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No, I said Tampa/Orlando is underrated. Both metro area touch and combined would be over 6-7 million people.
Charlotte is overrated - nascar culture, Deep South, black belt, horrible accents, landlocked, Bible Belt, unstable economy, low wages, zero natural beauty, etc. What is a there to like about the place?
More like 4-5 million. They are two medium sized cities 80 miles apart. There are loosely connected by suburban/rural sprawl along I-4 but hardly a continuous urban area. 7 million would be more like DC and Baltimore combined. The county that separates them (Polk County) is largely rural and largest city (Lakeland) is rather smallish and dominated by typical suburban strip mall trash. With all that said, I enjoyed my time in Florida but I definitely wouldn't call any part of that state underrated.
Most over-rated: Hands down, landslide victory goes to Austin. That city has reached some weird mythical Unicorn status of cities. Can't figure out who pumps it up more, people who have never been, or Texans.
Most over-rated: Hands down, landslide victory goes to Austin. That city has reached some weird mythical Unicorn status of cities. Can't figure out who pumps it up more, people who have never been, or Texans.
It's not Texans. People from Texas have been trying to say this for years. I love Austin but it is definitely overhyped.
Overrated: New Orleans, easily. Get away from the tourist traps and it is a dirty, corrupt, dysfunctional place where nothing gets done, especially in the month before Mardi Gras. I really hate that so many died in Katrina, but the place was a disaster before the hurricane hit. The local government ignored the pages of carefully-developed emergency plans and did nothing, and people died as a result. While people want to point the finger at Bush (With some justification) after the fact, Ray Nagin literally ignored state and federal recommendations for evacuations five days before Katrina hit. What's more, the guy just was convicted in Federal court of 20 counts of corruption.
Underrated: Chattanooga. It used to be a grimy little industrial town, but it has remade itself quite well.
Overrated: New Orleans, easily. Get away from the tourist traps and it is a dirty, corrupt, dysfunctional place where nothing gets done, especially in the month before Mardi Gras. I really hate that so many died in Katrina, but the place was a disaster before the hurricane hit. The local government ignored the pages of carefully-developed emergency plans and did nothing, and people died as a result. While people want to point the finger at Bush (With some justification) after the fact, Ray Nagin literally ignored state and federal recommendations for evacuations five days before Katrina hit. What's more, the guy just was convicted in Federal court of 20 counts of corruption.
Underrated: Chattanooga. It used to be a grimy little industrial town, but it has remade itself quite well.
I was pretty disappointed with New Orleans as well. I was expecting much more when I visited, partly because a friend of mine who visited before me compared it favorably to Montreal. Well, since Montreal is one of my favorite cities, I had high hopes, but N.O. seemed overly touristy, I'm not a fan of Bourbon Street, and there's nothing very French about the French Quarter other than the street names.
I also agree about Chattanooga. That place is almost an outdoor paradise during nice weather (I particularly like that pedestrian bridge over the river), and the downtown area has a lot of charm.
Exactly! One of my friends who works in Kentucky works with a guy who is from Alabama who considers Kentucky to be not be apart of the South. Suffice to say, I thought it was the craziest thing I have ever heard.
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