Places that were a let down

[DarcyDear]

Have you ever been anywhere on holiday and felt it wasn’t what you thought it would be? My friend is just back from New York and absolutely hated it. I’ve never been let down by a holiday but I remember being really taken aback at the levels of poverty and homelessness when I visited Los Angeles in my youth.

Corfu is one of our favourite destinations - it’s stunning and so authentically Greek. We were in Corfu town and Kassiopi though and maybe these are different to the more touristy towns

Paris - never again. Dirty, unfriendly, hard to navigate (prior to smartphones!).

New York - overwhelming, dangerous, dirty. Has made me fear going to other places in America in case they're all as different from the TV 😂

Sweden - just so unbelievably boring, streets were empty, and the food was so underwhelming.

In fact, most cities were a let down! I've never had a bad time going to scenic places with natural places to explore though! Sardinia was one of the nicest places abroad I've ever been to, very very beautiful and everyone was so friendly. The nicest beach I've ever seen.

Third one for Naples. We do a lot of cruises and so only usually spend a day in places which I think makes a massive difference to the love/ hate effect. However I’ve been to Naples twice now and I absolutely hate it. It’s an awful, angry city.

This is the part I went to 😂 never again!

We went to Gambia many years ago just as it was opening up as a tourist destination.
It was quite an experience. We all got the shits, one friend was so badly affected it took them a few months to fully recover. Campylobacter.
We stayed in an old fashioned, colonial style hotel and it was fine, friends who stayed in a newer place just down the beach were very unhappy with the facilities and food.
The poverty was off the scale. The wildlife and scenery was impressive.
I wouldn't go again but I'm glad I went.

Very dirty, I remember. Just a day trip from Copenhagen.

How old were you?

It does look medieval in parts but it was extensively restored, especially the walls, in the 19th century to look 'medieval'.
It's fine though, picturesque and not too crowded. The food is good, especially if you like cassoulet. Although apparently le vrai cassoulet is only to be found in nearby Castelnaudary.

But that poster loved dublin
she hadn’t been back for three decades
I suggested she return
and she’s now planning to

That’s a surprise to you? That people have different experiences of the same country @itsachickeninnit

Ooh, I am going to Riga next week?? Do they have any recommendations? TIA!

You absolutely would have smelled it at some point, perhaps just didn’t realise what the smell was!

Shame to see your supposedly extensive travels haven’t widened your horizons.

loads of my peers from uni ended up moving to Switzerland thanks to the extensive industry around Geneva. They all seem to love it there. I feel very jealous whenever we visit. But then it depends what you’re into I suppose - we love sports and the outdoors. And admittedly it is very expensive to live there.

Living in a country (especially one the size of the USA!) doesn’t give you an in-depth knowledge of the whole place. I’ve spent 37 years living in the UK but I haven’t visited every county, let alone every town or city, so I wouldn’t feel entitled to write it all off.

I haven’t been to Paris for 30 years, but last time I went, arriving in a car full of friends, very early one morning, it was beautiful. Cafes starting to open, people waking up. So exciting . But I had the most sexual harassment I’ve had anywhere, I’ve been three times and the constant leering, hassle, grabbing, groping was horrible, so unpleasant. A friend and I were followed by a man who tried to grope both of us at the same time. I was very young, and it really put me off ever going again. I even had a man trying to persuade me to get into his car when he had an elderly lady in the back !
I hope it isn’t as bad now. Even my male friend was groped, on the metro with him:- ‘Is the man behind me holding a small umbrella ? A baguette ?’ …’Oh dear’ ..

Really? Not my experience at all, I consider it the polar opposite of London in many ways. London mostly fairly low rise, Shanghai super skyscrapers everywhere (40 vs 200). London historic and a bit gritty. Shanghai hyper modern and sanitised. London loads of small very diverse neighbourhoods, Shanghai mostly much of a muchness, but more spread out with massive roads everywhere. I’d say Shanghai is more like Singapore, or perhaps a cleaner/ modernised New York at a push.

I guess if you didn’t step out of the nicer bits of Manhattan and the nicer bits of Brooklyn it’s ok. Other than that a bit of a shithole. I’ve seen many public toilets cleaner than most of their subway stations.

Agree about Nice. The smallish old town but is quite nice. But the modern city and beach area are pretty rough.

It's not underwhelming, it's monumental. The sheer power of the water is pretty staggering. The Falls are gorgeous in a huge, audacious way.

Watching the waters edge of the Horseshoe Falls, you can understand how people went over. It's mesmerising.

The town is basically Blackpool 1982, and god awful. Niagara On The Lake is nice but rather twee.

But the Falls themselves, despite the built up area and everything crappy around them, are quite the sight.

Iguaza and Victoria are stunning in very different ways.

I've been to MK on holiday twice... staying in a cheap travelodge near the train station. Very handy for Bletchley Park, London and Oxford. Really enjoyed it!!

What did you do there?

I've been to Sweden twice. First time was Malmo & Lund (& also Copenhagen on the trip- crossing The Bridge by train)

Second trip was in a December & i went to Gothenburg. It snowed heavily & i stayed in a fabulous historical hotel right in the center. It.was so cozy & welcoming. And has a fabulous old style cocktail bar. I loved it

I was there for a project i was working on & was meeting a group there (mostly international but a couple who lived there)

I travelled there & stayed on that hotel alone. I went to a show in the Stadesteater. Had amazing food in the indoor food market, visited the old quarter & had an amazing evening having dinner in one of the project partners apartment. It was in an area of the city i would probably not have been in as a visitor, more residential & we walked through a park with a cemetery & there were candles in jars lighting at many of the graves. It gets dark early there & weird as it is to say, it was one of the most beautiful sights & utterly unexpected as ive never seen that before. My Swedish friends were bemused by my reaction!

In Mamlo I stayed in the old town, also in a beautiful old hotel. They served fika every afternoon (Swedish coffee & cake ) free to all the guests. There was a beautiful room with big windows looking out onto the old streets & i really enjoyed taking a breather there & people watching

I loved all the craft & design in Malmo & brought home some beautiful ceramics from the national design centre.

I would happily go back to Sweden & in fact Stockholm is on my list

What did you find boring about it?

Gothenburg

I quite liked NYC but maybe because the only tourist thing we did was take the ferry to go past Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty. Our American road trips were planned for a maximum of 2 nights anywhere so maybe we didn’t do anything in depth. We did 2 nights in Vegas, did a lot of walking but stayed off the Strip in the Candlewood Suites, fab hotel!

I hated Skiathos, a combination of my dad having just died and I was supposed to be surprising him there and the rest of my family wanting to spend most of the day on the beach and visiting monasteries. It’s massively touristy.

I felt the most concerned in New Orleans, it didn’t feel safe, but during the day, I loved it.

It’s hilarious, it shows a real lack of imagination

I absolutely adored Stockholm. So much to do. The Vasa Museum remains one of my favourite places in the world a good 20 years after visiting.

My horizons are widened just fine, thank you. I have also lived places I absolutely loved. One in particular I regard as a 2nd home and if it were possible, I would take residency there and move there permanently.

But Switzerland was a massive let down. 2 other Brits living there that I am friends with felt exactly the same way, although of course another friend loved it and will in all likelihood never leave.

Interestingly, my 2nd Swiss job couldn't keep British & American staff, because they all moved citing a dislike of the area (NOT the reason I left, I'm quite capable of making the best of a situation and the huge salary was an added bonus).