Do I just go home?

[DoIgohome]

I've been on holiday for 2 days. I hate where I am (European city).

A lot of issues.
I can't find any good places to eat in a walkable distance.
My hotel is pretty grotty (not dirty, just old).
Hotel in a dodgy area and I don't feel safe going outside early morn or into the evening.
Weather is temperamental.
The city is grotty and definitely not one I like.

I've talked to holiday provider about at least moving hotels but they've refused. I've spoken to 2 different people.

Do I just give this up as a bad job, lose about £1500 and get a flight home? I can't afford another holiday anytime soon.

I'm not much of a crier but I cried tonight. I've travelled alone before so I'm usually a very confident traveller.

Presumably this city has millions of residents who commute every day. Many of them doubtless use the trains without getting mugged every time they go through. Many others, I'm sure, use buses. But if you're too good for public transport, every European city has Uber. And bike hires.

You can ask the internet, the hotel, your tour rep and/or fellow hotel guests for inspiration and travel tips.

There are only three options. Go home; stay elsewhere; do something interesting.

I get that you're dead set on going home, but you have posted a thread asking for perspectives. Mine is that I've almost always hated the places I visit on arrival. I worked out that I need to spend quite long time - hours - at a bar/café, getting acclimatised, then I feel a little more in sync with the culture and can find my inner explorer again.

Your choice, obvs, but option 3 is an option!

My guess is that the OP doesn’t want to say where she is because the city is ruined by rough men from rough countries but we all have to pretend that this isn’t the case - and the OP feels that she is racist, or will be accused of being racist for feeling unsafe. OP will be told that she should enjoy the “vibrancy” of loads of men with nothing to do hanging around the streets.

How about buses or trams?

That’s quite the leap Winter. Do you see problematic immigrants everywhere you look ?

I assume the city has things you wanted to see? Why not get a taxi there?

How on earth have you managed to spend £1.5k on travel and accomodation for one person to a European city you describe as "rough".

We spent that for two people for 10 days in the South of France ( Toulouse and Sete )and we went by train from London

Well it seems a lot more likely than OP thinking someone will track her down if she discloses which major city she is in.

Europe has had major amounts of immigration. It has types of crime that were unheard of a decade or two ago (bombing of private houses in Sweden - unheard of pre immigration) and plenty of the citizens are pissed off - that’s why they are voting right (as I’m sure you know). Videos of people’s behaviour in these cities are posted daily yes.

Look up day trips, maybe by train, and get a taxi to the station if early morning. Or look for guided tours or maybe your rep has trips on offer.
Give it a few more days before throwing in the towel. At least you'll know you gave the city a fair chance.

Let's guess

The lost city of Atlantis
Brigadoon
Shangri-la
Camelot
El Dorado

I can’t think of one European city that is actually, genuinely, really dangerous. Is it just anxiety? OP. Just stay, go out and talk to people. It could be the trip of a lifetime!

As if you've turned this innocuous thread into your own issues with migration. Mental!

Yes, she does. Over 150 posts since 2022 and I didn't do an exhaustive search. It's okay, people are allowed to have pet topics.

I did wonder if that had anything to do with OP's unrest. Would only narrow things down slightly, though: lots of cities have crowds of nervy men milling around the station at night. Can feel intimidating, but it's rarely dangerous. As a seasoned traveller, I'm sure OP has perfected the Purposeful Walk that makes us seem like too much hassle to hassle.

Blackpool? It's gone to the dogs since I were a lass.

🤪

Do you know what I once did when an Airbnb turned out to not be as advertised.. I walked into a hotel right next to the beach and asked if they had any empty rooms they were unlikely to book this late, then explained the situation (showed proof) and asked for a massive discount because something is better than nothing. And they did it, bless them. It was amazing.

Arw you somewhere you can easily access day trips elsewhere? If so I would do that and just leave your hotel early in a taxi or whatever method is straightforward so you aren't hanging around in the dodgy areas, and go off on day trips where you are out until late.

I love Naples! It’s my favourite European city. It can be rough in areas, but don’t let people put you off. It’s wonderful and historic. It’s a living city. Vomero is a beautiful part of the city, and the food is superb! It’s definitely worth a visit.

I know the whole thread is pointless because the OP won't say where they are, but I am intrigued to know how a grotty hotel in a shithole of a city that has cheap flights to/from it has cost £1500.

If not us, why not tell Chat GPT where you are and see if they can recommend places to eat, an area with a better vibe that you can check out?

we decided on which arrondissement, and then hotel, we stayed in on a recent trip to Paris based purely on what it said to us.

it was very helpful.

or, just go home.

Sexual crime in the EU up 94% since 2014 - so it’s nearly twice as dangerous as it used to be by this measure.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260429-2

No all strangers are not just friends that you haven’t met yet.

I read the first 3 pages of this thread then skipped to the end and amazed the OP has still not said?? This is like the cartoon Where is Carmen Santiago.
Just tell us where you bloody are, this is madness

You sound like you love misery if you won't even say where you are so people can actually help you.

This “ innocuous thread” tells us the OP feels very unsafe in a major European city and wants to go home - despite having spent £1500 on the holiday. So you take a better guess why?

Yes as per your reply you will be told it is racist to feel unsafe.

No all strangers are not just friends that you haven’t met yet.

Did you really just write that, @Winter2020? 🤣

You'd be a right fucking idiot if you went around believing every stranger was a friend, now, wouldn't you. Hell, some of my friends turned out not to be friends!

I still love people, though. But anyway, you carry on mistrusting people based on skin colour. It's a free country.

Or mistrusting people because of what you can see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears. (and I could add smell with your own nose as I get her parts of some cities are used as urinals). What has OP seen and heard on her break that makes her feel unsafe? She won’t say - because she will be told she is racist.

As you are not willing to say which city, no one can help you salvage the holiday. Then your only solution is to go home.