American solo traveller reveals what she HATED about London… and the 10 other countries she visited in a year
An American solo traveler has revealed what she hated about each of the 11 countries she visited this year, including London and its “unfriendly” people.
Grace Cheng has a TikTok account dedicated to her travel experiences. @gracietravels.
In a recent video, she wanted to “be real” with her 62,000 followers and share what she didn’t like 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 that I’m being real with all of you.”
“I am not a creator who will embellish travel. Traveling is NOT just about positive experiences. you won’t like every place you visit, and that’s okay! you don’t need it.
An American solo traveler reveals what she didn’t like about each of the 11 countries she visited this year.
“We can all voice our opinions and I like to use this platform for that because then I can help those who don’t know about these things around the world.”
She added: “If your country is mentioned here, PLEASE don’t be offended by it. I truly loved every country I visited, each country is unique and special! but if I had to pick one negative thing from each, that’s what’s in my video.”
London
As part of her 2023 trip, the influencer made a stop in the UK, specifically London, but was unimpressed.
She told viewers: “Then in London I also felt it was a huge disappointment, in my opinion it was a bit overdone.
“The locals here didn’t seem all that friendly.”
One commenter agreed, jokingly writing; -Are Londoners unfriendly? Never. I once fell down the subway stairs, a suitcase almost knocked me over, and people just stepped over me and moved on.”
While another wrote: “I wasn’t expecting much from London but was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it.” I would even think about returning.”
As part of her 2023 trip, the influencer stopped in the UK, specifically London, but she was unimpressed.
Singapore
Another country Grace visited this year was Singapore, where she stayed at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
In this case, it was the hotel that disappointed the travel professional.
She said: “Staying at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore was a huge disappointment. It’s definitely not worth the hype and price.
“Besides, there’s not much to do here either, other than eat and shop.”
Japan
She went on to talk about Japan and explained that “some places can have a huge difference in how they treat foreigners.”
She added: “There are even Japanese-only establishments here – if you don’t speak Japanese, know that sometimes you will be looked down upon.”
However, one commenter disagreed, stating, “I’ve been to Japan and never felt uncomfortable or looked down on because I didn’t speak the language. Everyone was actually really nice.”
Türkiye
Moving on to Turkey, she claims that “most” people have a habit that she didn’t like being around.
Grace said: “I didn’t expect that in Turkey everyone would smoke, even your taxi or Uber driver would smoke in the car with you.”
She added text on the screen: “Ok, not all, but many!”
Concluding that “personally it was very difficult for her to go through this.”
Egypt
The fourth country on the list was Egypt, where she admitted that she “never knew” who to trust.
The content creator said: “In Egypt, the scams and persecution were so bad that they made my trip so stressful and tiring.
It comes just after travel blogger Sam Mayfair revealed four popular Egyptian pyramid scams and shared tips on how to thwart the scammers.
In September of this year, Grace even created another TikTok where she talked about how visiting Egypt quickly turned into one of the worst trips of her life.
She spent a week in northeast Africa, visiting the Great Pyramids of Giza and other historical sites, but felt unsafe the entire time.
Her holiday was ruined by “aggressive” scammers lurking “everywhere” in a bid to rid innocent tourists of their money.
Australia
Further, although she did not have any big complaints about Australia, she did not receive high praise either.
The traveler said: “Australia, I thought the places we visited were nothing special. We’ll definitely need a better route next time – overall the trip has become very boring.”
One Aussie viewer chimed in: “Compared to other places you’ve been, Australia IS boring and we don’t have much to offer compared to other places in the world.”
Kenya
Moving on to Kenya, Grace spoke about Giraffe Manor, a hotel and giraffe sanctuary located in Nairobi, as part of “The Safari Collection,” a portfolio of four luxury boutique camps and lodges.
It allows you to get up close and personal with the animals, and is also the only place in the world where you can feed and photograph giraffes over breakfast or watch them from your bedroom window.
Grace noted, “The trip to Kenya to Giraffe Estate was probably the highlight of my trip just because I’m a huge giraffe lover.
“But for the general public, I’ll be honest and say it’s not worth it.”
Maldives
While discussing her stay in the Maldives, the TikToker only talked about the hotel she stayed at.
She explained: “In the Maldives we stayed at the Ritz Carlton and received the worst service.”
Adding: “If you guys are interested in hearing about it, feel free to comment below.”
Taiwan
Grace expressed an opinion about safety in Taiwan that she did not like, 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 car. moped”.
A viewer added: “Pedestrians in Taiwan are much better than the Philippines,” and added a laughing emoji.
America
Towards the end of her list she mentioned America, but was strangely cryptic in her reasoning.
Despite being a US resident herself, she simply said, “In the US, I think that speaks for itself, but I won’t go into detail.”
Grace included a photo of Seattle’s Pike Place Market, a daily market with seafood vendors, food stalls and other retailers.
Confused viewers commented: “What’s wrong with us? (There’s a lot wrong there lol) but I’m just curious what you think is wrong” and “what happened in the US, we’re not from there.”
Canada
Finally, the TikToker opened up about her time in Canada.
She said: “The last places I visited in Canada were Vancouver and Banff, but as far as Banff is concerned, I don’t think I can find anything negative here.
“The only thing is we didn’t spend enough time.”
In the comments she mentioned Vancouver and wrote: “I didn’t mention it in the video, but now it’s really trashed because they legalized everything!” the city center is the worst.”
Grace ended the video by saying, “But this is what I didn’t like about every country I visited this year. If you guys agree or disagree or have anything else to say, feel free to comment below.”
One viewer wrote: “Rich girl rich,” while a second added: “It’s always nice to hear people talk about the things they don’t like about traveling.”
Others wrote: “Traveling whiner!” Better stay home” and “Oh no, not at the Ritz.”
We have been contacted for a response by Marina Bay Sands, Giraffe Manor and The Ritz Carlton Maldives.