is my day to day life.

So...do you not go anywhere that's predominantly caucasian? Because that would rule out a lot of places.