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Original poster

What did you think would be more glamorous or impressive than it was?

407 replies

SugarMouseTown · 18/10/2021 11:59

As a kid I thought that being an actor would be fun and exciting and I'm sure it has its moments but watching the behind the scenes videos much of it looks miserable and dull. Especially action movies where they're required to get drenched with every substance known to man and have explosions and fire going off around them.

What didn't live up to expectations for you?

OP posts:
Comedycook · 19/10/2021 10:11

Nightclubs

Hawaii

Conversely I went to Beverley hills and it was every bit as glamorous as I'd imagined. Maybe even more so...loved it.

thereisonlyoneofme · 19/10/2021 10:20

Athens, totally packed with people and cars and not much to see other than Acropolis. Paris, unfriendly and rude locals, got pickpocketed there too !

Marelle · 19/10/2021 10:23

Teaching. I thought it would be a lovely family friendly job working with young people and shaping their minds. Finish at 3.30, pick up my kids and sit at the kitchen table marking while they potter around the house, then pack up and cook our dinner about 6pm. Nice long holidays so I could look after my kids. At least that’s what it was like in the 80s when I was a child and my mum was a teacher.

It was an absolute nightmare. Isolated in a classroom for most of the day with no adults to speak to. No breaks, not even for a wee or a drink, because you could bet your arse someone wanted to talk to me at break time or I had to deal with a pupil while the rest were out playing. No lunch break most days because I had too much to do, either parent meetings or resolving problems, prepping for the afternoon, etc. A stupid amount of meetings after school hours and endless paperwork that contributed nothing to the actual teaching. When I finally got home I cooked dinner then had to do marking all evening after my kids went to bed. I had Saturday off but had to work all day Sunday to prepare lessons for the week. I even had to go in during the holidays for more meetings, prep work and training. That’s before you even consider the hassle I had with bad behaviour and disrespect, being assaulted a few times by boys who were approaching the size of adult men, being spat at and insulted and yelled at. And the hassle with trying to force them to sit still, behave and do some work. Also the fact that virtually all SEN support staff had been removed due to budget cuts, so I was expected to provide that support myself in my lunch breaks, or while teaching a full class at the same time. I quit after a few years because it wasn’t what I expected at all. What was worse was that everyone thought I had the cushy life I’d been expecting to have, when actually I was struggling to cope!

TackyJewellery · 19/10/2021 10:44

Key West in Florida. I thought it would be very different. It’s like a sort of pretend Cornish tourist town. Strange place.

notacooldad · 19/10/2021 10:56

I was so disappointed with Tonys chocolonely.
I read on MN about how fabulous it was and found that it really wasn't.
You cant even break it off into even squares!

It's not supposed to be broken into even squares. That's fairly evident from the design

Of course! I could see that when I opened the packet🙄
I'd never had a bar before and bought it to see what the hype was about. It wasnt very nice and my comment about not even being able to break it off evenly was an off the cuff comment as me and always snap a bar in half and have had each.

Gingernaut · 19/10/2021 10:56

@Phyllis321

A party on a boat on the Thames. It was a bit boring after a while and I couldn’t leave.
I can top that.

A works party on a boat on the Thames, with the added bonus of Tower Bridge opening for us - going back and forth.

Trapped on a boat with people I have to work with and don't socialise with outside of work, with a couple of 'jack the lad' types smuggling in their own booze (against the maritime regulations) so they were playing hide and seek amongst the crowd with the crew.

The Thames is wide and the river breezes were bone chilling as we all trooped out on deck to watch the Bridge open for us.

ErrolTheDragon · 19/10/2021 11:05

@thereisonlyoneofme

Athens, totally packed with people and cars and not much to see other than Acropolis. Paris, unfriendly and rude locals, got pickpocketed there too !
Not much to see?Confused the national archaeological museum in Athens is fabulous. I'd seen photos and knew a bit about some of the famous artefacts but seeing them for real... the 'face of Agamemnon' (well, one of his forebears') , the ancient Mycenaean frescos ....
ErrolTheDragon · 19/10/2021 11:07

The Thames is wide.

A Liverpudlian relative of mine, used to the expanse of the Mersey, was distinctly unimpressed by the famous Father Thames. 'Call this a river....'Grin

PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears · 19/10/2021 11:16

August. It's always "colder than average" or "wetter than average". Just give up on it already. June is usually much nicer. I've stopped expecting anything of August.

Livpool · 19/10/2021 11:20

@ISeeTheLight

Bruges. Ghent is MUCH nicer - same architecture but there's actually stuff going on.

Business travel (ie for work). Gets very tedious after a while no matter how fancy the hotels are or how fancy your plane seat & food is. Glad I don't have to do it anymore.

Agreed - I have changed jobs and don't miss the travel at all!
Anon7722 · 19/10/2021 11:21

I've never been to an expensive hotel which has seemed worth the extra money. Maybe it's because my expectations are so high, and essentially it's just a room at the end of the day. I've been to many lovely, reasonably priced hotels though.

FKATondelayo · 19/10/2021 13:07

@IntermittentParps As I've said previously on this thread I am an ex-history of art student and am very much into art. I still find the Uffizi (AND the V&A AND the National Gallery) has dull, unengaging and old fashioned ways of exhibiting it.

IntermittentParps · 19/10/2021 14:42

I haven't been to the Uffizi but I must beg to differ on the V&A and the National Gallery!

ErrolTheDragon · 19/10/2021 15:02

Re the Uffizi, the context of the preceding rooms full of formulaic religious triptychs etc (which one can pass through fairly rapidly) makes the Botticellis all the more wonderful by contrast. They're not just beautiful, they were also revolutionary. I'm sure that's accident rather than design but that's ok by me.

butterflyze · 19/10/2021 15:19

@Toddlerteaplease

Chatsworth. The gardens are lovely. But the house is overrated and it's very expensive.
Ah, Chatsworth. I went there years ago. We had tea and cake in their cafe and I can still vividly remember it being the BEST cup of tea I have ever had in my entire life.
IntermittentParps · 19/10/2021 15:22

I agree, I don't love the house. They do put on some good exhibitions though and they have some amazing Lucien Freud paintings and a wonderful Rembrandt, which I basically find worth the entrance fee. And yes, the grounds and gardens are fab.

poppym12 · 19/10/2021 15:36

The leaning tower of Pisa was much smaller than I expected.

KrispyKale · 19/10/2021 15:38

It was much prettier than I expected and you get the other non sloping architecture thrown in for good measure!

TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain · 19/10/2021 15:44

I like the fact that the V&A is still quite old-fashioned and randomly laid out.
Most private jets are not glamorous. They are normal aircraft with fewer seats in them. Nothing more.

LaurieFairyCake · 19/10/2021 16:11

I thought Chatsworth was AMAZING - we went last year and spent 2 full days there

It was beautifully kept

BabbleBee · 19/10/2021 16:13

Longleat. It was nice but I was expecting a LOT more. Especially for the price…

ForsythiaInBloom · 19/10/2021 16:13

Wimbledon. I’ve been four times, Centre Court tickets thanks to family connection. DH has been more, sometimes in corporate hospitality and agrees with me.

The Wimbledon site is just PACKED. Vastly too crowded, nowhere to sit down and the bars and restaurants for the everyday folks (ie not All England Club Members) are fast food trucks painted purple and green. You have to eat and drink standing up in what feels like an underground car park drinking vastly expensive tepid Soave with a plastic pot of strawberries. Henman Hill is so packed you can’t see the grass and have to crawl over people, but is at least somewhere you might be able to sit down. The whole thing is a really poor experience, miles away from transport. On a hot day, it’s punishing to sit watching a five-setter in that sun/heat. If it rains, most matches are off. It’s far better to watch tennis on TV, with a comfy seat, commentary, cold wine of your choice and your friends to “Oooohh” with when they miss a shot. Don’t waste your money on tickets.

KrispyKale · 19/10/2021 16:15

Forsythia that makes sense.
You may have saved me a bucket list disappointment!

IntermittentParps · 19/10/2021 16:18

Oh, now I LOVE Wimbledon! Have done both grounds tickets (queuing from dawn and sitting on the HIll watching the big screen) and Centre Court tickets, the new ones up in the new roof that you can actually buy rather than having to be in the lottery for.
You don't HAVE to buy wine or strawberries. And I don't know what this underground car park is; there's always a space to be had somewhere nice.
For me it's my annual fried chicken dinner day Grin. Take a sandwich for lunch and my own water, a Belgian bun from Greggs picked up on the way, and buy one or two cups of tea in between matches and that's me.

ForsythiaInBloom · 19/10/2021 16:43

The underground car park at Wimbledon is the space beneath the stands where they have those standy-uppy drinking tables on concrete. It’s such a disappointment.