An American solo traveler has revealed what she hated about each of the 11 countries she visited this year, including London and its “unfriendly” residents.
Grace Cheng has a TikTok account dedicated to her travels that she calls @gracietravels.
In a recent video, she wanted to “be straight” with her 62,000 followers and share what she wasn’t a fan of about the places she visited in 2023.
She captioned the TikTok, which has already been viewed by more than 14,000 people: “Before you start attacking me, I just want to say I’m real with you all.”
“I’m not a creator who sugarcoats travel. Traveling is NOT just about having positive experiences. You will NOT like every place you visit and that is normal! It is not necessary.
An American solo traveler revealed what she didn’t like about each of the 11 countries she visited this year
“We can all express our own opinions, and I love using this platform to do that because it allows me to help people around the world who don’t know such things.”
She added: “If your country is mentioned here, please don’t be offended. I really loved every country I visited, every country is so unique and special! But if I had to pick one negative out of each, it would be the one my video contains.”
London
As part of her 2023 tour, the influencer made a stop in the United Kingdom, specifically London, but failed to impress.
She told viewers: “Then in London I also felt that it was a big disappointment, it was a bit overrated in my opinion.”
“The residents here did not seem very friendly.”
One commenter agreed, jokingly writing; “Londoners unfriendly? Never. As soon as I fell down the stairs on the subway, my suitcase almost knocked me over and people just climbed over me and kept walking.”
Although another wrote: “I wasn’t expecting much from London but was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it.” I would even consider returning.
As part of her 2023 tour, the influencer made a stop in the UK, specifically London, but was unimpressed
Singapore
Another country Grace visited this year was Singapore, where she stayed at Marina Bay Sands.
In this case, it was the hotel that disappointed the travel professional.
She revealed: “Staying at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore was a huge disappointment. “It’s definitely not worth the hype and price.
“There’s not much to do here except eat and shop.”
Japan
She then spoke about Japan, explaining that “some places can have big differences in the way they treat foreigners.”
She added: “There are even Japanese-only branches here – if you don’t speak Japanese, you know you’ll sometimes be looked down upon.”
However, one commenter disagreed, arguing: “I’ve been to Japan and never felt awkward or looked down upon for not knowing the language. In fact, everyone was very nice.”
Turkey
As she goes further into Turkey, she claims that there is a habit that “most” people have that she doesn’t like to be a part of.
Grace said: “In Turkey, I didn’t expect everyone here to smoke, even your taxi or Uber driver will smoke in the car with you.”
She added text on the screen that read: “Okay, not everyone, but a lot of people!”
She concludes that it was “so hard for her personally to bear.”
Egypt
The fourth country on the list was Egypt, where she revealed that she “never knew” who she could trust.
The content creator said: “In Egypt the scammers and harassment were so common and made my trip so stressful and overwhelming.”
It comes shortly after travel vlogger Sam Mayfair revealed four popular Egyptian pyramid scams and offered advice on how to thwart the scammers.
Grace even created a TikTok in September of this year where she talked about how a visit to Egypt quickly turned into one of the worst travel experiences of her life.
She spent a week in Northeast Africa visiting the Great Pyramids of Giza and other historical monuments, but felt unsafe the entire time.
Their holiday was ruined by “aggressive” fraudsters lurking “everywhere” to swindle innocent tourists out of their money.
Australia
In hindsight, while she had no major complaints about Australia, she also had no rave reviews.
The traveler said, “Australia, I don’t think the places we visited are anything special.” “We definitely need a better itinerary for next time – it made the trip very boring overall.”
One Australian viewer said: “Compared to other places you’ve been, Australia is boring and we have very little to offer compared to other places in the world.”
Kenya
En route to Kenya, Grace spoke about Giraffe Manor, a giraffe sanctuary and hotel in Nairobi, as part of the Safari Collection, a portfolio of four luxury boutique camps and lodges.
You can see the animals up close. It’s also the only place in the world where you can feed giraffes from the breakfast table and photograph or view them from your bedroom window.
Grace said: “In Kenya, it was probably the highlight of my trip to Giraffe Manor simply because I’m a huge giraffe lover.”
“But I’ll be honest with the general public and say it’s not worth it.”
The Maldives
When talking about her stay in the Maldives, the TikToker only mentioned the hotel where she stayed.
She explained: “In the Maldives we stayed at the Ritz Carlton and they gave us the worst service ever.”
Addendum: “If you want to know more about it, you can comment below.”
Taiwan
Grace made a point about safety in Taiwan that she was not happy with, explaining: “In Taiwan, I hate that pedestrians don’t have the right of way, so you always have to be careful not to get hit by a moped doesn’t become.”
One viewer said alongside laughing emojis: “Taiwan’s pedestrian street is much better than the Philippines.”
America
Towards the end of her list, she mentioned America, but was strangely cryptic in her reasoning.
Although she herself lives in the US, she simply said: “In the US I think it goes without saying, but I won’t go into it.”
Grace included a photo of Seattle’s Pike Place Market, a daily market with seafood vendors, fruit and vegetable stands and other retailers.
Confused viewers said: “What was wrong with the US?” (There’s a lot wrong lol) But I’m just curious what you thought was wrong and what happened in the US, we’re not from there.
Canada
Finally, the TikToker reflected on her time in Canada.
She said: “I’ve been to Vancouver and Banff in Canada recently, but I don’t think I can find anything negative about Banff.
“The only thing is that we haven’t spent enough time on it.”
In the comments, she mentioned Vancouver and wrote: “I didn’t mention it in the video but it’s completely wasted now that they’ve legalized everything!” “The center is the worst.”
Grace concluded the video by saying, “But these were the things I didn’t like about every country I visited this year. If you agree, disagree or have something else to say, please comment below.”
One viewer wrote: “That girl is rich, rich,” while a second added: “Always nice to hear people talk about things they don’t like when they travel.”
Others wrote: “The traveling whine!” “You better stay home” and “Oh no, not the Ritz.”
Marina Bay Sands, Giraffe Manor and The Ritz Carlton Maldives have been contacted for comment.
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James is an author and travel journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a love for exploring new cultures and discovering unique destinations, James brings his readers on a journey with him through his articles.
