Barcelona was nice to see, but I probably will never go back. The tourism is so heavy that even when there on the off season and being incredibly nice and respectful, the locals don't like you. Worth it to see the more famous sites, but when I go back to Spain, I won't be going there.
Cruises. It's literally people who are so terrified of international travel, they bring their home culture with them on a boat. Even if the mechanics of cruises are generally nice, they are filled with, and cater to this demographic. Personally when I am traveling, too many other Americans or Germans kind of ruins the vibe, so a whole boat of them is like purgatory.
Agreed. It's for people who don't like to sink deep into a culture. They want the short touch so they can pull back and leave asap.
I could never go on a cruise, the time constraints would drive me crazy.
International travel for people who hate international travel
miami. orlando (i.e. disney world and universal). las vegas. dubai. any other middle-to-upper class playground.
on the other hand, so people cannot say i mentioned anywhere in the center of capitalism: i'd love to meet ireland, scotland, brittany, galiza. the museums in new york, london, madrid, barcelona and paris are indeed something to see. the historic buildings and excavations in rome are of interest. and restaurant, café and bar-trotting in madrid, valencia, barcelona, paris, vienna, amsterdam, rome, naples, tokyo is something i'd love to do.
Dubai. A cultureless fake city in the desert, full of posers.
One of the strange things I saw with Dubai is that the civil-site design is just horrible at the edges of developments. You can tell that the emirate could spend money to make buildings, but the buildings don't form a city.
So like Vegas, but with less booze and weed?
More like Miami with less booze and weed.
Honestly speaking, Dubai.
Not because of slavery, poop trucks, questionable government policies, etc.
The real reason to me is that it does not offer anything traditional or historical. Yes it has some five start restaurants. Yes it has some big malls. Yes you can do stuff like desert driving or hot air balloons. These are all stuff that could be done anywhere else for cheaper.
I know it's unrelated to the thread, but I'd personally never go to a country that doesn't treat, women, gays, apostates etc as equals, I think these countries are absolutely terrible and I'm not fooled by them having "show cities" where they pretend that they're not that way.
A country that still has a medieval mindset in the third millennium is not getting a penny from me.
I understand your concern, but assuming someone looks over all of that, there isn't something genuinely exciting about it.
Not to mention the terrible traffic it is in now due to the Russia- Ukraine war, other unstable countries within the region, the terrible public transport system Dubai has anyway.
Until very recently, Dubai was a desert wasteland with a few Bedouin roaming about. I'm not sure what I would expect for history or tradition.
The one thing I liked was going over the creek for a few dirhams and strolling through the historical souk.
I liked my first all inclusive resort in Mexico very much. The second one had mediocre food and it rained heavily for three straight days, so much that the rain came through the thatched roof, and people pestered us to sign up for time share type presentations. It just looked a lot better than it was, and the beach was very basic.
Paris
I think Paris is a great city that I really enjoy visiting every time I go there, but you're perfectly right that it's incredibly overrated, anything with that reputation really must be, nothing that exists in reality could possibly come even close to such a myth.
Yeah Paris is great as a cool, old, European city with lots of history. If you like just hiking around cities it's great. I can imagine if you go into it thinking it is like some French tourist resort, you will be disappointed.
Wtf? How?? (and I'm not French)
While there is tons of nice place/stuff to do in Paris, many people see it as a perfect, romantic, ideal whatever city, and a visit there the trip of a lifetime.
Paris is a 10 million inhabitants urban area with all the associated problems,
Imagine thinking you're in the perfect city and being stuck in a crowded train, then in traffic, and falling in any possible tourist traps, from the barely legal but legal low quality, high price restaurant to the pickpocketsand other petty crime
Paris has been romanticized a lot in media, to the point where the Japanese embassy has to have staff on hand to handle the dispair of Japanese tourists visiting and getting disappointed.
I remember Paris being a pleasant large Western city, but it is still a large Western city with all that it entails.
I also don't get the hype around Paris. It's not super ugly but also nothing special.
I don't live too far from it, could easily go there for a week-end or even day trip. Still only been there twice and have no plans to go there again. In many spots it's very crowded and dirty and the attractions aren't better than in any other major city.
If you're Australian, Bali.
I’m there right now. You need to differentiate!
Most of the area south of Denpasar is just a large instagram zoo.
Denpasar is traffic. Just that.
North of denpasar it gets very beautiful very quickly.
Balinese people are some of the friendliest I have met on average.
What I do find overrated almost throughout is Balinese food.
Agreed. Get the heck away from Denspar and don't even step foot in Kuta Beach, it's not worth it.
Bali was amazing.
Thems fighting words, where else can I spend my centerlink on a bintang singlet?!
Paddy’s Market
Cruise ships. Not really a destination but I hate them so much.
Venice. Smelly, super crowded and everywhere is a tourist trap trying to extract $$$.
Depends on when you visit. I went during September and it was beautiful and not at all crowded. Didn't smell, either.
Disagreed. I loved Venice. Was crowded but was very pretty and interesting, and had great food. You don't need to go to the expensive tourist places for good food. As always, see where locals eat.
Yeah. The best idea of eating in Italy is to eat in areas without good views. A hole in the wall place that looks a run down diner served amazing squid ink pasta. Also, a lot of bars will sell snacks that are real food; three of those is enough for dinner.
Agreed
Switzerland. Don't go unless you're perfectly happy spending 50+ USD for mediocre food per day. It is incredibly fucking expensive.
It might be expensive, but still worth a short visit. I've got a shockingly bad memory, but I'll never forget the awe I felt waking up to a view of the Alps.
But you can have that in Austria as well or France or Italy. They are all in the Alps. Or even not as tall parts of the Alps in Slovenia or Germany.
Two of my least favourite places I've visited have been Cancún and Phuket. Both were minor stops in larger journeys, and I had fairly low expectations, but hot damn these places truly sucked ass. The countries they reside in have some truly great stuff, but you won't find them in these places.
Tbh, i stayed on Phuket island on the north west-ish side, not in Phuket city, and I thought it was really nice. Near Naiyang beach i believe. Not a lot of people, still nice beach and some food and drinks etc nearby. Heard terrible things off the city but i guess the island itself can have its moments.
I'm sure it's possible to find some good places on the island, but in my opinion, why risk it? Thailand has so much other stuff to offer at way less of a risk.
Phuket, I’m leaving.
Pronounced "poo-ket", messing the pun up somewhat
disney world
I feel like you need to be in a certain mindset to enjoy a theme park like Disney World. If you aren't in that mindset, the place is a saccharine place of over-stimulation.
i dont think ill ever be in the mindset to get massively ripped off by a shitty company in buttfuck nowhere florida. no hate to people who enjoy it but it used to be a more reasonably priced endeavor. now the prices are worse and the lines longer than ever. with that kind of money id rather take a week in a cabin or nyc or something
London. It doesn't even have capital vibes.
Please don't go to Salem MA in October. It is a gorgeous small city and my favorite place to be, but during October it becomes so insanely overcrowded that it poses a huge problem for the locals.
Go during summer instead, it's a little cooler than most of the US
Isn't the actual Salem Village called Danvers now anyway?
If you’re from the Midwest, anywhere in the Midwest. It’s all exactly the same.
Source: Went on crazy long road trips as a young adult looking for something new; ended up moving somewhere completely outside the region later.
I'm from Canada, only been to Minneapolis once but absolutely loved the city. Would certainly consider moving there, but it being smack dab in the middle of buttfuck nowhere is so sad.
Good food man. One of the best designed cities in the U.S. imo.
Sparse, but underrated.
People hog the left lane and don't respect flashing to pass. Fuck is up with that? Some of the most inconsiderate, yet slow drivers in America.
The best thing about being in the Midwest is you have to fly to anywhere cool. The worst thing about being in the Midwest if you have to fly anywhere cool.
Flashing your lights or highbeams to pass is seen as quite agressive in the US. It isn't taught in drivers ed, and the general interpretation I hear most people have of it isn't "Hey, could you let me pass?" but instead "Hey! Fuckface! Stop driving so goddamn slow and get out of the damn way you shithead!"
Doesn't help that in my experience, the only people flashing to pass are aggressively tailgating me when I'm already 10 mph or more over the speed limit.
Better to just pass on the right if there's room. And if there isn't room, fuck off telling someone to get out of your way. Not like they can get over anyway.
I've never heard of flashing to pass?! In Australia that's straight up road rage antics. You might want to check whether your local customs apply to the places you travel. That kind of misunderstanding could get you hurt.
Minneapolis is a great place to live, but I'm not sure I'd want to visit as a tourist. Which I'm totally cool with, I grew up in Orlando and I've had enough of living in a tourist town.
Egypt
Went 2 weeks there:
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First week was only about diving and was probably the most beautiful thing I will ever see in my life.
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Second week was about visiting the monuments and while they are astonishing cultural and historical bangers (except the pyramids which are impressive from the outside but just some dull stones in the inside) people living there (even those running restaurants or hotels) are invasive as fuck and not worthile your time...
However we also rentend an airbnb for 2 days and even if the room was clean it looked a bit gloomy but the guy was very nice and friendly we even ate a pizza with him and watched a local TV movie (some sharknado rip from their country XD). It was a way better experience than In a stared hotel with all commodities...
In general, going the tourist way is mostly a bad experience in every country.
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Egypt is great for diving. The nature on the Sinai peninsula is at least interesting, if not gorgeous in places. Political instability and the general culture do mean that you can have a bad time there, especially as a woman.
Egypt is the kind of country where I want to see things in it, but I kind of want to get the sanitized experience if I go there.
Never go to a place because it's popular, if you wouldn't go there if nobody else was there, you probably won't enjoy it when other people are there.
If you have a deep and strong interest in a place or a thing, it's great to visit no matter what. Low season might be better
Ohio.
No, Ohio is appropriately rated, which is why it is no one’s vacation destination.
I took a trip to Cleveland and Cedar Point for an extended weekend and found it to be alright.
Cedar Point is an easy concession 🙇🏽♂️
Santorini is really nice, but my god it's hard to dodge the stupid orange duck-faced bints stopping to take selfies for the 'Gram every ten seconds
I absolutely loved Rhodes and am so so so eager to return. Would love to visit Lesbos and Milos too.
but yes agree on Santorini, and Mykonos, both lovely but very over toured.
I’m glad I went once, but agree and am ok with not going back. Milos is 1000x better imo.
I wasn't a big fan of Bermuda, but I feel like it was more to do with what I like to do when traveling.
Food was expensive and kind of bland. There wasn't that much to see or do other than relax by a body of water and drink.
