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Los Angeles -- A big, unwieldy sprawl of a city. Lots of congestion, lots of smog, and decidedly not scenic unless you were in a handful of neighborhoods near the coast. I go about once a year on biz and, every single time, I thank my stars I don't live there. I mean, Hollywood Boulevard is essentially a sleazy drag. It's emblematic of the entire movie industry: Attractive on a very thin surface later, and kind of seamy underneath.
Las Vegas -- It's just Branson, Missouri, with slot machines. A bunch of ugly, over-the-top buildings along the main drag designed to siphon money away from gawking, knuckle-dragging, overweight tourists in wife-beater t-shirts and yoga pants that are several sizes too small for the women wearing them. And that's the glamorous part of town. The rest has this seedy look of a place that's fraying at the edges. Quite possibly the most depressing place I've ever visited outside of some hopeless slum in the northeast or a shabby mining town in Appalachia.
Orlando -- Essentially a swamp that's somehow managed to cultivate all the cachet of a Cracker Barrel gift shop. I mean, someone please explain to me the phenomenon of people actually choosing to visit Disney World more than once. We made the obligatory visit when our children were younger. But I had to return last spring for my son's band trip, and everything was exactly the same as it was eight years earlier. The rides were the same. The exhibits were the same. If you keep going back to Disney World year after year, is it because you don't remember? I mean, goldfish swim back and forth in their bowls because they've already have forgotten what was on the other side by the time they got there. Is that the reason?
I mean, hey, I've traveled to a lot of places over the years on biz. Heck, I can even find good things to say about places such as Detroit or St. Joseph, Missouri. But a feeling of nameless dread comes over me when I learn I have to visit any of these three places.
Los Angeles -- A big, unwieldy sprawl of a city. Lots of congestion, lots of smog, and decidedly not scenic unless you were in a handful of neighborhoods near the coast. I go about once a year on biz and, every single time, I thank my stars I don't live there.
I mean, hey, I've traveled to a lot of places over the years on biz. Heck, I can even find good things to say about places such as Detroit or St. Joseph, Missouri. But a feeling of nameless dread comes over me when I learn I have to visit any of these three places.
I hear ya, but next time you're out here I'm happy to show you where some real gems are. My unexpected favorite part of living in LA (didn't grow up here) is that the "WOW" places aren't where you expect them 90% of the time; they need discovering.
I hear ya, but next time you're out here I'm happy to show you where some real gems are. My unexpected favorite part of living in LA (didn't grow up here) is that the "WOW" places aren't where you expect them 90% of the time; they need discovering.
Don't get me wrong. There are some areas of LA that are indeed nice. It's just that you have to deal with so much other stuff to reach them.
Sad to hear that. I thought Aruba was amazing. Crystal clear water, amazing resorts, great restaurants, decent shopping, scuba diving, etc. We did a sunset sail cruise, helicopter ride, parasailing, and even rented a few Jeeps to cruise around the island. Arikok National Park was interesting, a very barren desert wasteland, which was polar opposite from the lush eastern side of the island. We explored a few caves while in there. Oranjestad was interesting, with amazing Dutch colonial architecture. We also saw the California Lighthouse and that area of the island was gorgeous.
Nashville -- a downtown consisting of country bars, a weird WWII museum, and not much else. The river was lined with garbage, the water was filthy looking, and just across from downtown was a really bad neighborhood. I wont be going back again.
On a side note, the Opryland Hotel was really nice, but the Opry Mills Mall was a big dud.
Don't get me wrong. There are some areas of LA that are indeed nice. It's just that you have to deal with so much other stuff to reach them.
I agree. I visit LA every 6-8 weeks. I usually stay with friends on the western edge of Miracle Mile. I can walk to the Grove, the Farmer's Market, the Tar Pits, or even Rodeo Drive if I want to window shop. There are any number of restaurants, coffee shops, wine bars, and parking is generally not a problem at most of them. The location is awesome, and there's little I ever have to leave that general vicinity for once I arrive.
What's crazy is that I have a friend in Los Feliz. It's about six miles. Yet sometimes we argue as to who will travel to the other because that six miles can take an hour to drive--each way. Plus there's no good way of avoiding Hollywood. Yuck.
You can take the old saying of 'Great place to visit but wouldn't want to live there" and flip it to "great place to live but I wouldn't want to visit there" and apply it to a lot of places. The classic 'nice home in safe area with good schools for an affordable price' meme can lead to a pretty pleasant everyday life, even if it's in a city where the tourist attractions decidedly lack.
This deserves the Post of the Month Award.
Yes, I agree Atlanta may be a boring place to visit (the fish tank they call an "Aquarium" is a total joke, imo), it IS a nice place to live. It's full of comfy, reasonable-priced homes on big lots (gotta have those big wooded yards, ya know ) and it's amazing how much of the country I can access within a single day's drive from here - from Florida to Texas to Chicago to the lower NE.
If I wanted, I could hop in the car and be sipping wine and eating fresh trout while looking out the window at 5000 feet, in just 3 hours' time. Sometimes the best travel experiences are close to home.
It was 8pm on a Sunday in early September, and just about everything was shut down except the Hard Rock restaurant and the casino. It's a tiny place, ridiculously run down and seedy, few places to eat, and did I mention dirty and run down?
And I was floored at how the majority of visitors were Indian. So much so that the scent of curry just hung in the air OUTSIDE. I would have to say that about 50% of the people we saw were Indian, probably 30% were Asian, and the other 20% were everything else.
And before you call me racist, I'm not saying it was a problem, just noting how surprised I was, because I've never travelled anywhere with that high of a concentration of ANY foreign nationality.
Portland, Oregon. It rains too much. Whenever you visit the city you notice a huge homeless population. Its not on the coast. You have to go further west to Astoria to get there.
Boise, Idaho. Really surrounded on three sides by desert. On one side is canyon and national forest. Too small for a really good airport with a decent number of airlines. Too small for a really good restaurant or night-life. Even so, due to poor infrastructure, you see your share of traffic jams.
Phoenix, Arizona. Too hot during any season other than winter. Dusty. Too much crime probably because of its relatively close proximity to the Mexican border. Many parts of the city that I saw seemed "run down" and dilapidated. I wonder if there were ever any zoning laws here?
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) and it's amazing how much of the country I can access within a single day's drive from here - from Florida to Texas to Chicago to the lower NE. 
