Destinations that jumped the shark

[Anonymous]

Cinque Terre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AirBnBs are great for my family. I enjoy shopping at local supermarkets for fresh and convenience foods. My kids have a lot of fun memories from this.

Starting with touring Europe in the 1970s as a child, I ate a lot of mediocre overpriced food because we were traveling as a family on something of a budget. I ate bland chicken in white cream sauce multiple times on my 1982 trip to France. Each time billed as a local specialty. After that I tended to stick to croque monsieurs and citron presses. Some other low-lights include Hawaii Toast in Austria, Italian pizzas literally swimming in grease, and extremely overpriced red sauce spaghetti in Reykavik.

So I don't feel sad for mediocre ripoff tourist cafes. They were never good.

I'm pretty sure I got sick from a restaurant in Tulum. Also in Bali. I felt they had low hygiene standards for food-related issues. Would not go back to Tulum. Would go back to Bali because it has a really interesting island culture and it's visually lovely.

What I think is most ruined about Europe is the experience of seeing the largest/most famous art museums. I tend to avoid them now. They are too crowded to facilitate learning and enjoyment at peak season. The second tier museums are a much better experience.

Thoughts and prayers for your experiences that "ruined" all of Europe. I got food poisoning in a DC restaurant, and being likeminded to you, I have now concluded that DC has "jumped the shark."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of insecure people getting weirdly touchy about a standard conversation starter question

It’s weird to say a country has “jumped the shark”.

We could have another discussion about how great it was when fewer people traveled places and the pros/cons to going places fewer people are going now but that’s a little tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Besides, that's not really what 'jumped the shark' refers to. It's supposed to be a wild and implausible attempt to attract a withering viewership. Not what you're referring to here where places become victims of their popularity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AirBnBs are great for my family. I enjoy shopping at local supermarkets for fresh and convenience foods. My kids have a lot of fun memories from this.

Starting with touring Europe in the 1970s as a child, I ate a lot of mediocre overpriced food because we were traveling as a family on something of a budget. I ate bland chicken in white cream sauce multiple times on my 1982 trip to France. Each time billed as a local specialty. After that I tended to stick to croque monsieurs and citron presses. Some other low-lights include Hawaii Toast in Austria, Italian pizzas literally swimming in grease, and extremely overpriced red sauce spaghetti in Reykavik.

So I don't feel sad for mediocre ripoff tourist cafes. They were never good.

I'm pretty sure I got sick from a restaurant in Tulum. Also in Bali. I felt they had low hygiene standards for food-related issues. Would not go back to Tulum. Would go back to Bali because it has a really interesting island culture and it's visually lovely.

What I think is most ruined about Europe is the experience of seeing the largest/most famous art museums. I tend to avoid them now. They are too crowded to facilitate learning and enjoyment at peak season. The second tier museums are a much better experience.

Thoughts and prayers for your experiences that "ruined" all of Europe. I got food poisoning in a DC restaurant, and being likeminded to you, I have now concluded that DC has "jumped the shark."

PP. Come on. It's not just the food poisoning. As I understand it the party people who like underappreciated gems have already moved on from Tulum because the cost/value relationship changed. DC is more interesting to me than Tulum. Never got food poisoning there and much better museums. Tulum's ruins are pretty ruined, lol. After Chichen Itza, I felt Tulum wasn't really worth my time because it's just a few walls and towers and foundations with few architectural features. It has nice weather for beach people. But is nowhere as interesting as Bali. My favorite memories of Tulum were shopping at the Mexican version of Walmart and having cute lizards in our bungalow. No need to go back.

[Anonymous]

PP. Also about ruined...I didn't say Europe was ruined. I said the most popular art museums were at peak season. The experience is terrible. Why do you think locals get mad and talk about it.

It was peak season when I went to the Sistine Chapel. The guards were openly angry that the crowds of tourists were not observing the behavior signs in a holy place. That is the kind of situation that is unpleasant/ruined. I'm glad I went just to get an idea of the size of the place but it was not a fun experience for contemplating art.

[Anonymous]

I know what OP means. They mean what places are over touristy and where that is similar would you recommend instead.

For Japan and I lived there for two years, people spend way too much time in Tokyo and not nearly enough in Osaka, Nara, or in smaller towns. Osaka has great food and nightlife and Nara was the capital of Japan from 700-1600.

[Anonymous]

Eh, French people have always bit a bit terse and rude to Americans. That's nothing newsworthy or ground breaking.

And the restraunt/dining habits (very slow and leisurely) in France can come across as rude to us Americans (who expect prompt service).

And taking advantage of tourists with fines and "mistakes" isn't anything new either. It happens in any touristy area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AirBnBs are great for my family. I enjoy shopping at local supermarkets for fresh and convenience foods. My kids have a lot of fun memories from this.

Starting with touring Europe in the 1970s as a child, I ate a lot of mediocre overpriced food because we were traveling as a family on something of a budget. I ate bland chicken in white cream sauce multiple times on my 1982 trip to France. Each time billed as a local specialty. After that I tended to stick to croque monsieurs and citron presses. Some other low-lights include Hawaii Toast in Austria, Italian pizzas literally swimming in grease, and extremely overpriced red sauce spaghetti in Reykavik.

So I don't feel sad for mediocre ripoff tourist cafes. They were never good.

I'm pretty sure I got sick from a restaurant in Tulum. Also in Bali. I felt they had low hygiene standards for food-related issues. Would not go back to Tulum. Would go back to Bali because it has a really interesting island culture and it's visually lovely.

What I think is most ruined about Europe is the experience of seeing the largest/most famous art museums. I tend to avoid them now. They are too crowded to facilitate learning and enjoyment at peak season. The second tier museums are a much better experience.

Thoughts and prayers for your experiences that "ruined" all of Europe. I got food poisoning in a DC restaurant, and being likeminded to you, I have now concluded that DC has "jumped the shark."

PP. Come on. It's not just the food poisoning. As I understand it the party people who like underappreciated gems have already moved on from Tulum because the cost/value relationship changed. DC is more interesting to me than Tulum. Never got food poisoning there and much better museums. Tulum's ruins are pretty ruined, lol. After Chichen Itza, I felt Tulum wasn't really worth my time because it's just a few walls and towers and foundations with few architectural features. It has nice weather for beach people. But is nowhere as interesting as Bali. My favorite memories of Tulum were shopping at the Mexican version of Walmart and having cute lizards in our bungalow. No need to go back.

It’s hilarious you say it’s nowhere near as interesting as Bali because everyone I know who has visited Bali in the last 5 years or so has said it’s so completely overtouristed that they almost regret going.

[Anonymous]

Paris

[Anonymous]

Capri

[Anonymous]

Atlantic City, NJ

[Anonymous]

Orlando

[Anonymous]

Complaints about rude locals (Parisians!) and deliberately overcharging tourists have been around forever. Nor it is just Americans being fleeced, similar themes appear in British papers too, and doubtlessly cause chatter among Germans and Japanese travelers.

But here's the thing: for those of us who remember going overseas in the 1980s and 1990s and even earlier, there's no denying we now live in a world of mass, even exceedingly mass, tourism. I remember being the only person alone in the Sistine Chapel other than a solitary guard. I remember having the entire chapel to myself for about ten minutes before other people drifted in. That's impossible these days. It's just a reflection of the changes in mass tourism and trying to blame Airbnb is missing the forest for the trees. There are simply many more hundreds of millions of people from all over the world now traveling. And we have to deal with it. Add to it the increased homogenization of cities with the same shops and same restaurants and same boutiques anywhere you go, whether London or Los Angeles or Bangkok. And then you do have significant mass migration changing cultural dynamics of a number of European countries that's definitely affected their national characters, and nowhere do you see this as clearly as in Britain and London.

Agree that secondary cities are more relaxing these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of insecure people getting weirdly touchy about a standard conversation starter question

A poster trying to justify her lame question.