Un-favourite Places

This could be a short post!

By now you may have gathered that I am happy to travel anywhere, anytime.  I reckon I could pack for an international trip in less than ten minutes and not leave anything important behind.

As I am always rabbiting on about all the wonderful places I go and experiences I enjoy, I thought I would challenge myself to write a post discussing places I would NOT return to or travel to in the first place…

Hmmm, now that is quite a task!

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  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: While all Asian destinations are promoted as exotic and fascinating, Kuala Lumpur scores pretty low on both those factors. To me it is just a large Asian city competing with its neighbours to see who can build the tallest sky scrapers. While there are pockets of stunning architecture and interesting historical sights, these are dominated by modernity and grinding traffic jams. OK for a stopover, but not for any length of time. Been there, done that.

• Darwin, Australia: It seems that most people have a love/hate relationship with Darwin. You either love it, or not.

Darwin is located on the far northern edge of the Northern Territory, almost tipping into the Timor Sea. Its remoteness attracts many people who, for one reason or another, want to disappear for a while. You can imagine the eclectic nature of its population and, to me, it has an air of desperation and the wild, wild West. That may appeal to some.

Its architecture is bland and functional. It copped a hammering in World War II and then was flattened again by Cyclone Tracey in 1975. Hence, to my eye, the buildings have a shiny and temporary look, rather than the grace and elegance of older and more sophisticated architecture.

Sorry Darwin, I’m sure you have charms that, in my ignorance, I haven’t discovered. Those delights will remain undiscovered by me for some time yet.

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  Papua New Guinea: I admit that I haven’t been to this country and agree that I have seen some spectacular photos of glorious mountains and crystal clear seas. However, in Australia we rarely get any good news stories out of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the media that we do receive focuses on crime, violence against women and the corruption and ineptitude of the government. Hardly strong incentives or great temptations to attract tourists.

 It is a shame as it is so close to Australia and could become a thriving tourist destination, boosting employment opportunities and their economy. In the meantime I read about it and can recommend Drusilla Modjeska’s book – The Mountain. A fascinating read about PNG’s path to independence from Australia’s colonial influence.

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  Tamworth, Australia: Tamworth is one of the largest regional centres in rural New South Wales. It is a major centre for health and medical services, but it is also where I went to boarding school for two years. My memories are not necessarily good ones! I didn’t want to go away to school in the first place and the tortuous bus trips to/from my home compounded my dislike.

The bus used to leave Tamworth late at night and arrive in my home town around 230am. If that wasn’t uncomfortable enough, in those days people were still allowed to smoke on the bus, and the smoking/non-smoking sections was divided by the aisle down the CENTRE of the bus! Smokers to the left, non-smokers on the right. Needless to say I stumbled off the bus in the very early morning dark feeling like I had smoked a carton and smelling like an ashtray.

Tamworth is also the self-appointed country music capital of Australia and unfortunately I despise both country AND western music! It was almost like a scene straight out of the movie ‘Groundhog Day’! Every morning I would wake up at school, turn on the radio and they would be playing the same ‘my-dog-died-and-my-gal-left-me’ song! Not the most inspiring start to any school day. Yes, this was all a long time ago and I just need to move on!

• Cook Islands: This little part of Paradise deserves another visit and I am more than happy to make the sacrifice and volunteer to return! The weather was ordinary when we visited and the constant wind made snorkelling almost impossible and invisible. Unbeknownst to us we chose to visit in the windy season.

We also chose our resort poorly and it was pretty tired and run down. It’s hard to know what to pick when the pictures and packages look so glossy and attractive. Thank goodness for the invention of TripAdvisor since that time.

And finally, we admit to being very bad at fly-and-flop holidays and in 2001 we found that there was very little to ‘do’ on Raratonga.

You see? We really need to go back to the Cook Islands on an investigative tour to make doubly sure that this destination is not for us!

I really struggled to write this post and, as you can tell by the few paltry examples I came up with, I battled to come up with this small selection of places I didn’t enjoy.

Of course, I am open to everyone’s opinions and thoughts, and would happily change my mind and be convinced to revisit….except for Tamworth!

And you? Any places you wouldn’t revisit?

#firstworldproblem, #internationaltravel, #globetrotting, #nevertoreturn