To absolutely HATE New York

[GreetingsFromVenus]

Dreamed of going there for many years. Thought it would be amazing. Everyone seems to think it is.

Here now and I hate it. Extortionate prices, rude ignorant locals, so many aggressive beggars. mentally ill people shouting in the street. loads of homeless people. The subway stations are disgusting and feel very menacing compared to London.

I find it really depressing actually and feel that the way Hollywood has portrayed New York is all smoke and mirrors. It is nothing special at all IMO. In fact it has a LOT of social issues and it made me feel quite sick to be spending $100 just for a mid range meal for 2 (no dessert) while there were people asking for food outside.

Central Park - pffttt!

Cannot wait to get home next week and will never complain about London prices again!

Anyone else felt the same?

@Sort0f

I get where you are coming from. It’s distressing to see people in trouble and no-one really helping.

Just after Hurricane Katrina I was on a work trip to Memphis. There were refugees from New Orleans sleeping on every park bench. One on the bench, one underneath. No real effort to help them.

It really put me off the US in general.

I'm in Houston, so my perspective is from here.

The city of Houston took 130,000 Katrina evacuees overnight. There are still over 30,000 former evacuees who have made Houston their home.

Houston has had several hurricanes (Ike and Harvey) since then that devastated our city. People from all over the US, especially those from NY, have donated their precious resources, people and time to help us.

I think you'll find that we are much more generous than you give us credit, as a people.

@elp30 I think individuals are generous. I think the government is a disgrace.

@unname

[quote AllThePogs]@elp30 I think individuals are generous. I think the government is a disgrace.[/quote]
Pretty much the same as the UK, France, Chine, Russia, Australia.....

I love what Clueclu said--it's not just how big the Statue of Liberty is, it's that it is the actual object in the actual place. That is so much of what makes travel amazing. Going to a battlefield, now calm and empty, and using your imagination and knowledge to reflect upon how men fought and died there. Going to a cathedral and thinking about how it revealed the way Medieval people thought about God. Walking an ancient village and feeling how many footsteps a person would have to take to bring water to feed their livestock. Even smelling the dry rosemary scented air of Greece on a hot blue summer day while sheep baa in the distance. You need to bring geographical awareness, imagination, knowledge, and presence to be the best kind of visitor. Otherwise, why waste the jet fuel?

Streets of run down wooden clapperboard type houses, messy, overgrown grass verges on the pavement, telegraph poles and wires everywhere, overflowing bins - just scruffy looking. There are much nicer areas of course, but for me, first time there, driving through those neighbourhoods, I was so disappointed.

Dutchess County is a rural area and housing alongside busy county roads that carry a lot of truck traffic is least desirable, so of course the houses are small and not in perfect condition. The area is still lovely.

www.dutchesstourism.com/

I think the telegraph went out of use there some time ago.

Because of the low population density in rural areas like Dutchess, it is not economically feasible to bury electric transmission wires.

What are you talking about, Miss Conduct, I just got a telegraph this morning telling me that Amelia Earhart is missing!

@MissConductUS

Streets of run down wooden clapperboard type houses, messy, overgrown grass verges on the pavement, telegraph poles and wires everywhere, overflowing bins - just scruffy looking. There are much nicer areas of course, but for me, first time there, driving through those neighbourhoods, I was so disappointed.

Dutchess County is a rural area and housing alongside busy county roads that carry a lot of truck traffic is least desirable, so of course the houses are small and not in perfect condition. The area is still lovely.

www.dutchesstourism.com/

I think the telegraph went out of use there some time ago.

Because of the low population density in rural areas like Dutchess, it is not economically feasible to bury electric transmission wires.

I never said Duchess County wasn't lovely.

It was the outskirts of New York City I was referring to. as you leave the airport to drive north before joining the freeway .

The city suburbs.

And the 'telegraph' poles is an English way of describing to the poles carrying electric and phone cables. I didn't literally mean 'telegraph' - sorry if I wasn't specific enough for you.

The streets of New York itself that we drove through to exit the city were scruffy, and yeah, I though it was a dump. My experience, my impressions.

But where did you think poor people live? Or did you previously think there were no poor people in NY? About a third of housing in London is social housing estates, not all of them particularly salubrious, but I wouldn’t expect the average well-informed tourist to declare London a total dump on the back of having seen them.

Jitters, have you ever been to, like, any other city anywhere? Because city outskirts have been scruffier than city centers since forever. The US was an earlier adopter of highway systems than almost any other country, so some highways are built in an old-fashioned way that reveal more of that scruffiness than other countries (plus, we weren't bombed in WWII, so bombing didn't offer the same chances of urban renewal--fortunately) so it looks more jerry-rigged, but London has the same sprawl, Paris has its infamous "suburbs," even ancient Rome had the same. Be unimpressed if you want, but that's more about you not understanding reality than anything else.

FFS I'm not remotely interest getting into arguments about 'poor people' and other 'city outskirts'.

I made an observation about the parts of New York City I saw that left me distinctly unimpressed. That's what the thread's about isn't it?

I'm sure it's the same in London, Paris, (city of your choice) but the thread is about New York, so I made an observation about my impression of the parts I saw. Wish I hadn't bloody bothered to be honest.

Would you mind both going off and finding someone else to pick an argument with, because I'm not interested.

Over and out!

Wow this thread took a swerve from "I hate New York" to "I hate poor people".

You're quite right OP. I've had to spend many wasted hours of my life there through work and it's a shithole.

I'm so glad this thread is almost full.

Me too @MissConductUS

See you on the next America-bashing thread! I'm sure there will be one along soon.

@allfurcoatnoknickers

Wow this thread took a swerve from "I hate New York" to "I hate poor people".

In fairness I think it is more "I hate american poor people"

@dreamingbohemian

Me too *@MissConductUS*

See you on the next America-bashing thread! I'm sure there will be one along soon.

There's truth in that statement and it's depressing.

Until next time, y'all 🤠

Well if people judge cities on poor people don’t go near anywhere in India! Any journey from an airport in South Africa into a city is a bit of a jolt too! Sadly expectations are too high! It’s not like the movies!

@Movinghouseatlast

I agree 100%. I went in April, October and April again with work

It is dirty. It is noisy. It smells. It all looks the same.

Walked over Brooklyn Bridge- it was windy and dirty.

Highline- what the ACTUAL fuck is it with that? It's just a very narrow park.

Central Park. Why bother when we have beautiful parks in London?

Shops. Nothing as beautiful as Harrods.

It was all just so horribly urban. I come from Gorton in Manchester and it reminded me of that.

Good things- The Tenement Museum, Arturio's pizza, Magnolia bakery, Washington Square area was OK.

London is just a million times better.

There are so many ignorant posts on this thread, but this one in particular struck me.

It's dirty, it's noisy and it smells. It's a huge city of 8.5 million people. What do you expect?

It all looks the same. That isn't remotely true. Even in Manhattan there are big differences between the different neighborhoods like midtown, Greenwich Village, Tribeca, Upper East Side, etc.

It was windy walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. No way? You walked over a bridge over a river and it was windy? Who would have thunk it?

Why bother going to Central Park when there are beautiful parks in London? News flash. Central Park wasn't created as a tourist attraction and it wasn't put there for your enjoyment. Those 8.5 million New Yorkers can't just pop over to London when they want to go to a park, can they?

Nothing as beautiful as Harrods. Who cares if the shops aren't as beautiful as Harrods? (Whether that's even true or not I don't know. Did anyone in New York claim there were shops more beautiful than Harrods?)

So horribly urban. See my first point.

See you soon all! I'll be hanging out in my Manhattan triplex waiting for the next time someone from Slough feels the need to tell me I don't have any holidays or healthcare

@ComtesseDeSpair

But where did you think poor people live? Or did you previously think there were no poor people in NY? About a third of housing in London is social housing estates, not all of them particularly salubrious, but I wouldn’t expect the average well-informed tourist to declare London a total dump on the back of having seen them.

TBH London is a bit of a dump! I've lived there for 15 years.

I think London is wonderful - and I’ve also lived here over 15 years with a 4-year break in a big house in a lovely town in Scotland in the middle. I missed this city with all its little pockets so much I had to come back!

When she used to pick me up from the airport we'd drive back north through the city suburbs to join the main highway north. I don't know the name of those neighbourhoods but I remember the first time driving through and thinking 'what a dump'.

My friend said much the same thing when she arrived in London and was on the way to her SIL's place. In fact, although this happened several years ago, earlier this week I was telling her about this thread and she mentioned it again. However, she loved London and, unlike you obviously, was able to see that you can't judge a whole city on what part of it is like!

See you on the next America-bashing thread! I'm sure there will be one along soon.

Yep, it won't be long, there seems to be one a week at the moment. Must be about time for an Australia/NZ/Canada/anywhere that isn't the UK one soon - we haven't had one of those for a while.

Sigh, not all Nescafe can be GOLDEN Nescafe.