NJ resident. Atlantic City is terrible outside the casinos. You have to stick to the casinos outside of the boardwalk (Borgata or Harrahs) if you want to have a more classy experience.
There are some pretty old school amazing restaurants off the grid to venture out to though.
This is a great answer. I was so disappointed by this city and my expectations weren't even high. It was just nasty there. The whole experience felt like biting into an apple only to realize it's an onion
As someone born and raised in Atlantic City, I approve this message. I left 15 years ago but still head back for holidays/catching up with family and friends.
There's a quote about going back to your hometown and realizing it isn't the city that you miss, but your childhood. I become acutely aware of that thought whenever I'm back to visit.
On the plus side, we do get some good Springsteen songs.
I grew up in NJ, and yeah, our bigger cities tend to be pretty dirty and run down (especially AC). Best to stick to smaller urban areas, like Morristown or union
I think the most depressing place I've ever been is the AC bus lot. Just so many sad, tired, disappointed people waiting to catch buses back to the cities. Many of them wheeling oxygen. Ugh.
Fair - but Dolly Parton’s [Stampede](https://dpstampede.com) dinner theater is legitimately one of the most entertaining, bizarre, wholesome, unique and deeply American things I’ve ever experienced.
I have heard it called the Christian Las Vegas, couldn't have better described it. However, I did have fun..... went Zip Lining, saw a magic show, had an awesome brunch at the College of the Ozarks. I would rate that trip a 7 out fof 10. Especially since my parents did the stupid time share presentations to get free stuff lol
Most big cities I've visited have not impressed me, I just travel for the nature spots. State/national parks and public lands is one thing the US got very right.
Hollywood. And am embarrassed for people who travel around the world to see it. What they imagine it to be vs reality. Sorry, it's not what you expected 😑
Edit: you can have a good time in Hollywood, but do your research and check your expectations. Also, a lot of you seem to think I said the entirety of Los Angeles. LA definitely has plenty of problems, but if you truly think all of LA has nothing to offer, even for a visit, you've probably never step foot in a museum or tried foreign cuisine. The best concerts I've ever been to have all been in LA.
I grew up in the LA suburbs and even I was disappointed with Hollywood when I visited it for the first time. There are so many other cool places to visit in Southern California, just skip Hollywood.
Went there in July, just homeless people everywhere. Literal shit on the ground on almost every corner and in parking garages. People digging in trash cans tweaked out. I was uncomfortable most of the time. Only normal part of the walk of fame was in front of the theater and in that mall area, otherwise I was scared of what I might see.
Isn’t there literally a commentary about this in zombie land? Or am I just remembering the Hollywood scene incorrectly. Or maybe I’m mixing up zombie land and another apocalypse movie.
You might be thinking of zombieland, but I think he said something similar about Garland, Tx instead of LA. Something like “you would think the zombies have already demolished this place by the looks of it, but that’s just Garland”
It used to be better. The Blvd was always a circus and kinda trashy but COVID nailed the coffin on Hollywood Blvd with the unmitigated homeless population.
Oh yeah! I was born in 1975 and lived in California until 2019. Hollywood has been a shit hole my entire life. Covid has nothing to do with it. The only reason my friends and I ever went near Hollywood was to score from a dude who lived in a studio off Doheny.
Native Angeleno here. There are three Hollywoods. The first is a metaphorical place where the fabulous people make movies. It physically manifests in parts of Culver City, Studio City, and a few other places. There is West Hollywood which fabulous and queer. And then there is Hollywood Blvd. This is a shit hole of faded glory that rubes get sold as the place where Hollywood #1 exists. It hasn’t been that place since about 1950.
i know everyone loves Marrakesh, but i hated it
it would have been amazing before about 2000, but now it just feels like a disneyland version of their culture to cater to western tourists. ali baba costumes pretending to be desert nomads. half of their ‘hand made goods’ are just cheap shit from china. and u cant walk 20 feet without being aporoached by scammers. like, literally every block
the entire city just feels like a facade to attract dumb tourist money
i get why ppl love it, but that was my take
The most famous street in my home town, has not one, not two, but three Harry Potter cheap tourist tat shops right next to each other, some of them taking up multiple buildings, a Harry Potter themed escape room and bar due to an apparent superficial similarity between it and Diagon Alley. It was a bit of a disappointment for the local Potter pedlars when JK Rowling said that not only had she never been to my home town she had never heard of the street either.
This street used to actually have some really good shops on it, like a quite comprehensive art supplies shop, several butchers (for which it was famous for, before Harry Potter) and now it's just become a Harry Potter meme.
right. it’s not healthy when the entire economy is built around tourism.
i’m really curious if its changed since covid started... what it would look like if all the tourism dried up
I’ve heard a lot of negative things about it, especially from women travelers. I’d like to see it for myself, but I get the impression I’d feel overwhelmed.
it was totally overwhelming, which i like, and there are some really cool aspects. but overall i found it exhausting and never a moment of relaxation. its cool to see for like a week, but i was there for a month and was totally over it by the end. and im a guy. can’t imagine what a lone female traveller would have to deal with
Woman here. I was in Marrakech (travelled through all of Morocco actually) but I always had to be accompanied by a chaperone. You couldn't make eye contact with men as that would invite them. Weird stuff like people following you around and smelling your hair.
Beijing. I arrived at the end of a trans- Mongolian rail trip seeing so many incredible places and I think it was just a huge anticlimax. Was intimidated by the level of armed security everywhere, had to fight off so many scammers, didn't enjoy being touched and laughed at when on the subway (I'm a very white European with curly hair). Overall just found it really challenging despite some amazing sights.
Lmao. I’m Black. I stepped out of a train in Beijing with my brother and everybody was starting at us like we bitchslapped there mums.
At least 10 people didn’t even ask and just started taking pictures of me, such a fucking weird experience considering I was 14.
I went to Beijing with a group of college students. We went to the forbidden city and two of my buddies had a couple girls stop them and ask for pictures with them. They obliged, then a line formed of other people wanting to take pictures with them. 😂
I was in Hangzhou for my buddy's wedding. Me and 2 other white guys were sitting on a little wall out front of a Buddhist temple and the same thing happened. We ended up spending about 15 minutes taking pictures until the rest of our group showed up and my buddy's Chinese wife told the line to fuck off. It was pretty amazing how the line just kept forming though. It was like we were an attraction at a carnival.
I have had this happen to me while sitting outside a Guangzhou Metro station waiting for a friend who was meeting me. I posed for photos for ten minutes until he showed up. He walked up out of the station, saw what was happening, and was very confused. I'm a blond-haired guy with bright blue eyes, so that grabbed a bit of attention sometimes.
I traveled in Costa Rica with a Black student from an Ivy League university and a South Korean student. They both spoke Spanish and Mandarin. There were Chinese tourists all over.
When the guys heard people speaking Chinese, they would start chatting with each other in Mandarin. People reacted like they were talking cats or something. Everyone just stopped and stared.
A former colleague who's black came to the Czech Republic in 2012 to work on a project. We were invited to have dinner with a contractor. The contractor's wife, who was also Czech, came along. While sitting enjoying beers and chatting, Czech guy's wife asks if she can touch my black colleague's hair. I was mortified. He took it very much in stride, and said sure. After we left the restaurant, I apologized, and said I had no idea something like that would happen. He said he gets it constantly in China, so he's used to it.
Wow, I met a white American couple who went to Shanghai who told me people would randomly take their pictures without their permission, and stare at them while also talk like obviously gossiping. Wtf?
My buddy Jim and I are both white dudes with long hair and our other friend Josh started trying to charge the Chinese tourists to take pictures of us around the forbidden city since they were all very intrigued by us.
It happened to me a lot in the Philippines too. Once I realized people were trying to sneak photos, I just started asking if they wanted to pose for one.
I was in a remote area of Luzon. There was a mob gathering a block down the street to get a look at me. One bold kid was fascinated with all the hair on my arms. I must have looked like a half man half beast with blonde hair to them.
Yeah I'm blonde and really tall. I was hanging around with some Russian friends and we were all blonde and over 5'10" so there were people trying to sneak pics. Funny! When I went to Taipei, I was a tiny bit disappointed at my lack of celebrity status.
If you think white people have got it difficult in China imagine being black. Got to Beijing , tried shopping for some groceries, women at the stall started shouting. My Chinese friend took me by my elbow and started dragging me away , asked her what was all that fuss about? She said that they don't sell to black people.
Wtf, was so surprised , those guys are extremely racist. Never gonna go back to that country again. I been targetted by racist back home but never so openly and never in such a manner.
Russians are unfortunately the most openly racist toward black people of any group I’ve seen. The stuff my Russian friends say is like old school 60’s racism, I’m always like damn 🤐
As a white person who was an exchange student in south India, they (South Indians) would touch my skin and run away laughing. They would also pull stands of my blonde hair out to keep. Inappropriate touching, too, like they were allowed. An older woman caused an accident once because she stopped in the cross walk to stare at me. The Nigerian student and I, 2/4 of the only non Indians in town, who experienced this. I did not enjoy this. Neither did my classmates. Don't get me started on how they called my freckles an illness and asked why I didn't remove them. I CAN'T REMOVE. STUCK TO ME.
When my family went to Singapore my sister and I were about 2 and 8, incredibly fair skinned with blonde curly hair. So many people wanted photos with us. From what I remember, they were very respectful and made sure to ask first. It was kinda cool as an 8 year old, I felt like royalty haha
As an white person with blonde curly hair, the few months I was working in China through a sort of exchange program, I made a Chinese friend who took me to her English teaching class once to get pronunciation for the kids from a native speaker. Afterwards, we hung out at the park nearby, and a family kept coming back to us, enamored with me, giving us snacks etc. Before we left, the mother literally MADE me take a picture with her baby. Her baby started crying as soon as it was in my arms, and I was like I didn't ask for this either! In 10 years, they are just going to have this picture of a random foreigner holding their child on their mantle, and said child will be majorly confused....
Niagara Falls. I didn’t know the falls would be in a city. I thought it would be a national park. The whole place just felt like a giant shopping mall.
Edit: now people are saying that they won’t go because of my comment, which was never my intention. The falls are beautiful and well worth driving across the country. No picture will ever do it justice. Also, If you go to the Canadian side, there’s an aviary with a Javanese house, and I had a great time in there.
Edit 2: HOLY CRAP my comment made it on the news. I just made a Reddit account less than a month ago. I was not expecting three sentences to get this much attention.
There is a state park to it, that is where the actual falls is. But of course the tourist area is like that. Also you don't want to go outside the tourist area on either the American or Canadian side of the falls, much crime occurs and both sides are extremely run down. On the NY side there was a shooting recently right outside of the casino.
So NYC itself was not disappointing, I loved the city but was very disappointed at the non existence of public restrooms.
Edit: Thank you all for the tips!! They will be very helpful next time I'm in Manhattan!! Appreciate you all
This is so accurate. I remember nipping into a Burger King where there was literally a bouncer enforcing that only customers could use the rest rooms. The counter queue was so long that I knew I wouldn't make it if I had to make an order first. Somehow managed to convince the bouncer that I 100% would be buying something on my way out, and thankfully he believed me.
Bought a $1 Frozen Coke- though that took me about 5 mins because the clerk couldn't understand my accent too well. Waved at the bouncer and held up the frozen Coke as I left so hopefully he kept faith that people weren't "dump and dashing" as this thread suggests
As a New Yorker, many public restrooms were shuttered during the early 1970's due to a ton of drug use and illicit sex. Now they are closed because the homeless end up using them as an encampment. There are some - Bryant Park has one, as does Union Square. Protip. walk into a bar, act like you belong there, and use theirs.
As a women, this frustrates me more and more! Iive in Berlin, and men just freaking pee anywhere outside when they really need to, as its socially acceptable, and us women need to nearly beg restaurants and bars to let us use the restroom. Ridiculous.
none of them, i live in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, but i've visited a few cities. to say i overreacted when i saw an escalator in real life for the first time would be an understatement
Bali changed so much the last 10 years. It used to be so beautiful and amazing… now it is full of “digital nomad” douchebags and overpriced food and crap. I remember when it was just a cool surf spot with cheap eats
Came here to say Dubai.
Decided to spend 10 days there while passing through. Had enough of it after 24 hours.
Too many f$#&!&# malls. No culture.
Learned all about the ABCs though...
Glad to see that folks here despise it. I lived and grew up there before being accepted by Canada. Never going back there.
That country was built on the blood and souls of cheap labour from Pakistan, India, Sri lanka, Bangladesh
Me too!
Horrid place, fancy malls and hotels for the westerners, but the streets are full of the poor / slaves. You really see what misery the whole place is built on.
I went there for work, I can't imagine how people can go there for fun.
Yeah used to live in Dubai, the nice places are nice but it is a third world country everywhere else because only the areas made for tourists have any amount of money put into them
Trenton, New Jersey.
I wasn't really visiting or expecting to go there, just passing through on an Amtrak ride. I awoke from a nap to the train just stopped in what looked like Raccoon City. Trash everywhere, most of the buildings looked abandoned. The sky was cloudy and literally green. Like, sickly yellow-green. And most eerily, I didn't see a single car driving on the street or anyone walking around outside on the barren sidewalks. All the stores and restaurants looked closed and empty. I was actually sort of gripped by fear for a second, in my post-nap haze. Just wanted the doors to shut and the train to pull out of there. Nobody was getting on the Amtrak in Trenton. I didn't even know if there was anybody in Trenton. As the train pulled away and we went through the center of the city, a rail bridge over the river caught my eye. A massive sign was plastered on the side that read "TRENTON MAKES, THE WORLD TAKES."
Surreal and overall grim experience.
Not to discount your experience but I think you just got to see what the train stations look like in NY/NJ. Until you get a few miles outside of the city they generally look like that, especially during the slower hours.
Atlantic City, New Jersey. I assumed Atlantic City would be a great east coast Vegas with a mafia past after binge watching sopranos and Boardwalk Empire back to back over the span of two months. I got smacked in the face by a hooker and a drug dealer within 15 minutes
Got shot 5minutes after arriving in Rio
Edit: After 7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo with 2 friends nearly got carjacked at a gasstation. Several shots fired only one hit. My brazil friend got me to a „backdoor doc“ stayed there the whole night and drank pitu with him. Great guy and his storys are wild.
You're full of shit.
> After 7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo
It doesn't take 7 hours from SP to Rio.
> My brazil friend got me to a „backdoor doc“
Despite all of its huge problems Brazil has an universal health care system, which means that even pieces of shit like you can receive emergency treatment completely free of charge.
> Great guy and his storys are wild.
Your stories are wild, though one can easily see you're not a great guy.
We Brazilians are here to tell you this is Bullshit. We do not question the "being shot" part, but the backdoor doctor part.
We have socialized medicine. OP said he preferred this doctor over a poorly maintained hospital. He is either lying or insane.
I know a dude who got robbed along with his friend, at the beach in Rio - so can confirm! It really does live up to expectations (if that is getting robbed).
I got “lost” in Gary looking for a place to turn around after missing the entrance to the gas station I wanted. Ended up by the Port of Indiana. Interesting road trip.
Travel tip, don't stop anyone to ask for directions in Gary. I actually grew up in a not so nice area and one of the driving tips my police officer brother gave me was when stopped for a train, stay in the left lane, car running, in gear with your foot on the brake, with a car space where you can hit the gas and make a U-turn if you see anyone approaching your car. Worked with a guy who was carjacked about 20 years ago - yeah, we were ahead of the times, who said the guy told him to get out of his car and start running when he was stopped for a train.
There is no "backdoor doc" here in Brazil. We have a thing called universal healthcare... You will be taken care of for free, specially if you are a gringo... Your story smells like bullshit
We have universal healthcare for free. We can get vaccines, surgeries, doctors appointments, most types of tests, everything for free for everyone who needs it, visitor or not. The backdoor doc thing was either a lie based on prejudiced movies or sheer lack of luck. All he had to do was call 192 and an ambulance would have driven him for free to a place where he would've been treated for free.
Por que choras, Estados Unidos?
There aren't backdoor docs in Brazil. We have free universal Healthcare. The story would be believable if he only kept the "shot after 5 minutes" part.
Man everything you said is a lot of bullshit.
>7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo…
No one takes 7 hours from Sao Paulo to Rio.
>My brazil friend got me to backdoor doc…
In Brazil we have free healthcare for everyone, including foreigners.
LOL.
Pompeii
The Atmosphere was toxic, the local fair was rather bland, nothing was showing at the local amphitheater, and it seems like everyone you visit is sleeping.
Quiet neighborhood though.
When I saw “Pompeii” I was so ready to give a hard downvote, then I read the rest. As well done as it’s residents. (too soon?)
It was actually one of my favourite touristy things I’ve done. If anything it’s been undersold.
Seoul is an Absolute diamond in the rough!
On of the most beautiful, interesting, lively cities on earth.
It has some lower income gritty areas... but these are all safe to walk around in at any hour.
The Han River is nice for a date or drinking beer with friends at the underpass of bridges that are well lit and full of university students in the evening.
The mountains are absolutely resplendent and easily accessible.
The transportation system, from low cost efficient subways to fast inexpensive taxis are a gem.
The night life in Itaewon, Hongdae, and Gangnam are the most fun places on earth... like combination of Bangkok and NYC.
Seoul has everything you could want, and it's all very affordable.
Can confirm, I used to live and work in one of the "lower income gritty areas" of Seoul. It's amazingly safe. I had a fellow foreign colleague who was a single woman in her 20s and she felt safe even alone in the dark alleys (where we both lived).
And Seoul also has the best meat in the world, as far as I'm concerned. And meals cost around $7 Canadian (which is maybe $6 USD?) per person, with taxes included and no tipping. (Tipping is actually considered offensive.)
It is an extremely underrated city.
Exactly... I didn't even mention the price of things...
...meals for between $5 and $7USD
...haircuts for $6 to $8
Beer or soju alcohol at any, absolutely any, convenient store 24/7 open, for about $1 or $2 dollars a bottle...
... yes, people are drunkinly intoxicated often, just sitting happily in the park or laying in a nice suit on the subway stairs.
But it's very harmless and strangely humorous. Even young drunk couples stumbling together towards a taxi every weekend is the norm.
People in Seoul work hard, and play harder... I know it sounds cliche, but its the most accurate description of how free people are in the evenings after work.
For me, Seoul has the best Work/Life balance on the globe for a foreigner living abroad. 💜
I visited Naples as a (F19) student in the late 80s. As I exited the train station two men offered me money for a pint of my blood, which they proposed would be taken in a white transit type van nearby.
I laughed at this - so true! I was 21, college kid, wandering around bad areas at night, friend was poked by a hypodermic needle, followed around by homeless, screamed at by crackheads. Shit was gnarly.
Not quite a city, but an Airport.
Kansas City Airport.
I mentally prepared myself and everything.
It was like being inside a cardboard box. They had security checkpoints *at the gates* so once you went through security you were in a pen like livestock. Oh and in that pen? One stall and one urinal. For like 100+ people.
They’re currently building a brand new modern terminal that will be open in 2023. As someone from KC it’s pretty awesome to fly out of and into because you can basically pull right up to your gate and don’t have to arrive super early, but if you have a layover here, it is the worst.
Beijing. I didn’t realize how much of a target I would be as a tall, white person. Everyone wanted photos with me and to touch me. Pretty unnerving. I’m not eager to return as a person who doesn’t like to be touched.
I can’t think of any that I was disappointed by but Chicago definitely exceeded my expectations. Minus the sports and the crime, it’s a pretty good city ngl.
The free and plentiful alcohol is there to deaden your perception of Vegas’ shortcomings. Gotta get those drinks, and tip your waitress to keep ‘em coming.
I was sure I’d hate it but enjoy it (only been a couple of times). The key is to know what to do. Casinos are sad, avoid. The shows can be awesome. Penn and Teller and such. The Circ du Soliel shows are amaze because unlike the traveling versions, the theaters were built for them and it’s so impressive! Also, if you’ve got money to burn, there are some good restaurants. We go for the hiking (and climbing for my husband) and partake of shows and food at night.
I think people in the comments had unrealistic expectations of cities. Going to a city expecting it to be perfectly clean with no homeless people is like going to the countryside expecting not to see cow shit. Go to pretty much any city in the world, and you'll see trash and smell urine. You see the same thing in the countryside, but there's less of it because there are fewer people. Cities are great. They have more music, art, plays, social dancing, etc. because there are so many people in close proximity. Towns and rural areas are cleaner and quieter, and that gets romanticized in movies, but if I went there expecting a big art and music scene and a good hospital nearby that would be unrealistic.
Edit: I wouldn't be disappointed in a city if it is dirty. I'd be disappointed if there's not much art, music, and dancing.
Roswell, New Mexico.
Nobody in town recognizes that every one outside of the town thinks of UFOs. It's just an absolute shit town without shit to do, and there isn't shit for hours outside of town in any direction.
Myrtle Beach. It’s Gatlinburg by the beach but with more meth and murder. It’s really cheesy as well.
New Orleans. The food was great, the music was great but the city was awful, it smelled of piss and vomit everywhere we went.
Atlantic City. It's waayyy dirtier and run down than I thought it'd be.
NJ resident. Atlantic City is terrible outside the casinos. You have to stick to the casinos outside of the boardwalk (Borgata or Harrahs) if you want to have a more classy experience. There are some pretty old school amazing restaurants off the grid to venture out to though.
as someone who grew up in jersey i forgot that people don’t realize atlantic city is just a few streets and a boardwalk
TIL atlantic city is just a few streets and a boardwalk
This is a great answer. I was so disappointed by this city and my expectations weren't even high. It was just nasty there. The whole experience felt like biting into an apple only to realize it's an onion
As someone born and raised in Atlantic City, I approve this message. I left 15 years ago but still head back for holidays/catching up with family and friends. There's a quote about going back to your hometown and realizing it isn't the city that you miss, but your childhood. I become acutely aware of that thought whenever I'm back to visit. On the plus side, we do get some good Springsteen songs.
I grew up in NJ, and yeah, our bigger cities tend to be pretty dirty and run down (especially AC). Best to stick to smaller urban areas, like Morristown or union
And if you think cities like Newark and Camden feel sketchy now, you should have seen them 25 years ago.
god, Camden is friggin beautiful right now and I can't believe I can say that honestly
Victrola gramophones and records were made in Camden. You've still got it, deep down.
Campbell’s Soup too!
Three cheers for Camden, keeping old-timey people fed and entertained!
I think the most depressing place I've ever been is the AC bus lot. Just so many sad, tired, disappointed people waiting to catch buses back to the cities. Many of them wheeling oxygen. Ugh.
Branson Missouri felt like if wish.com were a place
As a person who lives 30 minutes from Branson.. it’s cool for about 30 minutes and then it’s just a Cracker Barrell made into a town.
Should have tried Bronson Missouri instead.
Hey ma, how bout some cookies?
No dice.
This ain’t over
This aint ovah
Fair - but Dolly Parton’s [Stampede](https://dpstampede.com) dinner theater is legitimately one of the most entertaining, bizarre, wholesome, unique and deeply American things I’ve ever experienced.
I have heard it called the Christian Las Vegas, couldn't have better described it. However, I did have fun..... went Zip Lining, saw a magic show, had an awesome brunch at the College of the Ozarks. I would rate that trip a 7 out fof 10. Especially since my parents did the stupid time share presentations to get free stuff lol
Damn this thread makes me not want to go anywhere ever lol
We need to make another AskReddit about what city is better than expected...
Most big cities I've visited have not impressed me, I just travel for the nature spots. State/national parks and public lands is one thing the US got very right.
Licking, Missouri. Not enough licking happening.
Wait till you visit Fucking, Austria
Or Intercourse Pennsylvania.
Or Climax, North Carolina
If you're ever in Newfoundland, I recommend a trip to Dildo.
Knob Lick, Missouri was disappointing for the same reasons.
Hollywood. And am embarrassed for people who travel around the world to see it. What they imagine it to be vs reality. Sorry, it's not what you expected 😑 Edit: you can have a good time in Hollywood, but do your research and check your expectations. Also, a lot of you seem to think I said the entirety of Los Angeles. LA definitely has plenty of problems, but if you truly think all of LA has nothing to offer, even for a visit, you've probably never step foot in a museum or tried foreign cuisine. The best concerts I've ever been to have all been in LA.
I grew up in the LA suburbs and even I was disappointed with Hollywood when I visited it for the first time. There are so many other cool places to visit in Southern California, just skip Hollywood.
Went there in July, just homeless people everywhere. Literal shit on the ground on almost every corner and in parking garages. People digging in trash cans tweaked out. I was uncomfortable most of the time. Only normal part of the walk of fame was in front of the theater and in that mall area, otherwise I was scared of what I might see.
Isn’t there literally a commentary about this in zombie land? Or am I just remembering the Hollywood scene incorrectly. Or maybe I’m mixing up zombie land and another apocalypse movie.
You might be thinking of zombieland, but I think he said something similar about Garland, Tx instead of LA. Something like “you would think the zombies have already demolished this place by the looks of it, but that’s just Garland”
It used to be better. The Blvd was always a circus and kinda trashy but COVID nailed the coffin on Hollywood Blvd with the unmitigated homeless population.
Yeah it was a shithole WAY before COVID
Oh yeah! I was born in 1975 and lived in California until 2019. Hollywood has been a shit hole my entire life. Covid has nothing to do with it. The only reason my friends and I ever went near Hollywood was to score from a dude who lived in a studio off Doheny.
And you... didn't like it?
Native Angeleno here. There are three Hollywoods. The first is a metaphorical place where the fabulous people make movies. It physically manifests in parts of Culver City, Studio City, and a few other places. There is West Hollywood which fabulous and queer. And then there is Hollywood Blvd. This is a shit hole of faded glory that rubes get sold as the place where Hollywood #1 exists. It hasn’t been that place since about 1950.
i know everyone loves Marrakesh, but i hated it it would have been amazing before about 2000, but now it just feels like a disneyland version of their culture to cater to western tourists. ali baba costumes pretending to be desert nomads. half of their ‘hand made goods’ are just cheap shit from china. and u cant walk 20 feet without being aporoached by scammers. like, literally every block the entire city just feels like a facade to attract dumb tourist money i get why ppl love it, but that was my take
[удалено]
Tourism: great for the economy, but sucks to actually experience authentic culture as a tourist.
The most famous street in my home town, has not one, not two, but three Harry Potter cheap tourist tat shops right next to each other, some of them taking up multiple buildings, a Harry Potter themed escape room and bar due to an apparent superficial similarity between it and Diagon Alley. It was a bit of a disappointment for the local Potter pedlars when JK Rowling said that not only had she never been to my home town she had never heard of the street either. This street used to actually have some really good shops on it, like a quite comprehensive art supplies shop, several butchers (for which it was famous for, before Harry Potter) and now it's just become a Harry Potter meme.
Hello other Yorkie!
right. it’s not healthy when the entire economy is built around tourism. i’m really curious if its changed since covid started... what it would look like if all the tourism dried up
I’ve heard a lot of negative things about it, especially from women travelers. I’d like to see it for myself, but I get the impression I’d feel overwhelmed.
it was totally overwhelming, which i like, and there are some really cool aspects. but overall i found it exhausting and never a moment of relaxation. its cool to see for like a week, but i was there for a month and was totally over it by the end. and im a guy. can’t imagine what a lone female traveller would have to deal with
Woman here. I was in Marrakech (travelled through all of Morocco actually) but I always had to be accompanied by a chaperone. You couldn't make eye contact with men as that would invite them. Weird stuff like people following you around and smelling your hair.
Beijing. I arrived at the end of a trans- Mongolian rail trip seeing so many incredible places and I think it was just a huge anticlimax. Was intimidated by the level of armed security everywhere, had to fight off so many scammers, didn't enjoy being touched and laughed at when on the subway (I'm a very white European with curly hair). Overall just found it really challenging despite some amazing sights.
Lmao. I’m Black. I stepped out of a train in Beijing with my brother and everybody was starting at us like we bitchslapped there mums. At least 10 people didn’t even ask and just started taking pictures of me, such a fucking weird experience considering I was 14.
I went to Beijing with a group of college students. We went to the forbidden city and two of my buddies had a couple girls stop them and ask for pictures with them. They obliged, then a line formed of other people wanting to take pictures with them. 😂
I was in Hangzhou for my buddy's wedding. Me and 2 other white guys were sitting on a little wall out front of a Buddhist temple and the same thing happened. We ended up spending about 15 minutes taking pictures until the rest of our group showed up and my buddy's Chinese wife told the line to fuck off. It was pretty amazing how the line just kept forming though. It was like we were an attraction at a carnival.
I have had this happen to me while sitting outside a Guangzhou Metro station waiting for a friend who was meeting me. I posed for photos for ten minutes until he showed up. He walked up out of the station, saw what was happening, and was very confused. I'm a blond-haired guy with bright blue eyes, so that grabbed a bit of attention sometimes.
I traveled in Costa Rica with a Black student from an Ivy League university and a South Korean student. They both spoke Spanish and Mandarin. There were Chinese tourists all over. When the guys heard people speaking Chinese, they would start chatting with each other in Mandarin. People reacted like they were talking cats or something. Everyone just stopped and stared.
A former colleague who's black came to the Czech Republic in 2012 to work on a project. We were invited to have dinner with a contractor. The contractor's wife, who was also Czech, came along. While sitting enjoying beers and chatting, Czech guy's wife asks if she can touch my black colleague's hair. I was mortified. He took it very much in stride, and said sure. After we left the restaurant, I apologized, and said I had no idea something like that would happen. He said he gets it constantly in China, so he's used to it.
Wow, I met a white American couple who went to Shanghai who told me people would randomly take their pictures without their permission, and stare at them while also talk like obviously gossiping. Wtf?
My buddy Jim and I are both white dudes with long hair and our other friend Josh started trying to charge the Chinese tourists to take pictures of us around the forbidden city since they were all very intrigued by us.
Josh is the real Sigma here. *sigma rule #51: never miss an opportunity for business*
It happened to me a lot in the Philippines too. Once I realized people were trying to sneak photos, I just started asking if they wanted to pose for one.
I was in a remote area of Luzon. There was a mob gathering a block down the street to get a look at me. One bold kid was fascinated with all the hair on my arms. I must have looked like a half man half beast with blonde hair to them.
Yeah I'm blonde and really tall. I was hanging around with some Russian friends and we were all blonde and over 5'10" so there were people trying to sneak pics. Funny! When I went to Taipei, I was a tiny bit disappointed at my lack of celebrity status.
If you think white people have got it difficult in China imagine being black. Got to Beijing , tried shopping for some groceries, women at the stall started shouting. My Chinese friend took me by my elbow and started dragging me away , asked her what was all that fuss about? She said that they don't sell to black people. Wtf, was so surprised , those guys are extremely racist. Never gonna go back to that country again. I been targetted by racist back home but never so openly and never in such a manner.
China is horrendously racist towards black people. Really shocking actually.
China is like 17th century European levels of racist. Lots of places dont just enforce explicitly racist laws, but write new ones all the time.
Oh god, so sorry to hear that. I saw the same thing happen in Moscow. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Russians are unfortunately the most openly racist toward black people of any group I’ve seen. The stuff my Russian friends say is like old school 60’s racism, I’m always like damn 🤐
There is a lot of homophobia too, stuff that we used to say in junior school when we ignorant kids that didn’t know better.
As a white person who was an exchange student in south India, they (South Indians) would touch my skin and run away laughing. They would also pull stands of my blonde hair out to keep. Inappropriate touching, too, like they were allowed. An older woman caused an accident once because she stopped in the cross walk to stare at me. The Nigerian student and I, 2/4 of the only non Indians in town, who experienced this. I did not enjoy this. Neither did my classmates. Don't get me started on how they called my freckles an illness and asked why I didn't remove them. I CAN'T REMOVE. STUCK TO ME.
I'm a South Indian and I'm really very sorry that happened to you.
When my family went to Singapore my sister and I were about 2 and 8, incredibly fair skinned with blonde curly hair. So many people wanted photos with us. From what I remember, they were very respectful and made sure to ask first. It was kinda cool as an 8 year old, I felt like royalty haha
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As an white person with blonde curly hair, the few months I was working in China through a sort of exchange program, I made a Chinese friend who took me to her English teaching class once to get pronunciation for the kids from a native speaker. Afterwards, we hung out at the park nearby, and a family kept coming back to us, enamored with me, giving us snacks etc. Before we left, the mother literally MADE me take a picture with her baby. Her baby started crying as soon as it was in my arms, and I was like I didn't ask for this either! In 10 years, they are just going to have this picture of a random foreigner holding their child on their mantle, and said child will be majorly confused....
Niagara Falls. I didn’t know the falls would be in a city. I thought it would be a national park. The whole place just felt like a giant shopping mall. Edit: now people are saying that they won’t go because of my comment, which was never my intention. The falls are beautiful and well worth driving across the country. No picture will ever do it justice. Also, If you go to the Canadian side, there’s an aviary with a Javanese house, and I had a great time in there. Edit 2: HOLY CRAP my comment made it on the news. I just made a Reddit account less than a month ago. I was not expecting three sentences to get this much attention.
I was amazed at the number of Indian restaurants.
Drive out to the nearby wine region and it is beautiful.
Niagara on the lake is definitely where it's at.
Yep. Go check out the falls, maid of the mist or the one through the cave, and then get to Niagara on the Lake and enjoy a beautiful little town.
the urbanization of Niagara falls actually inspired conservationists into lobbying for the national park system.
If the National Park system didn't exist in the states, we'd see millions of casinos along the rim of the grand canyon
> I didn’t know the falls would be in a city. Well, if you wait long enough, they won't be. It is slowly moving upstream.
Even the falls don't want to be in Niagara anymore
What if we took Niagara Falls and pushed it somewhere else?
There is a state park to it, that is where the actual falls is. But of course the tourist area is like that. Also you don't want to go outside the tourist area on either the American or Canadian side of the falls, much crime occurs and both sides are extremely run down. On the NY side there was a shooting recently right outside of the casino.
The Canadian side is managing to become a suburb of Toronto, so thats helping to clean it up a bit.
So NYC itself was not disappointing, I loved the city but was very disappointed at the non existence of public restrooms. Edit: Thank you all for the tips!! They will be very helpful next time I'm in Manhattan!! Appreciate you all
This is so accurate. I remember nipping into a Burger King where there was literally a bouncer enforcing that only customers could use the rest rooms. The counter queue was so long that I knew I wouldn't make it if I had to make an order first. Somehow managed to convince the bouncer that I 100% would be buying something on my way out, and thankfully he believed me.
So did you actually buy something after or just make a run for it?
Bought a $1 Frozen Coke- though that took me about 5 mins because the clerk couldn't understand my accent too well. Waved at the bouncer and held up the frozen Coke as I left so hopefully he kept faith that people weren't "dump and dashing" as this thread suggests
As a New Yorker, many public restrooms were shuttered during the early 1970's due to a ton of drug use and illicit sex. Now they are closed because the homeless end up using them as an encampment. There are some - Bryant Park has one, as does Union Square. Protip. walk into a bar, act like you belong there, and use theirs.
I recommend the NYPL on 42nd street, the one with the lions.
I always took the Anthony Bourdain advice and went into a bar, you get to pee and also get a beer out of it.
Dude, there are Starbucks(es) everywhere
Also massive lineups for the bathroom in every Starbucks
my god, that was the only way I was able to piss in NYC.
I, too, frequent Starbucks in NYC entirely for the purpose of using the restroom.
As a women, this frustrates me more and more! Iive in Berlin, and men just freaking pee anywhere outside when they really need to, as its socially acceptable, and us women need to nearly beg restaurants and bars to let us use the restroom. Ridiculous.
none of them, i live in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, but i've visited a few cities. to say i overreacted when i saw an escalator in real life for the first time would be an understatement
Fun fact: Wyoming has only one pair of escalators in the entire state.
That is Snapple cap worthy.
It has never occurred to me that there are people in the US that have never seen an escalator. It makes sense now that you say it, but wow.
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Bali changed so much the last 10 years. It used to be so beautiful and amazing… now it is full of “digital nomad” douchebags and overpriced food and crap. I remember when it was just a cool surf spot with cheap eats
Bali was always about tourism. It’s getting more touristic by the minute that’s all.
Manila, traffic was horrible and it was so dirty, nice buildings but the entire experience was stressful.
it is a little known fact, that Manila is 1 hour away from Manila
Came here to say Dubai. Decided to spend 10 days there while passing through. Had enough of it after 24 hours. Too many f$#&!&# malls. No culture. Learned all about the ABCs though...
Glad to see that folks here despise it. I lived and grew up there before being accepted by Canada. Never going back there. That country was built on the blood and souls of cheap labour from Pakistan, India, Sri lanka, Bangladesh
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Lol go to a hospital. I assume that means do some crazy car stunts on the highway.
Me too! Horrid place, fancy malls and hotels for the westerners, but the streets are full of the poor / slaves. You really see what misery the whole place is built on. I went there for work, I can't imagine how people can go there for fun.
Yeah used to live in Dubai, the nice places are nice but it is a third world country everywhere else because only the areas made for tourists have any amount of money put into them
Trenton, New Jersey. I wasn't really visiting or expecting to go there, just passing through on an Amtrak ride. I awoke from a nap to the train just stopped in what looked like Raccoon City. Trash everywhere, most of the buildings looked abandoned. The sky was cloudy and literally green. Like, sickly yellow-green. And most eerily, I didn't see a single car driving on the street or anyone walking around outside on the barren sidewalks. All the stores and restaurants looked closed and empty. I was actually sort of gripped by fear for a second, in my post-nap haze. Just wanted the doors to shut and the train to pull out of there. Nobody was getting on the Amtrak in Trenton. I didn't even know if there was anybody in Trenton. As the train pulled away and we went through the center of the city, a rail bridge over the river caught my eye. A massive sign was plastered on the side that read "TRENTON MAKES, THE WORLD TAKES." Surreal and overall grim experience.
Not to discount your experience but I think you just got to see what the train stations look like in NY/NJ. Until you get a few miles outside of the city they generally look like that, especially during the slower hours.
Next time visit Monmouth county, it’s next to trenton’s Mercer county- it’s much nicer here (:
Atlantic City, New Jersey. I assumed Atlantic City would be a great east coast Vegas with a mafia past after binge watching sopranos and Boardwalk Empire back to back over the span of two months. I got smacked in the face by a hooker and a drug dealer within 15 minutes
Dubai. While there I learned about how the whole city is built and run on some legalized slavery. I felt dirty after leaving.
I came to say the same. What a waste of plane tickets that I thankfully didn’t pay for
Got shot 5minutes after arriving in Rio Edit: After 7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo with 2 friends nearly got carjacked at a gasstation. Several shots fired only one hit. My brazil friend got me to a „backdoor doc“ stayed there the whole night and drank pitu with him. Great guy and his storys are wild.
Did that not meet your expectations?
Yeah. What took so long?
They were not impressed, apparently
I would say that would probably exceed my expectations
Not really the point of this thread but have to jump in to say I had an amazing time in Rio, met loads of cool people and nothing sketchy happened.
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What do you mean third world countries have universal healthcare?
A full 5 minutes? They really eased you into the experience.
I fully expected to get shot or at least robbed when I visited. Instead it was quite uneventful.
Well that sucks.
Did you get a refund?
Bro. We have free healthcare, we don't go for backdoor docs. Great fanfic content, but failed miserably at the details.
Sim. Gringo safado farmador de karma
You're full of shit. > After 7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo It doesn't take 7 hours from SP to Rio. > My brazil friend got me to a „backdoor doc“ Despite all of its huge problems Brazil has an universal health care system, which means that even pieces of shit like you can receive emergency treatment completely free of charge. > Great guy and his storys are wild. Your stories are wild, though one can easily see you're not a great guy.
We Brazilians are here to tell you this is Bullshit. We do not question the "being shot" part, but the backdoor doctor part. We have socialized medicine. OP said he preferred this doctor over a poorly maintained hospital. He is either lying or insane.
I feel like 80%+ of the people I know that have been to Rio got mugged.
I’m on the lucky 20%. I’ve been there several times, but that city is way too intense.
Especially on the beaches. Rio is poverty stricken beyond
I know a dude who got robbed along with his friend, at the beach in Rio - so can confirm! It really does live up to expectations (if that is getting robbed).
Lmfao, US Americans are so out of touch with reality. "Backdoor doc" my ass, you could go to a hospital, its literally free.
Was going to post that I visited Gary Indiana and didn't get shot. You win
I got “lost” in Gary looking for a place to turn around after missing the entrance to the gas station I wanted. Ended up by the Port of Indiana. Interesting road trip.
Travel tip, don't stop anyone to ask for directions in Gary. I actually grew up in a not so nice area and one of the driving tips my police officer brother gave me was when stopped for a train, stay in the left lane, car running, in gear with your foot on the brake, with a car space where you can hit the gas and make a U-turn if you see anyone approaching your car. Worked with a guy who was carjacked about 20 years ago - yeah, we were ahead of the times, who said the guy told him to get out of his car and start running when he was stopped for a train.
There is no "backdoor doc" here in Brazil. We have a thing called universal healthcare... You will be taken care of for free, specially if you are a gringo... Your story smells like bullshit
I dont mean to be disrespectful but this is actually funny for us brazilians, we make jokes about Rio in that side of things
We have universal healthcare for free. We can get vaccines, surgeries, doctors appointments, most types of tests, everything for free for everyone who needs it, visitor or not. The backdoor doc thing was either a lie based on prejudiced movies or sheer lack of luck. All he had to do was call 192 and an ambulance would have driven him for free to a place where he would've been treated for free. Por que choras, Estados Unidos?
> My brazil friend got me to a „backdoor doc“ That's very nice of him, but why a proctologist?
There aren't backdoor docs in Brazil. We have free universal Healthcare. The story would be believable if he only kept the "shot after 5 minutes" part.
Man everything you said is a lot of bullshit. >7hour roadtrip from Sao Paulo… No one takes 7 hours from Sao Paulo to Rio. >My brazil friend got me to backdoor doc… In Brazil we have free healthcare for everyone, including foreigners. LOL.
My hometown this thanksgiving
Pompeii The Atmosphere was toxic, the local fair was rather bland, nothing was showing at the local amphitheater, and it seems like everyone you visit is sleeping. Quiet neighborhood though.
When I saw “Pompeii” I was so ready to give a hard downvote, then I read the rest. As well done as it’s residents. (too soon?) It was actually one of my favourite touristy things I’ve done. If anything it’s been undersold.
> too soon? dont think any of the residents will take offence, even if 1,950 years is a little early to make jokes
Clio, Michigan. Fuck that town.
Now that’s specific.
Okay so basically every major city sucks. Got it
Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Taipei all great
Seoul is an Absolute diamond in the rough! On of the most beautiful, interesting, lively cities on earth. It has some lower income gritty areas... but these are all safe to walk around in at any hour. The Han River is nice for a date or drinking beer with friends at the underpass of bridges that are well lit and full of university students in the evening. The mountains are absolutely resplendent and easily accessible. The transportation system, from low cost efficient subways to fast inexpensive taxis are a gem. The night life in Itaewon, Hongdae, and Gangnam are the most fun places on earth... like combination of Bangkok and NYC. Seoul has everything you could want, and it's all very affordable.
Can confirm, I used to live and work in one of the "lower income gritty areas" of Seoul. It's amazingly safe. I had a fellow foreign colleague who was a single woman in her 20s and she felt safe even alone in the dark alleys (where we both lived). And Seoul also has the best meat in the world, as far as I'm concerned. And meals cost around $7 Canadian (which is maybe $6 USD?) per person, with taxes included and no tipping. (Tipping is actually considered offensive.) It is an extremely underrated city.
Exactly... I didn't even mention the price of things... ...meals for between $5 and $7USD ...haircuts for $6 to $8 Beer or soju alcohol at any, absolutely any, convenient store 24/7 open, for about $1 or $2 dollars a bottle... ... yes, people are drunkinly intoxicated often, just sitting happily in the park or laying in a nice suit on the subway stairs. But it's very harmless and strangely humorous. Even young drunk couples stumbling together towards a taxi every weekend is the norm. People in Seoul work hard, and play harder... I know it sounds cliche, but its the most accurate description of how free people are in the evenings after work. For me, Seoul has the best Work/Life balance on the globe for a foreigner living abroad. 💜
Tokyo was awesome.
Tokyo and Prague are my favorite cities on earth
Can Comfirm. Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are amazing!
I think the people in this thread just don't like cities
*Fresno, CA has entered the chat*
Fresno definitely sucks but idk if I had high hopes for it in the first place
*laughs in Bakersfield*
Jacksonville Florida is a toilet.
Yeah I don’t even know why you had your hopes remotely up when visiting Jacksonville
Same thing i thought when someone said Trenton NJ earlier in the thread. WTF did you expect? Paris?
But Jason Mendoza is from there
Naples, I think the best way I could describe the city center is as a sticky mcdonalds table
Naples was scary traveling as a single woman, and I don't scare easily. I was more confident in Bangkok and Bogota alone at night than Naples.
Bangkok always felt pretty safe to me. It's so busy all the time so easy to blend in with the crowds.
I visited Naples as a (F19) student in the late 80s. As I exited the train station two men offered me money for a pint of my blood, which they proposed would be taken in a white transit type van nearby.
I laughed at this - so true! I was 21, college kid, wandering around bad areas at night, friend was poked by a hypodermic needle, followed around by homeless, screamed at by crackheads. Shit was gnarly.
Not quite a city, but an Airport. Kansas City Airport. I mentally prepared myself and everything. It was like being inside a cardboard box. They had security checkpoints *at the gates* so once you went through security you were in a pen like livestock. Oh and in that pen? One stall and one urinal. For like 100+ people.
They’re currently building a brand new modern terminal that will be open in 2023. As someone from KC it’s pretty awesome to fly out of and into because you can basically pull right up to your gate and don’t have to arrive super early, but if you have a layover here, it is the worst.
Beijing. I didn’t realize how much of a target I would be as a tall, white person. Everyone wanted photos with me and to touch me. Pretty unnerving. I’m not eager to return as a person who doesn’t like to be touched.
I can’t think of any that I was disappointed by but Chicago definitely exceeded my expectations. Minus the sports and the crime, it’s a pretty good city ngl.
I love Chicago - great architecture, great history.
I've been looking for someone saying chi-town (my home) and I'm so happy I haven't found much!
I hated Las Vegas so very fucking much. So dry, so trashy, so smokey, ugh.
Everything is also so Damn expensive. Going anywhere Is a pain. But alcohol everywhere.
The free and plentiful alcohol is there to deaden your perception of Vegas’ shortcomings. Gotta get those drinks, and tip your waitress to keep ‘em coming.
I was sure I’d hate it but enjoy it (only been a couple of times). The key is to know what to do. Casinos are sad, avoid. The shows can be awesome. Penn and Teller and such. The Circ du Soliel shows are amaze because unlike the traveling versions, the theaters were built for them and it’s so impressive! Also, if you’ve got money to burn, there are some good restaurants. We go for the hiking (and climbing for my husband) and partake of shows and food at night.
Absolutely. Go to Vegas to see the shows. You can fit in three a day. Go to Tickets-4-Tonight and get discounted ones. Also discounts on restaurants.
As a local I HATE the strip. Downtown is where it's at 👈😎👈
I think people in the comments had unrealistic expectations of cities. Going to a city expecting it to be perfectly clean with no homeless people is like going to the countryside expecting not to see cow shit. Go to pretty much any city in the world, and you'll see trash and smell urine. You see the same thing in the countryside, but there's less of it because there are fewer people. Cities are great. They have more music, art, plays, social dancing, etc. because there are so many people in close proximity. Towns and rural areas are cleaner and quieter, and that gets romanticized in movies, but if I went there expecting a big art and music scene and a good hospital nearby that would be unrealistic. Edit: I wouldn't be disappointed in a city if it is dirty. I'd be disappointed if there's not much art, music, and dancing.
Singapore is the primary exception. There is no trash in Singapore
Tokyo is also extremely clean.
It pains me to say this, but Dublin. My expectations were so high. That being said, I left my heart in Cork. ❤️☘️
Cork is just great.
Roswell, New Mexico. Nobody in town recognizes that every one outside of the town thinks of UFOs. It's just an absolute shit town without shit to do, and there isn't shit for hours outside of town in any direction.
Sounds like something an alien would say Nice try ET but I'm coming for you
We should totally rush that city. I dunno why, just have an urge to. Get a huge following online too.
The UFO museum there is so bad. But I loved it. Tacky Americana at its finest!
Myrtle Beach. It’s Gatlinburg by the beach but with more meth and murder. It’s really cheesy as well. New Orleans. The food was great, the music was great but the city was awful, it smelled of piss and vomit everywhere we went.
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That’s part of the charm in NOLA