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

[SugarMouseTown]

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?

Paris

It's supposed to be beautiful, romantic etc

Dump! Dirty, smelly and poorly maintained infrastructure

With horribly rude and arseholish natives based on my experience who mainly try and gouge tourists as much as possible

@KrispyKale

Hamleys!

I went there as a child in the late 1960's. It was genuinely magical then.

Now? Meh.

Hamleys!

And in similar vein - Harrods!

Work as a makeup artist in tv/film. I cried every day.

I did like the food hall in Harrods so that just got it over the line, otherwise yes to being rather disappointing.

Holyrood House, Edinburgh: terrible old fashioned decor in the "modern" areas as I remember it in on a visit in the 1980s. Not very royal to my young eyes.😄

Los Angeles.

Posted at start of thread/in response to op and see I am not alone!

Seconding champagne - not for me, prefer a really good Bordeaux instead, on a similar note - caviar! Wasn't veggie then, I'm not squeamish and I generally love a salty snack but...yuk no!

I want to visit New York but fear it too would disappoint

@Hoppinggreen I used to live in London but I'm a weegie, I may be biased but I much prefer glasgow to London.

Have to say I loved Milan though

Bali. Thought it would be idyllic but I’ve been to far nicer islands and beaches. Loved the inland town of Ubud though.

London. I get there’s a lot to do, but I find it crowded, expensive and unwelcoming.

Hershey’s chocolate. Thought it was soooo cool when I got given some when I was a teenager. Tasted and smelled like vomit mixed with Parmesan.

I love Paris! I don't mind the dirt, dogshit, smell of rubbish, crowds of tourists, or anything. One whiff of the Metro and I'm in heaven The only thing I don't like about it is the endless blokes trying very persistently to sell you crappy plastic shit.

I love Venice. We went in January and it was reasonably quiet. We spent the bare minimum of time in the centre, and instead wandered out into the residential neighbourhoods. And instead of going in a stupidly expensive gondola, we had a rowing lesson and did it ourselves. It was an amazing weekend and I'm looking forward to bringing the kids there some day.

I loved the Mona Lisa. I wasn't expecting to feel anything at all, I'm not an art lover (or understander!) but it stopped me in my tracks; presumably just because it's so familiar? It definitely made an impact though. The rest of the Louvre, and to be honest, nearly all galleries and museums, leave me cold fairly quickly. The Zaanse Schans, in the Netherlands, was much more my cup of tea: a collection of old working windmills, creaking and heaving in the wind, sounding like sailing ships on a heavy sea, grinding and sawing and generally harnessing (barely) a force of nature. That was much more impressive than I expected.

Harrods
Oxford street

Brighton
Chester
Tenby

Champagne
Oysters

Walls Vienetta

Home ownership
Adulthood in general

Walls Vienetta
Yes, after having a 30 year break from it I was looking forward to having some. Never again!🤮

Same with Angel delight Butterscoth. That used to be a treat. I had it a few years ago and it tasted so synthetic.

Another 🤮

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!

Agree about Bali. Nice but not my idea of paradise at all. I actively dislike Paris, and found Malta incredibly bland and a bit seedy.

@FKATondelayo

I didn't mind the Vatican but the Uffizi in Florence is a load of shite.

Art galleries generally, especially with children. I'm starting to think paying £20 a head to look at some boring old pictures is the biggest confidence trick / fraud of our time.

But if you don’t like art, and/or are wrangling small children who don’t, surely that’s down to you? I mean, if you’re not interested in looking at old paintings, why go to an art gallery? I love the Uffizi and have gone several times, but would never go to a theme park because that would be pure hell for me.

Loads of things I experienced as a young professional in big cities (having been brought up in a small working class town) that I had been led to believe would be very glamourous and high end actually turned out to be rather grotty.

Eg. Black tie dinners in big hotels- assumed it would be amazingly fancy food and drink and sophisticated conversation in luxurious surroundings. Most were actually barely edible mass catered (probably microwaved) food, cheap tasting wine and letchy older men. The hotels usually looked plush on the surface but were rather faded.
Big city offices- looked very impressive on the outside and the client areas were very polished- but staff areas were dirty and crowded.
City pubs and clubs- like a few pps, I assumed they would be exciting, and glamorous but actually most were even more filthy than at home but with more people and a bigger price tag

@AlbertBridge

Sex

You're doing it wrong! 😂

@JurassickJay

Manchester.

It's not unlike Croydon. Only smaller.

This is so true!! 😂

@number87inthequeue

Loads of things I experienced as a young professional in big cities (having been brought up in a small working class town) that I had been led to believe would be very glamourous and high end actually turned out to be rather grotty.

Eg. Black tie dinners in big hotels- assumed it would be amazingly fancy food and drink and sophisticated conversation in luxurious surroundings. Most were actually barely edible mass catered (probably microwaved) food, cheap tasting wine and letchy older men. The hotels usually looked plush on the surface but were rather faded.
Big city offices- looked very impressive on the outside and the client areas were very polished- but staff areas were dirty and crowded.
City pubs and clubs- like a few pps, I assumed they would be exciting, and glamorous but actually most were even more filthy than at home but with more people and a bigger price tag

Agree with all of this as well. And business travel, as PPs mentioned. I avoid it all these days mostly and life is so much better for that!

I’m a wedding/party planner. Definitely didn’t think my life would be 90% loading vans, talking about where skips, loos etc are going to go, and clearing up after guests.

Campari and soda. Sounds sophisticated but tastes like poison.

I adore Campari , even though it's slightly reminiscent of Benylin

@cushioncovers

Harrods Oxford street

Brighton
Chester
Tenby

Champagne
Oysters

I agree with your first and last two but Brighton, Chester and Tenby are three places I love. What don't you like about them?

Barcelona. It is an absolute hole.