Have you ever visited somewhere and found it very different from what you expected?

[Imzadi]

The first time I went to Las Vegas for a business trip it was not at all what I expected. I am not really into partying or gambling much, and expected to hate it. I kind of thought it would be kinda dirty and a little...sleazy maybe? I was really shocked to see that it wasn't like that - at least not where we were. The hotels were big an dbeautiful, with so much to see an ddo even for a non-drinker. I guess at one time it was like what I pictured, but that all had changed. I loved looking at all the touristy stuff, dancing fountains and pirate shows, etc. Also, the food was great! I ended up really enjoying it.

Interesting. I had a chance to drive through LV along the strip or just go by on the interstate highway. Since I had always heard it was so gritty and sleazy, I decided to just go by on the interstate.

 

[NAB]

100% agree! We were there in May of 23', thankfully for only one night. We even stayed a nice hotel, but it insanely touristy and I honestly didn't feel all that safe leaving the hotel to walk around.

See how we are different. We stayed there a few nights after our Disney cruise. Stayed at the Royal Hawaiian hotel right on the beach. Loved seeing all the surfers there early in the morning walking with a board , no shirts and bare feet down the street.

We walked the whole area a lot , even late at night. A lot of people out. Even went off the main drag looking for food places etc. Didn’t feel unsafe at all.

We just laughed at all the ABC stores there are in the area. There are a lot of high end stores as well.

Did rent a car and went around the rest of the island. Island hoped too.

 

[Imzadi]

Stonehenge - it wasn't quite the experience I always heard it would be to see it. For one, it's now fenced off, so one can't really get up close to experience it. viewing it from that far away is basically like seeing it from a TV.

Second, the stones aren't as large and impressive as I thought they would be. I get that for the time it was built it was a monumental thing. I just thought that with all the verbal build up for it, it would be another 6ft-10ft higher.


St Thomas, V.I. - the resorts are beautiful. The water is wonderful. The coral and the seashells and ocean life: .

The amount of poverty at the way the islanders live is horribly sad. It was like a ghetto slum in Harlem, but on a beach with palm trees.

Yes, this was my reaction to seeing how the local residents live, but with no screeching:

​

The park was beautiful and what we expected but the area outside the park felt like a huge dumpster complete with a naked homeless man screeching near the park entrance.

I expected a classier and more upkept area.​

 

[dvcgirl67]

See how we are different. We stayed there a few nights after our Disney cruise. Stayed at the Royal Hawaiian hotel right on the beach. Loved seeing all the surfers there early in the morning walking with a board , no shirts and bare feet down the street.

We walked the whole area a lot , even late at night. A lot of people out. Even went off the main drag looking for food places etc. Didn’t feel unsafe at all.

We just laughed at all the ABC stores there are in the area. There are a lot of high end stores as well.

Did rent a car and went around the rest of the island. Island hoped too.

Yeah, we stayed at the Halekulani for one night. It was a nice hotel, but we had bad service. I did enjoy watching the surfers the one morning we woke up there. But there's no beach to speak of, as it's at the end of the beach. And the signs weren't clear and we were trying to get to the beach...so we walked out of the hotel and down an alley towards the beach and two homeless guys got *right* behind us...I was sure we were about to be mugged, but they followed us and watched us....seemingly waiting for us to go swimming and put our stuff down, which we opted not to do. It just wasn't all that great.

We did enjoy the other side of the island..stayed at the Four Seasons, so right near Aulani. But we loved The Big Island...stayed at Mauna Lani. That's when we both felt like we got Hawaii. .

 

[Dan Murphy]

St Thomas, V.I. - the resorts are beautiful. The water is wonderful. The coral and the seashells and ocean life: .

The amount of poverty at the way the islanders live is horribly sad. It was like a ghetto slum in Harlem, but on a beach with palm trees.

Yes, this was my reaction to seeing how the local residents live, but with no screeching:

That was Marie's and my feelings and observations when we visited Jamaica 50 years ago. Painful poverty while we were staying in a beautiful resort. We both felt 'wrong' being there.

 

[Imzadi]

Monument Valley, AZ: one of my favorite places in the world. I've been there a good 10 times and hope I go back once more in this lifetime. When I go there, I feel small and connected to a greater whole at the same time.

It's on Navajo tribal land, thank God. Or it would have been turned into a money grubbing theme park by now, with each natural monument turned into some ride.

Instead, it is protected sacred land.

The area the natural stone monuments are in is called: the Valley of the Gods. Yes, plural: Gods. You can see their artistic handiwork on the monuments, where they must have had a "play day", (God length day,) or had a competition of building the monuments, with the last God setting down his/her clay "Mittens" at the end of building the monuments.

Evidence of the play day/competition:

The Mittens:

 

[Imzadi]

That was Marie's and my feelings and observations when we visited Jamaica 50 years ago. Painful poverty while we were staying in a beautiful resort. We both felt 'wrong' being there.

Yep, EXACTLY. It seems like the islanders main way of making money is to work as employees for all the hotels. Yet, for all the wealth the resorts bring in, it's obvious they don't really share it with the employees to raise up their standard of living.

 

[disneydreamer781]

Montreal was like for us. This was quite a while ago and we were so looking to it but we ended leaving earlier than planned.

Cruising has also become that way for me. I used to mildly enjoy it but I just don't anymore. I don't think I could do anything longer than 3-4 nights but I got tired of the Bahamas and the Caribbean does nothing for me. As far as I'm concerned one island looks pretty much like another and I'm not a beach person. The Treasure as a Disney ship holds some interest for me but the length, itinerary, and the price tag doesn't. I would be willing to do a 7 night for an Alaska itinerary but the price...yikes! I just think my tastes have changed. Other than WDW, I now look forward to historical destinations or even national parks. I guess I just want to see more of the U.S. as I've gotten older.

 

[nighttowll]

It’s crazy for me to think about it now because I’ve been such a planner for most of my adult life, but when I was just out of high school, I had a friend invite me to come live with her in Hong Kong. I knew absolutely nothing about Hong Kong. Not sure I even knew where it was on a map, but being young an impulsive, I jumped on a plane and went.

I quickly discovered that my stereo-typical limited idea of China was nothing like the reality of Hong Kong. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but “NY” plopped down inside a rain forest on a mountain surrounded by ocean was not it.

Also, not sure about Shanghai as that’s mainland China with different rules from Hong Kong, but Hong Kong was super clean because the fines for littering even 1 tiny piece of paper were insane. My friend’s little boy who was 3 or 4 figured out that it freaked mom out if he held out a piece of trash and pretended to drop it. He didn’t understand how serious it was, and found it funny. I swear my friend came close to having a nervous breakdown a couple of times when he held trash over the side of a ferry or out a window where she couldn’t retrieve it if he dropped it.

 

[disneydreamer781]

Monument Valley, AZ: one of my favorite places in the world. I've been there a good 10 times and hope I go back once more in this lifetime. When I go there, I feel small and connected to a greater whole at the same time.

It's on Navajo tribal land, thank God. Or would have been turned into a money grubbing theme park by now, with each natural monument turned into some ride.

Instead, it is protected sacred land.

The area the monuments are in is called: the Valley of the Gods. Yes, plural: Gods. You can see their artistic handiwork on the monuments, where they must have had a "play day", (God length day,) or had a competition of building the monuments, with the last God setting down his/her clay "Mittens" at the end of building the monuments.

Evidence of the play day/competition:

The Mittens:

Now this is a place I would love to see!

 

[Smugpugmug]

Different in a positive way - Sofia, Bulgaria. I only went there to visit a friend who lives there and didn't have any expectations. It wasn't even a country I thought about in terms of travel. I found the people to be extremely friendly; probably the most welcoming I've ever experienced in a foreign country. The city itself was really cool with interesting architecture and I liked how the cuisine was a mix between Russian/Eastern European, Greek and Turkish. I would love to go back and visit/see other parts of the country.

Different in a bad way - stereotypical answer but Hollywood and Los Angeles. Both were extremely dirty (as in like dirtier than the usual city grime) and definitely not like how I envisioned them from media growing up but seeing the Hollywood sign in person was pretty cool.

Sadly I would have to say Tulum, Mexico as well. I studied Mesoamerican history in college as part of my minor so I was SO excited to visit one of the ancient Maya sites but the crowds were so overwhelming that I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack. It made Disney on New Years Eve look tame in comparison. My tour group waited 1 1/2 hours to get into the site and the entire process of buying a ticket and queuing to get in was one of the most disorganized ordeals I have ever witnessed. The actual ruins were also completely mobbed with crowds. It felt like I was shoulder to shoulder with other people at times. It made me very sad as I wanted to see this beautiful rich piece of Maya history and it wasn't what I had hoped for. It kind of made me not want to visit Chichén Itzá and Teotihuacán.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Oh hell yes.

It was meant to be a dream holiday in Venice. Took 5 hours to find my "hotel", squirrelled down a dark alleyway. My room was… dire. I went to open the curtains to find a brick wall. The beds had bed-bugs. No food on offer. Cold. Creepy crawlies under the sink. Shower in the toilet. DISASTER.

 

[mousefan73]

If just thought of one. Vaduz Liechtenstein. Major disappointment.

Worst thing it was my suggestion to my family to go there a couple of months ago as we were in the area. I had been there as a teen and recalled a quaint town like in those Hallmark “ American gurl meets boy who happens to be a prince movie”.

Maybe it was some weird Mandela effect, maybe I was elsewhere back then. But Vaduz was nothing exciting. No quaint old town really. We left adter one hour.

 

[Keladry84]

For me: San Francisco

Everything I've heard and read about the city seems spot on for me and my interests, including pics, transport, things to do etc. I was really excited to go last summer.

The execution: Something about the city made me completely miserable the whole time I was there. I can't even put a finger on it what it was, especially as it does look like the pics, etc. from what I see, but I really did not like the city at all and would be happy to never be there again. Everything just felt off.

 

[nighttowll]

Oh hell yes.

It was meant to be a dream holiday in Venice. Took 5 hours to find my "hotel", squirrelled down a dark alleyway. My room was… dire. I went to open the curtains to find a brick wall. The beds had bed-bugs. No food on offer. Cold. Creepy crawlies under the sink. Shower in the toilet. DISASTER.

Awe that’s horrible!

Venice was one of the few cities in Italy we really enjoyed, but my accommodations were amazing. I booked us an Airbnb back when people still didn’t reallly know about it. Great deal on an amazing apartment on the canal with gorgeous views. I’m sure that made a big difference.

Rome and the Vatican were our let downs. Never would have expected the area around the Vatican to be homeless central, and we found Rome extremely underwhelming. Loved the underground tour we did of the Colosseum, but other than that was not impressed.

 

[luvthatduke]

For me: San Francisco

Everything I've heard and read about the city seems spot on for me and my interests, including pics, transport, things to do etc. I was really excited to go last summer.

The execution: Something about the city made me completely miserable the whole time I was there. I can't even put a finger on it what it was, especially as it does look like the pics, etc. from what I see, but I really did not like the city at all and would be happy to never be there again. Everything just felt off.

The problem you ran into is that you visited SF within the past 10 years when it really went downhill.
It WAS a beautiful city back in the 80's when I lived there!
You could walk down virtually any street after a night out with no risk of crime, except in the Tenderloin.
I cry when I see news stories now.
I'm sorry you didn't see it then.

 

[SirDuff]

Mongolia - Much more modern and built up than I expected (especially Ulaanbaatar)

Patagonia (Argentina part) - surprised how much of a European feel a lot of had (and how good the chocolate was in Bariloche )

 

[LuvOrlando]

New Hampshire had lots of very big trees and I didn't see any farms and there were very few clearings compared to other states, homes were in the thick of trees most of the time too. Turns out, I get claustrophobia from not being able to see through thick trees in the wilderness so that was unexpected and new. Of course, there are many people who love this and they would adore a visit to this very green outdoorsy state. Highly recommend to people who enjoy a deep woods feel.

 

[Shellsbutt]

Most places don't live up to the hype. Its important to not buy what the influencers say.
We recently visited Portugal and had very high expectations based on all the research we had done. We had been waiting for travel to Europe to open back up so we watched a lot of travel stuff. When we got there it was nothing like we expected and we were very disappointed. Still we ended up going back again. Since we knew what to expect we had a much better time.

Another issue is the various tourist boards are doing a good job keep problems quiet. Dublin is a good example of this. O'Connell street is risky in the middle of the day, let alone at night. It is shocking how bad it got between 2019 and 2023. Even 2022 to 2023 was a very big change. We go to Dublin to visit family so we are stuck with it. In future I am not sure what we will do.
I cant imagine going there on a vacation. It's nothing even close to what the tourist board is trying to sell people. What people think Dublin is and the reality are very very different. I still cant get some of the things I saw out of my head - it was that bad.

Yeah, we just got back from a two week trip to Ireland last month and we never visited Dublin. To be fair, we had never planned to anyway but I spent a lot of time reading the reddit irish tourism forum for research. A lot of posts there warning about the conditions in Dublin, not unlike any major city though. We flew in and out of Shannon and stayed in Doolin, Dingle, Killarney, and Kinsale. It was a beautiful country! I highly recommend Shannon airport, so tiny and you go through pre clearance there, took 5 minutes at immigration/customs.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Monument Valley, AZ: one of my favorite places in the world. I've been there a good 10 times and hope I go back once more in this lifetime. When I go there, I feel small and connected to a greater whole at the same time.

It's on Navajo tribal land, thank God. Or it would have been turned into a money grubbing theme park by now, with each natural monument turned into some ride.

Instead, it is protected sacred land.

The area the natural stone monuments are in is called: the Valley of the Gods. Yes, plural: Gods. You can see their artistic handiwork on the monuments, where they must have had a "play day", (God length day,) or had a competition of building the monuments, with the last God setting down his/her clay "Mittens" at the end of building the monuments.

Evidence of the play day/competition:

The Mittens:

I'm so glad someone mentioned Monument Valley. That's the same place I would have chosen. On a trip to the area, DH wanted to go there. I had absolutely no desire to, but since I love DH, I figured I could "put up with it" for the day or two we'd planned. As soon as I saw those "mittens" I was so enthralled. Your pictures are gorgeous. Look like what we saw from our hotel, the View-well-named.