Most disappointing destination/holiday

[Forgottenmyphone]

For me, it was the Norwegian fjords. Not because they weren’t beautiful (what we saw of them, they were!) but because it was cold, rainy and foggy when we went. One town known for being very pretty was ridiculously busy and there was a cruise ship blocking the view from the restaurant we booked. We knew the prices were going to be high, but expected good quality… when you pay over £100 for a train ticket, you expect there to be toilet roll and soap in the toilets!

where have you been that was disappointing?

I'm really quite annoyed with myself for responding to this tedious derailment. But here I go anyway ...

The correct way to spell 'Muslim' or 'Moslem' is مسلم. It's ludicrous to assert one Anglicised spelling is better than another, even if a robot told you so.

When pronouncing it in English, there's no difference between 'muslim' and 'moslem'. The 'u' sound is like the Northern pronunciation of 'bus'.

The earlier Anglicised version of the word was 'musselman', again with the longer 'u'. This is because the Arabic word for a male Muslim sounds like it (or something like 'muslemem', depending on who's speaking).

I mean, if you've set yourself up as a proxy defender of the faith, have at it. But you really ought to know alcohol is haram and Arabic is not an English language with English pronunciations or spellings 🙄

I’m more annoyed by your tediously ignorant post. If you’re going to derail, derail with facts.

People who say ‘Moslem’ generally pronounce it as ‘mawzlem’, which is incorrect.

‘“Muslim” means Muslim. But “Moslem” means something entirely different. “Whereas for most English speakers, the two words are synonymous in meaning, the Arabic roots of the two words are very different,”. A ‘Muslim’ in Arabic means ‘one who gives himself to God,’ and is by definition, someone who adheres to Islam. By contrast a ‘Moslem’ in Arabic means ‘one who is evil and unjust’ when the word is pronounced, as it is in English, ‘Mozlem’ with a z.”’

Language matters.

The Muslim Council of Britain wrote to the editors of the Daily Mail asking them to writing the word as ‘Moslem’, and the DM stopped.

But you know better than Muslims, eh?

Lol @nomas ! I had just written out a huge post saying pretty exactly the same as you, including the bit about the Daily Mail, and the problem with the mispronunciation!
You didn't mention though, that they didn't stop until TWO YEARS after they were asked by the Muslim Council. I think we can guess why 🙄

So yes, @GarlicMetre , I'll respect Muslims' preference, if it's all the same to you!

In London you’ve got to open yourself up to interactions.

I saw 3 strangers bond over watching Wimbledon on their mobile phones on the tube on Wednesday. Or people making friends as they land into Heathrow.

If you’re in London every day you see many such interactions.

Thank you @HerVagestyTheQueef ! ☺️

Great to read your post. I don’t know why so many are insistent on using a spelling that Muslims just don’t use themselves.

And I didn’t know that about the DM, that’s terrible, but yes, predictable.

Well, fuck me, I've never heard anyone say Mawzlem.

Moving along, I do agree with @nomas about London. In 25 years, I've never found it as cold & unfriendly as people insist! I talk to strangers, though. I'd have thought that people who're used to conversations with random people where they live would carry that with them. It seems they often don't, but I don't know why.

I agree, I also find people will always help you if they can. And yes, when I visit other cities/countries, I feel the onus is on me to strike up a conversation with locals if that’s what I want.

As I'm still up I'll add to the London love. I've visited several times, as a tourist, and later to visit family, and always had pleasant interactions with people.

20 years ago I visited with teenage DD, having heard how rude and obnoxious Londoners were!
Well I realised I'd left DHs expensive new digital camera on a bench on an underground platform when we already on the tube train and it had departed. By the time we'd got back there unsurprisingly it was gone, but someone had actually handed it in at lost property, presumably missing their intended train to do so. The men there greeted us with a laugh because they'd been looking at our terrible tourist pics.
That shot that particular stereotype to pieces. Wish I could have thanked whoever handed it in.
Same daughter has lived there now for several years and loves it.

Must also add... Edinburgh is wonderful too. It's my favourite city in the world. Unwelcoming? Rubbish!

Well, fuck me, I've never heard anyone say Mawzlem.

People from Alabama? 😂

Bizarre. Why would you compare Melbourne with Miami or New York?

Gaudi's buildings? Agree that without Gaudi it would not be exciting.

What a strange thread, trashing so many beautiful places.

I dont think people are bashing many of the original places mentioned - just expressing the hell that is over tourism which is such an unpleasant and overwhelming experience its impossible to enjoy what you went to see....hence PP saying get out early in the mornings, wander down the back streets. do your homework etc.

I adore London - born and raised there, went to uni and worked in central London for years. Raised my DCs in the Home Counties - cant wait to sell up and move back in to central London for my retirement.

@ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea

We went to Sorrento a couple of years ago in May, and stayed in the hills near Sant Agnello. The view across the bay to Vesuvius was amazing. We went on a lovely long walk between the hilltop villages, but got the bus to Sorrento itself. You can easily walk around the town, and down to the harbour. Yes it’s busy, but absolutely fine. Capri was very, very expensive but Ana Capri was lovely (still busy though, leave plenty of time to get the bus back down as we ended up missing our boat back to Sorrento). Very easily to catch the train to Pompeii and Herculaneum too.

I can't understand people writing off entire countries....all of France is dull and all of Spain is terrible?

We went to France for years pre Covid, there are such beautiful areas, the Ardeche, the Gorges du Verdon, the Camargue, and such lovely villages with gorgeous rivers to swim in, as well as interesting sites like the amphitheatre in Orange for example. And we have barely scratched the surface. And the Picos d'Europa in Spain are stunning, and Seville.....

The only place I've ever felt uncomfortable travelling was Lille at night, and I think it was because there were lots of people just passing through on the Eurostar, but Lille by day was delightful, so I certainly wouldn't write the whole place off.

I also think somewhere is very different on a lovely spring or Autumn sunny day in many parts of the world to how it as it peak ‘tourist’ time - living in Bath it’s not always that pleasant on a hot July weekend or bank holiday weekend or Xmas market time- on a lovely April week day it’s a different world

But Perth has loads of artists and art places and you cannot beat meeting a quokka on Rottnest.

A friend's mother wanted friend and I to go with her to Florida. I'm disabled so apparently I can queue jump in theme parks.

I hate roller coasters.

I am no good with heat.

I burn very easily, through windows, through clothes.

I just know Florida, particularly with this person, would be my own personal hell.

I make an exception for the quokkas...

I just found Perth a little bit soulless. But you are quite right about the quokkas.

You do know it's not hot there all year round?

Yes indeed! See also Justin Kurtzel, Peter Carey, Richard Flanagan, Tim Winton..

Do they do women?

Barcelona. 10 years ago. But it was entirely our fault- well, the fault of the two people I travelled with. I was treading a bit carefully with them, not wanting to be at all bossy 😬, so I held back and allowed them to ‘make decisions’. We were staying on the coast, but day-tripped to Barcelona. It was Sept but the weather that day was rainy. I’d strongly suggested we pre-BOOK THE ATTRACTIONS, but no, we’d ’play it by ear’. Well, guess what, no ability to enter Parc Guell, Casa Battlo; let alone the Sagrada Familia. Aimless wandering around, a walk down Las Ramblas but too late for the market to be in full swing, and, I have to say it, slightly hostile stall owners; I hit upon doing tapas, found a side street place, but no. It was 4pm. ‘Too early for dinner’, they said, and ‘what IS this on this little plate?’

So, not Barcelona’s fault, apart from the market stall owners, but disappointing.

An aside, I’d been before and had an amazing time, pre-booking as needed.

Jeez, do you have to pre-book everything these days? I've lately discovered you can't roll up at the local pool during free swimming hours, you have to book. Restaurants, I'm told, now book diners in fixed-term slots. I can't use the council dump as they only accept cars (haven't got one) on a precise schedule. Now it seems you can't just walk into a park or a famous place of worship.

This is a terrible century for time-blind, anti-regimented dipsticks like me. I am fantastic at playing things by ear, brilliant at dealing with the unexpected, but depressed and largely excluded by a world that demands predictability. (I thought of starting a thread about this but can't cope with swathes of angry replies about time wasting!)

Yes, booking is a post-Covid thing largely I think. We went to York at half term and luckily realised booking was needed for everything otherwise we’d have been very disappointed. Jorvik was particularly bad, and really is a bit crap anyway, but even the poorly timed slots were booked.

Perth or Florida? Perth I have been to three times.

The person wanting me to go to Florida is a sun worshiper.

Gastown is nestled right next to the Downtown East Side (poverty, homelessness, sex work, drug addiction) so not at all surprised by this. Touted as such a tourist destination, it's actually one of the least attractive parts of the city.