Must be you’ve never flown Ryanair. Any airport flown only by those dirtbags is my least-favorite.
I just can’t like Paris. The only place I really like there is the Sacré Coeur; most of what other people claim to like happens to match exactly what I dislike: the wide cobbled boulevards, the 19th century architecture, and the idea that it is a romantic town because marketing says so. Marketing can lick my boots.
Seconded. We’ve been twice, and plan on going back in a month or so.
I could take or leave Paris. I’d go if I had to, but I’d never plan another trip there.
Brugge was all right. I’d never go back though. Just meh.
We went to a concert in Austin, Texas a few years ago, didn’t enjoy it. Took a side trip to San Antonio, also meh. The river walk was nice, but not enough to make me go back.
Oh ya! I forgot about Ireland. I’d never go back.
The last time I was there was 20 years ago. We went to visit my wife’s sister. Took in a couple of shows, that was nice. The rest of it…crowded, dirty and noisy. And the subway was a total freak show.
In 1980-81, I was based in Jakarta, running back and forth month to Singapore.
In 1983-84, I was based in Singapore, running back and forth to Jakarta and Balikpapan with a couple of months in Sydney, Australia.
I absolutely loved it. I learned to speak Indonesian and found some fascinating shops in the market places in Jakarta to buy wood carvings. One of the best times of my life.
Different strokes, I guess.
I hate New York. It’s filthy, expensive, overwhelming, and utterly without charm.
I also hate to be in Germany. Germanic Europe claims the majority of my genetic heritage, and being there is like going back to the hometown you were really, really glad to get out of. The food’s terrible, too.
Florida, especially Orlando.
I’ve always found the state very unfriendly. Lots of toll roads, tons of traffic in Miami and other spots and not much personality overall. Unfortunately my work brings me there a lot.
Bullhead City, Arizona. Dirt, sand, brownness everywhere.
Most recently, Alpena, MI. It was pretty, but that would be the start and end of it. Maybe it’s paradise for people who hunt or fish, but we do neither. No good food, except for one diner. Out of boredom and desperation, we drove many miles to the next towns, to find them mostly boarded up.
Traverse City, MI. Tourist prices and the traffic is awful. Not a place to get away from it all.
Never been to an outdoor place (i.e. no humans in sight) I didn’t enjoy, even a windstorm in the Mohave.
Can say almost the reverse about cities. But for low spots, I’d say Rome for huge, Guayaquil Ecuador for very large, and Butte Montana for small.
Galveston TX. I had already been to Houston multiple times (and it alone would be tied for second) and I had a couple hours to spare so why not? Tiny town with few businesses open and the beach was completely, and thickly!, covered in trash.
Other than that it is a tie between Houston and the Outer Banks, both of which I only visited to hang out with other people. I don’t like endless suburbia nor do I like the beach. I live 7 miles from the beach and I only go there at most once or twice a year to take a short walk at night.
I’m gonna guess that your visit to L.A. was more than a few years ago? Downtown has changed tremendously over the past 10 years or so. When I first moved to Los Angeles, 20 some years ago, downtown was very much like you describe. Unless you worked down there, there was really no reason to be there. And after the sun set, there was certainly no reason to be there. Now, it is pretty fantastic. Tons to do day and night, great nightlife, wonderful restaurants, plenty of things to do. I love downtown L.A., and I definitely would not have said that a dozen years ago.
I do agree with you on New Orleans. One of the great American cities.
Puerto Vallarta. I left the resort hotel and went into town only to find open air meat markets with flies buzzing around the unprotected meat and smelling like garbage. The streets ran with open sewage.
I have fairly dismal memories of Salina, Kansas and Millinocket, Maine. The common factor is being stranded at dinnertime in both places in less-than-appetizing Chinese restaurants (if such an establishment has bottles of ketchup on the tables, take it as a warning sign). There is little to no reason to stop in Wall, South Dakota unless you are very hungry and not all that particular.
As someone who lived several years in Indianapolis, I think the OP is misjudging it based on too-brief exposure. While downtown couldn’t be mistaken for Paris after dark, there certainly are lots of non-chain restaurants and a variety of neighborhoods (do NOT venture into Rocky Ripple without GPS), though I can’t vouch for the “bar scene”.
This thread is more fun than the Favorite Places one.
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Had a miserable time, part of which was due to the stifling heat/humidity. Turns out I’m not much of an ‘all-inclusive resort’ guy, either. Ventured out of the resort once, and that was more troubling than enjoyable.
Nassau Bahamas: Everything was closed. And didn’t look very interesting even if it were open. Ended up here instead of Key West due to an engine malfunction on our cruise ship.
I’m also not a big fan of Florida. Been to Miami, Orlando, Cocoa Beach, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Daytona Beach. I was most impressed by the Liquor Supermarket near our hotel in Miami.
ETA: I forgot that I did love Key West.
mmm
North Dullkota. Like being on the moon. Especially the western part. There are literally signs on the highway exit ramps that say “Nothing” or “No Services”, meaning if that aint your dirt farm over yonder there is no reason to get off the freeway.
Shitrock, New Mexico. What a crappy town.
Brattleboro, Vermont. It’s a long story, but I probably wouldn’t have hated this place had I not ran into the 2 asshole hippies that were still hiding out to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam war (no joke!). This was in 2004 and all I wanted was a cup of coffee not a goddamn lecture about what a fuckface I am for driving a car!
Beloit, Wisconsin. Trust me, it’s a hole.
Gatlinburg Tennessee, and, oddly, New Orleans.
Since we’re excluding work trips, it’s a bit harder. I try very hard not to travel to places where I won’t have a positive experience. Probably the worst experience was Macau.
Because I was new in Asia, I did something I hate to do: book a tour. The trip from Hong Kong to Macau on the hydrofoil boats was pretty neat, and the historical museum was pretty neat, but the tour guide spent the entire time on the bus talking about Stanley Ho or some other casino rich idiot dude. Luckily there was an alternative to the casino portion of the trip (I hate casinos, and I hate that my dad lives in Las Vegas every time I visit him).
There was no Portuguese culture left. No Portuguese restaurants that were available. No signs in Portuguese. Pretty much the reason for the trip was to see a Portugal-influenced piece of China (analogous to Hong Kong), and it was a bust.
Sometimes I have to drive through, and stop/eat/ in rural Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina on the way to deep-sea fishing trips on the Gulf Coast and Outer Banks…let’s just say I very much look forward to the day that I can own a private seaplane with a large freezer.
With apologies to my favorite poster from down that way – San Antonio. When I had a couple relatives there I really loved, it was worth the visit. Since they died you couldn’t get me back there at gun point. Even during the World’s Fair there was just something about the place I never really cared for. Given the choice I would rather do a week in any other Texas town than a weekend in San Antonio.