Where did you absolutely hate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My list is random:
Cologne, Germany. So boring and not that pretty except the famous church.

Pitlochery, Scotland. A tourist trap for a reason I couldn't figure out. I did have an amazing Indian meal there at least.

Los Angeles. I was so disappointed. I thought it would be prettier and cleaner and more fun.

Los Angeles can be really fun. Amazing food scene and just a lot to do overall. I think you have to find a reason to go. Go for a show or something and stay at an incredible hotel in Beverly Hills.

Cologne, like Frankfurt and other German cities, had a great old town until they were bombed and rebuilt quickly to house refugees and expellees.

ummm- are we supposed to feel bad about this? FAFO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Places I have not enjoyed at all include:

Madrid- it’s just like visiting a landlocked NYC but without Broadway, fashion, or modern art. Too big and hard to navigate.

Cologne- just incredibly boring and nothing to see beyond the church and the chocolate factory.

Brussels. It’s okay but the third time I visited I found some charming places. I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit though.

Amsterdam- okay the first time, but terribly overcrowded much of the year.

Galveston- just too hot and too many jellyfish

San Francisco and Portland- too many drug addicts and felt very very unsafe

Western Europe as a whole: overpriced, dingy and unfriendly- would be interested in seeing more of Eastern Europe

Beijing - crazy scale, felt lost in the crowd

Loved:
- Istanbul, Turkey as a whole, Greece, Paris, also loved Belize but stayed on an island there, loved NW Pakistan mountains, loved Bavaria and Austria in the winter, Shanghai, Kyoto, Hiroshima

Loved in the US: Scottsdale, Palm Beach, Bar Harbor, Detroit, Shenandoah Valley, Breckenridge, anywhere Montana, loved Hillsboro but scared of Portland, Orange County

Madrid struck me almost the exact same way. It's like, "What if we took Midtown Manhattan and made it the entire city." Not saying there aren't parts of Madrid that are interesting, but I found a lot of it to be soulless and sterile.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Asheville. Way too many homeless and hippies. Just too crunchy for my liking, but can see the appeal for hikers.

AGREED!! WAY too crunchy- the shops were awful and the food was meh- not high end at all either

White Duck Taco is fabulous
Champagne bookstore so fun
A few very good restaurants

Not high end means you are not in the 1 percent are you.

You didn’t like it because of liberalness.

Asheville has some great views and it’s a lovely get away for a weekend.

Hiking in the area is great, sliding rock so fun not that far.

Please stop pandering such nonsense. Did you not listen to Walz’s convention speech? He is not part of the 1%. Democrats are not supposed to be the party of the 1%. It’s Republican economic policies that harm the middle class. Your desire to be elite is harmful, selfish and very silly. And what gets people like Trump elected. Please sit down.

Shut up I hate Trump this post has nothing to do with Trump

I hate all republicans period full stop

You also seem to hate punctuation.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I would not go back to India. Hard in many ways.

Only, if you are traveling like the poorest of the poor.

I only luxury travel to and in India. I fly business class in middle eastern airlines (Emirates or Etihad), stop over at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, go in luxury and comfort and minimize the impact of jet lag, Then, I either stay with my family/friends who have extra room, AC, well established homes and servants - or I stay in expensive 5 star hotels. I hire the best and most expensive touring vehicles available and drivers that are known to the family or have great reviews. And I travel mainly with family or friends. I also shop a lot and get all my bulky stuff couriered to US.

India is not a place to do on shoe-string budget travel. If you do that then you have to be inconvenienced sometimes. However, India is still incredibly cheaper than US or Europe so it boggles my mind that westerners want to travel in the way the poorest of the poor are travelling there. If you spend a fraction of your money that you spend in a Western country and stay in good hotels and take taxis from proper registered taxi service, you will have an experience of comfort and luxury.

Nothing beats the food in India. Not one country I have visited has better food than India (ok, Thailand is amazing food too).

Sorry but no. We traveled richest of the rich. You still see things out the windows of your "best and most expensive touring vehicle". The poverty is appalling and the way Indians treat their most vulnerable is appalling. But I'm glad you go back and do all your shopping and can't relate to your countrymen. Just intent on getting the shopping done and the food shoveled in, huh?

What a weird thing to say. For many of us India is our country of origin. We go back to see family, and yes we travel business class, stay in nice hotels, shop and eat while we’re there.

And like the pp pointed out: the abject poverty and obvious caste system doesn’t bother you at all.

Remember the Seinfeld episode with the wedding in India? Even the bride’s Indian parents refused to go.

It’s my homeland. I go to see my family. If that sounds strange to you then so be it. And Seinfeld was a comedy show in case you didn’t know.

Of COURSE it makes sense for people to go whose family lives there. The point is whether it is an enjoyable place to go just as a normal tourist. I think most people in the latter case say it’s an experience and they might be glad they did it once but it is rarely a spot tourists fall in love with.

DP here. I just posted that India was awful. The poor begging on the streets really made it uncomfortable. I stayed at the best resorts. The staff suffocated me by asking me how they could assist me. I remember the perfume stench at the hotels was nauseating. I love to Indian food occasionally in America. I hated every meal I had in India.

I have an Indian friend who loves to visit her family and says how she used to always get lice when she went. How is that enjoyable?!?!?

there are panhandlers everywhere- its not just the poor filthy children- its the nastyness with which you'll see someone smile a big beaming smile at you while using a harsh voice to deny the humanity of the child standing right next to you. Mark twain observed that there is a lot of humanity in India for everything except the humans. Indians are just so ... New money ... and hustle and elbows out. I love visiting and have family on both sides of the border but despite Pakistan objectively being a failed state with no hope or future- the level of calm and just "dialed down a few notches" ness and even prosperity that you feel immediatly crossing the border is remarkable. The cities of Mumbai and Delhi and even Jaipur which i love are so advanced but the denizens have littel grace. everyone is so bent on getting their own- the selfishness is breathtaking and disturbing. People who know you are so warm and loving but you can see how they treat everyone they deem not worthy and the contrast is so jarring. They seem less genuine b/c of that.

[Anonymous]

St Barts. I know it’s supposed to be so fabulous but I found the people who go there a bit tacky and I much prefer more chill islands like st martin

[Anonymous]

Dubai - where it's 120 degrees and humid. Yuck

[Anonymous]

Hong Kong: crowded, dirty, counterfeit merchandise, rude people. Singapore was much more enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

South Beach- tacky

San Antonio- boring

Los Angeles- parts of it are OK, but takes forever to get anywhere and the vibe is just kind of cold

[Anonymous]

Just shaking my head at this thread.

I have been to over 110 countries and didn’t hate any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dubai - where it's 120 degrees and humid. Yuck

And no alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai - where it's 120 degrees and humid. Yuck

And no alcohol.

There is alcohol in Dubai.

[Anonymous]

People rave about Turkey...but having spent time in Armenia, I can't get past the fact that Turkey committed attempted genocide against Armenia and still won't admit it.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/timestopics/topics_armeniangenocide.html?onwardjourney=584162_v1

I just can't get past that.

Does anyone else have trouble visiting a country for social justice reasons?

[Anonymous]

Talk about whitewashing history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not go back to India. Hard in many ways.

Only, if you are traveling like the poorest of the poor.

I only luxury travel to and in India. I fly business class in middle eastern airlines (Emirates or Etihad), stop over at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, go in luxury and comfort and minimize the impact of jet lag, Then, I either stay with my family/friends who have extra room, AC, well established homes and servants - or I stay in expensive 5 star hotels. I hire the best and most expensive touring vehicles available and drivers that are known to the family or have great reviews. And I travel mainly with family or friends. I also shop a lot and get all my bulky stuff couriered to US.

India is not a place to do on shoe-string budget travel. If you do that then you have to be inconvenienced sometimes. However, India is still incredibly cheaper than US or Europe so it boggles my mind that westerners want to travel in the way the poorest of the poor are travelling there. If you spend a fraction of your money that you spend in a Western country and stay in good hotels and take taxis from proper registered taxi service, you will have an experience of comfort and luxury.

Nothing beats the food in India. Not one country I have visited has better food than India (ok, Thailand is amazing food too).

Sorry but no. We traveled richest of the rich. You still see things out the windows of your "best and most expensive touring vehicle". The poverty is appalling and the way Indians treat their most vulnerable is appalling. But I'm glad you go back and do all your shopping and can't relate to your countrymen. Just intent on getting the shopping done and the food shoveled in, huh?

What a weird thing to say. For many of us India is our country of origin. We go back to see family, and yes we travel business class, stay in nice hotels, shop and eat while we’re there.

And like the pp pointed out: the abject poverty and obvious caste system doesn’t bother you at all.

Remember the Seinfeld episode with the wedding in India? Even the bride’s Indian parents refused to go.

It’s my homeland. I go to see my family. If that sounds strange to you then so be it. And Seinfeld was a comedy show in case you didn’t know.

Of COURSE it makes sense for people to go whose family lives there. The point is whether it is an enjoyable place to go just as a normal tourist. I think most people in the latter case say it’s an experience and they might be glad they did it once but it is rarely a spot tourists fall in love with.

DP here. I just posted that India was awful. The poor begging on the streets really made it uncomfortable. I stayed at the best resorts. The staff suffocated me by asking me how they could assist me. I remember the perfume stench at the hotels was nauseating. I love to Indian food occasionally in America. I hated every meal I had in India.

I have an Indian friend who loves to visit her family and says how she used to always get lice when she went. How is that enjoyable?!?!?

there are panhandlers everywhere- its not just the poor filthy children- its the nastyness with which you'll see someone smile a big beaming smile at you while using a harsh voice to deny the humanity of the child standing right next to you. Mark twain observed that there is a lot of humanity in India for everything except the humans. Indians are just so ... New money ... and hustle and elbows out. I love visiting and have family on both sides of the border but despite Pakistan objectively being a failed state with no hope or future- the level of calm and just "dialed down a few notches" ness and even prosperity that you feel immediatly crossing the border is remarkable. The cities of Mumbai and Delhi and even Jaipur which i love are so advanced but the denizens have littel grace. everyone is so bent on getting their own- the selfishness is breathtaking and disturbing. People who know you are so warm and loving but you can see how they treat everyone they deem not worthy and the contrast is so jarring. They seem less genuine b/c of that.

This is such a vivid depiction. PP why do you think this is? The selfishness? Treatment of those "not worthy"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dubai - where it's 120 degrees and humid. Yuck

And no alcohol.

You've obviously never been there.

And to the previous poster, that is true during the summer. It is ungodly hot. When you wake up at 6 am and it is 95 degrees out and you think "Cool morning today"it is hot. But in December and January? Chance of sun? 98%. Chance of a cloud? 2%. Chance of rain with that cloud? .5%. High temp? 80. Low temp? 70. Otherwise, after having lived there, I recommend people go there only on the way to somewhere else.