Dubai. A cultureless fake city in the desert, full of posers.
Honestly speaking, Dubai.
Not because of slavery, poop trucks, questionable government policies, etc.
The real reason to me is that it does not offer anything traditional or historical. Yes it has some five start restaurants. Yes it has some big malls. Yes you can do stuff like desert driving or hot air balloons. These are all stuff that could be done anywhere else for cheaper.
The one thing I liked was going over the creek for a few dirhams and strolling through the historical souk.
That’s literally the only ‘old’ bit, but I was still constantly pestered by people trying to get me to come with them to look at handbags and sunglasses, and I do mean constantly, to the point where I just left because I couldn’t be arsed anymore.
I know it’s unrelated to the thread, but I’d personally never go to a country that doesn’t treat, women, gays, apostates etc as equals, I think these countries are absolutely terrible and I’m not fooled by them having “show cities” where they pretend that they’re not that way.
A country that still has a medieval mindset in the third millennium is not getting a penny from me.
I understand your concern, but assuming someone looks over all of that, there isn’t something genuinely exciting about it.
Not to mention the terrible traffic it is in now due to the Russia- Ukraine war, other unstable countries within the region, the terrible public transport system Dubai has anyway.
Paris
I’ve heard Finland is on the up and up with clean cities.
Apparently the popo there are quite heavy-handed when it comes to littering and such.
I think Paris is a great city that I really enjoy visiting every time I go there, but you’re perfectly right that it’s incredibly overrated, anything with that reputation really must be, nothing that exists in reality could possibly come even close to such a myth.
I’d always heard people talk about how dirty Paris is, but it was so clean when I visited last year. Admittedly my point of comparison is San Francisco, but still.
Did you stray further than the tourist center? Like the area around gare du nord I hated the most. Spend a summer working there.
While there is tons of nice place/stuff to do in Paris, many people see it as a perfect, romantic, ideal whatever city, and a visit there the trip of a lifetime.
Paris is a 10 million inhabitants urban area with all the associated problems,
Imagine thinking you’re in the perfect city and being stuck in a crowded train, then in traffic, and falling in any possible tourist traps, from the barely legal but legal low quality, high price restaurant to the pickpocketsand other petty crime
Went to Europe for my honeymoon and Paris was the first stop since the wife hadn’t been to Europe. She thought it was dirty and underwhelming.
A nice city to see for sure but for sightseeing and museums. Felt like New York City in a way.
Screenshot of all the interesting places I have been or want to visit in France. Note the lack of dots in Paris. There are far, far nicer places to spend your time in France
What’s the one in Luxembourg? I’m planning on visiting in the next few years.
Paris has been romanticized a lot in media, to the point where the Japanese embassy has to have staff on hand to handle the dispair of Japanese tourists visiting and getting disappointed.
I remember Paris being a pleasant large Western city, but it is still a large Western city with all that it entails.
I also don’t get the hype around Paris. It’s not super ugly but also nothing special.
I don’t live too far from it, could easily go there for a week-end or even day trip. Still only been there twice and have no plans to go there again. In many spots it’s very crowded and dirty and the attractions aren’t better than in any other major city.
If you’re Australian, Bali.
Thems fighting words, where else can I spend my centerlink on a bintang singlet?!
I’m there right now. You need to differentiate!
Most of the area south of Denpasar is just a large instagram zoo.
Denpasar is traffic. Just that.
North of denpasar it gets very beautiful very quickly.
Balinese people are some of the friendliest I have met on average.
What I do find overrated almost throughout is Balinese food.
disney world
I feel like you need to be in a certain mindset to enjoy a theme park like Disney World. If you aren’t in that mindset, the place is a saccharine place of over-stimulation.
i dont think ill ever be in the mindset to get massively ripped off by a shitty company in buttfuck nowhere florida. no hate to people who enjoy it but it used to be a more reasonably priced endeavor. now the prices are worse and the lines longer than ever. with that kind of money id rather take a week in a cabin or nyc or something