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Forum Ferreting: Ain't What it Used to Be

Online travel forums are filled with gems, if you have the time to dig for them. Luckily we do the dirty work for you in our somewhat regular Forum Ferreting feature.

All that glitters is not gold, as the saying goes, and nowhere is this more evident than when traveling. No matter how much fun you're having, there are scams, bad restaurants, shoddy hotels, and worst of all, destinations that are just plain disappointing. But it's not just you! Lonely Planet's forums are rife with such tales. Here are a few places that posters considered "most disappointing":

Jordan: Sadly, Petra in Jordan. I didn't exactly expect to have it to myself, but I also didn't expect (1) to have to smell donkey/camel shit for the entire walk through the Siq to the Treasury, I didn't expect (2) to see some Bedouin trinket stall in front (literally) or even inside every ruin, I didn't expect (3) to have quite so many people tugging at my arm to buy something, and I didn't expect (4) to see quite so much garbage in some of the "backcountry" locales we sought out to get away from (1), (2), and (3). I did expect the voluminous vomit of package tourists, though, so I can't really complain about that.

Morocco: Chefchouan, Morocco: The Euro stoner tourist vibe was so heavy that it was almost oppressive, leaving a noticeably heavy tourist imprint on what would likely otherwise be a nice town. Like Disneyland for the hash crowd, I have no need to go back.

Croatia: Many people (and guide books) had built Croatia up to be some sort of absolute paradise and overall it was OK (I loved Plitvice park) but it definitely didn't live up to my expectations. Nice country but not amazing - more expensive than I expected (groceries surprisingly so) and finding sobes (rooms for rent) was a major pain in the ass sometimes. Give me Greece any day over Croatia.

We'd have to add Zurich to this list. Not that we had high expectations going in, but the Swiss aren't big on the whole excitement thing. Or the inexpensive thing, for that matter.

[Image via sailing Nomad/Flickr]

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