To ask what you dreamed would be fabulous but is actually maybe a bit shit

[hitsvilleuk]

I think this about lots of things to do with celebrity lives, when I was younger I thought it all would amazing now not so sure.

A particular one I have is that I always longed for a villa on the Italian lakes. We went to a hotel there one year for 5 days ( in the same village as George Clooney ) It pissed down for 3 days. Everything was dark and damp and that combined with the endless queuing for flights and the thought of maintaining a property in another country sort of did for the dream. Not achievable without a lottery win anyway but now I don't even want it.

Anyone else got stuff like this or that they actually got and then thought 'meh'. I seem to have it about more and more things as I get on - I just don't want stuff anymore. Is it just to do with age?

"KeyboardWorriers

Cruises. as a child I imagined they would be glamorous. They are utterly dire.. .giant floating Harvester restaurants filled with uncouth people stuffing their faces all day and getting drunker and drunker."

what on earth are you think they'd be any different?? have you met people? they'll just be people on a boat (and there's only one way off!!)

Eden Project in Cornwall. Heard so much about it. Wasn’t impressed. It’s just a large garden. Nothing special. As we left, I overheard someone say they had spent six hours there. Six hours? We managed half that, and that includes having something to eat and building dens.

I feel like us Europeans are often told that these two cities are the best parts of the USA.

I remember telling some Americans our favourite US city was Milwaukee - they weren't impressed.

Like others, I'm happy to have been to New York but am in no rush to go back. American cities are generally a bit too spread out for my tastes.

@WowIlikereallyhateyou we have been on quite a few - because it is so handy from where we live. In my experience even the more "pricey" cruise lines are pretty dire (the service might be good but the passengers are generally awful)

We did a mini cruise on a small ship in Indonesia (max number of passenegers was 120 I think), and it was the highlight of our holiday. We visited Sumbawa and Komodo, and the memories I have of Komodo are ones I will carry for the rest of my life. It was just brilliant.

Barcelona... everyone we know raved about it. We did an open bus tour of the city and feel asleep 🤣

[quote KeyboardWorriers]@WowIlikereallyhateyou we have been on quite a few - because it is so handy from where we live. In my experience even the more "pricey" cruise lines are pretty dire (the service might be good but the passengers are generally awful)[/quote]
I have never been on a cruise with people acting that way, but i am talking about 100-200 people not 1000-5000 people. There are certainly some very different experiences to be had, my idea of hell for sure.

The Ministry of Sound in London. In my mid to late teens (mid-late 90s) I collected their annual CDs every year and the booklet always made it look amazing.

I eventually got to go in 2005 and it was just full of foreign tourists and my crotch was grabbed by a random guy. The staff handled it well. The bouncers tried hard to find him and we ended up with lots of free cds (I binned them, i didn't want to be reminded of the night).

Paris, the pyramids, New York etc. Loved it. Maldives was ok for a week, but we were there for 10 days. It was too long. I got bored. Beautiful though.

We're saving for Florida 2023. I loved it as a kid. I'm kind of dreading the stress and exhaustion tbh.

I have more.

Wicked the Musical. Which I feel very guilty about a DH spent a fortune on the best best seats for us. I'd read the book ahead of it so already knew that I didn't enjoy the story. I just hoped the live performance would be better. I thought the costumes and sets were magnificent though.

Krakow. So many people rave about it but we found it to be so unfriendly. Every time they heard that we had British accents, their whole attitude changed and people that were previously friendly and smiling at us became cold and curt. It happened multiple times in various parts of the city. We ended up staying in our room on the last night as we couldn't face going to any more bars and being met with such a frosty reception.

Perhaps we are easy to please as loved:

Paris
San Francisco
HP World
LA
Rome
Sorrento
Venice
Disneyland Paris
Wicked, Les Mis, Matilda, Hamilton, etc
Corfu
Outdoor concerts and theatre

Letdowns have been:
Devon
The Eden Project

I do not camp and have never wished to; similarly I wouldn't bother with a posh afternoon tea in London.

What I like about the USA, is that there is so much to do, and it is an English speaking country.

There are not a lot of English speaking countries in the world, so to be able to talk to people is great.

Why do we not have a common European language yet. It is very strange to me. We could all keep our own language, and add a common European language,

Right now, none of us can talk to each other.

Tashkent - sounded so exotic, delivered so little we rechristened it Tashcunt

Oh and I 100% agree with Cadbury World. What a waste of time and money. And some magnificent propaganda at the end of the 'tour'

Lobster. I had heard so much about it, was really looking forward to it as it was something I'd normally never be able to afford, but it was totally meh.

I've since learned that lobsters are really clever, and can be very long-lived if you aren't boiling them and covering them in butter, which now makes me feel bad about wasting a lobster life for so little return.

Eufy - constantly gets stuck. Pain in the arse.

LA - vile, vile place.
Ditto Vegas

The desert - people told me it was amazing, almost spiritual. Nope. It's desolate, full of things to spike you or poison you, and it wants you to die. I'm sticking to places with trees and water forever.

New York. It was ok. Am happy I went but wouldn’t return. I don’t get the hype. I’ve been to way more interesting/fun cities

Totally agree. The supposedly 4-star hotel in the centre of NYC my sister and I stayed at, had bed bugs and had shut all restaurant facilities with zero notice. Plus, the other eateries had expensive sub-par food. Also, the shops were full of the same overpriced tat I could get in the UK for less than half the price.

It's funny that so many people hated Wicked! Makes me feel better! I also had a great seat, my stepdaughters took me for my birthday treat. Never let on that I hated it and was just willing it to end...

@RhubarbFairy

I have more.

Wicked the Musical. Which I feel very guilty about a DH spent a fortune on the best best seats for us. I'd read the book ahead of it so already knew that I didn't enjoy the story. I just hoped the live performance would be better. I thought the costumes and sets were magnificent though.

Krakow. So many people rave about it but we found it to be so unfriendly. Every time they heard that we had British accents, their whole attitude changed and people that were previously friendly and smiling at us became cold and curt. It happened multiple times in various parts of the city. We ended up staying in our room on the last night as we couldn't face going to any more bars and being met with such a frosty reception.

Yes, I also found Krakow to be very unfriendly, (I am Irish).

I think some of it comes from : a lot of Polish people went to work in the UK and Ireland, and many UK and Irish people were nasty to them. I am sad to say that I have seen a lot of nastiness towards Polish people in Ireland. So when we go to Poland, they do the same to us.

@theDudesmummy

It's funny that so many people hated Wicked! Makes me feel better! I also had a great seat, my stepdaughters took me for my birthday treat. Never let on that I hated it and was just willing it to end...

It's because Wicked is a musical based on another musical. I mean, it doesn't get much more luvvie than that.

I mean, I am a luvvie, and I thought it was dreadful.

Dubai. I should have read MN first. A good friend of mine is going to Dubai every holiday and raves about it. It's horrible! Shopping malls in a desert, full or arrogant people. Luckily it was just a stopover, but never again.

@Sarahtrue11

What I like about the USA, is that there is so much to do, and it is an English speaking country.

There are not a lot of English speaking countries in the world, so to be able to talk to people is great.

Why do we not have a common European language yet. It is very strange to me. We could all keep our own language, and add a common European language,

Right now, none of us can talk to each other.

um, cultural colonial much? America speaks English by a whisker instead of Spanish or French and imo has done more to harm our outlook as a European nation than it has benefitted us.

the reason there is no common European language is coz they're all different countries (many speak English, again, due to US power and our cultural colonialism)

I speak a few languages and have out myself out there by living on a shoestring abroad alone young and not speaking the language!

why don't you learn a language? it's fun!

@LesserBother

I feel like us Europeans are often told that these two cities are the best parts of the USA.

I remember telling some Americans our favourite US city was Milwaukee - they weren't impressed.

Like others, I'm happy to have been to New York but am in no rush to go back. American cities are generally a bit too spread out for my tastes.

i just googled Milwaukee, it looks lovely.

I would like to go back to see more of the USA, but I am scared of the guys in immigration. Every time I have gone to the USA, with my approved ESTA in place, on a tourist visa, I get questioned so much, before they let me in. It is not good for me - I am an anxious person.

Labour. Did my hypnobirthing and thought it was going to be the most beautiful, peaceful, empowering, rite-of-passage ever, with me sniffing my lavender oil and embracing each surge while imagining my cervix opening like some kind of magical flower.

Turns out that contradictions don't hurt because of society's negative representation of childbirth, but because they actually happen to be excruciating!

Yeah, I was actually shocked about that; silly woman!

Watching the sun rise at Stonehenge at summer solstice 🙄 spent the night, like a festival without a stage, food trucks etc... a mix of people but lots of teenagers!

Tbf the actual sunrise was beautiful and being in among the stones was special but I'd happily of rocked up just before the sunrise!

"Holiday with friends".
One, a long weekend in Berlin with six others - 4 were fine, but twat A was constantly trying to chivvy us along as she had a list of things in her head that We Needed To See And Do and wouldn't give us a minute's peace to sit down and have a coffee. Until it was evening and we started drinking and she refused to move on from the mediocre bar we started at because we had seats and she was concerned that we might have to stand up if we moved on. Twat B just decided by about 11 am that he was tired of walking and his feet hurt so we had to text him when we reached our destinations so he could Uber over and meet us 😂 He must have had 20 Ubers that weekend.

Second holiday, with another couple in Crete in a gorgeous villa in the countryside. My partner doesn't drive for medical reasons but the other couple are both perfectly capable, however, they were made too anxious by the narrow roads so all driving of our supposedly shared hire car was left to me. Which meant I couldn't drink at the wonderful roadside Tavernas I had been so excited about visiting. Not even once. The other couple also clogged the toilet by ignoring the (admittedly unpleasant) directive not to flush toilet roll and then of course who had to drive 20 miles to the closest town of any size to try to find a toilet plunger? Why yes that was, of course, me.