Anonymous
08/09/2023 16:55
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Gee I’m part of the 11%. I’ve been to over 90 countries. I liked them all except I thought Egypt was way too hot and London too big for me. But I loved Devon in England.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 16:07
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Except it's charming. YMMV. But yes obviously a big big city vibe where people actually work - not a city run by tourism.
I am from London and it is probably my favorite place in the world to live. That said, I am always surprised that Americans go there as one of their first international destinations for a vacation. There are a lot of places that are more scenic, more different from the US etc.
Any thoughts re small cities/towns outside of London? Is 3 days in Oxford or the like an overkill - for someone who loves walking thru cities, architecture, and staying in nice hotels? Like my ideal vacation day is wake up in a nice hotel, get coffee, go walk around/take a walking tour, sit and get lunch and watch the people go by, walk around some more, dinner (don't care all that much re food/not a foodie), and back to the hotel, rinse and repeat.
DP
I spent 6 days in Winchester, UK back in Feb 2020. It’s about 90 minutes west/southwest of London. It was easy to get to by coach bus from the bus station at Heathrow. If you are interested in English history, King Alfred, and all that, it’s a fascinating place! There’s the Round Table Henry VIII commissioned, 12th century ruins of the old Bishops’ palace, and of course, Winchester Cathedral, with its own enormous history. And there’s a decent variety of good food, despite the size of the town.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 15:29
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
I'm surprised at the London put downs. I disagree that it's just a bigger NYC. I mean, Westminster Abbey alone holds so much history it boggles the mind. No, it's most definitely NOT just another big city.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 15:24
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Except it's charming. YMMV. But yes obviously a big big city vibe where people actually work - not a city run by tourism.
I am from London and it is probably my favorite place in the world to live. That said, I am always surprised that Americans go there as one of their first international destinations for a vacation. There are a lot of places that are more scenic, more different from the US etc.
Any thoughts re small cities/towns outside of London? Is 3 days in Oxford or the like an overkill - for someone who loves walking thru cities, architecture, and staying in nice hotels? Like my ideal vacation day is wake up in a nice hotel, get coffee, go walk around/take a walking tour, sit and get lunch and watch the people go by, walk around some more, dinner (don't care all that much re food/not a foodie), and back to the hotel, rinse and repeat.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 15:23
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Except it's charming. YMMV. But yes obviously a big big city vibe where people actually work - not a city run by tourism.
I am from London and it is probably my favorite place in the world to live. That said, I am always surprised that Americans go there as one of their first international destinations for a vacation. There are a lot of places that are more scenic, more different from the US etc.
I get what you're saying. But most Americans haven't lived in NYC. The closest thing in the US resembling London is NYC, so it's a week of experiencing that but still getting out of the country so it's more of an experience (though you can make it a non experience if you want to - frequenting all the chains that we have in the US also). Plus while they won't admit it, a huge % of Americans even those who want to travel aren't comfortable going places that aren't English speaking - that's why UK ends up being the top of the list. It takes a bit of being in Europe for people to realize that in fact yes English is spoken in most of the EU and esp in the big cities. I've def had young coworkers who want to travel who are intimidated by their first trips outside the US or Caribbean so London is the baby step they take.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 14:46
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Except it's charming. YMMV. But yes obviously a big big city vibe where people actually work - not a city run by tourism.
I am from London and it is probably my favorite place in the world to live. That said, I am always surprised that Americans go there as one of their first international destinations for a vacation. There are a lot of places that are more scenic, more different from the US etc.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 14:34
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Brussels. Dark, dreary, and boring.
I caught the mumps in Brussels!
I met a man in Brussels. He was 6 foot four and full of muscles.
Did he give you a Vegemite sandwich?
Id give him something else.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 14:12
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Except it's charming. YMMV. But yes obviously a big big city vibe where people actually work - not a city run by tourism.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 11:33
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Brussels. Dark, dreary, and boring.
I caught the mumps in Brussels!
I met a man in Brussels. He was 6 foot four and full of muscles.
Did he give you a Vegemite sandwich?
Anonymous
08/09/2023 11:29
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Brussels isn't overrated because everyone says it's terrible. That's what everyone told us: don't go there it's terrible. It's dreary, charmless, no good restaurants, hard to navigate. Go anywhere else.
Well we wound up flying in and out of Brussels because we saved like 2 grand that way and it was centrally located between other places we wanted to go. Guess what, we had fun! We loved the Magritte museum, we found the cafe culture to be better than in some other European cities (obviously not as good as Paris or Vienna but better than we expected), the pastries were great, and we found a great jazz bar with a million Belgian beers on tap.
I mean, I don't think I'd spend a week in Brussels, but I actually think it's underrated as an entry point to Europe. You're a quick train ride to Bruges for a day or two of classic Flanders Belgium, and Lille is super close and can get you just about anywhere you want to go with access to high speed trains.
I now recommend Brussels when I'm giving people "how to do Europe well on the cheap" tips, as we are known in our circle for knowing how to travel fun places frugally.
Brussels: officially underrated!
Thanks for this. Haven’t been in a loooong time and was kind of shocked at the negative comments.
Agree!
I actually felt like Brussels was sort of like a European DC (and I had similar feelings about Geneva). It had the same vibe. I wouldn't travel there for tourism, necessarily, but I did enjoy my time there for a work trip.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 11:28
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:East african safaris, in general. If you go, only go for a few days. You don't need any more than a week, otherwise it gets old -- very very fast.
I’ve heard this too! Go to Africa but only do a safari for 3-4 days.
We did 7 days, and that was plenty. But I don't think 3-4 would have been enough! Unless you can afford to fly around the Serengeti.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 11:26
Subject: Re:Most overrated international destination?
London — to me it was just a bigger NYC.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 09:33
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:East african safaris, in general. If you go, only go for a few days. You don't need any more than a week, otherwise it gets old -- very very fast.
I’ve heard this too! Go to Africa but only do a safari for 3-4 days.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 09:30
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:I loved all of my vacations, but London was my least favorite. I have traveled to
Lake Como, Italy
Milan Italy
Nice France
Seville Spain
Dhaka Bangladesh
Switzerland is close to Italy, can't remember the city
I think the trick is to travel to smaller towns. They are less chaotic and cleaner.
I’ve sort of sadly found this too as I get older and grumpier! I would have always considered myself a major city person but lately I find that I enjoy smaller, fancier resort areas for travel: Lake Como, Big Sur, Nantucket, Vancouver Island, etc.. I think we all just have a tendency to have the postcard image in our head and the reality of pollution, homelessness, poverty, tacky tourist shops, crime, etc can bring our expectations down when we actually visit someplace. I’m worried that visiting Egypt and the Pyramids are going to be a huge let down for me.
Anonymous
08/09/2023 09:24
Subject: Most overrated international destination?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Verona, Italy
Everywhere, Costa Rica
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Agree Verona is super dull.
Costa Rica we loved the Four Seasons
Verona is super dull? Do you not eat or drink?
Compared to other places in Italy. I lived there for several years and saw most of the country and it’s on the bottom of my list for favorite places. It gets a lot of buzz for being the Romeo and Juliet city but I don’t find there’s much there beyond being a more upscale city for the country. Top picks would be Rome actually, Florence + Tuscany, Sicily, Lake Como, Dolomites, Aeolian Islands, Pantelleria, Venice, Amalfi..