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Original poster

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

999 replies

hitsvilleuk · 10/04/2021 11:00

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?

OP posts:
Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 18:52

@Zuyi

England. My parents were British so I grew up on English literature, and I was so excited to go there. But it was dreary, expensive, crowded, rubbish everywhere, never stopped drizzling, everybody looked pissed off.
The weather in England is shit to be fair.
Abracadabra12345 · 10/04/2021 18:52

@KatherinefromKensingtonHighSt

I grew up in a tiny council flat with little money in the 70's, sharing a bedroom with my sister who was and still is a disagreeable biaatch and parents who hated each other. But, i had great friends in the kids in our flats and the street and their families. All mums looked after each others kids. So diverse, i was exposed to much foreign culture, foods and love.

I always dreamed of having a big detached house in the country, with a gravel drive, big frig off gates and a massive garden. My children would have rooms of their own and i would have my own space.

After yrs of work and sacrifice i got what i finally desired but it is too much for me. I have 2 DC's one grown now and left home and one 15. I am single and i really rattle around here. No neighbours upstairs to go for a cuppa, no community. I worked, so missed out on so much of my DC's , in search of this. The DC's have had a great and privileged childhood and enjoyed the house but i have missed out on so much. I think my kids have missed out too. They do not duck in and out of others neighbours houses like i did and they have not experienced other cultures like i did or made diverse friendships like i did.

Will be downsizing in a few yrs and looking forward to being back and moving back among community.

What i always dreamed of and acquired has in fact deprived me and my children of so much. I see that now.

This is so moving
MarieIVanArkleStinks · 10/04/2021 18:53

Italian cities: yes, Naples was dirty, consumed by smog and had its fair share of pickpockets and street hasslers (although the bay was wonderful). But Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world. I find it a mesmerising place and love its history and culture. Venice, likewise.

Paris is okay on the main straights but as soon as you turn off those it quickly turns sleazy. I do speak some French so don't experience the people as rude, which is a fairly common complaint about that city. But the first time I visited in particular, the smog was terrible.

I laughed out loud at the comment upthread about the desert wanting to kill you (albeit the only one I've visited is the Sahara, where in some Northern Egyptian regions you could probably be killed by something far nastier than a snake bite). I've always quite fancied seeing the Mojave, but like the PP will always prefer mountains, trees and water!

Vegas and LA don't appeal but the Bryce and Grand Canyons do. I loved Niagara Falls and Maine. Boston is a lovely city too.

I'm putting in a word in favour of the much-beleaguered fire pit. I love mine!-even the smell, which is very nostalgic and reminds me of festival camp fires.

LesserBother · 10/04/2021 18:53

Probably because I was expecting not too, or possibly from sun stroke in the case of Las Vegas

I definitely think that sometimes it's a case of things not living up to expectations rather than being rubbish so low expectations helps. Our visit to Milwaukee was not really planned so no expectations at all, hence it surpassed them all!

theDudesmummy · 10/04/2021 18:54

English weather isn't that bad! Try the West coast of Ireland! Just today it has rained, hailed and snowed where I am...

JustJustWhy · 10/04/2021 18:56

@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.
Friends was filmed in California!
Tumbleweed101 · 10/04/2021 18:57

As a teen I had romantic visions of my first time being in a gorgeous alpine meadow surrounded by mountains.

Actually did manage to get the location and opportunity sussed. Hadn't counted on said alpine meadow being covered in elk poo and giant mossies! Didn't take opportunity and still don't regret it lol.

Thewinterofdiscontent · 10/04/2021 18:57

@Anonapapple

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!

I grew up on a farm so seen loads of births. Animals make it look easy. I imagined as long as I was calm I’d just breeze through.... Didn’t count on painful contractions for 3 days before so I’d had no sleep, getting sent away from hospital for being not ready but then an ambulance trip becayse it was taking too long, bright hospital rooms , not realising contractions were twinges compared to actual labour...

Set up a direct debit to MSF because goodness knows how you give birth without gas and air, let alone proper help,in case anything goes wrong.

Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 18:58

Haha that is true , Friends was filmed in LA.

SATC was filmed in New York for sure. I went to see "Carrie's house".

jeaux90 · 10/04/2021 18:59

Milan - it's a shithole
Porsche- it like being in a go cart and terrible if you have a raging hangover

Abracadabra12345 · 10/04/2021 18:59

@Zuyi

England. My parents were British so I grew up on English literature, and I was so excited to go there. But it was dreary, expensive, crowded, rubbish everywhere, never stopped drizzling, everybody looked pissed off.
But..but.. England is a big country! You can’t diss a whole country! Grin

Owning a puppy. I had this romantic picture of what it would be like. I had a puppy as a child and adored her but my dad returned her. I was heartbroken. So I waited to become a grownup and fulfil my dream.

It very quickly became plain that my dream was unrealistic. The puppy wasn’t cute and friendly but aloof and not cute. Fortunately an experienced, dog-mad woman took her while she was still very young and gave her a far better home than I ever could have,

TantrumInTheGarden · 10/04/2021 18:59

@Hastybird absolutely accurate description of camping. We are going in a few weeks Grin

I live in hope Confused

JokeTheCoalman · 10/04/2021 19:00

I was so excited to go to the Louvre but in the end was just too big and so busy. I got irritated with people taking selfies of themselves with the art.
I started sweating profusely and just had to get out of the place or I might have done something I regretted.
Paris on the whole...I don't see anything romantic about it and couldn't find a decent restaurant for love nor money.
Would love to visit other areas of France but Paris is not for me.

whataboutbob · 10/04/2021 19:01

Ha @Abracadabra12345. It was impossible to say it at the time, everyone was raving about it. I remember Jeremy Paxman of all people saying if you don’t like this book I don’t want to know you ( not that I want to be besties with Paxo). I did watch the film 😩.

Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 19:03

@JokeTheCoalman

I was so excited to go to the Louvre but in the end was just too big and so busy. I got irritated with people taking selfies of themselves with the art. I started sweating profusely and just had to get out of the place or I might have done something I regretted. Paris on the whole...I don't see anything romantic about it and couldn't find a decent restaurant for love nor money. Would love to visit other areas of France but Paris is not for me.
I didn't like Nice either. I got robbed there.

Is it me, or does France seem to be full of underworld kind of criminal types, more than other countries in Europe.

allofthecheese · 10/04/2021 19:05

I really didnt like Rome! My experience may have been hampered by the fact it literally torrential rained whilst we were there the first few days, I got a raging cold and our air bnb was a bit crap. But it was so dirty and I didn't expect there to be so much graffiti everywhere... St. Peter's square was amazing but that was about it!

Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 19:06

@allofthecheese

I really didnt like Rome! My experience may have been hampered by the fact it literally torrential rained whilst we were there the first few days, I got a raging cold and our air bnb was a bit crap. But it was so dirty and I didn't expect there to be so much graffiti everywhere... St. Peter's square was amazing but that was about it!
I didn't like Rome.

I was charged 8 Euro for a glass of coke. The most expensive glass of coke that I have ever had.

They have all these sneaky charges. Like if you sit inside they charge you more, but they don't tell you until afterwards.

JokeTheCoalman · 10/04/2021 19:07

Sarahtrue 11

I couldn't comment on that. There's plenty of criminal activity, organised crime in UK and Ireland

whataboutbob · 10/04/2021 19:07

@Sarahtrue11 the south of France ( the south east really, the cote d azur all the way to Marseille) is notorious for organised crime and corruption. Drug smuggling, bribery, protection rackets eg for bars and restaurants probably also the influence of Corsican organised crime. But I think all countries have a criminal underworld, we just don’t collide with it that often, if ever. Thankfully .

allofthecheese · 10/04/2021 19:08

Oh and the pyramids was abit weird... you'd think they're in the middle of nowhere in isolation but actually there's loads of shops and buildings just a few steps away. Bizzare! We also got totally ripped off so that dampened our stay.

MrsMaryMystery · 10/04/2021 19:09

I went to Rick Steins. He was actually there! He popped in to speak to one of the staff members and then left again. However the food gave me food poisoning, and as we were camping, I was unimpressed to have to leave my sleeping bag to hot foot it to the toilet block to vomit.

My CORDED Dyson is a bit meh, never mind all this talk of cordless. The Henry hoover is miles better. What a waste of money.

SnugglySnerd · 10/04/2021 19:09

I didn't like Rome either. The collosseum was good but there are only so many ruins I can look at in boiling heat!

theDudesmummy · 10/04/2021 19:09

I only went to Rome once. It was my 25th birthday, supposed to be a romantic visit...but my birthday happens to coincide with an important saint's day which meant everything was closed (was many many years ago...). It was boiling and nowhere to even buy a bottle of water. Hated it and have never returned.

Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 19:10

@theDudesmummy

English weather isn't that bad! Try the West coast of Ireland! Just today it has rained, hailed and snowed where I am...
Yes the weather in Ireland is also shit. Poor UK and Ireland were never lucky on the weather side of things. We are very much "northern Europe"

I think only Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland have worse weather.

Sarahtrue11 · 10/04/2021 19:11

@allofthecheese

Oh and the pyramids was abit weird... you'd think they're in the middle of nowhere in isolation but actually there's loads of shops and buildings just a few steps away. Bizzare! We also got totally ripped off so that dampened our stay.
Really?That is interesting. Can you go inside any pyramid?
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