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?

Glad I never bothered with LA! I had to go through the airport there once and had the option of spending a few days there or carrying on to wherever I was going (can't remember where that was now). I just didn't think it would be interesting.

@Mmmmdanone

catherinecawood that's hilarious. I actually really enjoyed Popeye land but I could sort of see it was a bit shit iyswim! I think it was because my DD loved it and the massively unconvincing Popeye and olive oil were really kind to her. 🤣

🤣🤣🤣 I'm glad to hear that someone enjoyed it!!! I did have a look at the reviews of it today (was surprised it was still running to be honest) and they are not bad. Perhaps I'm just a miserable cow?!?

"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!"

I don't think it is so easy for some people to learn a language. I think it is a skill, like musical ability, or singing ability, not everyone can do it.

I studied Irish for 12 years in school. I can barely speak it now.
I studied German for six years in school, I can barely speak it now.
I have studied Spanish my whole life as a hobby, and for personal improvement, I still can barely speak it. It just doesn't seem to sink in to my brain and stay there.

I just don't think my brain can do it. I know an Irish man with a Spanish wife, and he has been learning Spanish for the last eight years. He still can't speak it.

Being an expat wife. No idea why I repeated the experience so many times.

fancy famous name hotels - Ive stayed in loads and they've all been average at best usually riding of a past reputation and in need of updating, give me a standard travelodge or at least a unique Airb&b

the beach - the beach under the stars sounds so romantic in theory, in reality sand sucks

limos - litrally just long cars, really nothing cool, exciting or fancy about them

I agree Las Vegas is awful. Countless people on the street offering my husband cards for sex workers. Hot, dirty streets. Smoke filled hotel lobbies. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Los Angeles has some attractions I have enjoyed (The Getty Center is fabulous), but getting anywhere is a nightmare of traffic, and the homelessness is very depressing.

I was very sad to find Naples really dirty and edgy also.

Experience Days- could just be my crap ones but Helicopter ride 15 minutes looking down at square fields and a city., Supercar driving, got to listen to a safety speech, watch a video then being driven on a 60second lap before getting to drive a Ferrari at 50 mph around some traffic cones.
Disneyland Paris -the cult of Disney grabbing your cash -better time at Efteling.
Glamping -same as camping but with a doormat and a fancy name to treble the price.
Subscription services, most are padded out with absolute crap
Musical theatre and opera -in a vain attempt to be cultured -just disappointed at the cost and the hype.

What is all the Mr Frosty disrespect? I got a Mr Frosty xmas 79, best Santa delivery ever!!! Next to buying sweets in Nelly Olsens shop, this was the most desirable toy ever!!

Catch your selves on! Why hate on Mr Frosty?? I loved my Mr Frosty.

My youngest son was ,last xmas, made up to receive son of Mr Frosty, Posner snow cone maker with blue raspberry syrup.

Ice crushing and E numbered syrup adding tat is still as popular today as it always was. Stop with the Mr Frosty disrespect.

You will no doubt have a woke issue with my Girls world ( air hostess with vanity bag) edition , head next. Yeah, so i put lipstick and blue eyeshadow on her and flicked her hair.

Come at me bro!!!

@williowrosenburg

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

You did it wrong. It's not the best city for a bus tour.

For some reason I absolutely loved Las Vegas! (It was 30 years ago though). I woudn't go again though. It was the kind of place my XH loved. My now-DH would absolutely hate it.

So many places to see , so little time

Disneyland Paris -the cult of Disney grabbing your cash -better time at Efteling

Oooh. We're booked to go back to a Eurocamp site near Efteling in August (if we can go) and I was looking at Efteling as I've heard great things about it. DCs will be 10 and 8.

@williowrosenburg

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

I so agree with this! I thought it was such a dump. Same with Amsterdam, seedy little place. Full of stoners.

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

Wicked is based on a book that's a retelling of another book from the villain's perspective. Gregory Maguire wrote it. He also wrote Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister.

A villa with a pool in Crete at the end of the season. Grim and never again.

I can't even remember what the story of Wicked was, I just remember it was boring, overacted, and not one memorable song...

@Chickenqueen

The pyramids. Always loved Egyptian history was so excited to go. They are right next to a massive city not in the middle of a desert as pictures suggest, rubbish everywhere, people pestering constantly. There is even a Pizza Hut right opposite them!!! So sad.

Someone else beat me to this. Never been so disappointed in any place, not to mention some of the people surrounding it. Their culture of constantly hassling people and invading their personal space set my teeth on edge. A few hours of that and it becomes an exhausting experience.

Alexandria was much the same. There was rubbish in the streets piled up about three stories high and there was frequently a dead horse to be found dumped in a canal. The place is just one big health hazard. I don't care if I never go back!

@JosephineBaker

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

Wicked is based on a book that's a retelling of another book from the villain's perspective. Gregory Maguire wrote it. He also wrote Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister.

Yes, but it's still a revisionist view of what was already nonsense. Fun nonsense, but still.

It just takes itself so very, very seriously.

New York. I was obsessed with Friends when I was younger and at 21 got the opportunity to travel the East Coast for 12 weeks. Got to New York and I was bursting with excitement. But it was only ok, not mind blowingly amazing like I dreamed it would be. I’ve travelled to far more interesting places. The Empire State Building was a massive let down as it didn’t meet my imagination at all. Probably says a lot more about me being very unrealistic than New York though.

However, to revert to my usual Pollyanna-ish self, I have loved most of the places/ experiences listed here

Tastesmiths curry kits. I was so excited to cook these and I agonized over which ones to get and whether it would be worth £20. It wasn't

As a teen always wanted some jimmy choo shoes, but could never afford them. One day my bf at the time offered to buy me a pair and we went to try them on in store. They were so narrow I couldn’t fit my big wide trotters in any of them gutted.

The thing I hated most aboht Vegas was the dead eyed people churning coins into the slot machines. I'd get up and go for a coffee at 8am and there'd be people sat there already. It did not look like fun at all.

We were also served by an extremely rude waiter who seemed offended that we did not finish the enormous portions (and we are not light eaters!). When we said we weren't interested in seeing the dessert menu he rolled his eyes and said "no, of course you don't" as if we were purposefully being stingy. It was awful.

Egypt I found horrific. Went in my twenties with a female friend sexual harassment so extreme we ended up stuck in our hotel room in Cairo. At the Pyramids we got so hassled we ended up paying £30 each (a fortune then) for a donkey ride my friends donkey died with her on it she was a vegetarian so very upset.

@OfTheNight

New York. I was obsessed with Friends when I was younger and at 21 got the opportunity to travel the East Coast for 12 weeks. Got to New York and I was bursting with excitement. But it was only ok, not mind blowingly amazing like I dreamed it would be. I’ve travelled to far more interesting places. The Empire State Building was a massive let down as it didn’t meet my imagination at all. Probably says a lot more about me being very unrealistic than New York though.

Like anywhere else , it is the people that ruin it. they are just so rude there.

I remember going to a murder mystery event in a bar in New York. There were a lot of foreigners there and some New Yorkers there. I asked a man there if he was from New York. I certainly found out.

He glared at me, and said "Are you actually asking me am I from New York? Seriously?" I then said something like, I was from Ireland, and he said "and they have you working here already?"

I said "what?" Apparently, he thought I was working in the bar, even though I was standing with him in a private room at the back of the bar, where the event was being held with other people that were there for the event. So rude!