What countries left you disappointed after visiting/ living in and why?

28 comments

1. Finland, none of the people had fins.

2. Thailand. Not one person was wearing a tie.

3. India. I seriously don’t understand why people even go there and you could not pay me to go back. Literal hell on earth.

4. Paris. Walking around was like sucking the exhaust of a city bus. And they’re just as rude as the stereotype.

   Been to a about a dozen countries and even not speaking their language they were generally way more welcoming.

5. France. Really, everywhere I’ve been in Europe. I’m disabled and wheelchair bound. The general public in those countries really did not like me. I was seen more as a nuisance. Taking extra time for the bus to lower the ramp got me a lot of nasty looks and people bad mouthed me under their breath. Same thing when I needed extra help getting into and out of a taxi.

6. Morrocco- I was there for 6 weeks and struggled to find any connections with the people. Felt like I was a walking bank the whole time. I travelled to a lot of poor countries so accept that somewhat, but there it just seemed relentless. I thought maybe I was a bit unlucky but my friend had the same experience.

7. Sicily. Beautiful landscape but the most hostile country I’ve ever been to. The only way they could convince us harder they don’t want tourism is if they actively threatened us with assault rifles. Fucking bury yourself you hostile pricks…

8. Denmark. To quote my traveling companion: “Now I know why Hamlet wanted to die.”

   To be fair, we had just left Norway which was celebrating its 100 years of independence from Sweden, and the people were amazing and in great spirits (free beer and food every corner in Oslo) so naturally everything and everywhere afterwards was going to be hard to compare.

9. America, Seattle in particular.

   Trash everywhere, expensive, and everyone was angry.

10. China. I think that all the years under the communist party and especially the Cultural Revolution took away any sense of taking care of others and just general decency and compassion for others that aren’t directly connected to you. If there is no guanxi (connection) to the other person then it seems they are content to watch others suffer and struggle rather than lend a hand.

11. The Bahamas. Outside of the tourist areas the place is a third world country. Big celebrities have mansions in Nassau but are protected round the clock by a team of ex-Navy SEALS.

12. Afghanistan

13. South Africa, xenophobic and high rates of crime.

14. Russia. It doesn’t leave you disappointed, YOU leave Russia disappointed.

15. All GCC Countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates)

    Oppressively hot in summer.

    Frighteningly expensive.

    Stratified society.

    Everything appears superficial.

    Bigoted society where black and brown people are at the bottom of food chain.

    Terrible place to live as a woman.

    Laws are applicable based on skin tone.

16. Japan. My biggest culture shock was just how relationships are there. Was really hard to make friends and get past the “tatemae” phase. Love visiting for short trips but would never wanna live there again. It can be extremely isolating.

17. Dubai. All style, no substance!!

18. Egypt. I had expected chaos and messiness, but it’s an absolute shithole filled to the brim with garbage, pollution, scams and corruption.

19. Egypt. Woof. Unfortunately I won’t share my experience there on reddit since I just recently got my account restored after posting in r/Egypt my experience. Guess the truth was too hard for some to grasp. But safe to say my wife and I will never return there.

20. Aruba. Plain beaches, nothing but American chain restaurants, expensive beer. I could have just gone to the Florida panhandle for cheaper.

21. **Brussels** during my Belgium trip. Ugly, smelly, decrepit, boring. I genuinely felt like I was in some unknown town in a post-communist country.

    On the plus side, our trip to Brugge was absolutely lovely.

22. I want this exact thread, but with places you loved visiting instead.

23. This thread has me thinking two things in particular:

    1) I feel less bad about my lack of interest (or budget) for travel and

    2) Thank fuck I’m in Australia, one country I did not see after scrolling through some 300-odd comments.

24. Sweden.

    People are cold and avoidant (unless drunk), dating girls is weird. Culture is fucked up with conformism, fragility and deception through politeness. 5-10 year queues to rent an apartment first-hand. Taxes are high, salaries for qualified professionals are relatively low. Now they’re also making work immigration laws stricter. Healthcare is free, but shit; you can spend months seeing nurses who will tell you to drink more water and work less until you get to see an actual doctor who can diagnose you.

    Despite all this, it somehow keeps attracting people who come for work.

25. Egypt, dirty shithole

26. TIL every country is disappointing to someone

27. Some of the answers here were very interesting and I think something we can all learn about that old saying about the grass being greener on the other side.

    I have lived in Scotland my whole life and I love my country and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. However it does have it’s fair share of issues, many areas in Scotland have very high rates of poverty and low life expectancy and at the moment we are going through a particularly brutal period right now with record high drug addictions and drug related deaths.

    Yet my whole life I have had to deal with people who’s only exposure to Scotland before moving here was movies like Brave and were actually shocked to find that we don’t all spend our days roaming the countryside like a magical fairy tale. Scotland has beautiful countryside but if you want to go where people actually live you’ll find us all living in cities and these cities all come along with the usual helping of city problems (litter, graffiti, crime etc).

    I hope I’m not coming over as too negative like I said I love Scotland and it has a list of positive qualities that can go for miles and miles but it was interesting to see what happens when a country doesn’t live upto the expectations that postcards and influencers build up to outsiders. It taught me to think critically about other countries and to actually take time to research what life is like there for the average person.

    The longer I live the more I realise that only seeing the world through travel blogs is probably building people to have an unhealthy perspective. I grew up with someone who had finally decided that they couldn’t take it anymore in Scotland and spent a great deal of money moving to New Zealand as he genuinely felt he would be happy there. The last time I spoke to him he was miserable as it was nothing like he thought it would be.

    The moral of the story is that no one country has all the correct answers and if humans are somewhere you can be confident that problems won’t be far away. So let’s not assume our own country has it all wrong while another country has it all right and instead work together as humans to make things better for everyone.

28. Paris

    The city of romance. A city of the arts… The reality is that it’s a city of rubbish, poverty and street crime.