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The closest thing I can think of (I am generally excited to travel wherever I'm going and am not generally disappointed; where I am not looking forward to traveling, I generally have a good reason to feel that way and things have generally turned out how I feared, though this it is rare that I feel this way about a location beforehand) was Petoskey, MI (I lived there for a total of 10 months on a work assignment). I was afraid that such a "small" town would have nothing to offer (note, I'm not opposed to small-town living, but I would prefer those towns to be right outside of a larger city, etc.). Boy, was I wrong. Apart from the people (I never doubted that the people would be nice, though), there's actually a lot to do to keep busy in Petoskey, from outdoors stuff to the standard amenities you'd expect in a larger city like a movie theater, solid library, good shopping and dining option, Walmart (), and other things.
The Grand Place in Brussels. As part of a European trip, we went to Brussels solely to see friends who lived there. I had almost no expectations for the whole "Belgium experience," for which we allotted three days. Sitting at an outside cafe in the Grand Place on a fall night was one of my most magical experiences ever. And Bruges absolutely blew me away.
Sacramento - I had a great time there, been to almost every other part of California before that and lots of people in the US and from outside told me I wouldn't like its extremely boring, but when I was there I met lots of the awesome locals had some great nights out on the town.
Of all the places you've visited, and went along with feeling kind of lukewarm about it in advance of the trip, what was your most pleasant surprise? I'm thinking of places like cruise ports you'd have never chosen to go to, cities or towns other travelers you were with really wanted to see and you reluctantly agreed to, National Parks you thought would be a waste of time but decided to go to anyway, and specific sights or landmarks you had no great desire to see but ended up visiting nevertheless.
I can think of a couple offhand:
Cities - Dubrovnik, Croatia
Sights/landmarks - The Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona, Spain
Just foreign based cruises in general. I generally hate cruises in the carribean - cookie cutter artificial port stops designed for American tastes, fake travel. The very though of taking another cruise to Jamaica, Cuzumel, etc turns my stomach. Same with Alaska (which should be visited by land).
I was amazed on how much I enjoyed European cruises however. Canary Islands. Norway. Not sure what it is - the cruises seem more dignified (less children and partiers), the passengers more diverse, and the port stops more interesting.
Newfoundland. It was the job offer I got when I was down to my last ten bucks, and I stayed for ten years, married a girl from there (wanted to marry them all!), and my heart is still there. They are the loveliest people on earth, no contest.
Newfoundland. It was the job offer I got when I was down to my last ten bucks, and I stayed for ten years, married a girl from there (wanted to marry them all!), and my heart is still there. They are the loveliest people on earth, no contest.
Wow! Interesting! I've never even thought of going there.
The old, Soviet types were cold and distant, as expected.
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), and other things.
I've never even thought of going there.
