Been lucky enough to have been around a bit. Top 5: New York: it just has everything and I think along with London is probably the only place on the planet where you could spend a week in one city and not run out of things to do. London: for the same reasons. I could never live there though. Barcelona: great atmosphere around the city, it helped that I took in a game too (Pep's last home game) where Messi bagged 4 goals. Loads of stuff to see, good food and great weather. Hong Kong: one of the few places I visited I could happily have stayed and lived there. Kowloon has a lot of culture and character but can be a bit rough whereas Hong Kong Island is where the wealth and sights tend to be. Great place. Bangkok: Like being on a different planet at times with the noise, the heat and the chaos. I like it though...been there about 6 times so other than my home town and York where my ex lived its my most visited place. Special mentions to Seville, Rome, Tallinn, Berlin, Beijing and Everest Base Camp albeit not a city. Bottom 5: Guangzhou: talk about a culture shock. I got a train into China from Hong Kong and this was the first city we stopped off at. It has about 10m people and probably about 3 tourists. It's an industrial city with absolutely nothing to do for tourists and nobody to help. I can't believe I managed to somehow work out how to get the right bus to leave. Ahmedebad: similar to Guangzhou - huge city with not much to do and a lot of poverty. It's probably my fault for not doing my homework but as a youngster I tended to just travel around and rock up to a place. It was a bit before the days of trip advisor etc too. Phnom Penh: complete dump of a place. Srinagar: in northern India in the disputed Kashmir region. As a stupid, naive youngster I got a 18 hour bus there from Delhi and visited without any knowledge of the place and it's political problems. I should've realised when I was asked to fill in 'visa forms' despite not technically leaving the country. When I got there it was a beautiful place but everything was closed due to guerilla warfare and random attacks on the army and police by separatists wanting to be a part of Pakistan. There were Pakistani flags everywhere and I just felt uneasy throughout, particularly when I went to a cash machine to get some rupees and two armed guards were stood either side of me. I only ventured outside once. It was also where I watched us get smashed by the Germans in the World Cup with the Lampard goal that never was. So yeah...not a happy memory of it. Can't actually think of others without listing uk places like Hull, Derby and Middlesbrough etc My interpretation of the worst place though generally is somewhere I'm bored as a visitor. There were a few other places in Asia I felt like this, Lucknow and Gorakhpur in India, Chongqing in China and perhaps surprisingly Kuala Lumpur although it may be due to jet lag and not knowing what the **** I was doing. Most of these places I visited with a mate in 2010 as we flew one way from London to Kuala Lumpur and just flew back when we ran out of cash, which turned out to be 6 months later. To be honest I think travelling like this is always more likely to bring up some terrible places as you have to go through them all the time to stay at least one night. I never really felt unsafe though. In fact perhaps worryingly the most unsafe I felt was walking back up to my mums from the tram with all my gear when I got back.
Rome in terms of city break , although that maybe beaten when I go to Jerusalem next year. Holiday wise Croatia was fantastic.
I’ve done Rome, Prague, Dublin, Bruges, Brussels and Budapest so far. I’m a big drinker and I like a city to offer good nightlife too aswell as the sights to see in the day. I loved the colosseum but I found at night Rome turned into a ghost town. I was in Budapest last weekend and it was brilliant for both the sights and the nightlife. That’s my favourite city so far. Hopefully Krakow and Berlin next year.
That’s where I’m different. When I go away I don’t like to get drunk. A beach holiday and i’ll steadily drink all day but not at night. City break I don’t drink much because I like to get around and see the place properly. Rome had everything that I was interested in, and I loved it.
Tokyo. Friendly people, great food and so much to see and do. Was lucky enough to visit Ueno park during Sakura too. So beautiful. The scale of the city is just insane.
I don’t really day drink anywhere. I like a good night out though wherever I go. I don’t mean sleeping all day and being out all night, I can be fine out drinking from 7pm-1am and still be up at 8 and out looking at things for 9am. I took my parents to Rome and we all like a drink and come only 10pm we were struggling to find somewhere. Just ended up in the same Irish bar every night. But yeah, for the sights it’s incredible. I’ve always been fascinated by Roman history. Krakow and Berlin appeal to me because they also have incredible sights in the day but are also known for their great nightlife.
Abroad I can drink in the day and leave it at night. In England if I start drinking in the day it usually ends up a big sesh. Germany has never really appealed to me. I think I know the Irish bar you are on about. Roman history and Christianity are things I’m really into.
