Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have had a bad time every time I've been to Paris, for various reasons. I avoid it now.

Can you elaborate on your experiences?

I’ve been thinking about taking my teen there but have concerns about the pickpockets and the bedbug outbreak.

Generally rotten time there on a family trip once / Got stuck walking in pouring, freezing rain for 1 hr on NYE because subways closed stupidly early, no taxi in sight / Got pickpocketed on the train getting into the station as I was getting off with my sleepy groggy 2yo in my arms and holding my 4yo's hand. I am normally hyper vigilant about that shit and all it took was that one moment of distraction.

PP why won’t you say what country that is??

I won’t name the country but I had an experience where (in the same one week trip)—I was verbally sexually harassed and then physically assaulted in public and not a single woman or man came to my defense (and it was two different incidents)
— I was briefly detained because “my paperwork wasn’t in order” (it was but he said if I gave him $20 he’d overlook it)
— the lock on my hotel door didn’t work and when I complained they first said it didn’t matter and then finally switched me to a room with a broken toilet
— I got a stomach virus or food poisoning or something (which made the broken toilet an even great tragedy)
— my flight out was cancelled indefinitely and I ended up taking a bus to a different city to catch a flight

This was not a country I wanted to ever return to! I think it was the sexual harassment that bothered me most.

In a funny follow up….i happened to remember the name of the embassy person I called at some point to ask for suggestions about the flight issue. (He was nice but had no real suggestions.). That low level embassy staffer later became a tiny tiny bit infamous for about 15 minutes, and when I read his name in the paper, I was like “I remember you!!!!”

I got food poisoning on vacation. Still loved the rest of the trip, and it didn't color my opinion of the place ... but it did color my opinion of seafood buffets. I avoid those now.

Germany had miserable, cold rainy weather the entire time I was there in August. I had just rolled off the Italian and French beaches. I’ve got zero desire to go back to Germany. None.

Anonymous wrote:I have had a bad time every time I've been to Paris, for various reasons. I avoid it now.

Can you elaborate on your experiences?

I’ve been thinking about taking my teen there but have concerns about the pickpockets and the bedbug outbreak.

My first stay in London was at a bedbug infested hostel, and also involved train rides on the wrong trains in the wrong direction. It was terrible and my first time in Europe. I was mortified.

That was 20 years ago, and I’ve been back plenty since then. I love London, it turned out to be my first European love.

So no, that initial bad experience thankfully did not color my view of the entire city.

I have had a bad time every time I've been to Paris, for various reasons. I avoid it now.

I stayed at a resort in Cancun that had a tiny beach and terrible food. I've never been back since. I have, however, been to nearby towns.

My entire family had the stomach flu on our trip to Portugal. Definitely put a damper on the experience and I cannot say I enjoyed any food there for sure.

Depends on my expectations for the place. But usually I do enough to feel a place out that I’m within my limits.

One thing I keep in mind during travel is that it’s not a question of IF something goes wrong, it’s WHEN something goes wrong, and the true test is how you adjust to it and move forward. Flexibility is king.

It really depends – most places have multiple lodging options, so if you like everything else, just stay somewhere different. But if you hate the crowding of somewhere like Disney, don’t go back. If the thing you dislike is baked into the experience, it’s different than just one easily changed component.

I had a bad trip once, man.

Does it take having a really bad time for you not to come back somewhere on vacation, or do isolated incidents color your view of the place and turn you off? For example a pickpocket incident, terrible hotel...