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An American tourist’s controversial view of her trip to Australia has shocked people after she described the country as “bland” and “mediocre.”
Grace Cheng is a travel blogger from Seattle who prides herself on her honest holiday reviews, as her description on TikTok reads: “Let’s not sugarcoat traveling.”
She went to visit family in Australia for two weeks where she traveled to some of the country’s most iconic places such as Sydney, Melbourne, Byron Bay, and the Gold Coast but did not enjoy her trip and described it as “underwhelming.”
Grace said: “Austalia I thought the places we went to were nothing special and overall the trip was very bland.”
However, Grace has admitted she believes she may not have had the best travel itinerary but listed everything she did like about Australia.
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In a video on TikTok, Grace said: “Australia is very much known for its nature instead. The trip pretty much consisted of mediocre beaches and city life.”
She described her visit to Sydney as “a bit underwhelming” and said traveling to the country is difficult because of how isolated it is from other countries.
Grace said: “Australia is also just so far away from everywhere else in the world. Traveling time alone probably takes over 24 hours.
“It can be a little bit inconvenient and a hassle if you’re not getting the most out of this country.”
However, despite her disappointment Grace did have some positive things to say about Australia, such as finding it very easy to get around and it being much cheaper than other places she has traveled to.
Grace said: “I don’t wanna only talk about the negatives, I did have a good time here. I know a lot of people say that traveling here is expensive and while it is, it’s not comparable to places like Paris or London.”
She added: “Obviously, it was super easy to get around because there was no language barrier. It’s not too big of a culture shock coming from the States either.
“I will say the lingo is different and it was hard at some times to understand what the locals were saying.”
Grace also stated that despite having some complaints, she loved the food. She said: “I’m impressed to say that every restaurant we went to was so good – this was a pattern throughout the four cities we visited.”
She finished her video saying that she will definitely give Austalia a second chance when she visits again, even if the trip was not what she expected.
Grace said: “While my experience here wasn’t what I expected it to be I really can’t say I dislike the country as a whole. There are so many beautiful places I missed out on and that just would not be fair.”
In Grace’s video section, some Australians were upset by her review. One user said: “Well, we look forward to not seeing you again!”
Another person wrote: “Mediocre beaches… you’re kidding,” while someone else commented: “There are super amazing natural diverse and impressive landscapes here and you went to nearly all cities? Also beaches bland? Is this satire?”
However, some Australians felt Grace was fair with her complaints.
One person said: “Melbourne is an incredible city to live in, but to visit honestly I have no idea what tourists do here haha. I totally get what you mean.”
Another user wrote: “As an Australian your right. It’s kinda of bland compared to other countries across the globe, it’s just the lack of culture throughout this country.”
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