What’s so awful about Newark airport? It’s the best airport in the NY metro area.
I definitely can understand why people would hate on Newark the city though.
LOL, Chicago is known for being pretty clean, and New York has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
I’m still confused by the guy who said “Knoxville,” apparently on the grounds of having no culture. Given that we’ve got music festivals, sports teams, the friggin’ state university (and a good one in several areas), on top of the Smoky Mountains nearby, and is the regional cultural center, well…
I once went to Atlanta for a conference. I guess that’s the only reason most people ever go there. I arrived a day early. I went to the hotel front desk and said I had a free day, what would they suggest I go and see or do or take a look at? What did visitors to the city usually enjoy?
The desk staff basically shrugged and told me they couldn’t think of anything.
Wasn’t it W.C. Fields who, when once asked for a comparison between good and bad, said it was like making love or going to St. Louis, to use two opposite extremes?
That might not be a reflection on Atlanta, though. I’ve noticed folks in that sort of position becoming progressively dumber over the years. I’ve got a specific story about looking for a monument in Western Kentucky that no one had heard of…but that’s another thread.
And the sign always features a picture of a palm tree! (I’ve noticed also very sad little “beauty salons” and of course the ubiquitous nail palaces - I thought by now, especially with the shit economy, the nail salons would have taken a hit, but they’re still around. Like in the low-rent section of Niagara Falls, which is like a big scattered strip mall on the way down. Hardly loathsome , but depressing.)
OMG so totally there on the soulless strip mall communitiees…and there’s always a place where you can get a pedi/manicure or pay to get skin cancer.
Even Bakersfeild is club med up against places like Jakarta and Juarez. Fresno was undergoing quite the cultural renaisannce before the real estate market tanked, but its coming back pretty quick. As an ex-EMT I have seen some of the nastiest back alleys and dens of hate and villany Fresno has to offer. I would still rather take my chances here over almost any US/Mexico border town and the attendant drug trade that comes with it.
Beirut??? I know a number of people who have gone to Beirut willingly, and quite liked it. It’s supposed to be a very nice place, all things considered.
Was it the Jefferson Davis monument?
People thought so in 1900, too…
**
The Dalesman’s Litany**
It’s hard when folks can’t find the work where they’ve been bred and born
When I was young I always thought I’d bide 'midst roots and corn
But I’ve been forced to work in town so here’s my litany
From Hull and Halifax and Hell, good Lord deliver me
When I was courting Mary Jane, the old squire he says to me
I've got no rooms for wedded folk, choose whether to go or to stay
I could not give up the girl I loved, so to town I was forced to flee
From Hull and Halifax and Hell, good Lord deliver me
I've worked in Leeds and Huddersfied and I've earned some honest brass
In Bradford, Keighley, Rotherham I've kept my bairns and lass
I've travelled all three Ridings round and once I went to sea
From forges, mills and coaling boats, good Lord deliver me
I've walked at night through Sheffield lanes, 'twas just as being in hell
Where furnaces thrust out tongues of fire and roared like the wind on the fell
I've sammed up coals in Barnsley pits with muck up to my knee
From Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham, good Lord deliver me
I've seen fog creep across Leeds bridge as thick as the Bastille soup
I've lived where folks were stowed away like rabbits in a coop
I've seen snow float down Bradford Beck as black as ebony
From Hunslet, Holbeck, Wibsey Stack, good Lord deliver me
But now that all our children have gone, to the country we've come back
There's forty mile of heathery moor 'twixt us and the coalpits' stack
And as I sit by the fire at night, I laugh and shout with glee
From Hull and Halifax and Hell the good Lord delivered me
Written (or collected) by Dr Moorman, President of the Yorkshire Dialect Society about 1900.
Is hating on cities in verse a Brit thing?
http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html
(Made more famous in the first epi of The Office)
I loved Beirut and went there willingly… and hope to go again.
Not the only one - I was in Pyongyang last month and loved it. It IS an alternate reality, but it so very fascinating in its own way. When were you there?
Yep, I was in Atlanta once, and the major “attraction” was “Coca-Cola World”! It is basically Coca Cola advertising, which you PAY to see! The end of the visit is where you can taste all the various kinds of coke being peddled around the world-so of thisstuff is really weird (like the grapfruit flavored crap they sell in Asia).
That said, Atlanta (downtown) is hot, boring, and stocked with medicocre, expensive restaurants.
I’d like to nominate Dallas , Texas: there is absolutely nothing to do in the downtown, after 6 PM-no clubs, no restaurants, and no people!
That’s because the environment the city of Dallas was built in is inhospitable to human life. It’s only good for the big buildings they’ve put up. If you work in them, step outside, and are reminded of how vile the climate is - well, I’d get in my car/on the train/bus - whatever - and hightail it home to my airconditioned home real fast.
Guangzhuo, China.
Never been anywhere uglier, stinkier, with fewer attractions or sights, or less pleasant people. There’s a food market there with live puppies and kittens hung up by their back legs.
Fucking horrible, and I hope I never return.
I live in New Zealand & haven’t been overseas since 1984. & like most tourists I went to places that you want to see. So, no real horror stories.
The worst overseas city I have ever heard of is Port Moresby. I’ve known half a dozen people who went there on well paying contracts. Only one signed up for a second stint.
But I’ve been emboldened by the website Rubystreak posted. & agree Invercargill is the pits.
We went to the South Island seven years ago. My daughter was entered in a sports tournament in Christchurch. & my sister had lost her mind & moved to Invercargill. I still can’t believe we had three & half weeks in the South Island & spent most of one week in Christchurch (& didn’t see much other than the sports hall) & a week in Invercargill.
http://www.worst-city.com/Invercargill-New-Zealand-Military-March-Antarctic-winds-winter.htm
That picture is of a Water Tower. its pretty much the only thing to look at. The “town” is flat, dull & full of closed minded people. I would never voluntarily go there again. Adding to the misery, my sister had bought a “do up” that looked like something the Munsters would live in.
That site has spelt Rotorua wrong. While I agree is smell horrible, there are lots of interesting things to do there.
I’m emphasising I don’t think Invercargill is as bad as the other horror spots mentioned in this thread. But its the worst place in New Zealand by far.
Tampa traffic is nothing compared to Southern California or most major U.S. cities. A great theme park, nice zoo, aquarium and museums, pro sports, nice waterfront & cruise port, nice airport, a couple of good universities & major cancer research center, year-round outdoor lifestyle…Tampa has a lot going for it. The biggest downfall is a lack of major corporations/employers.