Venice, New Vegas will be a better representation if things continue.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Tourist places that don't look quite like the pictures
- Thread starter Spunky Monkey
- Start date
- Status
Venice, New Vegas will be a better representation if things continue.
PsychoSoldier
Banned
What's weird is that having been to some touristy shitholes in my time has made me appreciate the really truly amazing stuff like the gorgeous hotel beach we had on our trip to Maui.
Atlantis in the Bahamas is legitimately gorgeous. They have some fake little tourist town next to it as well, designed to look some idealized version of a little street in tourism universe Caribbean. Go a few blocks in any direction or past the roped-off areas of the beach and a different story entirely is told.
Trevi Fountain, Italy.
Expectations:
Reality:
Reality: People wanted to see the same things I did!
Honestly, Trevi Fountain is just as impressive in person and I think the people posting Rome just were unfortunate in their trip. I saw the Colisseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi and all the others without renovations. It's a great trip.
However, when I went to see the Guggenheim (I'm from England), it looked like this...
DOWN
Banned
Times Square is pretty awesome. It's like the buzzing welcome center.Times Square.
In pictures.
In reality
Yep, mass tourism is a current day blight that really sucked the joy out of travel unless you go completely off the beaten path.
Paris, Venice, Barcelona, Rome, etc etc.. all these used to be so nice to visit upto 10 years ago but ever since the floodgates of cheap package holidays have opened up to an increasingly large mass of people it's just no fun anymore to visit these places.
Everywhere it's just crowds, huge waiting lines and cranky locals because of all the extra congestion.
milanbaros
Member?
Yep. When I visit European cities we always go November to March. You aren't guaranteed the weather but they are so much more enjoyable. We also visit the main sites outside the peak hours. This combination has served us so well. No queues, no rushing and the ability to truly enjoy it. Also, if you're just going to places to tick off the big attractions you're doing it wrong.
For beach holidays we go late June or early September. Cheaper, far less crowded and just as good weather.
Haven't been able to upload my pics yet as my China trip is ongoing and hostel Internet has been shit, but the forbidden city and terracotta warriors are the 2 most disappointing tourist attractions I've been to, mostly due to ridiculous overcrowding. The forbidden city in particular though, it was a clear day when I visited but the smog was terrible and to be honest I feel like the palaces I've seen in Japan and South Korea were were a lot more impressive.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
Seriously this thread has opened my eyes, I dont even want to go egypt now. And mount rushmore? Wtf so small its ridlucious, I thought it would be huge like in the movies.
This is fukin bull shit
This is fukin bull shit
DiipuSurotu
Banned
hawkshockey11
Banned
Actually the first picture is the US side and the next two are the Canadian side. USA side > canadian side as far as the nature aspects. Canadian side is just a boardwalk whereas the American side has foliage and several islands to go onto. Not to mention that the USA side of the gorge is way better
Times Square.
In pictures.
In reality
I went to New York in June and Times Square actually looks like the first picture?
Banjotanooki
Member
Did you hit up the great wall?
That, for me, was the most disappointing thing ever since it was loaded with merchants and had trash all over.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
Everything is just a place. I know I've got a shitty attitude towards tourism in general, but it seems a waste to go somewhere to see a thing in person you've seen a million times in photos.
Alx
Member
In Paris you should only avoid the major landmarks. It's a great city to visit and live in if you stay away from the tourist areas, learn to take your time, and walk. That's where the true Paris is anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2yxVGaU3Wo (surprisingly accurate suggestion, considering it's from an American TV show)
Saving that for the end of my trip in 4 weeks when I presume it will be less crowded. Did you go to the part called Badaling? That section is notorious for that so I'm planning to avoid it. There are several other partially restored or completely unrestored section which attract less tourists and I've heard are spectacular so I'm planning to hit up a few of those.
Chuckie
Member
Austriacus
Member
Its not so shitty as its shortsighted. Experiencing something with all your senses is different than just looking at a picture.
Electric_ Cthulhu
Member
I guess I understand what the OP was trying to say, but as others have pointed out: in our day and age it is delusional to think that the most popular tourist spots in the world look like they've just been discovered.
For many countries tourism is an important business (or even the most important business). So if you visit those attractions you are part of the problem. Besides: there is always a middle ground between "shiny catalogue pictures" and "photographed from the worst angle possible". I'd still encourage everybody to get out there and experience the places yourself.
For many countries tourism is an important business (or even the most important business). So if you visit those attractions you are part of the problem. Besides: there is always a middle ground between "shiny catalogue pictures" and "photographed from the worst angle possible". I'd still encourage everybody to get out there and experience the places yourself.
Alx
Member
I think that might be the joke
As a matter of fact it is authentic, since it's an early copy made by the same Bartholdi, as a study for the big one.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
Do people lick the Eiffel tower?
Austriacus
Member
I mean you could if you wanted to? I was talking more about feeling the land on your feet , the smell of the surroundings, the sound of life around it and actually having the freedom to look unrestricted by a lense. It changes everything
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
I don't disagree that there's more to it than a photo, but for me it doesn't add much. I'm happy enough knowing the places are out there--I don't need to be in their presence to enjoy them. For me, tourism is more about what I can do in a place than what it looks like, or its history.
Banjotanooki
Member
Oh god, I just googled it, IT WAS BADALING! No wonder that place was so crowded and messy.
So I'm guessing there's better spots to see the Wall?
While this isn't your point, I can confirm people lick the Eiffel tower.
Austriacus
Member
Thats fine then, your post made it sound like you wouldnt enjoy say taking a trip to the amazon. Would that be better? less about the place and more about what you do
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
I was actually hoping that this was the case.
User 73706
Banned
I mean, they made that thing like 85 years ago. With the technology at the time it's pretty amazing that they even got something like that done - I wouldn't expect it to be something Zardoz-sized.
Skellig Gra
Member
Times Square.
In pictures.
In reality
lol "in reality". The first picture is actually much more representative because its stuffed with people. If you ever find as much space as there is in that second picture consider yourself lucky.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
Depends on what I'm there for, and if it can only be done there. The novelty of the locale wears off on me almost immediately, and then I'm just doing things. If there's something that can only be done in the Amazon, I'd be interested, if it's just "x" activity that can be done anywhere, just that it happens to be in the Amazon, then I don't care.
Austriacus
Member
wasnt the pyramid made 3k years ago?
by aliens
So like were do you draw the line. Say you can watch really awesome animals in the amazon and just fucking get inside the jungle but you can also do the same in africa but with different animals and a different climate. By being slightly similar in concept you wouldnt enjoy the other after visiting one? or you wouldnt enjoy either because theres two of this stuff that are similar?
FortuneFaded
Member
Wow. There's room for like 5 or 6 more presidents up there.
Trump would want his face to be bigger than anyone elses so more like 2 or 3.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Trevi Fountain, Italy.
Expectations:
Reality:
All I could do is laugh when I came across the Trevi Fountain, since it's basically stuck in a random alleyway. The person taking this picture probably had the camera pressed up against the back wall... the second picture here makes the scene look way less narrow than it really is.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
I don't really care for eco-tourism. Seeing animals and different flora in person doesn't do anything for me, so it's just hiking in a different setting. I know that may seem awfully "Karl Pilkington" but seeing things does nothing for me, only doing.
For example, when I was a kid I went horseback riding through a jungle in the Dominican Republic. The only thing that was interesting and specific (sort of) to the DR was talking and watching a guy harvesting coffee beans. The horseback ride? I've ridden horses in lots of different places, whatever. I also walked through the redwood and sequoia forests in California. While my parents were constantly in awe, I went through about 15 minutes of "Wow those sure are big" then adjusted. After that it was just hiking.
I'm intrigued to some degree in seeing how other people live, but you don't really get a sense for that until you live somewhere yourself for a while. The sort of site-seeing tourism we're talking about here doesn't get into that.
So there you go, for me it's about what you're doing and who you're with, where it happens is completely irrelevant to me.
PS - I feel I should add that it's not that I don't find many of these things and places interesting or incredible, just that I'm not interested in personal experiences with them. I've told people before that the mere existence of the pyramids inspires awe for the human race in me, but I don't particularly care to see them in person--although I could totally go for some pizza hut right now...
XT Vengeance
Member
Indeed. Most indeededly.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
So what is expected when you look at the pyramids? That Egypt is nothing but desert and pyramids? I don't get it.
User 73706
Banned
Sifting sand dunes, brown people on camels, the sun bearing down on you, sandstorms every minute and Cris Velasco music off in the distance.
Sistine Chapel and it's famous frescoes. Firstly and obviously, overcrowded, but more to the point the ceiling is really really high, so you actually get a much better view and experience of the frescoes by looking at pictures online.
Might have been a better experience if you could just walk there without being herded left and right and the murmur of the people drowning out your thoughts (with the guards constantly going "shhh, shhh, no pictures, shhh, shhh"). But yeah, was probably the least impressive part of my trip to Rome.
Liked going into the random churches situated all around the tourist districts and looking at the frescoes there, much less crowded, and they're really nice as well.
Might have been a better experience if you could just walk there without being herded left and right and the murmur of the people drowning out your thoughts (with the guards constantly going "shhh, shhh, no pictures, shhh, shhh"). But yeah, was probably the least impressive part of my trip to Rome.
Liked going into the random churches situated all around the tourist districts and looking at the frescoes there, much less crowded, and they're really nice as well.
When I was in Venice about, jeez, 18 years ago now, we had a gondolier who sang a bit. Not constantly the entire time or anything, and he also pointed out some sights as we passed by, but there was definitely singing involved.
why is algae growing there
SirMossyBloke
Member
The horseshoe falls, as the Canadian side is called, is called that because of the shape. The US side is almost completely flat, and every time you see Niagara Falls in movies its the Canadian side.
it's also the one lit the best at night.
Canadian>>>>US.
Edit: and the first picture is the Canadian side. You can tell by its shape, the people wearing the yellow splash jackets on the right and the maid of the mist heading directly at it. If the people on the right are confusing you, they are below street level.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
It looks like both. It's a place that really does look as awesome in person as it does in photos, but yeah, there's also always a million people in costumes trying to get you to pay them for a photo, and other people trying to get you to come to various clubs and shit. I thought it was a pretty amazing experience to visit and just soak in the buzzing atmosphere, but I can imagine it getting pretty damn tiring rather quickly if you had to deal with that on a daily basis. But I don't know, maybe you just stay away from there if you're not a tourist.
Anyway, Times Square absolutely lived up to my touristy expectations. As did most of New York (well, I really only saw Manhattan, but yeah).
CosmicQueso
Member
Also, did you know that there's a restaurant inside the Eiffel Tower?
Can't beat the views. The Mains were disappointing, but the desserts and wines were very nice. Hopelessly overpriced, but it's a once in a lifetime thing.
The truly depressing bit about it all, however, is that the restaurant has a private elevator.
Great, right? Well it would be if it weren't for the lines of scammers waiting for you when you get out of the elevator. The guards in the elevator can't close the doors on you fast enough to leave you to fend for yourself. Then you're standing there getting flashing plastic toys and 2 day old roses shoved in your face with prices being screamed at you and hands pulling at your clothes. One guy got a little touchy on my gf and it could have gotten real ugly.
So yeah, dinner there is great if you're mentally prepared to get basically assaulted when you leave.
- Status