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Kuwait. Got stuck there by taking Kuwait airways and being turned around due to a snowstorm at the scheduled stopover at Stansted. I swear in 2012 you could still see damage in the airport from the gulf war.
Food was good, interesting looking place, but might be the least helpful people if you are a woman. They also wanted to confiscate our passports while we were there- no thanks.
Israel
Probably Egypt. Went to Hurghada and from the first moment I got there I was being scammed. The aggressiveness and directness of the scamming is something I've never seen and I've been almost everywhere. Only Morrocco comes close to it. I usually take it easy, but there one cap driver had me literally screaming at him for some fucking humanity. 75% of the people there see you as nothing more than a walking and breathing sac of money to be squeezed.
Never again.
Malaysia. It's so oppressive and incredibly dull. Every time I go there I'm looking to cut my trip short as it's just so incredibly boring. I hadn't visited the islands though which I've heard are actually a bit more free so I'd make an exception.
Same goes for Singapore - so incredibly dull and boring. The only redeeming feature is the universal theme park and the waterworld show in particular. Get an express ticket on low season and it's one of the best theme parks in Asia.
Russia would be another one. It's just fundamentally failed country and while nature can be incredible (shoutout to Kamchatka) it's culturally dead and I'm never associating with it in any way.
Malaysia is a hard nut to crack, but I worked there for a number of years and eventually came to appreciate it because I learned where the locals go and the interesting parts of the country. They require a car though, so tough to access as a tourist.
Yes I've heard the nature can be quite beautiful but at the same time you can go to any other SEA country for similar experience with better everything else so it would be at the bottom of my list of choices just because competition is very compelling here.
The food is the main draw, and it's unique mix is better than anywhere else in my opinion. The food is mostly what locals do when they travel somewhere it seems. The other thing I like about Malaysia is that once you are away from petaling street in KL, you don't really get treated like a tourist and people don't really try to give you tourist prices. Much different compared to neighboring countries, and I say this as a university level Thai speaker who worked in Thailand and still felt tourist-hassled in much of Thailand.
I've only been to 18 countries but there aren't any I wouldn't go back to. My home country of the USA has become a shithole, but there are some people there I will probably go back to visit at some point, most notably my son. Although he's coming to visit me first. Maybe I can hold out until the orange stain is removed.
The United States. I have zero interest in going to a country where I could get kidnapped by masked goons or have my phone stolen by the government for sharing memes they don't like. I have no interest in going to a country where I could get shot and killed randomly by some whacko who had a bad day and decided to shoot up the place. I have no interest in going to a country where I could be charged thousands of dollars for getting hurt. And I have absolutely zero interest in giving my money to a fascist country that regularly threatens my country's sovereignty and whose economy is on the brink of total collapse. That dumpster fire can stay down south, thank you very much.
Every time I look at the United States and everything that's been going on there, it only makes me more proud to be Canadian and ever more vigilant to prevent the same from happening to us. We have our problems, sure, but at least we have actual healthcare, no mass shootings, and no fascism.
I have no interest in going to a country where I could be charged thousands of dollars for getting hurt.
Tbf, you can go to like half of the countries in the world and the heathcare is just as horrible, and the locals always try to scam you, so its not unique to the US.
(But I don't disagree with your other points)
I'm hoping to never go to Russia again, but I may have to if I want to finally cancel my citizenship.. absolute shithole, even if you ignore the current political situation.
Can't you do that at a consulate? Or is that not possible for Russian citizenship holders?
Nope, the paperwork to cancel a citizenship needs to be filled out in person exactly at the office in the town you were last registered in. At least that's what my older sister had to do when she canceled hers a few years ago.
America. I visited maybe 15 years ago and felt like I was a criminal in the passport control. Super-authoritive people, iris scanning, fingerprint scanning, photography...
Ill stick to europe.
And it's all theatre. It's never actually stopped real criminals.
I think it's worth saying that security theater isn't pointless. Criminals tend not to be the brightest, and they tend to like to go for low hanging fruit. That makes even the pretense of security somewhat of a preventative, even when security doesn't work. Same way a fake security camera helps.
The trouble is that they have a ridiculous amount of rights to be racist to people, abuse their power, and screw people over. Basic xray machines and security guards by itself would be reasonable, even as security theater
Australia. Not that it was wholly terrible. It just wasn't what I expected and I overcooked it by staying for 2 years.
To be fair, it could never have lived up to the super-positive stereotype it has here in the UK.
We think of Aussies as fun-living, friendly, witty, laid-back beautiful people who are down to earth yet somehow savvy and open-minded. They love a drink and a BBQ and have a 'live and let live', inclusive attitude. Basically everything we Brits would love to be if we weren't so repressed.
I think this cliche comes from a cross between Crocodile Dundee and through meeting the thousands of charming Aussies who end up working behind bars when they visit the UK in their youth.
Also, with the British weather being what it is, we imagine anywhere with a sunny climate would encourage people with a similarly sunny disposition.
Anyway, I'll spare you the details, but having travelled extensively throughout Australia - well beyond Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane - I found little of the stereotype I'd expected and quite a lot of the opposite.
I did meet some great people, but they were mainly Irish 🤣
Yeah the cut the tall poppy syndrome is rampant there.
They celebrate alcoholism.
It’s still legal to hit children in certain states
In fact domestic violence was pretty normalized and women in droves die per year to it.
And they think the rest of the world is going soft by trying to be more inclusive in minority rights. Women in particular.
I mean it has some appeal with the beaches but yea, the people are still 1970s -1980s chauvinistic crowd.
I will give them this though: they do look after people with disabilities a heck of a lot better than another countries I’ve seen. Never mind ‘the elevator broke.’. That shit doesnt fly there not even for a second. And they did stomp down the classism way more than UK attempted to.
Yeah I mean, we've been heavily influenced by the US and UK historically, so we have a deeply racist disposition. Our treatment of Indigenous Australians is as much of a blight on our history as it is for other English-speaking nations like the US, Canada and South Africa. I do still strongly believe we're doing better in a lot of ways, for example we've started using indigenous place names, acknowledging traditional land ownership and other steps. But we're far from perfect, and if you come here with that conceptualisation then you'll definitely be disappointed.
People's Republic of China.
Was born there, probably ain't ever going back.
So much conservatism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, ableism especially against people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities, even if the condition was mild.
Massive government corruption, inadequate safety regulations, when it come to the internet and press, those get censored, can't even have fun watching foreign media.
Complete lack of understanding for people suffering with depression nobody take it seriously, spritualism is applied to medical issues.
Hukou system limiting the very little rights you have. (I had a rural Hukou and that sucks)
To top it all off, this is a country that have rejected me for being the 2nd child born in my family (during the One Child Policy). Legal papers were denied, the government effectively refused to ackowledge my existence and demanded/extorted a large amount of money, a "fine" they call it. My parent's didn't have it so it took several years of saving up for it, before I could get legal papers and legal recognition of my existence. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihaizi)
When I was a kid, I didn't know it at the time, but when my mother explained my origins, I feel like society basically just rejected me. An outcast, an anomoly, something that shouldn't have existed. All for the sin of existing without a government permission-slip.
I went to four different cities in China and at least a significant proportion of people seemed very selfish and out for themselves across the board, I'm not going to say never but it's definitely at the bottom of my list of places to return to.
I've only ever been out of the country one time.
My boss and I wrote a paper that got us invited to an international conference, that took place in Palermo, Sicily.
It wasn't high on my list of places I want to visit, but free overseas work trip to Sicily!
It was pretty disappointing in many ways. The whole time I was there I constantly felt like I was about to be robbed or scammed.
The taxi drivers are nuts, we were sure we were going to die multiple times just on the ride from the airport to the hotel.
The accommodation in the city was pretty cheap but most places had awful reviews, so we splurged and chose a 5 star hotel near the conference venue. It ended up being the equivalent of a 2 star back home. Mold in the bathroom, paint peeling off walls in the bedroom, exposed wires poking out of every electrical outlet. The hot water didn't work in the shower for 2 of the 4 nights we were there. At the buffet breakfast they served cold toast, warm yoghurt, and spoiled milk. You couldn't make it up. And that was the best accommodation in the city.
When we walked from the hotel to the conference centre, we were walking past piles of garbage that people just dump on the streets. Apparently that's a normal thing. There's nowhere else for garbage to go. Sometimes it gets picked up by the city collectors, usually it doesn't.
There were no pedestrian crossings, and cars don't stop at red lights. So the traffic is constantly flowing at full speed on all the roads. Often the only way to get to where you need to go is to walk out in front of traffic, don't make eye contact with any driver, look straight ahead, clench hard, walk sure, and change your underpants when you get to the other side.
It wasn't all bad. The food at the restaurants was amazing. I had some very good authentic Sicilian pizza. They serve cheap pints of Heineken at every restaurant and bar. If you like oily fish such as sardines, pilchards and anchovies, you're in heaven because it's their staple, they serve them on everything. The locals love cannolis and eat them like crack. They were served for desert at the conference, at the gala dinner, and at every restaurant we went to. I wasn't a fan of them.
I liked the novelty of being in a different country for the first time, but I wouldn't go back to Sicily again.
Huh, interesting. I've been to Sicily on a student exchange. My experience was totally different, but it's maybe because I didn't stay in Palermo. I've been to Taormina and other smaller towns. It was beautiful, both the towns themselves, the nature, the weather and the view of the sea. These local towns are old and mafe for pedestrians, so almost no cars. All the local shops are run by mom and pop and everybody knows each other. They invite whoever is walking by the shop to eat lunch together. We took the bus from my host's home to the neares town and we drove through lavender fields, it was amazing.
Not to say your experience wasn't genuine, but it sounds like it's Palermo that wasn't very pleasant, not Sicily in general. I would definitely recommend the smaller towns.
Yeah. You have a good point. My experience was only of Palermo. I understand other parts of Sicily are quite different. We did a short half day trip to the Trapani salt pans, it was nice to get out of the city but still very touristy. My favourite part honestly was driving through the small stretches of rural areas between towns.
Yugoslavia, can't, no longer exists.
Vatican. Once you’ve visited it there’s not much reason to go back.
"Never again" is stronger than I'd put it but we probably won't be vacationing in France again because god forbid a guy doesn't want to eat animals.
Edit: for some positivity, I loved every trip to Germany and also Austria, the latter so much in fact that we went to live in Vienna for a short time. If not for my partner I'd move right back.
Out of the places I have actually been, there are none I would say I would never want to go to again.
I do, currently, wish I was not in my home country though.
USA
South Korea.
It was fine. Lots of people spoke English and there was lots to do and everyone was nice.
But after being in Seoul for two hours I was like: "oh".
It felt just like America with more statues. I'm sure there is lots more to do and see that is more essentially Korean than Seoul was, and while I don't have anything against it, I just couldn't see making the effort to go back again given how familiar it all felt being from North America.
I don't have a single bad thing to say about the country or my time there, but there are so many places in the world I'd love to see I don't think I'd make the effort again.
Japan on the other hand.
