To ask which country you would not visit again and why?

[travelcat]

I love hearing about travel experiences and am interested in knowing about places you have visited that you wouldn't go back to.

AIBU to ask which country you'd avoid in the future and what specifically made your experience less enjoyable? Was it due to culture, safety, or something else?

We were attacked in a pub in North Wales because we were English. Beautiful country but I am very wary of the North Welsh

South Wales is totally different and I love it there

Australia, too many flies, too many poisonous animals, too many chauvinists and racists.

A shame, as parts of it are absolutely beautiful.

In a heartbeat.

What stats are you basing that on?

I'm SE Asian, haven't had any obvious unpleasantness in North Wales/Mid Wales (have been several times, most recently this summer).

I visited in December, for a sister’s wedding - I’ve never know cold like it, either! And yet people say a ‘dry cold’ doesn’t really feel cold! It was dry there all right - everything frozen solid, a bitter wind - you absolutely needed ear muffs, and seriously bloody perishing cold!

It didn’t put me off NY, but TBH I’ve never felt any desire to return.

I cannot imagine why it is advised against when cage diving with great whites. It’s not as if you will have blood gushing out of you! (I went cage driving with great whites but never received this advice.)

Why would I give my hard-earned money to bolster repressive regimes?

I grew up with a black South African stepmother. Under apartheid she had been a non-citizen in her own country. We boycotted every Cape grape, every bottle of wine, every single orange. Not a single penny of my money went to support the obscenity of apartheid.

A few years ago we were talking about how much i would love to visit Russia but i wouldn't go there because of their appalling attitude to LGBT people. If my friends aren't welcome, why would I go there?

I won't go anywhere with anti-LGBT laws.
I won't go anywhere which excludes Jews.
I won't go anywhere where, as a woman, I don't have full human rights.

I have some lovely holidays in Europe but we also went to Argentina a couple of years ago.

Unless you are an investigative journalist or working for an NGO there is no reason to take a holiday in someone else's oppression.

Can't speak about the rest of France, but I definitely wouldn't go to Paris again.

The only place I've ever visited where I didn't feel safe.

In North Wales my experience is they have been treated so badly and are so economically stressed even by the economic standards within Wales, by the English, that they absolutely hate people from
Emgland (of any ethnicity). There’s a reason why the north is the hard core of speaking Welsh.
The English second home and air BnB people and culture are really resented understandably because wages are so so low there and many local small businesses absolutely depend on tourism. Successive government’s neglect of fishing and farming and Brexit, massively screwed them over: The available housing stock is massively given over to tourism which makes local people priced out of living in their own community. Covid and Instagram and loads of day trippers coming to get scenic mountain pictures and clogging up the roads and not spending much locally is really resented too. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to be a tourist if you aren’t a local.

Tourism as a feature of late stage capitalism is really not benign for everyone in the local community and environment so it’s complicated, everywhere in the world. I don’t know if it can ever be ethical to holiday somewhere else, but I also feel travel literally does broaden the mind so we need to find ways of doing it positively and respectfully especially for younger people to get the benefit of travel, and in moderation.

I wouldn't go back to Norway. Cold, damp, terrible food, awful shops (hardly any fresh fruit & veg) hardly any restaurants or coffee shops except in the biggest towns. It's like a bigger version of Scotland in 1975. Some lovely views for good photos, but miles apart!!!

Agree with Tunisia- went with female friend when in our late 20s- constantly harassed by men

Agree also with San Franscisco 18 years ago- a really sinister air and that was in the Castro Quarter- the nice bit!! Suspect it's even worse as the Democrats have got loopier and loopier over the years.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I actually found NY felt colder than Stockholm even though temperature was minus 9 in both

Not even Europe would escape as people can still experience intense racism / sexism / objectification. I just decided I have one life and intend to do as much as I can with it rather than wait for countries / regions to sort their sh*t out for me to go.

Re: Israel it’s probably one of the most welcoming countries I have visited (except the Haredim in Jerusalem) and I also did Palestine / Jordan in the same trip. I would not go back literally now but can see myself back there are some point in the future.

That may well be the case. Not my personal experience as I haven't ever done it. Came up in chat after someone had to stay on the boat when visiting Komodo and stuck with me! Apologies if I was spreading false news.

The komodo thing is definitely accurate though!

None of what you say answers my question. As I am brown, quite a lot of my extended family live in countries that don't treat women well. Not much choice in the matter if I want to see them. The luxury to travel only in Europe is afforded mostly to native Europeans with close knit families no?

Also it's not quite as black and white as you think. As I said my female relatives in India can get abortions. Those in the US can't or find it hard. And yet the general wisdom is that the US treats women as equal citizens.

@MrsSunshine2b I wondered that too- I find it hard to believe that the UK as a whole is poorer than say Alabama- it simply isn't

The well known fact is if California succeeded from USA it would be the 7th richest nation in the world- that's why I know that statement can't be a fact as UK is around 6th- it doesn't feel like it I know as a lot of money and wealth is London centric

Norway is such a stunning country. I’ve been multiple times, lillehammer, Oslo, Tromsø, Hafjell, Bergen etc etc

The nords love their coffee so there are so many coffee shops in every place. Fresh fruit and veg is more scarce in winter but still there.

it is cold, it’s really near the arctic circle. But the views are stunning, the fjords, mountains etc. so beautiful.

not sure why you don’t like it, but each to their own I guess!

I have to admit that I didn't experience everything Omani culture has to offer, and I would have liked to visit more of the fortresses and historical sites. I barely had any time in Muscat.

I found, like the UAE, there to be a sharp divide between Omani nationals and the migrant labour force, with the latter being treated as a servant/ slave class. Like the UAE, there were a lot of leering men hanging around in groups, which felt quite intimidating. I didn't get to have proper interactions with any local people, so I can't comment on their friendliness. I felt on edge in a way that I don't as a tourist in western Europe, just knowing that were I to be arrested or a victim of crime, my chances of justice wouldn't be great (I have experience from a colleague now in the UK who was a domestic worker in Oman and treated very badly not only by her employers but by the system as a whole). Human rights, I believe, are not terrible by comparison with some other Gulf states, but they're not great either.

It's true that the scenery and food were good.

@MurdoMunro I laughed my socks off at that- love the sausage patty's!! I'm with her on the midges though

eh? Stephen Lawrence was killed in 1993....

typo on 30 maybe?!

@PorridgeIsNotSlimmingTheWayIMakeIt Agree. It's not that I am unaware of the poverty or trying to pretend it doesn't exist but I'm not sure I want to spend my holiday feeling bad about having 'any' money ( and we aren't loaded) or being a target.

I was just thinkikng the same. All the countries on my not-again list - the reason is local men.

Tunisia: grim in every possible way

South Africa: felt unsafe the entire time, witnessed robberies and fellow travellers were attacked

San Francisco: unsafe, empty, menacing and teetering on the edge of something.