Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 05:32     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:West Texas.


Yes


I had thought the same thing. Towns like Midland and Odessa are pretty bleak. Then on a driving trip up from Mexico, we crossed at Presidio, Texas and drove to Marfa. It was a stunning drive and Marfa is a quirky little place. Then we explored other small towns like Alpine, Davis, Marathon, Terlingua and the Big Bend area. It was amazing with incredible scenery galore. If you like wide open spaces, it’s really something to experience. Even if you don’t go for a full Mexico visit, definitely cross at Presidio into Ojinaga, Mexico to experience excellent food and a vibrant little town. My expectation were low but this is one of my favorite regions in the US now. And I’ve visited 49 of 50 states!
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 02:48     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Seattle


I live in Seattle and think of it as a really difficult place to visit. The areas near tourist sites are grimy and filled with super shady situations, mentally ill people, and occasionally violent people. Traffic is daunting if you’re trying to enjoy the scenic parts of the area or get from one neighborhood to the next. It can take me an hour to go 3 miles.

The areas that make my everyday life special are pretty much inaccessible to visitors- neighborhood swim and tennis clubs on the lake, school and university events, friends with boats, urban farm shares, ski houses 50 minutes away, etc.

I think Vancouver is a bit more tourist-friendly in terms of having lots of stuff close by and some actual destinations.

I can definitely understand why someone may not like visiting Seattle but I've enjoyed living there for many years without the things mentioned. No clubs on the lake, friends with boats, ski cabins, urban farm shares. I've played tennis on public courts, swam in the lake and community pools, rented boats, skied for the day or even just the afternoon, gone to farmers markets and enjoyed open events at UW. All accessible to visitors.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 01:13     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson. Palm Springs. 29 Palms (Joshua Tree). I’ve learned I don’t like the desert.

Didn’t hate but was underwhelmed by Rome.

Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 00:52     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Anonymous wrote:St Croix, USVI. ugh, never again. Really exposes you to the underbelly and dark side of these Caribbean island “paradises”


what is the dark underbelly of these places?
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 00:50     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Davis Island Florida--first time I'd ever seen rats and they were big and plentiful.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 00:48     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
OBX in winter. I worked here one winter and it was the dampest, coldest, windiest, bitter coldest place I've ever been.

Venice in August--too smelly
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2024 00:25     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
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?!?!?


Another DP here. I also hated India. I visited Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, each on separate trips, when I was living in Pakistan for work. India is slightly better than Pakistan, which I hated more, but I did not like India and have no desire to ever return. Seeing the way wealthy Indians treat their "servants" and those in the service industry they deem beneath them was utterly sickening. You have to be OK with exploiting someone else whose life is hell for your comfort if you yourself want to be comfortable in India. Wealthy Indians are not only happy to exploit these people, they are super, over-the-top conspicuous and tacky in showing off their wealth, talking about their wealth, and making you understand as soon as possible that they are, in fact, wealthy. Hated India.

Yes, the staff in nice hotels and shops WEFE suffocating. They hovered, they pestered, and they would not leave me alone to shop in peace. This is because wealthy Indian people like and expect that kind of thing. This also drove me crazy when I lived in Dubai and staff in pharmacies or shops in the mall would pounce and hover in the same way (though I liked Dubai).

Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 23:26     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
I haven't read the whole thread yet, but New York City for me. It's a running joke in my circle how much I hate NYC, but it's rooted in reality. Overcrowded, dirty, loud, too many rats, Times Square is overly commercialized fakeness, Brooklyn is soulless now, other boroughs are dumps. The only redeeming quality to me is Broadway. Even the cuisine, while plentiful isn't anything overly special.

Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. I really hate that place
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:32     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Indy. Holy crap is that a ghetto city.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:23     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Anonymous wrote:West Texas.


Yes
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:22     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Not a fan of Myrtle beach, OBX, Vegas, Orlando and San Francisco. I don’t need to visit any of them again.

Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:08     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
NYC in summer. Too hot and smelly.

I think late September is the best time to travel most places in the northern hemisphere.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:07     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
I wouldn’t say hate per say, but I never need to return to:

Vegas
Seattle
Madrid
Orlando
El Salvador
OBX
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 21:04     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Anonymous wrote:Seattle


I live in Seattle and think of it as a really difficult place to visit. The areas near tourist sites are grimy and filled with super shady situations, mentally ill people, and occasionally violent people. Traffic is daunting if you’re trying to enjoy the scenic parts of the area or get from one neighborhood to the next. It can take me an hour to go 3 miles.

The areas that make my everyday life special are pretty much inaccessible to visitors- neighborhood swim and tennis clubs on the lake, school and university events, friends with boats, urban farm shares, ski houses 50 minutes away, etc.

I think Vancouver is a bit more tourist-friendly in terms of having lots of stuff close by and some actual destinations.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2024 20:45     Subject: Where did you absolutely hate?
Puerto Rico. The sand flies! Ruined our trip