Where did you absolutely hate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jordan. The sexism is awful.

I loved Jordan. Petra was magnificent. I travelled with a friend (both females) and felt totally safe.

+1 Absolutely LOVED Jordan. Highly recommend. Cyprus was also incredible.

I would not go back to Dubai (wouldn't have gone there in the first place, but brother was living there and wanted to see him).
Morocco- gorgeous and interesting place, but the groping, harassment, pushiness, etc. in the cities was just too much.
Turkey- mostly good, had some issues with harassment/pushiness at markets in Istanbul, but once we got out of the city I totally fell in love.
Egypt - very polluted, crowded, didn't like the hassle, and found the food to be meh at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Manhattan Beach in LA is a horribly racist place. I've been there a few times over the last 20 years and always get treated like I'm intruding on a white space.

Just wanted to say that doesn’t stop me from going and receiving service from the wait staff.

[Anonymous]

San Blas Islands, Panama- too sleepy for our taste and we got bad food poisoning

[Anonymous]

Egypt. Scary. Not a great place to be a woman.

Austria. Snobby weirdos. Terrible food.

[Anonymous]

Oh and in the U.S. San Francisco. I go once a year to visit family and it’s always colder than it should be and full of homeless people on drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you have an awful experience on vacation that turned you completely off of a certain destination?

I recall a thread on London that was fun to read with someone who absolutely disliked the city and seeing other people respond with their own opinions was a good read. That one surprised me, I loved London. I love hearing about differing opinions.


Is there anywhere you will not be visiting again?

Naples, Florida. Sarasota is nearby and much prettier.

Charlotte, NC. Asheville’s much nicer.

Dallas. Much grayer than San Antonio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jordan. The sexism is awful.

What? I went there for 8 days as a woman traveling alone (like I rented a car and drove around by myself) and found myself completely respected. It was great!

+1. Jordan and Turkey are great to travel as a female. I had zero issues driving around in Turkey and went from Adana to Istanbul. No issues whatsoever. And at the time, I had dyed my hair pink, though not completely. Never had an issue.

Not my experience at all in Turkey. Went twice, once with a male companion and once with a female friend. Traveled to Istanbul, Antalya, and Ankara. With my male friend it was lovely. With my female friend very different and downright scary at times.

The two women who said it was okay mentioned cars. Maybe that is protective somehow , vs being on the street or in public transportation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Austria - I didn’t hate it, but the people were rude. One old guy sat down next to me and explained how England sent it’s dumbest people to America. That’s why we are dumb.

His English was very good. Middle aged short stocky guy. Not impressive. I just ignored him. I guess that was the best response? (I was young and fit and could have decked him)

Being young is not an accomplishment.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Austria. I found the people to be aggressively rude. Vehemently anti-American. I was actually insulted multiple times during my stay for being American. For example, one time I asked when my breakfast order would be out as I’d been waiting for a long time. I asked politely and the waiter yelled at for being an American who can’t enjoy her holiday. I was told to calm down too. It was such an extreme overreaction.

Never experienced this in any other European country.

Spoke the other day to a friend who went skiing there and told me how rude everyone was. I told her I know exactly what you mean!

Not surprising at all this country welcomed Hitler with open arms. I’m sure they do it again today in a heartbeat.

Where in Austria were you? Can you give examples of negative interactions outside the hotel? How were you identified so easily? When was this? I’m curious because this thread has been helpful in thinking of destinations and potential pitfalls to avoid.

It’s a common misconception but Hitler was actually Austrian.

I have traveled a bit through Austria and find the people strange. Lived in Bavaria at the time and had no issues with Bavarians. But Austrian interactions were always a little off.

Wow who knew the sleeper hit of this thread would be that Austrians are rude! I had no idea. Lots of hits on google.
"why are austrians rude"

I'll let you know what I find out. Maybe stems from being an EX-empire?

A friend of mine married an Austrian. I like him but his family sounds tragic and strange. And they have lived in the same village for generations. Interesting to hear about the people everyone encountered.

Arnold Schwarzenegger hated growing up in Austria. He said beating of children was common place when he was growing up. He could not wait to leave Austria.

Interestingly, he is but a nice person either.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Spain. I’m of Puerto Rican descent so the disdain is pretty deep-seated, but the Spanish are hostile to Americans (even when they speak fluent Spanish, as I do) and generally racist. Overall not a welcoming or warm experience. Just really not enjoyable.

Madrid>Barcelona>Valencia

Oh wow - so sorry to hear this- my experience has been quite the opposite. I am always blown away by the hospitality in Spain (Galicia region, where my family and I travel every summer) and I’m as American as they come. Didn’t the Americans stage a large smear campaign against the Spaniards when they took over Puerto Rico, with the goal of making Puerto Ricans reject Spain and Spanish culture? Is it possible some of that is at play here?

Among Latinos, Spaniards are well known to be arrogant and nasty. I'm Mex-American and traveled with my family to Spain. We were treated like 3rd world trash. I have a few friends who studied in Spain (Mex, Bolivian, Honduran) and they reported the same among Spanish classmates. If you're non-Latino, I hear that the experience can be positive. But Spaniards do tend to snub their noses at people from LATAM. I assure you that no smear campaign is needed. Spaniards are capable all on their own.

They are European and don’t like to be bunched in with a different continent simply because of language.

Pesky language that they all share because SPAIN COLONIES y'all.

Lots of countries speak English but are not culturally lumped together.

So you cope by looking down on people from those other countries, rather than resenting the lumpers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP and am reminded of how dirty, grimy and depressing VA Beach was. Never again. I was there for a week chaperoning a school sponsored trip. Overpriced everything and chock a block with tacky stores and smelled like weed/skunk. Litter-strewn boardwalk and side streets. Lots of motorcycles drag racing and making noise.

To be fair, there are slightly nicer parts of Va Beach, but no, the “boardwalk”/high-rise area is awful. Avoid. (Local resident.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar Harbor and/or Acadia on a weekend in the summer.

We were only there for a quick weekend but I could not believe how crowded it was. I felt like I was on the boardwalk in OC while walking the streets of Bar Harbor. It definitely wasn't a quaint fishing village that I was hoping for. And at Acadia, we couldn't even find a place to park that wasn't a 2+ mile walk to whatever site we wanted to see.

I don't begrudge you your opinion, but this is a failure to research and plan. Acadia has a free shuttle because of the parking difficulties.

Why would anyone expect a famous resort to be quaint and uncrowded???

Do they think no one else has the internet?

It is not exactly a hidden gem, off the beaten path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar Harbor and/or Acadia on a weekend in the summer.

We were only there for a quick weekend but I could not believe how crowded it was. I felt like I was on the boardwalk in OC while walking the streets of Bar Harbor. It definitely wasn't a quaint fishing village that I was hoping for. And at Acadia, we couldn't even find a place to park that wasn't a 2+ mile walk to whatever site we wanted to see.

I don't begrudge you your opinion, but this is a failure to research and plan. Acadia has a free shuttle because of the parking difficulties.

My husband balked at using the free shuttle because "he didn't want to deal with the bus schedule" and I told him too bad, I'd keep track of it. At the end of the week he agreed that the bus was what made our trip! We got to every site easily and were able to hike to the next stop and decide if the kids were done or if we could keep going. No reason to bring a car into Acadia.

Does nobody ready anything before taking their family to a popular National Park?? 🤔

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bar Harbor and/or Acadia on a weekend in the summer.

We were only there for a quick weekend but I could not believe how crowded it was. I felt like I was on the boardwalk in OC while walking the streets of Bar Harbor. It definitely wasn't a quaint fishing village that I was hoping for. And at Acadia, we couldn't even find a place to park that wasn't a 2+ mile walk to whatever site we wanted to see.

I don't begrudge you your opinion, but this is a failure to research and plan. Acadia has a free shuttle because of the parking difficulties.

Interesting. We went to Bar Harbor/Acadia for a weekend in early August and felt it was quaint and not too crowded. We booked everything the week of. We did have to stay 5 min outside the Main Street but it was easy enough to drive and park. We eat dinner early and never had any problems walking into a restaurant and being seated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jordan. The sexism is awful.

What? I went there for 8 days as a woman traveling alone (like I rented a car and drove around by myself) and found myself completely respected. It was great!

+1. Jordan and Turkey are great to travel as a female. I had zero issues driving around in Turkey and went from Adana to Istanbul. No issues whatsoever. And at the time, I had dyed my hair pink, though not completely. Never had an issue.

Not my experience at all in Turkey. Went twice, once with a male companion and once with a female friend. Traveled to Istanbul, Antalya, and Ankara. With my male friend it was lovely. With my female friend very different and downright scary at times.

The two women who said it was okay mentioned cars. Maybe that is protective somehow , vs being on the street or in public transportation?

I lived in Istanbul and traveled all over the country, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group. I was always using public transportation. I had no problems.