Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Travel
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-16-2015, 04:52 AM
 
Location: England
26,273 posts, read 8,381,439 times
Reputation: 31333

Advertisements

My wife and I have been to many countries on holiday over the years. Some have been better or worse than others. The only awful holiday we have ever had was our one trip to Italy. I had always wanted to visit Italy, but never got round to it somehow. One day, a reasonably priced hotel in the hills above Sorrento was mentioned to us by a travel agent. It was just for the one week. We usually only go on two week holidays, but after the agent said we were very near to Pompeii, we signed up.

This is in the days before trip-advisor, so we were going blind, but weren't concerned. What could possibly be wrong with the place? We arrived, and were driven by bus through Naples, and on to the hotel in Sorrento. It turned out the place was an enormous old villa, that had been converted to a hotel many years ago. We were shown to our room. It was tiny, with a small bathroom. But, the views from the balcony were to die for. In the distance Mount Vesuvius was in plain view. We were on half board with waiter service. Most countries in Europe like Spain and Greece, have buffet meal arrangements, but Italy is known for ordering the food from a menu, which is then brought to you.

There were only two choices for the meal. We chose, and off the waiter went through a swing door to the kitchen. He brought the food back with him. My wife looked at something on the plate, and asked "what's that?" "Cauliflower" he replied. It was just a pile of mush. I noticed the waiter's clothing was covered in dried food. We ate our dinner, and went for a couple of drinks, then to bed.

Behind the hotel, very close, was a small village. In this village was a very attractive clock tower. The clock chimed every fifteen minutes throughout the night. This helped to drown out the barking of a dog which carried on all night. The hotel was quite small, and it was at the end of the season. There were only about fifty guests. I noticed quite a lot were missing at breakfast. Quite a few guests sat alone. I asked one where his wife was. "She is feeling quite ill, and is in bed" he replied. More people were missing at dinner. The hotel receptionist denied there was anything wrong with the food. Next day, I took ill, and was in my bed for 24 hours. Not always in bed....... quite often on the toilet..........

After recovering, and taking a shower which had a curtain that stuck to you because the cubical was so small, we decided we would eat out until we went home. We went to the village behind the hotel. Everything was astonishingly expensive. We felt positively third world. But the pizza and wine was reasonable, so we had that. We took a ride into Sorrento, also wildly expensive. We have been to many countries, but never found one as expensive as Italy. We did take a short train ride, and visited Pompeii, which was amazing.

This trip put me off Italy for good. We have never returned.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-17-2015, 03:24 PM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,821,688 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by wit-nit View Post
Tourist trap is more like it. I've been there, it was a couple of hours of my life I'll never get back.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 03:27 PM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,821,688 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by English Dave View Post
We have been to many countries, but never found one as expensive as Italy. We did take a short train ride, and visited Pompeii, which was amazing.

This trip put me off Italy for good. We have never returned.
Wow, we found London to be the most expensive place we've ever visited. Much, MUCH more so than Rome. London was more expensive than French Polynesia, so that says something!

I do agree that Pompeii is amazing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 03:34 PM
 
Location: MA
1,623 posts, read 1,713,425 times
Reputation: 3026
My husband spent the entire week passed out in the hotel drunk. The couple times he came around he berated me for letting the people we were with know he was drunk, but, they figured it out when he fell in the sand. I had to pack for him and have a security person open our safe to get our things since he was to drunk to remember the combination he set when it was time to leave. it was unpleasant to say the least. Our friends never traveled with us again
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 03:53 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,260 posts, read 22,670,360 times
Reputation: 16398
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk View Post
Wow, we found London to be the most expensive place we've ever visited. Much, MUCH more so than Rome. London was more expensive than French Polynesia, so that says something!
The problem with London is that demand for hotel rooms far exceeds supply once you get above about hostel level, and if you want an 'American-style room' more than the usual two single or one double (not queen or king) beds then it's something of a niche market request that will eliminate about 98% of the reasonable $100-$200/night options in the city.

For those who can go the smaller rooms and more limited beds route, you get options like Ibis/Mercure, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Inn, etc. that are very clean and recently refurbished and can work well if you're just bunking there. The new Motel One (German chain in continental expansion mode) in Tower Hill is currently offering some rooms with full CH&A and wifi included from 98 pounds a night in an area that often starts at twice that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 03:58 PM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,821,688 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormynh View Post
My husband spent the entire week passed out in the hotel drunk. The couple times he came around he berated me for letting the people we were with know he was drunk, but, they figured it out when he fell in the sand. I had to pack for him and have a security person open our safe to get our things since he was to drunk to remember the combination he set when it was time to leave. it was unpleasant to say the least. Our friends never traveled with us again
And you're still married to him?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 04:01 PM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,821,688 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmouse View Post
The problem with London is that demand for hotel rooms far exceeds supply once you get above about hostel level, and if you want an 'American-style room' more than the usual two single or one double (not queen or king) beds then it's something of a niche market request that will eliminate about 98% of the reasonable $100-$200/night options in the city.

For those who can go the smaller rooms and more limited beds route, you get options like Ibis/Mercure, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Inn, etc. that are very clean and recently refurbished and can work well if you're just bunking there. The new Motel One (German chain in continental expansion mode) in Tower Hill is currently offering some rooms with full CH&A and wifi included from 98 pounds a night in an area that often starts at twice that.
I rent a flat when in London. We have one we particularly like in South Kensington, it has a UK King and a washer dryer. (And a dishwasher, although that isn't a deal breaker for me )

We have found hotel in London to be 30% higher than a compatible hotel in Rome (in terms of location and amenities). In fact we find Rome to be overall quite affordable--and FCO is typically one of the least expensive European airports to fly into from the US.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2015, 08:35 PM
 
Location: MA
1,623 posts, read 1,713,425 times
Reputation: 3026
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk View Post
And you're still married to him?
No, he drank himself to death September 3 2014 which is very sad, but, not a shock.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2015, 07:11 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,618 posts, read 86,598,945 times
Reputation: 36642
Whenever I think I'm on a vacation in hell, somebody always bails me out and it turns out to be just fine, and it becomes a fondly remembered situation. I have a great deal of optimism and faith in human nature, and I haven't been let down yet. You don't get marooned on desert islands much anymore, there's usually somebody around to help.

By the way, yelling and screaming in English usually doesn't help much.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-18-2015, 10:34 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,821,688 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Whenever I think I'm on a vacation in hell, somebody always bails me out and it turns out to be just fine, and it becomes a fondly remembered situation. I have a great deal of optimism and faith in human nature, and I haven't been let down yet. You don't get marooned on desert islands much anymore, there's usually somebody around to help.

By the way, yelling and screaming in English usually doesn't help much.
Very true. It annoys me to no end when people travel to other countries and expect the citizens to speak English. For crying out loud, it's not all that difficult to learn a few key phrases in a handful of languages. And as you said, yelling doesn't make it easier to understand.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Travel

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top