ft meyers beach-- <BR>cedar point -- <BR>a tie... <BR>yuck <BR>

I was dragged to Pennsylvania Amish town when I was 13. Might be amusing to some, but at 13 I would have rather watched paint dry.

Deep rural Mississippi, summer 1974. Stuck out at my grandmother's house in the woods. No tv channels could be picked up, no stereo, no place to go and nothing to do. HOT as hell. My cousin Melanie, who lived in New Orleans, was stuck there as well. I was 14 she was 16 or 17. We were sooooo bored. We tried smoking mimosa leaves to see if we could get high (we just got nauseous). We gave ourselves big huge hairdo's, then walked down to the local burger joint, the Happy Hut or something. We got mad because the waitress there had bigger hair than we did. That was some boring time. Before cable tv, before MTV. Now, though, I'd be glad of a place like that. I don't think they exist anymore.

I can honestly say that I have never had a terrible trip. If things go wrong - or a place isn't as I expect it to be, I chalk it down to experience and then have a good laugh about it later (it usually makes a funny story) and these are the things, as time goes by, I remember fondly. <BR> <BR>I have been to a few places which I thought were a little dull at the time, but then I think to myself "where would I rather be? here or at work ?" that usually brighten up my trip no matter where I am or what I'm doing... <BR> <BR>Enjoy travelling, even if its not so great - laugh about it later :) <BR> <BR>Cheers

Worst ever? <BR>My trip to the Bahamas. Let me start by admitting I got 'suckered' into a 'free' vacation by doing the 'time share tour'. (God how stupid. I'll NEVER get suckered into another one!) The time share people flew us from Austin to Ft. Lauderdale to what was supposed to be a beachfront hotel with ocean view. It was actually 2 blocks from the beach. Our room looked over a roof from a lower level of the hotel. If you craned your neck around the balconey, you could see a TINY sliver of the beach. They also didn't tell us that it would cost us $35 taxi ride EACH WAY to the property we we're to visit. The 'presentation' was supposed to last 1 1/2 hours. HA! We were lucky to escape in 3 1/2. <BR>All this after VERY HARD SELL TACTICS over and over and over again. We had to go through all this because they would not give us our vouchers for the cruise to Nassau until they were satisfied that we were really not going to buy anything, even though we told them over and over again. The next day the weather was horrible. We didn't think there was any way the boat would depart in gale force winds. We were wrong. After a two hour delay, they decided to depart. What was supposed to be a 3 hour criuse to the island took 6 1/2 hours in 18' seas with people throwing up everywhere. Oh, I should mention they were giving away sea-sick medicine when you stepped on board. Guess not many people took it. Anyway, we finally get to Nassau and of course had to wait for customs so after leaving our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, we got to our room in the Bahamas 10 hours later. Our room there was awful too. We paid extra to upgrage, but that room was only slightly better and was 'all they had'. Yeah, right. Since it's late by this time and we have never been here before, we decided to eat at the hotel. I can't remember what my husband had, but I paid something like $23 for lamb chops that had about 5 bites of meat on them. The gale kept up for the three days we were there, so everything was closed. No diving, no horseback riding, no nada, except to window shop. Everything there was WAY over priced. I will NEVER go the the Bahamas again...at least not to Nassau, even if it's FREE!

Wow! I am loving reading all of these! I think you are all so very fortunate to have the ability to travel to all of the places you have described and I love living vicariously thru you! <BR>I have never had a vacation out of my home state of Washington. All of my vacations have been 3 to 4 day weekends and usually camping. Not because I dislike resorts but couldn't afford anything else. Things have turned around for me though and I am finally able to get on an airplane with my kids, all adults but one now, and fly away to someplace wonderful for two whole weeks! I have been perusing the travel websites to get an idea of where and where not to go. You have all been very helpful. Thanks!

Got to be the "Red Neck Riveria!" The beach house was a dump and it was high season for "love bugs." We were treated badly by the rental agency in Ocean Springs and the area is just not nice. Now I suspect east of Biloxi it gets better. <BR> <BR>In second place a Carnival cruise we took to the Grand Caymans and Playa de Carman. I now understand why Carnival is "reasonably" priced. Both the service and food were barely average and the shore excersions were a "Chinese fire drill."

While I just loved France I was dismayed at the attitude of most Parisiens(sp?) I found them to be haughty, distant, and downright rude. Did they M know about the liberation for god's sake?? On the other hand the people of Lyon were fantastic--very cordial, helpful and downright civilized

Wow - after years of psycho-analysis, I thought Gatlinburg was a place I had blocked out of my memory. Yikes, I have chills just thinking about the scuzzy camp ground my parents dragged us to (why they wanted to go to Gatlinburg is completely beyond me). I was little (maybe 9), but even at 9 I new it was the pits. I have no specific recollection of it other than that there was this whole Blue Grass thing going on there (mid 70's), and it struck me as a total "Ripley's Believe it or Not" kind of town. Ugghh.

I can only remember one vacation that was truly bad, and it happened to be an expensive "high-end" one that my then husband decided to take us on at the spur of the moment, because we had not vacationed together for a couple of years- and also because he needed to see a client in Florida. (Killing two birds with one stone.) He started his own company and this was about our 6th or 7th year in business and he was working at least 80 hours a week at this time and eating with a phone up to each ear. <BR> <BR>It was a Disney 3 day cruise and it was not my cup of tea to begin with- but my youngest, who was about 10 at the time was very excited, as he had never gone without his brothers and sister. I love to travel and was happy that we actually left. The entire trip, my ex either slept or was on the phone with his operators and service people. <BR> <BR>My son Tommy and I did the land part of Disney together while his father talked and never went on a ride. I can remember the electric light parade especially, as Tom just loved it and was in awe. <BR> <BR>THEN the cruise. Three days of about 150 children vomiting from high seas all around us. The smell was so bad in the elevator and stairwells that Tommy and I stayed above and played shuffleboard for hours. When we did stop in Nassau the straw market etc. was entirely closed as it was Good Friday. BUT there was about 50 women trying to grab anyone who could be carjoled to weeve their hair at every street's opening. Tom has beautiful black hair that he had weaved in the front with some beads. When we got back to the ship his father ranted at him to get the girly beads out of his hair. <BR> <BR>Sometimes it isn't the worst "place" but what you may bring to it. Sometimes it is really the place. This time it was both. I left this 20 plus year marriage soon after that trip- so maybe it wasn't so bad after all. <BR> <BR>

This wasn't my experience, thank goodness. Friends booked a house in Hilton Head with another family for Memorial Day wknd. The house was filthy--dirty bedding, dirty dishes, sand everywhere etc. Of course, everything was booked and it was too late to turn back. They spent several hours cleaning and endured the weekend. One week after they got home, they discovered that half of them had gotten head lice. Yuck.