When it comes to travelling, I am yet to meet a person who has loved each and every place they have ever visited. For whatever reason, sometimes we find that we just don’t mesh with a city, and as a result, may not remember it all that fondly.
Furthermore, the cities that we fall in love with may be considered less than stellar by other people, and by the same token, the places we end up disliking may be the shining stars for others.
I preface this following list by saying that these are all just personal opinions and are not intended to cause anyone offense.
So, without further ado, here is a list of a few cities that I just didn’t love.
London
People bang on about London being the greatest city in the world, but honestly, it’s been one of my biggest disappointments.
Everything is overpriced, people are about as far from friendly as possible, the weather is crap, the food is utterly shite and the place is just too damn big. I have given the place a couple of tries and have been equally disappointed both times.
I am sure there are a tonne of people out there who will disagree with me, but for me, London just wasn’t a good fit. Maybe one day I will return to London and get a new perspective on the place, but for now, there are so many other places that I want to visit so much more, so I will not be returning any time soon.
Dili
Dili is the capital city of Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) and it is a pretty much unavoidable stop for anyone entering the country.
The city does have a large expat population and is certainly not without interesting places and points of interest, but due to a certain mo’fo of a taxi driver, I don’t think I will ever think of the place fondly.
After I landed in Dili a cab driver attempted to rob me, and when he was unable to take my bags from me, proceeded to physically assault me – the details of which you can read about here.
Luckily, the rest of my time in Timor was nothing short of wonderful, but at the moment, Dili and I are not on great terms.
Barcelona
I absolutely hated Barcelona.
I know, I know! It is the home of everything Gaudi, there is a tonne of incredible architecture and the food is wonderful. Yep, those things may all be true, but that doesn’t change how much I dislike the city.
I found it overpriced, far too touristy, and compared to Madrid – the food was just nowhere near as good. It didn’t help that it pretty much rained non-stop the entire time I visited. It also didn’t help that I was kinda stuck hanging out with some Canadian guys who I really did not mesh with.
I was pretty miserable for the few days I spent in Barcelona, and the whole time I was wishing that I had just stayed in Madrid. However – unlike London, I have not completely written the city off. It isn’t the fault of Barcelona that the weather was atrocious, and I also can’t blame the city for the presence of a few Canadian dickheads! So while I may not have liked Barcelona, I am certainly open to giving the city a second chance one day.
Phuket
Ugh, Phuket.
When I hear ‘Phuket’, all I think of is overcrowded beaches, hoards of tourists flocking to swim in unbelievably polluted water, sand covered with rubbish and more drunk idiots than any place should ever be subjected to.
This is definitely not a shining example of what Thailand has to offer.
Rome
Part of me hates putting Rome in this list. Rome is undoubtedly a bloody cool city, one with tonnes of history, culture and all of the food one could ever desire. However, for me, Rome was a victim of being too highly anticipated.
I had dreamed about visiting Rome for so many years (since I was a wee little kid) and in all of my dreams, Rome would be the absolute highlight of my time in Italy – but this was just not to be. When I arrived in Rome, I was shocked by how dirty the city was, how much rubbish littered the streets and how many annoying street vendors wouldn’t let me walk more than a few steps unbothered! The Coliseum was beautiful, but not as grandiose as I had expected. The Trevi Fountain was lovely, but far less magical that I had anticipated. The gelato was good, but it was better in Florence.
If I had visited Rome without any expectations, I am sure I would have loved it, but for someone who was expecting a lot, Rome just didn’t live up to the hype.
Dublin
If you have ever found yourself disliking a place purely because you had a bad experience there, then be assured that you are most certainly not alone.
My time in Dublin was initially good, but on my last night in the city, I was sexually assaulted. This is not something I talk about very often – it was hands down the most horrific and traumatic time of my entire life – even my closest family and friends do not know the details of exactly what went down on that particular night. Even now, many years on, I find it incredibly difficult to talk about. I can say the words ‘I was assaulted’ without issue, but the second I actually start going into detail about what happened, I go into a pretty instantaneous meltdown.
When I think about Dublin, all I can think about is what happened to me there, and as a result, I know that Dublin is one city that I will never return to.
So tell me, what cities failed to impress you?