Post: #26

The Blue Grotto in Capri, Italy.

Very expensive. It's a lot smaller than it looks and we were in the the grotto itself for maybe two minutes at most. If you came here in your own kayak it might be cool but you're getting hugely ripped off paying the standard tourist rate.

Save yourself the euros and enjoy the pictures online:

Post: #27

Argentina.

China.

Post: #28

(06-18-2014 03:01 AM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(06-18-2014 02:14 AM)Chaos Wrote:  Yeah, I fell in the trap aswell. As a newbie traveller I went to Australia because everybody said it was sooo cool. Well it had it great moments, but after been traveling to SEA and China and Russia, Australia bored the fuck out of me and I lost a lot of unecessary money.

Lesson learned.
No hate, I think most people who goes to travel in Australia has no idea of how long the same amount of money would last in SEA. I guess we all have to do mistakes to learn.

But I will never sit 20+ hours in a airplane only to get to Australia and then drive 2000km just to see a stone ( Ayers Rock) and drive 2000km back to find a place where I have to PAY for wifi to upload photos on Facebook just to brag to my friends.

Seriously. Year 2010, people have gone to the moon long ago but in Australia you still need to PAY for wifi or go to a internet café.

My congratulations.

Hey man, in the Netherlands they make you pay to use a McDonalds restroom. I thought that shit was ridiculous, what if I'm in a hurry?

And, even worse, they make you pay for water instead of just giving the tap water of the Netherlands which might be one of the best in the world.

Post: #29

(06-18-2014 02:09 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  Pretty much any all inclusive resort or cruise ship. I went to Jamaica and stayed at an all inclusive resort. All I can tell you about Jamaica is it has some nice beaches and pretty landscapes. Same with the cruise I took the the Bahamas. Cruises and all inclusive resorts=2/10 WNB, would not buy.

Real Jamaica is very nice, especially the country side. If you're into lush vegetation, fresh fruit, scenic drives, good food.

Kingston, the capital city, is nice, but not for non-Jamaicans.

But if you're looking for the nature aspect, pretty much any island in the Caribbean will do.

WIA

Post: #30

Bahamas! Nassau

Post: #31

Yeah I got to see that part of Jamaica. We went all over the north. I'm just saying I don't know anything about Jamaican culture.

Post: #32

...

Post: #33

Paris - it felt just like New York: dirty, tons of tourists, and rude fuckers everywhere. The French countryside is so much better.

Post: #34

This is a great thread. Will probably lots of guys lots of time if people list lots of the same places.

India, been there. Just don't go. No reason, so many other better places.

Australia for the most part, Melbourne and Sydney are sort of cool in some ways, but again there are way more interesting places in the world.

(06-18-2014 09:35 AM)freshcream Wrote:  Argentina.

Please expand.

Post: #35

(06-17-2014 09:41 PM)dreambig Wrote:  

(06-17-2014 08:08 PM)Yeti Wrote:  Kyoto, Japan - a concrete jungle. The cultural spots, on the outskirts, generally are modernized and redesigned for mass tourism and, thus, underwhelming and blasé.

Not sure where you went, but I couldn't disagree more. Kyoto is an amazing city with beautiful temples everywhere, great Japanese food, traditional Japanese art and crafts, historical streets with bars that have been operating for 100s of years...it goes on and on. Shame about the people though...not exactly the friendliest in Japan.

I also heard from a local Kyoto girl that was staying with me that Kyoto is actually a concrete jungle and not anything like the travel media portrays it to be. I'm still on the fence on what to think, I hear different stories, although "temples everywhere" means jack shit IMO since Hong Kong also has temples everywhere and it's a very industrialized city.

Anyway my vote goes to Bali, although I only spent 4 days there.
.

Post: #36

^ There is what seems an
almost universal opinion on this board, Bali is a waste of time.

I think it would be highly beneficial if RVF had a poll and a sticky of places you need to skip and place you have to go at least once.

Post: #37

Gold Coast, Australia.

The whole place is an expensive theme park filled with white trash.

If you're into club sluts that is one redeeming feature

Post: #38

(06-19-2014 12:19 AM)Cyclone Wrote:  I also heard from a local Kyoto girl that was staying with me that Kyoto is actually a concrete jungle and not anything like the travel media portrays it to be. I'm still on the fence on what to think, I hear different stories, although "temples everywhere" means jack shit IMO since Hong Kong also has temples everywhere and it's a very industrialized city.

With Kyoto, there is the "normal" part of the city and the historical part. You don't visit the normal part. There is nothing to see there.

I've been to Kyoto 3 times and always enjoyed it. If you are a Japanophile then it's obviously top of the list, although Tokyo is a better place to game. If you have an appreciation for history, art, food etc then Kyoto is your place. It's high class and expensive in many places, certainly not for everyone.

During WW2, Kyoto was drawn up as a city to nuke. Fortunately, the Americans came to their senses and chose Nagasaki instead. Destroying Kyoto would have enraged endless generations of Japanese. That's how important it is as a cultural centre.

Post: #39

Kyoto is a very special place, but I understand how it could be underwhelming if you just come to see a couple of temples. Much of what is special about it is hidden, or in its atmosphere. For me being there is like being in a dream, I feel there is a parallel reality somehow just behind the Family Marts and modern buildings. A great place for writers and artists.

Post: #40

I wasn't terribly thrilled with Stockholm Sweden.

It's expensive. The food is lousy. They have this crazy love affair with 7-11s. The weather is bad. There are no real beaches nearby. And to tell the truth, the women I saw during were not super-impressive. The night game had some hotties, but it wasn't clubs packed with supermodels everywhere. Some hotties, but Eastern Europe has more. And it's far away from everything else.

However Swedish people, when they are drunk, are fucking hysterical.

Post: #41

Kuala Lumpur - hardly any attractive girls, nightlife was poor and I felt that the city in general had a bad vibe.

Post: #42

I am not sure where you were in KL, I guess you don't like white skinned, thin Chinese-Malaysian girls? KL was cool minus the expensive alcohol and the 18 Muslim prayer songs blaring from speakers during the day.

Post: #43

France: nice country, sadly ruined by the French and their attitude

Post: #44

Staten Island, NY.
Tha' fuck did I waste money going over to that shitheap.
Oh yeh, to get a good view of the Empire State Building.
And cos every fucker I met told me "Oh you gotta check out Staten Island man".
Not one redeeming feature, a fetid festering fleapit full of foul flange.

Post: #45

This thread started off good but is getting a bit pointless. Here's the thing, sight seeing gets extremely old after a while. Last year I was traveling around for Europe for a while. By the time I got to Athens I was so bored that I didn't even care much about seeing the Acropolis, and the Acropolis is extremely cool. People are saying that random cities that aren't even known for being cool were boring.. well no shit... how many people did you actually meet? How many hot girls did you sleep with? Most cities will be shitty if you don't know anybody. Hell, even NYC is boring if you don't know any cool people there. Somebody mentioned that KL sucks. Sure, from the outside it sucks (other than the Patronas Towers, which is badass), but if you know people it can be really fun. A buddy of mine is from KL and took us to some great places. I want to go back to KL because I didn't get to experience it enough.

TLDR: this should be more limited to FAMOUS places, like if you thought that Machu Piccu was boring, or thought that the Egyptian pyramids were lame. Staten Island, for example. I have not met a single person EVER who even likes Staten Island. Why is it even worth mentioning?

Post: #46

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I went there expecting hordes of drunken american college girls. I found exactly that.

Post: #47

Berlin.

Post: #48

Great thread!

I'm not going to criticize cities in themselves (unless indicated otherwise), but just specific characteristics of some as I might love many of these places for different reasons.

US

Every American Downtown - Office buildings, lack of grocery stores, and just everything shutting down at 5 PM. Most nightlife, restaurants, and other livable aspects of urban life seem to occur in a "trendy" neighborhood 10-15 minutes outside of the downtowns however.

I did however spot really good Italian & Chinese restaurants in Downtown ATL one time...though would happily choose Midtown, VA Highlands, or Buckhead over living in the main commercial center.

West 7th District Ft. Worth - Are they trying to cater to families? Young professionals? College students? This is Ft. Worth's answer to Uptown Dallas, but it feels like a bunch of townies. More people are pouring in there now the for the nightlife, but the quality of people I meet in the DFW suburbs seem to be more interesting than ones here.

Old 6th Street Austin - Been awhile since I've been around in this neighborhood, but I remember it just being a bunch of moldy grimy dive bars with cover charges & the same blue grass/alternative-ish band in every venue. Not my vibe.

Times Square NYC - Well this is more overwhelming than underwheming. The oober touristy stuff is one thing, but the subway station here is so deceptively big, unpleasant, dirty, and ugh.

Vegas Strip - Love coming here for work/play..but the strip itself becomes very groundhog's day-esque after a couple nights.

Europe
Barcelona - Whole city = tacky cliche with a zillion tourist traps. The same owner will have 3-4 categories of restaurant in the same block while that fact is disguised from visitors. People are rude & the local culture I found quite underwhelming. Estrella Galicia is Catalan beer, which I love though.

Prague - Old Town - Great city to live in I imagine for the university scene & daygame opportunities. Just didn't like Old Town so much bc of the aforementioned tourist traps. Lame unprovocative nightlife too.

Athens - Place is more of an overwhelming mess, but local culture of the city itself wasn't that interesting to me. The place captured very well in my photos though.

Mykonos City Center - Great place if one rents an ATV or Scooter to maneuver around nature. The actual city center is very confusing, expensive, easy to get loss, and possesses shitty nightlife like Skandi Bar. I went in Mid-September though after peak season, but just saw oober aggressive dudes & fat chicks galore eager for bad boy cock.

Asia
Ho Chi Minh City - There was an 7 year gap between visits for me. In 2003, I remember there being much more beautiful women around and especially District 1. Fast forward to 2010 & the traffic got exponentially worse with more ppl moving into the main business hub of VN yet the talent just dissipated it seems. Then again I've only gone there for work/family reasons in past.

Brazil
Liberdade in Sao Paulo - Where was the food? Not enough restaurants were found...it took me a good 5 minutes of walking around to pass by each one whereas I could easily pass by 5-10 in that same time span in say Chinatown NY/SF.

Still loved the individual neighborhoods I experienced in Sampa!

Zona Sul in Rio - Not really my vibe. Beaches didn't look too clean or relaxing whereas the neighborhoods of Leblon/Ipanema reminded me of Upper East/West Side in NYC with the same uninspiring overpriced restaurants/cafes.

**Note - I did however love the cheap eats between Copocabana/Ipanema neighborhoods slightly north of the beach not to mention Barra da Tijuca & Pao de Azucar.

Savassi in Belo Horizonte - Lame bar scene for so much hype. Too many botecos and not too many places to mingle with strangers. It's a good central point Savassi, but I found neighboring areas such as Santo Agostinho/Lourdes/Funcionarios more charming. If you read my posts, you'll know BH is still one of my favorite cities period though. All about the clubbing and daygame here though with very cool neighborhoods overall.

Linha Turismo in Curitiba - Cool, but this tour actually appeared more interesting in photos than the sites themselves. Maybe it's because I was sick that day & about to die. Who knows.

Lagoa da Conceicao in Florianopolis - Stupid tourist traps with overpriced Mexican/Thai restaurants. I remember paying 45 USD something bucks for a beer, modest Pad Thai, and a bottled water. I couldn't imagine booking my lodging accomodations around this neighborhood (which I sort of did in my 2011 visit).

For such a spot accessible to locals as well...Confraria Club should be operating more often instead of at random unannounced peak periods. Black Swan is however a really cool place for gringos or locals alike serving good food, beer, and great cover bands at reasonable prices.

Post: #49

(06-19-2014 09:06 AM)travolta Wrote:  This thread started off good but is getting a bit pointless. Here's the thing, sight seeing gets extremely old after a while. Last year I was traveling around for Europe for a while. By the time I got to Athens I was so bored that I didn't even care much about seeing the Acropolis, and the Acropolis is extremely cool. People are saying that random cities that aren't even known for being cool were boring.. well no shit... how many people did you actually meet? How many hot girls did you sleep with? Most cities will be shitty if you don't know anybody. Hell, even NYC is boring if you don't know any cool people there. Somebody mentioned that KL sucks. Sure, from the outside it sucks (other than the Patronas Towers, which is badass), but if you know people it can be really fun. A buddy of mine is from KL and took us to some great places. I want to go back to KL because I didn't get to experience it enough.

TLDR: this should be more limited to FAMOUS places, like if you thought that Machu Piccu was boring, or thought that the Egyptian pyramids were lame. Staten Island, for example. I have not met a single person EVER who even likes Staten Island. Why is it even worth mentioning?

Yeah maybe I'm easy to please, but leaving aside factors like weather on the day I was there and tourist ripoffs, I was pretty happy with most big sights that I've seen, and a lot of them exceeded expectations - for example Rome, Pompeii/Herculaneum/Vesuvius, Petra, Paris, New York, the pyramids, the Alps, the wildlife parks in Kenya, and Bangkok.

Looking forward to: Grand Canyon, the Great Wall, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, the Aztec ruins.

Post: #50

@Travolta Relax bro, I'm not from the States, most of us in UK/IRL knew fuck all about NYC except what we saw on tv, so everything in NYC was glamourised, and yes that includes Staten Island, hard as it might be for you to envisage.
I've had plenty of other travel experiences around the world I could mention, some glamrous places, and some total shitholes, but honestly, the first negative one that came to mind for me was Staten Island, like it or not.
Not everything I've read from you is relevant or constructive either, in my opinion, but I don't dwell on that.
It's the same with me and the same with almost every other poster on here, nobody's perfect.
It's all subjective, so let's keep the comments positive.