Comments on: What is your Biggest Travel Disappointment?

By: Nadia | Gap Daemon

Nadia | Gap Daemon — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:01:10 +0000

Prague for me – had heard so many good things about it, but when I got there it was SO TOURISTY! Just did my head in. Didn’t really help that I’d just stayed for a week in Olomouc, another Czech city that whipped Prague’s ass on the enjoyment front. Highly recommended.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:34:48 +0000

The best places to visit in Ireland are the small towns, that’s where all of the good times take place!

I spent three months in Clifden, 50 minutes from Galway (way out west in the middle of Connemara) and it was fantastic. The people were wonderful and despite the small population, the nightlife was grand!

I recommend flying into Shannon and exploring the west. Then, make your way down to West Cork and check out the amazing coastline. If you have the time, go to Belfast and drive the Antrim Coast to Giant’s Causeway. The drive is incredible.

The gems of Ireland are in the countryside.

By: Joel Tillman

Joel Tillman — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:58:05 +0000

The worse travel decision to date is walking around the very rural areas of southern Philippines. 10 people following you yelling “Massage! You want massage?!” even after you told them all no, cab drivers trying to overcharge you and refusing to use the meter, kids yelling horrible words at you when you don’t have money to give them and lucrative women trying to propose sex to you (prostitutes) when you have told them that the girl you are next to is your girlfriend.

BUT besides that it is a wonderful place to visit. I would do it again in a heartbeat. You should consider it if you are ever in the Asians.

By: Steph

Steph — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:39:17 +0000

I met some people from Baltimore this weekend who also really love it! I’m sure it has a lot of good merits.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:32:11 +0000

It’s interesting, because I grew up in a DC suburb and was accustomed to that city, but I moved to Baltimore and have been here for a couple of years and love it. I understand how Baltimore might be hard to enjoy unless you live here though- you really have to know where to go. There are so many incredible communities and Baltimore has a strong grassroots movement. But the “touristy” things to do get boring pretty quickly. Also, Baltimore is way cheaper to live and party in than DC. Paying cover charges for every DC bar on the weekend? No thanks.

By: melomakarona

melomakarona — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:09:57 +0000

For some reason I’ve always wanted to spend new years eve on Times Square. Back in 2008 I was spending a year abroad in the States so when new years eve came, of course I was in New York….but in the end I didn’t spend it on Times Square! I just figured I could find a more fun way to spend that evening rather than waiting in the cold outside for hours and hours for just those 10 seconds (I ended up going to a couchsurfing party which was held in a small apartment in downtown with 200+ people from all over the world)

PS. My biggest travel disppointment: not starting to hitchhike earlier )

By: Steph

Steph — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:54:46 +0000

Can’t wait to see more of Ireland- it sounds amazing!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:52:04 +0000

Sorry to hear you had a bad time in Dublin. I’m Irish and don’t especially like it either. I’m from Galway, happy to see it’s getting a lot of love!

My biggest disappointment was a few years ago when my family and I stayed in a small Austrian village outside of Innsbruck.It was off-season and we timed it really badly.It seemed like every day was a holiday when we there so everything was closed.Found it very hard to find anything to until we moved to the bigger cities.Still enjoyed my time there though, I tend to enjoy all aspects of travel.

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:09:35 +0000

For me it was the Greek island of Rhodes. For some reason Greek taxi drivers, restaurant owners and hotel staff think that cheating and downright stealing your money is the best way to do business. Well, I’m not going there ever again. No wonder Greece is in deeeeep trouble right now with such an attitude of plenty of its citizens.

By: Libia

Libia — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:42:51 +0000

My biggest disappointment was Santiago de Chile in South America..My husband and I planned a trip to ski in the Andes and chose Santiago de Chile. After reading reviews we decided to book the trip. I dont recommend anybody skiing in Santiago. first: it’s very expensive the lift tickets were about 50 and 60 bucks on the weekends, the chair lifts,and the infrastructure in general were no near close to be called a decent ski resort . 60 bucks for a bad a service,bad lifts and the skiing itself that sucked not worth the money. not only that you have to pay and additional 40 dollar ride to get to the top of the mountain every time you want to ski so add that up to your ski trip. and the way up is horrible ( it takes about an hour to get to the top)the way up is so rough that people started to get sick. another fact was that we didnt want to take our ski equipment so we didnt have to carry much luggage around and decided instead to rent upon arrival. went to three different rentals and they all had out dated skis and boots and they charged between 30 and 40 dollars for them ..not even in the US we payed that much. thank god we had a good budget for the trip but were very disappointed with all the high costs because its definitely not worth paying. we decided then to explore the city ,Santiago is the capital of Chile, so we decided to take city tours and didnt find it interesting at all. We’ve been to South America before and for us Santiago was more any urban city that lacked on historical tourist attractions or attractions in general. The food is expensive as well and not as tasty as other cuisines. the people are not too welcoming either. I’ve been to South America before, travel around Ecuador, Colombia and Peru and find the people more welcoming towards foreigners, tours activities and cuisine incredibly cheap probably half of the prices in Chile and a lot more going on as far as culture,cityseeing. we personally recommend Peru and Colombia definitely skip Santiago.

By: Ashleigh

Ashleigh — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:15:41 +0000

Venice was my biggest disappointment by FAR as was Dublin and I went in with high expectations as Id been to the North of Ireland multiple times (my mom and family are from there) and absolutely loved it. Belfast is the best! I’m giving Dublin another shot next year though but I will def be spending more time in Galway. That city is everything I dream Ireland to be.

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:12:21 +0000

I had the same experience with Berlin. It was at the end of a four-week trip and I was tired and it was grossly hot there. I was ready to go home and never wanted to return. Then, when I had to return twice in one year, I tried lots of new things and had some absolutely wonderful experiences.

I was also disappointed in Rome though. I had a fabulous time, but I was sad to discover that aside from the Colosseum and water fountains, the ruins did not impress me, and I blame that on an incredible time in Athens where I was impressed. Knowing how my feelings changed with Berlin, I would love to try Rome again.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:49:29 +0000

Paraguay,
I had terrible food poisoning and for the entire week there I didn’t see anyone who spoke English well enough to have a conversation. My Spanish was poor so the only interaction I had was brief spurts with shopkeepers. It was lonely.

By: Steph

Steph — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:04:12 +0000

I’ve heard that about the leaning tower before- but never about the taj mahal!

By: Steph

Steph — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:24:36 +0000

Yeah, it’s always a shame when that happens, luckily I’ve had lots of experiences of the reverse as well- lots of amazing stuff out ther.

By: Mike Key

Mike Key — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:41:27 +0000

I’ve had a lot of those moments where you think something you’ve seen pictures of is going to be so awesome, just like your Time’s Square experience, but then you show up, you see it and then 5 minutes later you’re like, well seen it, ready to go now.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:18:55 +0000

probably the leaning tower of pisa…and to be perfectly honest…the taj mahal was a little bit of a let down!

By: Alicia

Alicia — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:24:55 +0000

Wow that is a very tough question for me because I consider all my travels very fulfilling whether for work or pleasure. What is so very disappointing to me is this one time that I have to cancel trip. I made all the preparations and all and something happened and I have to cancel my trip. Waste of time and money especially so I don’t have travel insurance that time.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:39:18 +0000

I have to say London, of all places I wanted to go there, none was what I expected. Not at all. Don’t get me wrong – they all looked exaclty as I expected them, but they seemed painfully normal. Not like you see on TV.

By: Priyank

Priyank — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:28:43 +0000

Hi Steph,
It might sound strange but the Taj Mahal was kinda disappointing. I loved the place, don’t get me wrong, but when I got to it, it just didn’t spark a “wow” feeling. Perhaps because I had seen hundreds of picture perfect Taj Mahals in the past, or maybe I was simply exhausted from all the traveling. Funny how these things happen…
- Priyank