I recently wrote about my favorite travel experiences in 2024, so I wanted to follow this up with my least favorite experiences for contrast. While I most of my experiences over the year were great and I usually try to focus on the positives, here are the experiences that I liked the least in 2024:
Least favorite long-haul business class flight: American Airlines, London to Los Angeles
When I boarded my flight, I couldn’t believe the seat setup — basically, half the seats face forward and the other half face backwards, meaning that, as I was sat on the aisle in row 1, but because row 1 was set back a bit, I was looking directly at the person in the middle seat in row 1 for the entire flight.
Aside from the lack of privacy, the product was outdated and the flight attendants were rude. Being in row 1, I thought I would have a good chance of getting the meal that I wanted, but it turns out on these flights the flight attendants take orders from the back first. When I expressed that I was frustrated about this, the flight attendant act like I should know this (maybe if I flew American Airlines more I would have, but I do not).
I understand flights run out of meals, but I didn’t eat the food offered in the second or third options, so I asked if I could have an economy-class meal, and was told no. So, I was not only staring at the person in front of me all flight in an uncomfortable product, I also was hungry.
With that, this easily was my least favorite flight of 2024.
Least favorite hotel: The Westin Camino Real, Guatemala
This may be one of the first times that I wrote a bad review about a hotel just after check-in — it was that bad.
Before booking a last minute trip to this hotel, I was trying to decide if I should book the hotel directly through Marriott (I have Marriott Gold status) or through Capital One Travel, where I would receive 10x points thanks to my Capital One Venture X card. It looked like the hotel had plenty of rooms and suites available, so I asked the person at the front desk if, with my Gold status, I would likely be upgraded if I booked directly through the hotel (my check-in was the next day) and was told yes.
So, I booked directly with the hotel and when I checked in, I was told the hotel did not honor Marriott Gold status except for the extra points given for the stay — I was shocked. I told them about the conversation I had before booking and showed them the room space was available, but they told me there nothing they could do (note that after I left a bad review outlining this experience on TripAdvisor, they tried to make it up to me by giving me a drink certificate, which they said should have been given to me at check-in).
Even with that experience aside, the hotel was outdated and I would hardly say it was Westin quality, except for the gym which was nice and modern. I booked a hot stone massage at the hotel spa — my favorite type of massage — and the masseuse put lukewarm stones on my back and then left the room for twenty minutes. It was laughably bad.
From beginning to end, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.
Least favorite lounge: Marhaba Lounge, Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport
This lounge was packed, there are no windows, the food bad (see picture above), and it was impossible to find privacy here.
I mostly had amazing lounge experiences this year, so picking the Marhaba Lounge in Zazibar as my least favorite was easy since it just wasn’t much of an enjoyable or memorable experience (aside from the free food, I may have been better off just wondering around the airport before my flight).
Least favorite destination: Capri, Italy
While Capri was stunningly beautiful (see the picture that I took above, which was just a random viewpoint that I happened to be walking by on the way to lunch), I did not love my experience on Capri.
Even though I went in May, before the start of peak season, the island was packed full of people, making it hard to navigate. I even saw a group of older women almost get into a fist fight after they tried to cut in line at the packed funicular.
I was on a boat with about ten other passengers on a day tour to Capri, and we almost all agreed that after one hour, we would have preferred leaving.
Least favorite airport: Kilimanjaro International Airport
While I’ve traveled extensively throughout southeast Asia and am used to chaotic customs and security areas, Kilimanjaro International Airport takes the cake. Even though I was one of the first people off my flight and had only maybe eight people in front of me at customs, it took over an hour to get through (in between, there were multiple power outages and a lot of pushing).
While I definitely understand that Tanzania doesn’t have the same infrastructure as Zurich, Los Angeles, Tokyo, etc., my experience at Kilimanjaro International Airport easily made it my least favorite airport visited this year — but don’t get me wrong, I would go back in a heartbeat on the way to a safari.
There are some categories from my favorites list that aren’t included here — the reason being that I had no least favorite (i.e., I enjoyed all the Airbnbs that I stayed in this year).
What were your least favorite travel experiences in 2024? Let me know in the comments.