Worst trip you've been on?

[everythinglooksbetterpaintedblack]

Just returned from 3 nights in Lisbon and it was a truly awful trip.
Anyone else had a trip from hell they care to share?

HA ha ha ha ha

NEVER come to Vancouver!!

(also because we can't be bothered with you!)

This is really, genuinely funny. Have you ever been to any other airport? LAX is seriously one of the worst in any country anywhere. LA has good and bad areas, I can't say it's all bad. But LAX? Oh YEAH. Absolutely awful.

Two micro dots.. sorry couldn't resist.

@LaPalmaLlama are you one of the people that write trip advisor reviews such as ‘Everest - bit crap. No WiFi or toilets and nothing to do - just a tall rock’

I've been to those places and the spectacle of the wild monkeys arriving at feeding time is amazing. We went off into the forest and were able to get close enough for them to touch us - I’ll never forget it.

the flower cave is named after the anemones there. Did you expect it to be full of actual flowers? it’s a cave by the sea!!
We explored along the cliffs there and watched turtles in the sea and the amazing power of the waves crashing into funnels carved into the rocks, where water would surge through and be forced upwards, tens of metres into the air!

We went to a garden famed for hummingbirds. I remember a family turning up, looking around unimpressed and saying there weren’t any birds to be seen and it was rubbish. They walked round in 10 minutes and left. I think they expected the birds to be flying round their heads, like in a movie. I selected a spot near some flowers and sat down. After a couple of minutes I had so many different birds coming to feed right by me, it was amazing! We stayed for a few hours.
The owner said he saw so many families arrive at his gardens and claim them ‘boring’ as they had no capacity to see that a wild bird isn’t going to come and sit on their hand. Their expectation that all entertainment should be provided without any thought/effort on their part meant they missed out on an incredible experience.

Sea world Florida about 20 years ago.

Never really gave much thought to the plight of whales and dolphins in captivity before that but seeing them being made to do tricks for food in a tiny swimming pool changed my mind pretty swiftly. Evil place and I'm ashamed i went. At least i didn't also go to discovery cove.

I've never been to LAX and i was curious as to why it's so terrible, but if you're not going to properly explain then i don't think you get to be patronising to people who don't get it.

@Craftyy I'm exactly the same. Went to exactly the same place, took the kids, and spent the whole time feeling sick at the horror of it all and ashamed it had even entered my head.
Same with New York. I was desperate to ride through Central Park in a horse drawn carriage, like Carrie Bradshaw. When I got there and saw how the horses were treated I was again horrified I'd ever even contemplated it.
Currently living in a Middle Eastern country where animals are similarly abused in the name of tourism. If breaks my heart.

I've been to Mexico and we loved it, we stayed in the Riviera Maya absolutely beautiful hotel, we went outside of the hotel many times on trips and be didn't have any issues, didn't feel threatened didn't see any trouble at all. I know there is a lot and we avoided cancun for that reason.

Tortoises are inveterate shaggers. Chances are that if you see more than one tortoise at a time, they will be shagging. Maybe it just takes them ages to do it 🤷🏻‍♀️

They are also not veggie (at least not by choice). We found this out after a giant tortoise savaged my ex H’s toe. One of my fondest memories 😁

@Nandocushion why the comparison between Boston and Vancouver? I've been to both and don't get it...🤔

Vegas, not helped by the fact my luggage never arrived which set me off in a bad mood.

It felt like loads of bars/restaurants in shopping centres, the Casinos once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all, fun for 5mins but nothing special. We went to a few shows, the crooners tribute was in a dingy conference style room.

I preferred the old town part, yes it was a bit rough round the edges but it felt like it had some soul. The rest of it felt like an overblown Blackpool, I expected it to feel a bit more glamorous and less tacky.

There absolutely is, the red light district is just a few streets/canals within the entire city, you don’t tend to get offered sex & drugs in the Rembrandt museum, Anne Frank House or Van Gough museum :)

I LOVED Madeira! stunning scenery, stunning wildlife! lizards, crabs, dolphins, whales, canaries, avocados, I will remember the flying fish all my life - they were mind blowing - they really were just skipping across the top of the water like children skipping around a playground

haha! The clue is in the name!

I loved Madeira 40 years ago.
Pleased to say dd and her dh and ds visited Madeira last year and loved it too.
They did the wicker sleigh ride too with dgs, just 11 months, laughing happily.

my worst ever trip was Glasgow. Never been anywhere so dirty, even just the tables in the fast food restaurants like Mcds were filthy. Never seen so many elderly drunks lying in the gutter, Never had so many inappropriate remarks and unwanted attention from intimidating men - and I was in my 40s

Absolutely agree. I’ve traveled quite a bit and unfortunately had to go through LAX twice (10 years apart). Worst airport experiences ever.

Camping in Scotland. 🌧️ It rained so hard that we had to sleep in the car, there were ducks swimming in a puddle outside the tent, as soon as the sun came up we took the soggy tent down and drove to my great aunt in Oban. I hate camping anyway but this was especially bad.

I dont think you can travel to any place with the expectation that the weather and wild life and astronomy will do what you want. It might or might not. There are no guarantees

I love threads like this!
Always highlight how different we all are - l have been to Vegas, Cyprus and Boston and loved them. LA doesn't appeal to me at all neither does Mexico.
I didn't loke Bangkok one bit and would never go there again but l know some people love it.

Controversially, I think I have to say Rome, but only because we went there for a wedding, it was July and over 40 degrees and just awful all the time, aside from the 2 days we paid large amounts each to use the outdoor pool at a lovely 5* hotel.

Not Rome's fault, and I'm sure if we'd gone in March or October we'd have loved it, but it's so deeply ingrained in my memory I'm not even keen to go back and give it another go.

Portugal has decriminalised all drugs.

I have a couple from being a kid. My mum would decide on mothering Sunday (never allowed to say mother's day) that we should go on an outing as a treat for her.

So she'd get up about 10am, decide where we were going and we would set off at about noon.

We went to Port Merio, except we didn't, we got to the car park and read a sign saying the place was closed until Easter. Three hours to visit a car park, and I don't know if this is still true but pubs in Wales didn't open on a Sunday so my dad, who did all the driving, couldn't even get a half of bitter.

Another time we went to Edinburgh, it was closed. Four hours in the car to visit a city where all the shops, attractions and cafes were closed.

This was early 1980s.

I loathed LA but can't say that LAX struck me as significantly worse than other large airports. Kenyatta on the other hand... 😬

Completely agree, would never go back, every time we left the hotel it felt like a battle, you couldn’t even browse in the market because if you even look at something a billion people surround you and hassle you, it was just irritating.