Hey Pandas, What Was Your Biggest Disappointment When You Visited A Foreign Country?

Paris. Touted as the romantic capital of the world. Probably one of the dirtiest cities I've ever visited with the rudest people. The mugger grannies on the metro were also pretty scary!

India. Walking wallet as soon I touched down. Fleeced at every opportunity by anyone. I was young and naive. Got to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort though and other beautiful sights. But was it worth being robbed continually? Nah.

having traveled to a few nations i can say the biggest disappointment for me is being an american in a foreign country. some of my fellow americans make me embarrassed for being an american because i have witnessed people complain that people don't speak english or don't use imperial measurements, etc. c'mon, people! when you travel don't expect people to cater to you because you come from the u.s. we are not special. just go and expand your life with the experience of being in a different nation and culture. maybe their streets aren't as clean as you expect or something like that is really miniscule. if you just accept the people and the land you will find yourself having a great time. also, take the time to find out if there are cultural things that you need to be aware of so you don't offend or put yourself in a position of being harassed. it's one of the reasons i like to travel independently rather that in group tours because you can't control other badly behaving americans.

Mexico. I love the amazing weather, people, and amenities, but the food I had gave me food poisoning and the ATM stole my mother’s credit card and the bank wouldn’t let us have it back. I would suggest withdrawing money directly from inside a bank to avoid this issue.

Times Square, I don't need to elaborate

England, specifically Manchester.
Here me out, I love the city more than my own, for the most part. I was with people who live there and getting familiar with the culture. The people I was staying with are really nice and accommodating. It was my first international, overseas trip, so I didn't know what to expect other than what I've been exposed to in media and interactions with my British friends. There were just a few things that were starkly disappointing.

The amount of litter was astonishing, for one. I kept getting the urge to hold a community clean up group.

This is probably just my take, I didn't find the pub fun at all. On a normal circumstance I have some difficulty understanding Mancunian accents, despite speaking the same language. But when mixed with overly loud music I could hold a small conversation with anyone. There was a dance floor but no one was dancing. Wasn't sure if it would be allowed. I was too nervous to ask. Not sure what I was expecting, really. Could have just been the one pub. Maybe others are better?

Other than that, I enjoyed my visit and found many things that were far better than where I'm from. Wouldn't mind moving there.

Cape Verde. From the moment you step outside your hotel multiple people coming running to you asking you to come visit their stall or shop or shoving merchandise in your face. Once you start walking, about every 10 meters there's another guy who starts talking to you to try and sell you something. You try to just say 'no thank you' and keep walking but after one day and hundreds of people harrassing you you just start ignoring them.

Once I was taking a photo of my wife (she's at a distance of like 5 meters from me) and a man just steps in between her and me and starts doing his usual spiel, 'hello my friend', 'beautiful family', 'where you from',... etc. We ignore him so he sticks out his hand and tries to shake mine, i still keep ignoring him. So he starts the 'why don't you want to shake my hand, are you racist'? I'm not racist, you're just literally the 1000th guy that started talking to me without invitation and expects me to come to your shop where you sell the exact same stuff that all other shops have and expect me to pay you 50 euros for some trinkets that can be found in little supermarkets on the island for 10euros.

Italy. But hear me out pls!

I live close to Italy and it's the go-to place for short holidays (road trip style).

But the food/restaurants. There are VERY GOOD restaurants in Italy, like really top tier. But the issue for people like me and my friends who like to adventure and to do road trips; there are absolutely garbage restaurants everywhere, especially at the sea.

You really need to check carefully beforehand, and unfortunately the best top quality restaurants you only find if you ask locals. The kind of "most welcoming ones" outside of big cities like Milan are far from original authentic Italian cuisine.

I visited Ireland in April. It was the greatest place I've ever been. It was so gorgeous and the people were so welcoming. My one disappointment, and this may just be me, and it may just be because it was my first time travelling outside the US and I was so fried on the plane that I barely even realized we left Boston.
But, it just didn't feel all that foreign to me. Especially Dublin. I know a lot of where I live and what I'm used in New England was built or developed by Irish immigrants. But everything from the food, to the people, to the architecture, felt like home.
No complaints though, it was an incredible trip, and the pareidolia wore off as we headed west.

Mexico.
It is beautiful to visit but the employees/locals/ do not like tourists. I get it, many tourists are incredibly rude, cheap and destroy the landscape; but, not all are the same. I speak Spanish but am not Hispanic and I couldn't tell you how many people told me to go f myself in espanol while smiling at me to make me think I am being told something kind. I have never felt more unsafe and unwanted than I did in Mexico.
I wish it was different, but I know that many people who do travel there, treat staff and locals like garbage so I can't blame them.
I try to treat everyone with respect so it's hard to be mf'ed for no reason as the person smiles at me. Makes a person feel a bit unwanted.

Southern Spain was a huge disappointment. The people were cold and didn't even look at me when serving me. There were endless miles of British " enclaves" Maybe the reason for the coldness of the natives. The groups of feral cats everywhere were just heartbreaking.

I went to Wales. It turns out it is a lot like England.

i went to paris, the cooking wasnt really as impressive as everyone thinks "french food is the best" my a$$

Went to Canada. Visited some parks and forest and never saw a single beaver. So, just for the fun of the cliché, I went to a zoo that kept beavers, but that very day they were away on their medical check-up 🙃

in every country I´ve been to, it was the other tourists that bothered me most. entitled. rude, arrogant "guests" complaining about everything that´s different from home - why do those people even travel? and then they wonder why they are not really welcomed by local people ...

Shibuya crossing in Tokyo.

Don't get me wrong, I was still happy to see such an iconic place. But most pictures you see of Shibuya are taken with a wide angle lens, from up above. It's less impressive at street level.

In fact when I first reached it, I didn't realise that was it. I kind of kept looking for it, before checking on my map and confirm that yes, it was indeed the famous Shibuya crossing.

Copenhagen. It was soooo dirty, seriously, broken glass and rubbish everywhere, most eateries were closed before 10pm, and coffee was disgustingly overpriced and abysmal! I knew it was expensive before visiting but it was infuriatingly so, I mean, $27 for two McDonalds meals (which we had to eat as all the restaurants were closed!). I've travelled a lot, and for somewhere that is supposed to be the happiest place in the world to live, I've never encountered such joyless, rude, and miserable people. 1/10 would not recommend.

Prague. I visited a few times in the 1990s as an impoverished student and it was quite pleasant (and the beer cheap), but by the 2000s it had turned into a Disneyland for masses of tourists doing the zombie shuffle and the usual rip-off joints and scammers everywhere.

Went to eastern Africa years back. I did a bunch of research before I went except took it for granted that spicy food was a given. Spent several weeks in Uganda and although the food was good and it was a great place to visit, I think ketchup would have been too spicy for their palate.

Cyprus. I hired a car and drove inland and there were a lot dogs tied to the side of the road and left to die, all over the island. It was heartbreaking and ruined my holiday. I would never go back.

This was 20 years ago so hopefully is not like this anymore.