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?

Korea. Because I hate kimchee and they made me have a sit down meal on a wooden floor which almost crippled me.

Big thread and quite interesting; someone should go through and count up all the countries and form a league table!

Mind you, I expect that MumsNets in other nations would have Britain included by some travellers for various reasons...dunno: cost, roughness, transport, etc

This thread's a bit harsh on some places, but I suppose it is about personal experience.

For me - and ignoring personal observations - I'd say Russia bc people seem to be vulnerable to being locked up as prisoner-exchange fodder these days.

And generally, it's always been a shit hole with more than its fair share of ill-educated, violent, racist drunkards. (That bit is through personal experience, btw).

In all my lifetime I have never met a midget that bites. Where exactly was this horrible bitey midget? Was it a male or female midget. I have heard female midgets are more bitey than male midgets is it true

I like Italy but didn’t enjoy Florence at all.

I think if you compare a poor, single teenager who is very scared to be pregnant and hasn't told her mum, her chances of getting an abortion are not much greater in India than in most US southern states.

I am not comparing the two countries. Would be stupid to do so!..I just think some of this " I won't visit X country because it treats women badly" is more complicated than it appears at first sight.

I've gone a number of times out of Dublin or Shannon to the US and the American Immigration officers have been friendly enough and fine to talk to. None of them were rude and then being able to walk out the other side without having to queue for ages was great.

Egypt .. Alexandria in particular .. it was a shithole

On what measure?

(GDP is not a measure of wealth by the way)

I wouldn't go back to Southern California again. It's become a homeless camp and is looking very rundown.

Me neither. I don't know why. Maybe I'll go back one day and have a very different experience.

I wasn't too impressed with Prague the first time I went either, because it was a bank holiday weekend and massively crowded. I went back a few weeks later and it was a very different experience.

Agree the problem with going to Russia now would be the danger of being kidnapped as hostage fodder. I am fascinated by the Yakutz region (now there's somewhere that's cold) and would love to go. Anyway I don't think Brits could get visas for Russia very easily even before February 2022.

That's not what I said and you weren't attacked for speaking English in a Welsh pub anyway because:

there are Welsh and other people living in North Wales who don't speak Welsh
there are non-English people who visit Wales and don't speak Welsh
it's an annoying and untrue trope anyway.

However, people who eg buy up second homes anywhere, not just in Wales, do for example attract negative attention. For good reason.

And if you go into a Welsh pub wearing an England rugby shirt I suspect you'll get some grief, even good natured.

This has been interesting.

After entrenched misogyny or race supremacism, what disturbs me most is when you feel that there's an intrinsic culture of exploitation and cruelty. You'd think that would relate to poverty and/or equality gap but I don't think it always does. Some cultures just seem to have a more brutal attitude to their fellow humans. (IME it almost always goes along with cruelty to animals)

The first time I went to Florence was in February and it was not too cold, didn't rain, and was lovely and quiet. It was magical.

I went back at a more conventional tourist time of year, and as soon as I paused to look at the basilica, was hassled by a Roma beggar who would NOT go away. He was going to stand in front of me and hold his hand out until I gave him money or one of us died of old age. I wasn't going to hand over any cash because I could see several others in the vicinity and thought I would be swamped.

I've had similar experiences in Paris and this sort of thing would make even the most bleeding-heart liberal yearn for just a tiny bit of dictatorship, enough to make people stop provoking you when all you've done is stopped to look at the view.

Egypt. Horrible food poisoning and I hear it's quite common

1. Dog restaurants … not restaurants for dogs, but restaurants where dog ON the menu,

This has also been quite a Western centric thread. Some cultures that people view as very cruel view British ways as very cruel.
For instance, many cultures think sending your elderly to homes or charging your children rent is far crueller than stray dogs on the street.

Of course it’s Western centric. Mumsnet is a UK site not for example a Chinese one

We have been to the US several times in our 20 years of marriage and usually go UK airport - Dublin - US and do immigration in Dublin on the way out. It is a lot easier!

Yes, a UK site with people from many cultures.

Let’s not be thinking UK immigration officers are … nice. If you have UK passport … you don’t need to meet one or answer their questions.

When I was young, free, single and fit, I cycled through many countries. I biked the whole of the Santiago Trail- no hassles from anyone.

Through Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia. At that point war was just over and I was treated absolutely respectfully and helpfully by everyone.i have a vivid recollection of being beeped at by a taxi driver and thought something might happen but he was only stopping to tell me the road maystill have mined areas- he insisted on driving me a safe way for free.

The whole length of Portugal- no cat calls. I was a fit 30 year old blond at this point. The frirndliest city ever in Lisbon. Barcelona- a few catcalls, but no harassment.

Prague- horribly verbally harassed, but only by Brits visiting. Likewise in Amsterdam. Felt mortified at their behaviour and was veryglad to see Amsterdam this year is clamping down on wacked out tourists.

Worst place was Dublin. Honestly worst service, dismissed as soon as your English accent was heard, expensive, miserable. Last thorn in the side was visiting a comedy club with Irish friends,who were then quite awkward as the comic did a routine about Brits. The hotel was shite, the supposedly good restaurants were shite, and the Guiness was expensive and not especially well served. I was gutted, as i'd planned the trip for over a year to take in Uni friends and relatives. I left Dublin early and went to see my nanna's sister in Cork instead. Which was bloody lovely. I guess it's the same as going to London. Which is also shit, expensive and rude. Even when you live there. It put me off though.

Shit. That is shit. Do we have to get a Green Book now? So sorry that happened, travelcat.

I don’t think it’s just that the food is spicier than many Brits are used to. Any visitor would be sensible to avoid a salad that’s been washed in the Nile or the Ganges.

I was lucky enough to avoid food poisoning in Morocco and India, partly because I stuck to an unhealthy diet with plenty of fried/boiled/processed food and little or no raw fruit or veg. No fresh juice or ice in drinks either.

When we were in Delhi, my DP and I found a nice, unassuming cafe with tasty food which was popular with local workers. We thought the stream of regulars boded well, and as we had a good experience there, we played safe and ate there every day until we moved on.