DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Most Disappointing Country You've Visited

What is the most disappointing country you have ever visited ? Mine has to be Italy hands down . This country does everything imaginable to complicate the easiest of tasks . From pumping gas to ordering food there is nothing simple about this place . I am amazed that the third world tag has been avoided . Hell, Vietnam was easier to navigate and has a better internet service . The food is ok I will admit .

Dagobah. It's just swampland.

France

I thought America had some dirty cities. My god Paris is a dump. Once you been to Paris once, there's no reason to go back.

The entire country looks like Iowa, anyway. Waste of time.

Cincinnati

Agree, Italy is just frustrating but France is a sh $& hole . Tourism aside I would advise anyone to go anywhere else other than France . Very little redeeming qualities .... Maybe if they could get rid of the French people it would be ok . Never met a Frenchman I didn't want to punch in the mouth .

I guess I liked all the countries I went to. The germans yelled at me all.the.time. but it was kind of funny.

Were you too demanding about soaps? What was their deal

Germans are on a schedule. If youre too slow they yell. Because schedule. Also only sit in the right seat. It doesnt matter if the whole train car only has one other person on it. And dont EVER cross the street if the light is red.

No reason to watch soaps in germany, when there is porn.

See , I appreciate the order of Germans . It at least makes sense to me . My wife would love how Italians have a half ass way of doing EVERYTHING but it drives me crazy .

Eve my god you're so right. Germans are all about rules over there. In general, they don't like living a little loose on daily activity.

It takes a while to get use to. I got fined 300 euro when we had a place off post by the Germans because I didn't recycle the trash properly.

Kansas

Lol right. Other than the typical tourist stuff, France doesn't have anything that would make me go back again.

You have places like St. tropes, but that's more for the super wealthy to go play at. Ain't for us commoners.

I wasn't disappointed in that I didn't get to see any of Ireland, as it was night time, and we were stuck in the airport.

Being stuck in airports suck. We spent the night in schipol airport in Amsterdam. Because flying on stand by list. They only have plastic seats at that airport. It sucked.

Oh and my friend wanted to go back to the red light district. At night. No street lights. So in the dark with drug dealers. No thanks.

Definitely France...a dirty place with some of the most arrogant people in Europe.

I like food and wine, so for me there is much to love about France. I think it is a pretty country.

I agree on Germany, very on time, but I like that. I love Switzerland. Much like Germany but much more beautiful and the people learned to drop the attitude, not that I don't like Germany

Probably my most dissapointing was Jamaica. It wasn't as pretty as I imagined, and if you get about 10 steps outside of the tourist zones, it is about as poor and run down as poor and run down gets. I was amazed how run down it was compared to many of the other islands in the area. We went once, and once was enough.

If you like food and wine the you need to check out Greece

Been there. I agree.

I am kind of like Johnny Cash, I have been everywhere, man. That and I married a girl who's father retired a AF Bird Colonel, so she has been everywhere....oh....her mom was born in Switzerland, we have been there maybe 20 times visiting family and friends over the years. As you know, Switzerland is smack in the middle of Europe. I spent some time in SE Asia when I was in my early 20's, so we have been around.



Here is what I mean about Johnny Cash

I'm with Peen here. I had low expectations going into France but walked away impressed. There were certain things that were less than awesome. Such as people don't clean up after their dogs well on sidewalks in certain parts of town, and the Seine River reeked of urine. I will say that it seemed in other parts of Europe the locals tried harder to use what little English they knew as I was using what little of their language I knew in an attempt to meet on the language barrier bridge halfway. The French seemed less willing to try. Even considering all that, the museums are incredible, the food was great, and I found the general atmosphere perfectly 'French'. The buskers, the amazing historical buildings, the wine and food, the street cafe lifestyle...I'd go back.

Now Belgium. Belgium was depressing. The buildings and statues were heavily soot covered. It was grey and dindgy. It all reminded me of the Burgermeister Meisterbuger's town from the Rankin and Bass Christmas Special, Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

I do have to say that I spent a day in Brugge, Belgium. AMAZING. A small midevil town completely intact. Fantastic chocolatiers. I had a beer at a tavern that's been serving beer since 1515. Crazy.

I've been in Italy, France, England,Israel, Mexico, Canada and Guatemala. Found plenty to love in all of these countries. No disappointment in any of them.

Jamaica...good Lord. We stopped there on our Honeymoon (cruise). The people trying to gouge you for money was just overwhelming. As soon as we got off a bus to go to Dunn's River Falls, my wife had necklaces thrown around her with people demanding money. Too much for us.

Certainly. I'd go back to Belgium too. I believe many of us were merely responding to the question as it was posed.

LOL....no doubt, Jamaica is a one and done adventure.


If you don't appreciate this country, go live there for a month.

fair enough. good point

Now I spent a few days in Jamaica totally away from the tourist areas, and had a great time. But it wasnt a typical Jamaica trip and we were with locals, and we were visitors, but not tourists.

Besides the U.S. I've visited 4 countries in my life:

Finland, The Soviet Union, Mexico and Canada.

I wouldn't say I was disappointed in any of them.

The worst place I ever visited was Hawaii.

The natives hate main-land Americans. Some parts of Oahu (Where Honolulu is) are very dangerous to step foot on.

Meeting people is most important to me. I love talking with people who are from far away. And I most certainly do not want to be where I'm not wanted.

Greece is the most disappointing for me. Athens specifically. Place was a dump. Seemed very third world. This was back in '98 so things might be different now. Also did Corfu and stayed at the famous pink palace. Can't remember too much about the island as I was mostly drunk and partying my arse off. Took an overnight boat from Brindisi, Italy to get to Corfu. That was cool. Laying on the bow of the boat looking up at the stars, beer in one hand, wine in the other. Until we broke into one of the cabins because it got too damn cold.

I'd say the biggest pleasant surprise was Biarittz, France. Stopped there because the train from Paris to Barcelona was too long a ride. Planned to stay the night. Stayed four. I like that it's where Marie opens the surf shop in the Bourne Identity.

I agree about Paris. After the high points, it's pretty much a dump. Been to a lot of big cities all over the world. Paris and New Orleans are the two biggest dumps.

I'm struggling to come up with any that were disappointing (I think the current count is 20). Each has had something that might have been disappointing, but I'd not consider any disappointing overall. If I had to pick one, maybe Belguim for the same reasons that PortlandDawg mentioned, but I didn't spend enough time there to really be able to say anything too negative or too positive.

I'm a little surprised for so many with France being up there. I've been to Paris 2x, Normandy, Avignon, and Marseille (parts of Marseille were pretty crummy), and came away quite happy with the experiences overall (oddly, it was June of 2009 and June of 2017, both 5ish months into a new president).

I have been to France loads of times and have never been disappointed with it. I have travelled all over from the WW2 beaches, down to Ile de Re, Paris, Mediterranean coast, Grenoble an dLyon and over towards Italy. Loved it. Sure they are pompous but, you know that when you go so, I am never shocked nor upset by it. I just roll with it.

To be honest, thinking about this question I can't really answer because every place I have travelled I have found fun, new and exciting. Of course there are things I have not enjoyed but, on the whole as I am only there for a few days, weeks...it has been superb and time well spent in all countries that I have visited.

Yes. But that wasn't the question posed. Lol
I agree that all my travels have been worth more than any money I've ever spent on it. But...we were asked a question. Which was the most disappointing? Now the level of disappointment can still be a higher level of joy that you may have ever experienced at...say your best day at Disney or whatnot. But one of those countries was still the most disappointing as compared to the others.
So stop dodging the question!!

Segwaying from "disappointed" to countries that are "blah"

Afghanistan is actually a really beautiful country.

As long as you're in an area that has no people in it.

The closer to people. The grosser it gets.

A little hard to answer this one, as I've only been to three other countries. And I've liked all of them. I even enjoy the third world "charm" of Mexico. One of my most enjoyable days ever was when we rented a car in Cancun and drove out of the touristy areas. Found a public beach off the beaten path and stepped right into one of those Corona commercials. If anything, Mexico is better the further you can get from other tourists.

England was great too. I like how half the things there are older than our own country. The people were great and I loved hearing the accents. I thoroughly enjoyed my visits there as well.

And Canada was the only other place I've been. Now, that was a big let down. Niagara Falls looked exactly the same from the other side.

"If anything, Mexico is better the further you can get from other tourists."

I've found that to be true about most foreign lands. Why travel to another country to sit at a Marriot with a bunch of other Americans while the locals serve you drinks? I never understood that type of travel.

Well, seeing things like Chichen Itza and some of the various things around Cancun is still nice. But don't ever go shopping or get your souvenirs there.

another severely disappointing country had to be Slovakia.

man, i thought places like detroit and chicago were broke......i almost felt bad even going there. they couldn't even afford to keep some of the really nice museums in the summer time open in Bratislava. they are very dependent on tourism during the fall/spring semester when all the students, including international students, are there. during the summer time, even the locals bounce to places like Czech, Croatia, and other places because....well Slovakia kinda sucks.

y'all ever seen those movies where they travel to Eastern europe and it looks like a hellhole?

yea.....not an exaggeration.

Yep, E. Europe is so depressing.

i know bro, and it sucks cause the people are really cool and awesome to be around. but the quality of life there....yikes.

Can I say Disney? Because I am totally not a Disney person, AT. ALL. Took our kids to EuroDisney and it was awful. THAT would be the worst place in France I have been. But, my folks wanted to take them to DisneyLand in Anaheim so, we turned it into a LA/Vegas/Grand Canyon/Sedona family holiday. Again, I just don't get it. I really don't. Disney just doesn't work its magic on me nor my kids. Now, Universal Studios THEY/WE loved.

I also HATE Vegas. Totally not my kind of city. But, these don't really answer the question either as both are in the US.

Hmm....if pushed to answer I guess a foreign place I probably wouldn't spend $ to return would maybe be Slovakia. Swish kinda hit the nail on the head in an earlier post about Slovakia. I was excited to be there. The countryside is lovely. We travelled down from Krakow, Poland (which is awesome!) via Zakopane, Poland (also beautiful) and then on to Prague, which is amazing. Slovakia kinda got lost in the history, beauty and excitement of southern Poland and Prague, which straddle it. If I go back that way I will most likely skip Slovakia and do Hungary, Austria and further down to Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro etc. An area of Europe I have yet to see. A very good friend of mine from England is married to a Serbian gal. They got married in Belgrade. We were invited but, sadly couldn't make the journey all the way from Portland to Serbia to attend. They often post photos on their Facebook of travels through Montenegro and Croatia and it looks stunning. One day!

See. That wasn't so hard.

I agree with you on the Disney and Vegas thing. Not my thing. At all.
That said I'm traveling to Vegas with Mechan 9 in September. All expense paid so it's not my money. Vegas won't get a cent from me.

Paris is horrible! But...the Norman coast is amazing! Was there with a group of WWII paratrooper friends and we were treated like royalty! Never was without bread, cheese and Calvados! Trip of a lifetime!