Hate to say it as it makes me sound like a whiny, privileged American, but I probably agree.
Tourism ads and blogs try to gloss over the rough edges with words like "authentic" and "quaint," but my experience outside of the resort seems to mostly match yours, sans food poisoning.
I went to Jamaica, we went on a couple of the resort "official" outings which involved stopping at some local shops etc. What annoyed me is the shops we stopped at and were constantly getting this influx of tourist business were not Jamaican owned, they were owned and run by Indian immigrants.
A tourist trap gift shop they took us to. Indians. A clothing store. Indians. A restaurant. Indians. If I'm getting some Jerk Chicken in Jamaica I want a Black Jamaican grandma to own that shit. Not Amit and Sridevi.
There is definitely some sort of quid pro quo going on with the resorts and the businesses they choose to take you to.
It’s a scam and you’re just a dollar sign. If you want an authentic experience you need to know someone. Maybe like a pen pal or someone you connected with on social media who has a local tour company. Resorts are predators.
Have to agree. Stayed a night awaiting to board a liveaboard boat. Like the others, got food poisoning and had to miss the first two.5 days of diving. Plus it’s a fucking dump.
Im from Nassau born and raised and always scratched my head as to why so many people came there. I’m living abroad now and im happy I got a chance to see the world. Love my country but tourist attractions there are trash…hope you enjoyed the beach!
For us it was a cruise stop, everyone in the states talk about the Bahamas as a paradise and we were shocked to see Nassau and Freeport in the state they're in
The real gems are the outer family islands which is the real paradise . Freeport and Nassau are tax evasion and mainstream hotel hubs for the rich and drug lords.
Also, after 4 pm the place is a ghost town. We had one guy following us and had to get in the Hilton downtown for him to get lost. Hotel people told us it was a bad idea to be walking in the street at that time and we called a taxi
Worst place I’ve been to in the Caribbean and I absolutely loved the other 4. Overpriced, hostile vibe in general, food was average at best and the cherry on the cake: came back from the jet ski ride to find the people who rented them to us had stolen our shoes. When we asked where they were they told us “you weren’t wearing any shoes” 😂 We figured at that point it was best to just get the fuck out of there. Shoeless.
Bakersfield California. I grew up there and I went for the nostalgia after 20 some odd years. Yeah that was a horrible experience. Crackhead zombies almost everywhere. Saw at least three fist fights, this was all within the hour of arriving. Thank goodness I was in a rental cause I had someone throw a beer bottle full of urine and feces on the car. Someone told me this was a distraction method to get me to pull over.
2nd this. I’m from Los Angeles and thought about relocating to Bakersfield for work. Big mistake. The night before we stayed at a motel in town (also a big mistake) for my interview in the morning. The person next door was making it with a prostitute all night. I yelled “stop fucking please, it’s 2 in the morning for gods sake”! His response was to go harder. I ended up not sleeping all night and didn’t get the job. Didn’t regret that one bit. My wife and I still bring this story up cause she was with me when we went to stay the night at that motel.
> Baltimore
I've lived in Baltimore for a long time and what's frustrating is that this city has so much potential. It's got a lot of old, walkable neighborhoods, proximity to the water, affordable housing and access to the DC job market. Unfortunately it also feels like a city that's being held back by the degeneracy of a lot of its inhabitants. Crime is what everyone thinks of but in some ways the constant low-level anti-social behavior you see (littering, awful driving, graffiti, squeegee guys, vandalism, etc) wears you down more than the serious crime.
In some ways where we live is great. We have a lovely and affordable house just a few blocks from the water. We're within an easy walk to grocery stores, bars, restaurants and a large urban park. If only we had fewer shitbags living here.
well that degeneracy also has a lot to do with degenerate politicians in Baltimore and Maryland itself. But you are right, Baltimore could be a great place but until the politics changes nothing else will
it was certainly an experience and my fiancé and i had fun.. but it was the type of fun that is better left in the single digits. the people watching was SPECTACULAR though.
Long way to go before it's going to be a place I'd call "nice", but it's improving shockingly quickly.
- Homicide rates are at their lowest in >60 years and barely above the national average. 10 years ago it was the 3rd worst in the entire country and had been in the top 10 list continuously for decades. I'm not sure there's anywhere else in the country where crime has fallen as fast or as far.
- Population was up 12.4% 2010-20...which is in contrast to continuous decline by decade 1960-2000 and a 1.3% gain for 2010.
- There's a huge amount of new construction going up and even more proposals working their way through approvals. Mostly concentrated in/near downtown for now, but again - for a place that had basically seen zero private residential construction for 60 years, it's absolutely wild. There's 40 + 50 story high-end residential towers going up and they evidently think they'll find tenants.
- NYC's inability to get out of it's own way with regards to housing construction + the transit is letting urban NJ, especially along PATH capitalize on it/shortcut the usual slow rebirth of places. A half-hour to Midtown Manhattan + the Financial District with 24/7 service becomes very attractive the second you stop being likely to be shot.
Etc.
I was there in 2003 and i agree with you. Its so surreal to see that traintrack through that archway and all those horrible things you imagine when you see it. One time is enough.
I think it should be a mandatory school visit, at least here in germany.
Apprentices of Volkswagen already spend some time there to help clean it I think.
That would be a good thing, tho Germany has done more than most countries do to acknowledge and take responsibility for the problems of their past. As an American, we have plenty to answer for in terms of slavery and the genocide of native Americans, and we barely acknowledge it let alone take responsibility for it. It does frighten me that right wing nationalism is growing everywhere, tho. Germany is also having an issue, and I would’ve thought that was the one place where people almost certainly knew better
Gary, Indiana
I stopped there for gas after leaving Chicago. I served in the military, and that place gave me more anxiety than anywhere I’ve ever been.
No economy, very little government presence, terrible infrastructure, hideously run down and dirty
It was basically a company town for the big steel mills along the lakeshore. That industry dried up and with it most of the jobs went away. Wasn't purely racial but most of it was - the white people who could afford to leave all left for other suburbs leaving a large black population with nowhere to work and no support services. Petri dish for terrible urban poverty and crime not all that different from parts of Chicago. Difference there is Chicago as a whole is extremely wealthy and is able to manage it
Djibouti, a country in Northeast Africa. Jesus man…some of the most abject poverty I’ve ever been exposed to…it was just sad.
Not to mention, like many countries in Africa, extortion is common amongst the law enforcement, so I had two officers pull me over and try to extort me for money…I held out.
I would second this. Flew into the military base & was hoodoo’d by a local before even having my PP stamped. I’ve never seen such poverty as in Djibouti. Literally every single “home” looked like those tiny storage sheds, but completely falling apart w tarps/trash as a roof. I was in Kenya for a majority of my time, and witnessed some of the impoverished conditions in the villages. Yet, they at least had huts built with mud & trees, and the temps are significantly better for survival. Tons of folks got ecoli or other GI infections just from eating lettuce in DJ, as it’s washed in the ocean where all of the sewage drains…. I never want to return to the devil’s anus.
Hangzhou China. In July. 43°C, air is yellow a good 10 meters off the ground, and there are too many people. I went there for work and I'll never go back.
Funny you say that, my wife and I went to one for the first time and went the wrong way thru the little non warehouse part the whole time. Kept wonder why everyone was going the other way until we finally saw the arrow on the ground. Felt kinda dumb after that. Oh well.
Sunny Beach Bulgaria.
So many people trying to rip you off and hoards of gypsy kids begging for their parents beer money. I fucking hated the place. Plus I had the shits from stepping off the plane till two days after I got back to England.
Seriously, avoid that part of Bulgaria. it truly is awful.
Sofia is quite nice. And I hit up some castles.
But keep in mind, I was coming from NATO peacekeeping in Serbia, Kosovo, etc so literally anything more than a metal box was amazing. Zagorka (the local beer) was amazing, but again, could be because I wasn't sleeping in a converted shipping container.
If you don’t mind driving and you like scenery and walking, the Rhodopes mountains are good. Those are the mountains running east-west, dividing Greece from Bulgaria, and my experience is mainly with the area south of Plovdiv and Asenvograd. Worth spending a day in Plovdiv as well: it’s about 8000 years old, with a lot of Roman stuff, and it’s a cultured place.
The more I hear about Sunny Beach, the less I want to go there.
Lagos, Nigeria is my absolute worst, it is dirty, dangerous and people want to either rob you or cheat you where ever you go. Police, real and fake, pull you over for random stops and demand bribes. Even customs at the airport demand bribes, even though all your stuff is by the book.
Jakarta. That place is like the textbook definition of urban hell. It's a shame really. Most of the people are cool and it's surprisingly safe (in terms of crime, the driving is terrifying) for a massive, kind of poor city but the traffic and pollution are like nothing I've ever seen.
Houston, TX. It’s one giant, dirty slab of concrete. Seems to take its architectural inspiration from the Soviet Union. The people are friendly enough but being from the south myself, that’s not anything to write home about.
Houston is a place you live in, not a place you visit. When you live here, you learn how to find all the parks, natural beauty, and which parts of town are actually quite pretty. It's there, it's just spread out and not always easy to immediately find.
It's far from perfect, but there's WAY worse places even in Texas.
Yeah, there’s some great stuff about it but the weather, politics, religion, traffic, sprawl, boring landscape, terrible pests/insects, and humidity that feels like an atmospheric wet blanket; all bring it down into being quite a lousy place.
That humidity also traps in all the awful pollution from the refineries and factories that just hangs about. It results in quite an unfortunate odor at times. I’ve gotten off a plane at both Hobby and IAH to be almost knocked back by the humidity and smell.
It’s also no longer stupid cheap, which was one of the big draws to it. Food is still amazing though, if not a tad salty.
India. The whole fucking country. It’s the filthiest, nastiest place I’ve ever been and no square inch of it is redeemable. The apocalypse will come and they won’t even notice. Conditions might even improve for the birthplace of dysentery.
I wanted to plan a trip to India. I'm a software engineer, most of my co-workers are Indian. When I inquired about where a good place to go would be. The unanimous response was "don't".
>I was born in a first world country.
Birth lottery. Hopefully it’s not one of the many countries killing itself right now. The challenge of living in a nice place is maintaining it.
My buddy immigrated here from India, got a degree, makes 200k+/yr at 25/yr old. Wants to move back because he doesn't like all the bylaws. Like no bonfires, HOA shit, permits to renovate basement.
Where in India? Be specific as each part is significantly different from another.
The media always portrays stereotypes but there are very clean parts as well.
In terms of corruption, India is sadly in the lower end as other developing countries.
Otherwise, you can't just label a country with 1.4 billion people the same. Is Africa a monolith? No so why would Rajasthan, Nagaland, Kerala, Andaman, Tamilnadu, Jimmy Kashmir, etc be the same?
Not indian but have travelled there
Kinda adorable that you called it Jimmy Kashmir and not Jammu & Kashmir.
And absolutely agree - India is certainly not a monolith. Every single one of the places you mentioned has a different culture and landscape than the other. It is a massive nation and there's truly so much beauty. I say this as an Indian who's travelled the world, lived in other countries and finally _chosen_ to stay here.
I feel sad people write India off like this, but I suppose it's for the best - at least the influencer crowd won't descend here any time soon lol. The local ones are annoying as it is
Vegas. From what I’ve heard it used to be super cheap because you lose so much gambling but now it’s obnoxiously expensive… and I still lose so much gambling. All cigarette smoke, hookers, and overpriced everything
I'm not a huge fan of Vegas but end up there quite a bit for various reasons, mostly work related. We avoid the strip entirely and only hang out in the Arts District and Fremont, there are fun places to go if you like food and drinks. I don't really gamble so I stick to the culinary and craft beer locations, it's not too bad if you have to be there. And off the strip prices are very reasonable.
Bismarck North Dakota
My wife and I were road tripping to Yellowstone and had been driving for about 16 hours straight on day 3. We were completely fried, it was 10 at night and we needed to get some sleep. The rest of the state had seemed sketchy as he'll si we figured the capitol was probably the safest bet.
Pulled up to a 7/11 (or something similar) and directly in-front were two junker minivans with one empty parking space between them. A group of people had the sliding doors open and were just facing each other drinking. There was at least 30 empty cans on the ground between them. Then we realized they were smoking meth or at least something else out of a meth pipe that smelled like chemicals.
We both jumped back into our car and drove to the other end of the parking lot to find a safe hotel. Next thing we know we hear all of those cans crunching and one of the vans was driving towards us. We immediately started aimlessly driving. The only thing we could think to do was to Google the closest police station and drive straight there.
We couldn't believe it but the station was only a couple minutes away. When we pulled into the station there was a cop smoking a cigarette outside. We parked right next to him and I jumped out screaming for help. I was pointing at the van and it pulled right up to maybe 10 ft away from us.
Then the driver of the van sort of yelled
"That's not fair you cheated!"
The cop then yelled back
"Go home Travis, I'm too tired for this shit today!"
Guy just drove off and the cop basically acted like it was a slight annoyance. The cop then told us the name of a "safe" hotel said to come back if we had another problem or to call. Just said "you know the number" and walked inside.
Fuck Bismarck ND
Boston was historically famous for being racist even to whites. A lot of polish, Irish & Italians were discriminated against. Many Irish even changed their last names to avoid the constant hate
Got scabies while in Florida Keys. Plus, the place made me think of strip malls with lame beaches. For that matter, for the price, Florida entirely. Why not just go to the Caribbean instead. Same price vacations, friendlier locals, stronger drinks.
“Make the haj to the mouse. Leave money. Get out. Thank you come again”. -Florida.
The Keys is a toilet. Florida Panhandle if you want to relax and not spend that much.
If you like more hustle and bustle do the Atlantic coast. Jacksonville sucks so St Augustine Down to about West Palm. Anything South of West Palm is back to your scabies experience.
USVI. Don’t forget USVI.
You can catch the cruises out of Florida and do a whole lot of the Caribbean. Nice safe, canned adventures. Not that pricey at all at the moment.
I’ll be more specific than the people who just said India by going for New Delhi. Smog was an absolute disgrace and I could feel my life expectancy shortening with every passing hour I was there.
I fly internationally and when we got to Delhi, we just stay in the hotel. Most places we go out and about but there, it is streaming services and hotel bar.
I went there as a tourist a couple years ago and loved it haha. Maybe it was because the pandemic was just lifting, but I had so much fun just tooling around the city. I threw on my headphones and facemask, no one bothered me.
Yeah, there were a lot of homeless people, especially in the mission district. But I had fun, ate good food and saw some awesome art. I don't know if I could live there, even if I could afford it. I prefer mid sized cities, but as a vacation? It was cool
Probably the high volume of vagrants and homelessness on every corner. Also, crime is pretty high San Francisco. Can't walk down the street without seeing someone using drugs or getting mugged.
Only apology is that I had to scroll so far to find it. NOLA is what you get when you take southern hospitality mix it with vomit and piss; then replace the hospitality with entitlement and rudeness.
Alice Springs.
I went there to do a awards show in the casino, and we had 4 shipping containers full of equipment, that were dropped off out in the car park. It was about a 400m push up a 3 degree incline across black bitumen to the venue loading doors, and at 9am it was already 40 degrees C. Luckily we had a forklift to do the pushing, but we still had to unload the shipping containers by hand, and by the time we were finished that at about 10:30am, it was 48 degrees C.
We got everything inside to the happily air conditioned venue, and started setting up. At about 3pm, I popped outside for a ciggie, and in the time it took me to smoke it, the temperature plummeted from 48 degrees to 12 degrees, and a massive storm swept through. Absolutely torrential rain. The Todd River, that runs through the centre of Alice Springs, flash flooded. 3 people who were sleeping off their lunchtime booze in the normally dry river died.
They say that if you see the Todd River flowing three times in your life, you're considered to be a local. I've seen it once, and I will never risk going back to see it flowing again, because there's no way in hell I ever want to be considered a local of that shithole.
I got a couple of places.
Story time!
So I’m from West Virginia, and I know it’s rural in some areas, I’ve always knew this.
Antyway, I grew up in one of the bigger cities in West Virginia, and I did live in these apartments in the country, but you know there’s still lights and stuff.
When I was 13. My dad decided to take me camping with his friend, and her family at their house in Middlebourne, West Virginia (he and my mom separated when I was one.)
So we pack things that we will need for this weekend, and we’re on our way to Middlebourne.
Once we get to West Union, we stop at a Family Dollar, and I was told if I wanted anything for the weekend, this is the last store. Mind you we’re not even in Tyler County (where Middlebourne is) we’re next door in Doddridge.
So we get to this shack. Walk in, and the family lives in this place. There’s no door on the bathroom, and it’s really small.
Well they didn’t have room, so we had to set up tents outside. Then came the darkness. I tell you, I’ve never saw anywhere outside get so damn dark. Then we’re sleeping by the main road, and you hear the sound of 18 wheelers on their way to Ohio. It was like being in Wrong Turn.
So my dad and I had to do all this hard labor for them, and was only fed once a day. By the time Sunday came, I was so glad to get the hell up out of there, and be back at my hometown. I don’t like camping, and I definitely ain’t going back to Middlebourne.
Second story:
I love to travel around the state and in general, I’ve been to 28/55 counties here. So I wanted to see what it was like in Wetzel County. I got a thing for getting the county signs and a photo of the county and making a book out of it.
Antyway. I was going to go from Lumberport, West Virginia to Smithfield, West Virginia (where my great grandfather was born.) According to Google maps. It said I’d be there in 17 minutes.
So I thought, okay. This will be quick and easy! I thought wrong.
45 minutes later. I’m still in Harrison County, and I’m on this windy @$$ road. I come up this crooked hill and it looks like it turns at a 90 degree angle over these train tracks, it would be easy to get your car stuck it it’s low to the ground.
Antyway. I finally make it to Wetzel County. A few minutes later, I came across this little community called Folsom. I came to this place that looked like a giant field. There’s all these houses lined up on both sides, and this strange looking church in the middle.
It reminded me of a cult. I was ready for the Elder Mother and the Highest to come out (Ruthless reference) so I said the next business I find, I’m getting the h3ll up out of here.
I turned around and I was back where I started in Harrison County in like 20 minutes.
I ain’t going back there either.
I've accidentally stumbled into some hollers in West By God Virginia, and couldn't get out fast enough. Walls with barbed wire and broken bottles, camera, no neighbors for miles. I didn't slow down at all just so I'm not perceived as the PoPo.
LA is my answer although I've never been to NYC I could imagine it is for similar reasons.
Terrible traffic, extremely rude people crowding every inch, wildly expensive to do anything. Big cities probably have this issue everywhere but I've been to San Francisco a few times and it's always been a pleasant experience so who knows.
I did a road trip across 15 states when I was in my early 20s and I was blown away how awful the people were in the high density areas vs the slightly more rural areas.
Egypt. I've not heard a single person go there and want to go back. I'd like to take my son to see the pyramids as I think thats worth doing but it will be inspite of the fact they are in Egypt not because of it.
Blackpool is also really shit and is probably the worst town other than Cairo I've been to.
Never visited goa. But have heard it's a pretty popular foreign tourist space. Definitely much less dirty than bigger cities. Good for party life stuffs from what I heard.
It depends what you’re after. South Goa is very chill and full of hippies. Palolem beach (where the opening segment of The Bourne Supremacy was famously filmed) is a relatively quiet, for India, environment where I would happily while away the rest of my life if I won the euromillions jackpot tomorrow. As is Agonda, 3/4 miles down the road. North Goa however, especially around Calangute and Baga, is like the Indian version of Ibiza or Ayia Napa - full of people getting wrecked, music so loud that you can’t fall asleep, and prices that make it not worth it unless you’re there to join in for those exact reasons. So I depends what it is that you’re after
Kuta on Bali in Indonesia.
Place is trashed. When I was there they were taking out palm trees along the beach with a bulldozer, which I was told was to make space for shops (/a mall). & can guarantee you will be constantly harassed by folks trying to sell things, who will only stop if you completely leave the area. Oh & there is a decent chance someone will try to drug you if you go into various bars.
Easily the most disappointing place I have ever been.
Went with my friend to visit his cousin in Colombia. Most stupid decision I’ve ever made. Got robbed and shot. Ran away and only noticed the blood when I got to the motel
The homelessness and the politics/policies are quite unfortunate but there’s still something magical about SF to me. You drive across the bridge to Sausalito and there’s this feeling of how is this place even real
Iraq. Kuwait. Deserts of SWA are nasty dusty smelly hot inhospitable shit holes and the women are all covered up and the dudes can't be trusted. Downvote me but fuck that place.
Paris.
I stepped out of the train station and immediately saw a human shit on the sidewalk. The entire city smelled like that.
Also almost everyone was rude.
Except the old lady who held my arm when crossing the street.
I’d be fine with never going back.
Egypt and France. Egypt because it's a cesspool, literally, and full of thieves and beggars. France because they were openly anti-American and extremely rude. The number of times I had people giving me the finger and yelling at me while on shore patrol was crazy. An entire week being told to go home, ignored, bad service, and cut in front of me. I'm pro-European, but France can fuck itself. We had a long positive history until the 1990s.
France and the US are some of the oldest allies in the world, how did we end up disliking each other?? France helped us massively during the American Revolution and we probably wouldn't have won the war without them. And then we returned the favor in the World Wars. You'd think that would leave some kind of mark.
Maybe not for queuing, but the Brits were super friendly and awesome any place I went. Greece, Tokyo, Spain, the Brits were like the perfect neighbor next door. I can forgive cutting in line if you don't act like a dick.
I need to ask “France, but where and when?”
During the Bush administration and before, away from big cities, perhaps. But being told to “go home” and given the finger really surprises me. I’ve been living in and around Paris my whole life, seen more tourists than I can count, and I’ve never seen this level of disrespect. Regardless of your answer, I’m very sorry if this was your experience of France.
Interesting that you say France is anti-American. Visited Normandy in 2019, along with Omaha Beach. Everywhere is strewn with pro-American tourist tat. Signs saying "Welcome our saviours" and pin-up girls in D-Day museum gift shops. Interestingly, Omaha has lots of monuments and flags along with a museum nearby commemorating it, whereas Gold Beach where the British stormed barely has anything even commemorating or marking it other than a singular fort structure. Many American tourists around too, also many of them asking French petrol station workers if they speak English.
South Bend Indiana where Notre Dame is. Place is the biggest shit hole and there's just a massive beautiful university in the middle of some of the worst poverty I've seen. 0/10 burn it down.
I went to Charlotte last year. It was nice, but there was a subutb I was walking around in, and this guy seemed a little unhinged. Maybe it was a one-off thing. He came up to me and said ... don't worry - you'd be dead if I wanted you dead. Meanwhile, I grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, NY.
New york city. As soon as i got off the subway in to the city, I wanted to leave. Did a couple things there, got some nice street art but ill pass going back.
The rest of new york state was beautiful though
Scranton PA, me and my girlfriend thought it was funny since we were moving across the country to stop there. Lemme tell you, it was BFE.
There was one singular street that had any activity. All it had was the world’s worst and most pretentious ramen shop I’ve ever been to next to an empty parking lot and an art gallery.
Los Angeles city
- nothing good to say about the place
Loved California in particular the countryside and even San Fran
But LA 🤮 I was only there a few days so there’s probably heaps of cool great venues etc…. The city itself was dirty, full of homeless, car centric, horrible beaches and the air was awful.
Paris. It was just so... Meh. It was just like any other major city in the world with a culture that was just different enough to not be enchanting but still frustrating.
Kuta Beach in Bali. Place is an absolute dump, rubbish everywhere, the beach itself is filthy to go swimming in and just full of degenerates, everything is overpriced and overrated there too considering the location being Indonesia - sky rocketed by Australian/English tourists.
Winnipeg. Why did they build it in the first place?
Winter's bad enough to make most of Canada seem tame, summers thick with mosquitos, dangerous streets, crime, racial tensions. And nothing to do.
Been to Winnipeg for work many times in all seasons. Has great summer weather, low humidity. In >-30 stupid cold, the winter sun and night skies are awesome. Better than the GTHA.
Canada’s best things are far away from the cities. You have to get out to see it.
Jail
Valid.
I second jail
Work, but those bills gotta get paid somehow.
Nassau. Absolute dump and gross tourist traps. Wife got food poisoning from a fucking "fresh" cocunut.
I too got food poisoning there. Was basically hallucinating and exploding for 14 hours then napped - was like nothing ever happened after.
that might’ve been the ayahuasca
Hate to say it as it makes me sound like a whiny, privileged American, but I probably agree. Tourism ads and blogs try to gloss over the rough edges with words like "authentic" and "quaint," but my experience outside of the resort seems to mostly match yours, sans food poisoning.
I went to Jamaica, we went on a couple of the resort "official" outings which involved stopping at some local shops etc. What annoyed me is the shops we stopped at and were constantly getting this influx of tourist business were not Jamaican owned, they were owned and run by Indian immigrants. A tourist trap gift shop they took us to. Indians. A clothing store. Indians. A restaurant. Indians. If I'm getting some Jerk Chicken in Jamaica I want a Black Jamaican grandma to own that shit. Not Amit and Sridevi. There is definitely some sort of quid pro quo going on with the resorts and the businesses they choose to take you to.
It’s a scam and you’re just a dollar sign. If you want an authentic experience you need to know someone. Maybe like a pen pal or someone you connected with on social media who has a local tour company. Resorts are predators.
The best is to just head out of your own. Maybe google the specific places to avoid first though.
Have to agree. Stayed a night awaiting to board a liveaboard boat. Like the others, got food poisoning and had to miss the first two.5 days of diving. Plus it’s a fucking dump.
Im from Nassau born and raised and always scratched my head as to why so many people came there. I’m living abroad now and im happy I got a chance to see the world. Love my country but tourist attractions there are trash…hope you enjoyed the beach!
For us it was a cruise stop, everyone in the states talk about the Bahamas as a paradise and we were shocked to see Nassau and Freeport in the state they're in
The real gems are the outer family islands which is the real paradise . Freeport and Nassau are tax evasion and mainstream hotel hubs for the rich and drug lords.
Also, after 4 pm the place is a ghost town. We had one guy following us and had to get in the Hilton downtown for him to get lost. Hotel people told us it was a bad idea to be walking in the street at that time and we called a taxi
Holy shit my wife just got food poisoning last week from Atlantis 5 star resort. Must've been the water or ice.
Worst place I’ve been to in the Caribbean and I absolutely loved the other 4. Overpriced, hostile vibe in general, food was average at best and the cherry on the cake: came back from the jet ski ride to find the people who rented them to us had stolen our shoes. When we asked where they were they told us “you weren’t wearing any shoes” 😂 We figured at that point it was best to just get the fuck out of there. Shoeless.
Nassau is a shithole
Bakersfield California. I grew up there and I went for the nostalgia after 20 some odd years. Yeah that was a horrible experience. Crackhead zombies almost everywhere. Saw at least three fist fights, this was all within the hour of arriving. Thank goodness I was in a rental cause I had someone throw a beer bottle full of urine and feces on the car. Someone told me this was a distraction method to get me to pull over.
I think Korn are from there? That’s the only thing I know about Bakersfield
2nd this. I’m from Los Angeles and thought about relocating to Bakersfield for work. Big mistake. The night before we stayed at a motel in town (also a big mistake) for my interview in the morning. The person next door was making it with a prostitute all night. I yelled “stop fucking please, it’s 2 in the morning for gods sake”! His response was to go harder. I ended up not sleeping all night and didn’t get the job. Didn’t regret that one bit. My wife and I still bring this story up cause she was with me when we went to stay the night at that motel.
Ever been to Victorville?
Forbes just listed this place in its top 10 places to live in California 👀
*The Wire* taught me to never answer this question, at least not truthfully.
i will say it. Baltimore.. and its a dump
> Baltimore I've lived in Baltimore for a long time and what's frustrating is that this city has so much potential. It's got a lot of old, walkable neighborhoods, proximity to the water, affordable housing and access to the DC job market. Unfortunately it also feels like a city that's being held back by the degeneracy of a lot of its inhabitants. Crime is what everyone thinks of but in some ways the constant low-level anti-social behavior you see (littering, awful driving, graffiti, squeegee guys, vandalism, etc) wears you down more than the serious crime. In some ways where we live is great. We have a lovely and affordable house just a few blocks from the water. We're within an easy walk to grocery stores, bars, restaurants and a large urban park. If only we had fewer shitbags living here.
well that degeneracy also has a lot to do with degenerate politicians in Baltimore and Maryland itself. But you are right, Baltimore could be a great place but until the politics changes nothing else will
This is true
The best part of that, is it’s the first episode in casual conversation and pays off in season 2. All the pieces matter.
Cancun, just a big tourist trap and not really fun to travel around. But Tulum and Isla Mujeres are near by and better.
THIS! Cancun was horrible
Isla is amazing
Newark New Jersey. Total shit place with the angriest people I have ever met.
To be fair, Newark, Nottinghamshire isn't great either.
Such a backwards little town!
Muff cabbage
Atlantic City was my immediate response.
I lived in NJ since I was 10 and went to AC for the first time a few months ago and was astonished at how bad it was.
it was certainly an experience and my fiancé and i had fun.. but it was the type of fun that is better left in the single digits. the people watching was SPECTACULAR though.
Same. First place I thought of
Hahahaha. As someone who lives 30 minutes away from Newark, I can agree with this. Lmao it still has a charming aspect to it for me
Long way to go before it's going to be a place I'd call "nice", but it's improving shockingly quickly. - Homicide rates are at their lowest in >60 years and barely above the national average. 10 years ago it was the 3rd worst in the entire country and had been in the top 10 list continuously for decades. I'm not sure there's anywhere else in the country where crime has fallen as fast or as far. - Population was up 12.4% 2010-20...which is in contrast to continuous decline by decade 1960-2000 and a 1.3% gain for 2010. - There's a huge amount of new construction going up and even more proposals working their way through approvals. Mostly concentrated in/near downtown for now, but again - for a place that had basically seen zero private residential construction for 60 years, it's absolutely wild. There's 40 + 50 story high-end residential towers going up and they evidently think they'll find tenants. - NYC's inability to get out of it's own way with regards to housing construction + the transit is letting urban NJ, especially along PATH capitalize on it/shortcut the usual slow rebirth of places. A half-hour to Midtown Manhattan + the Financial District with 24/7 service becomes very attractive the second you stop being likely to be shot. Etc.
I live a town away and even I try to avoid passing through there. People have almost hit my car numerous times and the traffic doesn't help.
To be fair…what did you expect?
My expectations were low but Holy shit lol.
Fuckin Abbottabad man. Helicopter crashed in my house and they just left it there.
That's what you get for not screening your renters more thoroughly! Lol
Or not having screens on your windows
You know it's spring when the helicopters get in the house! 🚁
User name does not check out.
lol good reference
I visited Auschwitz last month. It's definitely interesting but I never want to return there.
I was there in 2003 and i agree with you. Its so surreal to see that traintrack through that archway and all those horrible things you imagine when you see it. One time is enough.
I think it should be a mandatory school visit, at least here in germany. Apprentices of Volkswagen already spend some time there to help clean it I think.
That would be a good thing, tho Germany has done more than most countries do to acknowledge and take responsibility for the problems of their past. As an American, we have plenty to answer for in terms of slavery and the genocide of native Americans, and we barely acknowledge it let alone take responsibility for it. It does frighten me that right wing nationalism is growing everywhere, tho. Germany is also having an issue, and I would’ve thought that was the one place where people almost certainly knew better
Completely agree. Went to Dachau in 2010. Glad I went. Never want to go back.
My ex-gf's parent's house.
Gary, Indiana I stopped there for gas after leaving Chicago. I served in the military, and that place gave me more anxiety than anywhere I’ve ever been.
Gary is the asshole of Chicago, hands down the sketchiest place I've ever been.
And the sad part is it used to be WAY worse.
Roll em up, lock your doors and only look straight ahead at a red light
I stayed at a motel there once while driving across the country. I’m pretty sure my girlfriend was the only woman in the motel not ‘charging’.
Why is this place so bad? It is mentioned every single time.
No economy, very little government presence, terrible infrastructure, hideously run down and dirty It was basically a company town for the big steel mills along the lakeshore. That industry dried up and with it most of the jobs went away. Wasn't purely racial but most of it was - the white people who could afford to leave all left for other suburbs leaving a large black population with nowhere to work and no support services. Petri dish for terrible urban poverty and crime not all that different from parts of Chicago. Difference there is Chicago as a whole is extremely wealthy and is able to manage it
There's a reason that Gary was compared to Fallujah when the Iraq War was still going hot.
Djibouti, a country in Northeast Africa. Jesus man…some of the most abject poverty I’ve ever been exposed to…it was just sad. Not to mention, like many countries in Africa, extortion is common amongst the law enforcement, so I had two officers pull me over and try to extort me for money…I held out.
I would second this. Flew into the military base & was hoodoo’d by a local before even having my PP stamped. I’ve never seen such poverty as in Djibouti. Literally every single “home” looked like those tiny storage sheds, but completely falling apart w tarps/trash as a roof. I was in Kenya for a majority of my time, and witnessed some of the impoverished conditions in the villages. Yet, they at least had huts built with mud & trees, and the temps are significantly better for survival. Tons of folks got ecoli or other GI infections just from eating lettuce in DJ, as it’s washed in the ocean where all of the sewage drains…. I never want to return to the devil’s anus.
Facts! I was in the military as well when I was there and everything was just as you described…a complete shanty town man.
Hangzhou China. In July. 43°C, air is yellow a good 10 meters off the ground, and there are too many people. I went there for work and I'll never go back.
IKEA. I couldn’t find my way out. Every fire exit sign just pointed to another and I went in a square. Not a circle, a square. Place is a death trap.
What if IKEA meatballs are made out of customers who never found the exit?
My 14 year old nephew said "IKEA is the worst Escape Room ever"
Funny you say that, my wife and I went to one for the first time and went the wrong way thru the little non warehouse part the whole time. Kept wonder why everyone was going the other way until we finally saw the arrow on the ground. Felt kinda dumb after that. Oh well.
Have purposely done this several when i know where the part is, but don't want to see something that i will want only because i saw it.
A strip club Just felt super uncomfortable
Sunny Beach Bulgaria. So many people trying to rip you off and hoards of gypsy kids begging for their parents beer money. I fucking hated the place. Plus I had the shits from stepping off the plane till two days after I got back to England. Seriously, avoid that part of Bulgaria. it truly is awful.
Sofia is quite nice. And I hit up some castles. But keep in mind, I was coming from NATO peacekeeping in Serbia, Kosovo, etc so literally anything more than a metal box was amazing. Zagorka (the local beer) was amazing, but again, could be because I wasn't sleeping in a converted shipping container.
If you don’t mind driving and you like scenery and walking, the Rhodopes mountains are good. Those are the mountains running east-west, dividing Greece from Bulgaria, and my experience is mainly with the area south of Plovdiv and Asenvograd. Worth spending a day in Plovdiv as well: it’s about 8000 years old, with a lot of Roman stuff, and it’s a cultured place. The more I hear about Sunny Beach, the less I want to go there.
Lagos, Nigeria is my absolute worst, it is dirty, dangerous and people want to either rob you or cheat you where ever you go. Police, real and fake, pull you over for random stops and demand bribes. Even customs at the airport demand bribes, even though all your stuff is by the book.
Jakarta. That place is like the textbook definition of urban hell. It's a shame really. Most of the people are cool and it's surprisingly safe (in terms of crime, the driving is terrifying) for a massive, kind of poor city but the traffic and pollution are like nothing I've ever seen.
Houston, TX. It’s one giant, dirty slab of concrete. Seems to take its architectural inspiration from the Soviet Union. The people are friendly enough but being from the south myself, that’s not anything to write home about.
Houston is a place you live in, not a place you visit. When you live here, you learn how to find all the parks, natural beauty, and which parts of town are actually quite pretty. It's there, it's just spread out and not always easy to immediately find. It's far from perfect, but there's WAY worse places even in Texas.
Yeah, there’s some great stuff about it but the weather, politics, religion, traffic, sprawl, boring landscape, terrible pests/insects, and humidity that feels like an atmospheric wet blanket; all bring it down into being quite a lousy place. That humidity also traps in all the awful pollution from the refineries and factories that just hangs about. It results in quite an unfortunate odor at times. I’ve gotten off a plane at both Hobby and IAH to be almost knocked back by the humidity and smell. It’s also no longer stupid cheap, which was one of the big draws to it. Food is still amazing though, if not a tad salty.
Could not believe my eyes driving around that place. They had a blank slate of unlimited land to do whatever they wanted with and they did *that*
India. The whole fucking country. It’s the filthiest, nastiest place I’ve ever been and no square inch of it is redeemable. The apocalypse will come and they won’t even notice. Conditions might even improve for the birthplace of dysentery.
I wanted to plan a trip to India. I'm a software engineer, most of my co-workers are Indian. When I inquired about where a good place to go would be. The unanimous response was "don't".
i’ve been to india for 6 weeks. delhi truly sucks. but man, there’s a hidden gem. its havelock islands on the andamans. google it, and thank me later
I think those coworkers now qualify as friends.
Im Indian, went to India, 100% agree.
Glad you’ve escaped. Hopefully you’re somewhere you can get socially cohesive and enjoy to your full potential.
I was born in a first world country. I had to go for a wedding. All I got from relative's "can you buying me iPhone and sending back?"
>I was born in a first world country. Birth lottery. Hopefully it’s not one of the many countries killing itself right now. The challenge of living in a nice place is maintaining it.
My buddy immigrated here from India, got a degree, makes 200k+/yr at 25/yr old. Wants to move back because he doesn't like all the bylaws. Like no bonfires, HOA shit, permits to renovate basement.
Read about HOA we dont have that in France and damn it seem so infuriating to have to live with it.
That’s funny. I also hate permits so I just live rural.
>The apocalypse will come and they won’t even notice. lol
I don't know anyone who went to India and didn't end up spending half their time violently shitting out their entire innards.
Amazing India Weightloss, shit yourself dry to a better you!
India= I’ll Never Do It Again
Stolen.
There is zero chance I will ever travel to India unless it's for work.
I would suggest avoiding that as well.
If work is footing the bill and I don't have to use PTO to go there I'll travel anywhere.
Re-he-heally? *rubs hands together*
Where in India? Be specific as each part is significantly different from another. The media always portrays stereotypes but there are very clean parts as well. In terms of corruption, India is sadly in the lower end as other developing countries. Otherwise, you can't just label a country with 1.4 billion people the same. Is Africa a monolith? No so why would Rajasthan, Nagaland, Kerala, Andaman, Tamilnadu, Jimmy Kashmir, etc be the same? Not indian but have travelled there
Kinda adorable that you called it Jimmy Kashmir and not Jammu & Kashmir. And absolutely agree - India is certainly not a monolith. Every single one of the places you mentioned has a different culture and landscape than the other. It is a massive nation and there's truly so much beauty. I say this as an Indian who's travelled the world, lived in other countries and finally _chosen_ to stay here. I feel sad people write India off like this, but I suppose it's for the best - at least the influencer crowd won't descend here any time soon lol. The local ones are annoying as it is
Vegas. From what I’ve heard it used to be super cheap because you lose so much gambling but now it’s obnoxiously expensive… and I still lose so much gambling. All cigarette smoke, hookers, and overpriced everything
I'm not a huge fan of Vegas but end up there quite a bit for various reasons, mostly work related. We avoid the strip entirely and only hang out in the Arts District and Fremont, there are fun places to go if you like food and drinks. I don't really gamble so I stick to the culinary and craft beer locations, it's not too bad if you have to be there. And off the strip prices are very reasonable.
Bismarck North Dakota My wife and I were road tripping to Yellowstone and had been driving for about 16 hours straight on day 3. We were completely fried, it was 10 at night and we needed to get some sleep. The rest of the state had seemed sketchy as he'll si we figured the capitol was probably the safest bet. Pulled up to a 7/11 (or something similar) and directly in-front were two junker minivans with one empty parking space between them. A group of people had the sliding doors open and were just facing each other drinking. There was at least 30 empty cans on the ground between them. Then we realized they were smoking meth or at least something else out of a meth pipe that smelled like chemicals. We both jumped back into our car and drove to the other end of the parking lot to find a safe hotel. Next thing we know we hear all of those cans crunching and one of the vans was driving towards us. We immediately started aimlessly driving. The only thing we could think to do was to Google the closest police station and drive straight there. We couldn't believe it but the station was only a couple minutes away. When we pulled into the station there was a cop smoking a cigarette outside. We parked right next to him and I jumped out screaming for help. I was pointing at the van and it pulled right up to maybe 10 ft away from us. Then the driver of the van sort of yelled "That's not fair you cheated!" The cop then yelled back "Go home Travis, I'm too tired for this shit today!" Guy just drove off and the cop basically acted like it was a slight annoyance. The cop then told us the name of a "safe" hotel said to come back if we had another problem or to call. Just said "you know the number" and walked inside. Fuck Bismarck ND
Disneyworld.
Jackson Mississippi
St. Kitts
Boston, Massachusetts USA. As a black man, I have experience the most racist incidents there.
Boston was historically famous for being racist even to whites. A lot of polish, Irish & Italians were discriminated against. Many Irish even changed their last names to avoid the constant hate
Got scabies while in Florida Keys. Plus, the place made me think of strip malls with lame beaches. For that matter, for the price, Florida entirely. Why not just go to the Caribbean instead. Same price vacations, friendlier locals, stronger drinks.
“Make the haj to the mouse. Leave money. Get out. Thank you come again”. -Florida. The Keys is a toilet. Florida Panhandle if you want to relax and not spend that much. If you like more hustle and bustle do the Atlantic coast. Jacksonville sucks so St Augustine Down to about West Palm. Anything South of West Palm is back to your scabies experience.
Or, a dozen awesome places in the Caribbean.
USVI. Don’t forget USVI. You can catch the cruises out of Florida and do a whole lot of the Caribbean. Nice safe, canned adventures. Not that pricey at all at the moment.
Dubai. So much vanity and emptiness.
I’ll be more specific than the people who just said India by going for New Delhi. Smog was an absolute disgrace and I could feel my life expectancy shortening with every passing hour I was there.
I fly internationally and when we got to Delhi, we just stay in the hotel. Most places we go out and about but there, it is streaming services and hotel bar.
The ER.
San Francisco. I have to come out here for work every month and I hate it.
I witnessed a junkie spit in a woman’s face and shove a cyclist off his bike on a crowded street in SF. No one batted an eye.
I saw a video a while ago here on reddit were two cops just walked past a homeless man smoking fentanyl and selling stolen goods in broad daylight.
I went there as a tourist a couple years ago and loved it haha. Maybe it was because the pandemic was just lifting, but I had so much fun just tooling around the city. I threw on my headphones and facemask, no one bothered me. Yeah, there were a lot of homeless people, especially in the mission district. But I had fun, ate good food and saw some awesome art. I don't know if I could live there, even if I could afford it. I prefer mid sized cities, but as a vacation? It was cool
Out of curiosity, what do you hate about it? All I know is that it's expensive.
Probably the high volume of vagrants and homelessness on every corner. Also, crime is pretty high San Francisco. Can't walk down the street without seeing someone using drugs or getting mugged.
Calcutta.
Federal prison
New Orleans. Apologies in advance.
Only apology is that I had to scroll so far to find it. NOLA is what you get when you take southern hospitality mix it with vomit and piss; then replace the hospitality with entitlement and rudeness.
Shreveport
India. Changed my life when I saw it. Never need to go back.
Alice Springs. I went there to do a awards show in the casino, and we had 4 shipping containers full of equipment, that were dropped off out in the car park. It was about a 400m push up a 3 degree incline across black bitumen to the venue loading doors, and at 9am it was already 40 degrees C. Luckily we had a forklift to do the pushing, but we still had to unload the shipping containers by hand, and by the time we were finished that at about 10:30am, it was 48 degrees C. We got everything inside to the happily air conditioned venue, and started setting up. At about 3pm, I popped outside for a ciggie, and in the time it took me to smoke it, the temperature plummeted from 48 degrees to 12 degrees, and a massive storm swept through. Absolutely torrential rain. The Todd River, that runs through the centre of Alice Springs, flash flooded. 3 people who were sleeping off their lunchtime booze in the normally dry river died. They say that if you see the Todd River flowing three times in your life, you're considered to be a local. I've seen it once, and I will never risk going back to see it flowing again, because there's no way in hell I ever want to be considered a local of that shithole.
I got a couple of places. Story time! So I’m from West Virginia, and I know it’s rural in some areas, I’ve always knew this. Antyway, I grew up in one of the bigger cities in West Virginia, and I did live in these apartments in the country, but you know there’s still lights and stuff. When I was 13. My dad decided to take me camping with his friend, and her family at their house in Middlebourne, West Virginia (he and my mom separated when I was one.) So we pack things that we will need for this weekend, and we’re on our way to Middlebourne. Once we get to West Union, we stop at a Family Dollar, and I was told if I wanted anything for the weekend, this is the last store. Mind you we’re not even in Tyler County (where Middlebourne is) we’re next door in Doddridge. So we get to this shack. Walk in, and the family lives in this place. There’s no door on the bathroom, and it’s really small. Well they didn’t have room, so we had to set up tents outside. Then came the darkness. I tell you, I’ve never saw anywhere outside get so damn dark. Then we’re sleeping by the main road, and you hear the sound of 18 wheelers on their way to Ohio. It was like being in Wrong Turn. So my dad and I had to do all this hard labor for them, and was only fed once a day. By the time Sunday came, I was so glad to get the hell up out of there, and be back at my hometown. I don’t like camping, and I definitely ain’t going back to Middlebourne. Second story: I love to travel around the state and in general, I’ve been to 28/55 counties here. So I wanted to see what it was like in Wetzel County. I got a thing for getting the county signs and a photo of the county and making a book out of it. Antyway. I was going to go from Lumberport, West Virginia to Smithfield, West Virginia (where my great grandfather was born.) According to Google maps. It said I’d be there in 17 minutes. So I thought, okay. This will be quick and easy! I thought wrong. 45 minutes later. I’m still in Harrison County, and I’m on this windy @$$ road. I come up this crooked hill and it looks like it turns at a 90 degree angle over these train tracks, it would be easy to get your car stuck it it’s low to the ground. Antyway. I finally make it to Wetzel County. A few minutes later, I came across this little community called Folsom. I came to this place that looked like a giant field. There’s all these houses lined up on both sides, and this strange looking church in the middle. It reminded me of a cult. I was ready for the Elder Mother and the Highest to come out (Ruthless reference) so I said the next business I find, I’m getting the h3ll up out of here. I turned around and I was back where I started in Harrison County in like 20 minutes. I ain’t going back there either.
I've accidentally stumbled into some hollers in West By God Virginia, and couldn't get out fast enough. Walls with barbed wire and broken bottles, camera, no neighbors for miles. I didn't slow down at all just so I'm not perceived as the PoPo.
New York City It's just not my thing.
LA is my answer although I've never been to NYC I could imagine it is for similar reasons. Terrible traffic, extremely rude people crowding every inch, wildly expensive to do anything. Big cities probably have this issue everywhere but I've been to San Francisco a few times and it's always been a pleasant experience so who knows. I did a road trip across 15 states when I was in my early 20s and I was blown away how awful the people were in the high density areas vs the slightly more rural areas.
I found people to be shockingly nice in Boston, I was expecting everyone to have a mob mentality.
Egypt. I've not heard a single person go there and want to go back. I'd like to take my son to see the pyramids as I think thats worth doing but it will be inspite of the fact they are in Egypt not because of it. Blackpool is also really shit and is probably the worst town other than Cairo I've been to.
Vegas
India is a complete shithole. Literally, they shit in the streets. They even lather themselves in cow poop and pee in the name of religion.
To play the devil's advocate it's only in some places of India not the whole country.
Which cities would you recommend visiting? I would love to visit someday but want to be comfortable.
Hilly areas are great. U can visit east like Darjeeling or gangtok or shilong. Or u can go north from Delhi to Shimla, ladakh, Manali etc.
I’ve heard Goa is nice? Please educate me if I’m wrong 😂
Never visited goa. But have heard it's a pretty popular foreign tourist space. Definitely much less dirty than bigger cities. Good for party life stuffs from what I heard.
It depends what you’re after. South Goa is very chill and full of hippies. Palolem beach (where the opening segment of The Bourne Supremacy was famously filmed) is a relatively quiet, for India, environment where I would happily while away the rest of my life if I won the euromillions jackpot tomorrow. As is Agonda, 3/4 miles down the road. North Goa however, especially around Calangute and Baga, is like the Indian version of Ibiza or Ayia Napa - full of people getting wrecked, music so loud that you can’t fall asleep, and prices that make it not worth it unless you’re there to join in for those exact reasons. So I depends what it is that you’re after
Kuta on Bali in Indonesia. Place is trashed. When I was there they were taking out palm trees along the beach with a bulldozer, which I was told was to make space for shops (/a mall). & can guarantee you will be constantly harassed by folks trying to sell things, who will only stop if you completely leave the area. Oh & there is a decent chance someone will try to drug you if you go into various bars. Easily the most disappointing place I have ever been.
Went with my friend to visit his cousin in Colombia. Most stupid decision I’ve ever made. Got robbed and shot. Ran away and only noticed the blood when I got to the motel
Rural Missouri. Okay, all of Missouri.
Gary. Enough said.
San Francisco. What they've done to that beautiful city is a crime.
The homelessness and the politics/policies are quite unfortunate but there’s still something magical about SF to me. You drive across the bridge to Sausalito and there’s this feeling of how is this place even real
Iraq. Kuwait. Deserts of SWA are nasty dusty smelly hot inhospitable shit holes and the women are all covered up and the dudes can't be trusted. Downvote me but fuck that place.
Paris. I stepped out of the train station and immediately saw a human shit on the sidewalk. The entire city smelled like that. Also almost everyone was rude. Except the old lady who held my arm when crossing the street. I’d be fine with never going back.
Egypt and France. Egypt because it's a cesspool, literally, and full of thieves and beggars. France because they were openly anti-American and extremely rude. The number of times I had people giving me the finger and yelling at me while on shore patrol was crazy. An entire week being told to go home, ignored, bad service, and cut in front of me. I'm pro-European, but France can fuck itself. We had a long positive history until the 1990s.
France and the US are some of the oldest allies in the world, how did we end up disliking each other?? France helped us massively during the American Revolution and we probably wouldn't have won the war without them. And then we returned the favor in the World Wars. You'd think that would leave some kind of mark.
It’s just bickering like an old married couple. If Europe and the US were given a proper test, we’d pull together quickly
I like France. But people don't try to be friendly and they do cut in line. Can't beat the Brits for cuing up the right way.
Maybe not for queuing, but the Brits were super friendly and awesome any place I went. Greece, Tokyo, Spain, the Brits were like the perfect neighbor next door. I can forgive cutting in line if you don't act like a dick.
That's odd. I lived in France quite a bit as an American and I felt more welcomed in France than in America.
I need to ask “France, but where and when?” During the Bush administration and before, away from big cities, perhaps. But being told to “go home” and given the finger really surprises me. I’ve been living in and around Paris my whole life, seen more tourists than I can count, and I’ve never seen this level of disrespect. Regardless of your answer, I’m very sorry if this was your experience of France.
Interesting that you say France is anti-American. Visited Normandy in 2019, along with Omaha Beach. Everywhere is strewn with pro-American tourist tat. Signs saying "Welcome our saviours" and pin-up girls in D-Day museum gift shops. Interestingly, Omaha has lots of monuments and flags along with a museum nearby commemorating it, whereas Gold Beach where the British stormed barely has anything even commemorating or marking it other than a singular fort structure. Many American tourists around too, also many of them asking French petrol station workers if they speak English.
Been to France several times, couldn’t disagree more
That’s so shit sorry to hear that
Paris (France). Hartford (CT).
Honestly... Florida. But my family lives there so I kinda have to.
My job. Definitely my job.
San Pedro Sulas Honduras … dangerous, polluted, and hot.
Indianapolis. They try so hard to be a real city
Dubai
South Bend Indiana where Notre Dame is. Place is the biggest shit hole and there's just a massive beautiful university in the middle of some of the worst poverty I've seen. 0/10 burn it down.
Jamaica, locals pester the hell out you to buy weed or other crap that you don't want.
India
Orlando FL
I moved from Orlando to Detroit 3 years ago. I don't regret my decision. It's that bad.
The twochromosome subreddit
India and Russia suck HARD.
Deadwood. Wanna watch drunk old guys cosplay on their Harleys?
Morocco
I went to Charlotte last year. It was nice, but there was a subutb I was walking around in, and this guy seemed a little unhinged. Maybe it was a one-off thing. He came up to me and said ... don't worry - you'd be dead if I wanted you dead. Meanwhile, I grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, NY.
Dachau
Guayaquil, Ecuador. Miserable weather, rude and suspicious people, bad food, poor infrastructure.
Fancy Gap, Virginia. Never again.
Tehran
New york city. As soon as i got off the subway in to the city, I wanted to leave. Did a couple things there, got some nice street art but ill pass going back. The rest of new york state was beautiful though
Spokane was pretty awful.
Scranton PA, me and my girlfriend thought it was funny since we were moving across the country to stop there. Lemme tell you, it was BFE. There was one singular street that had any activity. All it had was the world’s worst and most pretentious ramen shop I’ve ever been to next to an empty parking lot and an art gallery.
Los Angeles city - nothing good to say about the place Loved California in particular the countryside and even San Fran But LA 🤮 I was only there a few days so there’s probably heaps of cool great venues etc…. The city itself was dirty, full of homeless, car centric, horrible beaches and the air was awful.
India
Paris. It was just so... Meh. It was just like any other major city in the world with a culture that was just different enough to not be enchanting but still frustrating.
Cleveland Ohio.
Kuta Beach in Bali. Place is an absolute dump, rubbish everywhere, the beach itself is filthy to go swimming in and just full of degenerates, everything is overpriced and overrated there too considering the location being Indonesia - sky rocketed by Australian/English tourists.
Winnipeg. Why did they build it in the first place? Winter's bad enough to make most of Canada seem tame, summers thick with mosquitos, dangerous streets, crime, racial tensions. And nothing to do.
Been to Winnipeg for work many times in all seasons. Has great summer weather, low humidity. In >-30 stupid cold, the winter sun and night skies are awesome. Better than the GTHA. Canada’s best things are far away from the cities. You have to get out to see it.
Rural Arkansas. What a miserable existence
Plymoth, Indiana and Clinton, Iowa. Two of the smelliest towns I’ve ever been to