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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

1000 replies

travelcat · 15/09/2024 19:58

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Changingplace · 15/09/2024 21:32

Another vote for Tunisia, pervy grabby men and the markets were just irritating and impossible - couldn’t even side glance at anything without being descended on and harassed.

Dallas, boring, nothing really to do/see apart from the roundabout where JFK got shot. We went on a coach day trip to see the sights and they took us to the ‘historic’ street where the houses were newer than the terrace house I literally live in 🤣

PolaroidPrincess · 15/09/2024 21:32

Isreal. Need I explain why I'm not going back?

BringMeTea · 15/09/2024 21:32

USA and Dubai. Spent quite a lot of time in both. No more thanks.

Findmethesmallestviolin · 15/09/2024 21:32

Morocco - knife held to my throat at a major museum in Rabat, threatened in Atlas Mountains, groped in Marrakech. I’ve been 3 times and never again.

mommatoone · 15/09/2024 21:33

Cuba . From the few days I spent in Havana,it was good. Bustling place , very busy.
Then went to a beach hotel, which was situated not far from extreme poverty, kids begging on the street..couldn't leave hotel. I felt so guilty!

INeedAPensieve · 15/09/2024 21:33

Dubai for me too. Nasty undercurrents, the men leering, the rudeness and how awful and flashy it was. I hated seeing how the poorer workers were treated. Thankfully it was only a stop over journey but ugh it was awful.

And also, at the airport two men tried to grab me and tell me to come on their plane with them to Afghanistan! They were "business men" they assured me, haha v good, creeps. That was the last time I travelled alone.

Countingcactus · 15/09/2024 21:33

AnyFucker · 15/09/2024 20:00

Australia

Just too damn far away

Ha. I was thinking that there was nowhere I’ve been that I wouldn’t go to again, but yes! Australia was nice enough but too bloody far - I wouldn’t do it again.

Babyworriesreal · 15/09/2024 21:34

mrsrobin · 15/09/2024 20:20

Yes their immigration staff are really unfriendly! I know immigration staff are hardly ever chatty but they seem very unwelcoming.

Show quote history

My sister commented on this yesterday. She's been to the US a few times, but her most recent experience was very intimidating.

dayswithaY · 15/09/2024 21:34

DillDanding · 15/09/2024 21:30

Maybe Jamaica as it was great, but felt really unsafe.

Greece. Did so many of the island in my late teens early 20s, I feel I’ve been there/done that. Plus, not sure if they’ve sorted their sewerage system out yet.

I remember that in Greece - being told to drop pooey toilet paper in the bin as you can’t flush it, thought they would have sorted that by now.

TakemedowntoPotatoCity · 15/09/2024 21:34

Egypt. Got food poisoning, and the one occasion I stepped out of the hotel with a friend and without tour guide we were propositioned and followed by three different men in the space of five minutes. Felt incredibly unsafe, stayed in hotel after that as we were advised to. (Didn't stop me getting food poisoning though.)

Applesonthelawn · 15/09/2024 21:35

I will no longer visit any country where they practice FGM, where women are not treated equally, or where they can't get a grip on sex tourism.

Changingplace · 15/09/2024 21:35

Sugarfreerage · 15/09/2024 21:00

Lanzarote - too many cockroaches 🤢

Ugh yeah I’d forgotten about Lanzarote! Same, cockroaches and hot but weirdly windy, but that might’ve been just unlucky with the weather.

pinotnow · 15/09/2024 21:35

Disagree with NYC. I got married there and ended up, for various reasons, walking around various locations in my wedding dress (not trad meringue, but obviously a wedding dress) and had so many people just going about their business walking past smiling and saying 'congradulations'. Also had help on the subway from passers-by when looking lost (presumably) and no particular rudeness other than the occasionally abrupt service you get in all big cities.

I have to wonder at people going to places at times of the year when they are known to be especially hot/cold and complaining about it...

RedHelenB · 15/09/2024 21:36

SnowflakeSmasher86 · 15/09/2024 20:14

Tunisia, felt unsafe out and about as a woman, even with my husband and brothers with me. Lots of shouting and touching from men in the markets. Just gross.

Parts of San Francisco felt really unsafe due to big drug problems there. Lots of men off their faces again shouting and not allowing personal space. I know plenty of people love it there, and it was only a specific part of town that felt like that, but it was scary.

Also parts of India, just because it’s a bit depressing being confronted with beggars in the street when you’re on holiday trying to enjoy yourself. Yes, it’s horribly sad, but I don’t pay thousands of pounds to get away from home and experience a different culture to feel guilty and depressed every time I leave the hotel. I’m there putting money into the local economy on trips, in shops and restaurants etc not to be fleeced every time we stop at traffic lights. Obviously I should have chosen a different location, I get that part of the real India is the deprivation, but it doesn’t make me want to spend my holiday there again.

Wow.

Arrivapercy · 15/09/2024 21:36

South Africa about 10 years ago. I know this won't be true of all but racism was so much more overt than the uk. We are white. The way our white safari lodge owners/hoste spoke to the black staff was so rude, and we had similar experiences in a few places, it was extremely off putting.

Cyclebabble · 15/09/2024 21:37

Cuba. Very interesting in parts but had 500 euros stolen from us in the taxi going from the airport ( a scam where a small cild is hidden in the back of the car. You are told it is the law that bags have to go into the back and the child then goes through the bags). Lots of things were in short supply and it was just not that pleasant. I could not stop thinking that a small child had been crammed into the taxi to steal from us.

HermioneWeasley · 15/09/2024 21:37

@dayswithaY we went to Aruba and didn’t experience that at all, which I think is unusual in the Caribbean. Felt totally safe walking about the capital. Did an island tour and the locals’ houses are spic and span. I think it helps that it’s still part of the Netherlands and they all have the right to live and work in the EU.

Snippit · 15/09/2024 21:38

ButtSurgery · 15/09/2024 20:21

The Gambia.

Felt unsafe the moment I left the hotel compound. Constantly being groped and pawed at by men everywhere I went, even with an escort. Ended up wearing a ring on my left hand and making up a husband in the military.

"Sex tourism" (prostitution / exploitation) was rife and absolutely appalling - white men in their 70s with young girls in mid teens at the eldest, getting them drunk in the hotel bar before taking them upstairs - totally blatant in front of the staff etc.

I also got very sick on the 2nd last day - either the salad I ate (totally avoided it before then, don't know what I was thinking!) or from handling cash at the market where I bought a few bits, then not washing my hands until 2hrs later at the hotel. That lasted nearly two weeks...

So no I won't be back.

ETA - my luggage tags went missing on the way home and the bag had been rifled through. I received the tags a few weeks later in a envelope with a letter from a man sending me his photo, address and begging for money for his honesty in returning the tags. 🙄

Edited

This is the only holiday that I looked forward to coming home, absolutely bloody awful.

Babyworriesreal · 15/09/2024 21:38

I used to say Turkey, because of, you guessed it, the men, despite being with my DP. However, a couple of decades have passed, so I'd probably be fine now! I wouldn't rush back to San Francisco - I seemed to be a magnet for weirdos - but again I'd likely be fine now. I bloidy love the invisibility of beingbin mid 50s

SprigatitoYouAndIKnow · 15/09/2024 21:38

Two places I wouldn't return to, despite having great holidays there, are Laos and Cuba. Mainly because I went a long time ago and they seem to have changed quite a bit. Laos was dodgy and a drugs tourism magnet at the time, but there were friendly people and beautiful scenery. Sadly I believe that there is a lot more crime there now. Cuba felt incredibly safe, but I have read since that Havana is rife with pick pockets. I would not want my memories of great holidays ruined.

MrsSunshine2b · 15/09/2024 21:39

Dubai. Fake fake fake. Everything is an artificial facade to hide the ugly truth.

Downplayit · 15/09/2024 21:40

Anywhere and everywhere in the USA. It's literally third world! The amount of poverty, homelessness and drug addiction is terrifying and single use plastic is on a level I have never seen.

Barbadossunset · 15/09/2024 21:41

MayaTuppenceworth · Today 20:41
Cuba

Was that because of the regime or did you have a bad experience there?

Dweetfidilove · 15/09/2024 21:42

Barbados. For all the hype, I found it quite underwhelming ☹️.

Pepperama · 15/09/2024 21:42

UAE and Saudi - same as everyone
Texas
Canaries - not my kind of landscape and overly touristy
Brussels and Amsterdam - both felt seedy, dirty (rest of the country is lovely though)
South Africa - felt really unsafe in Jo’burg
Thailand - bad experience I wouldn’t want to repeat
Much of Northern Africa - which is a shame as it’s beautiful and I have met lovely lovely people there when I worked there for a bit, but as a tourist it’s a nightmare

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