Dislike about the state/province/country/city you live in, including weather

[Henry]

For Seattle, it's the constant cloudy/rainy days (and late fall/early winter is the absolute worst time for it!), high taxes (though not nearly as bad as when I lived in L.A.), and, of course, the traffic. And also, when the Nisqually earthquake of 2001 struck, that was another negative, mainly because I thought I had gotten away from it when I moved some 1,100 miles up I-5, but I apparently have not.

[JayhawkCO]

For Seattle, it's the constant cloudy/rainy days (and late fall/early winter is the absolute worst time for it!)

When I lived there briefly, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I kind of liked walking to work with a little drizzle. I also don't get affected by SAAD, so that helps. The short days in the winter were more of an issue than the cloud cover.

[gonealookin]

For Seattle, it's the constant cloudy/rainy days (and late fall/early winter is the absolute worst time for it!)

When I lived there briefly, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I kind of liked walking to work with a little drizzle. I also don't get affected by SAAD, so that helps. The short days in the winter were more of an issue than the cloud cover.

I put a 20-year limit on living at Tahoe, and it's been over 16 years now.  I'm done with big cities so Seattle is out, as alluded to in my previous post I'll want to get away from the tourist crowd, but still keep a beautiful natural environment, and plan on reducing the snow (but that's obviously anywhere coming from Tahoe).  I've scouted Bellingham and that's on the short list for my upcoming years of decrepitude.

[vdeane]

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering.  It takes what is, for most of the family, a relatively simple matter of doing something on a weekend and turns it into a roadtrip that requires me to take a day or two off work, and no matter how much I try to make said trips relaxing, I seem to always be extra tired the following week until I can have a low-key weekend to sleep in and "crash".  In many ways, life would be much easier if I lived in Rochester or even Syracuse or Buffalo.  Especially as once every month or two is about the limit between number of times I can take that 200 mile trip on the Thruway without it dragging too much.  Even then, I generally find the driving to be most enjoyable when after one of the longer gaps (so, Thanksgiving and Easter, usually), even if I'm usually going stir-crazy from missing my parents at that point.

I've seen plenty of places with English signage only in places where tourists may be and then only the local language elsewhere, for instance.

Ah, yes, signage for tourists.  I've seen that too.  But I considered that to be a separate matter from what |hotdogPi| called "the majority language".

Ontario posts bilingual signage in areas that have large amount of francophones.  French may be an official language of Canada, but it isn't of Ontario (French is only an official provincial language in Québec and New Brunswick).

[74/171FAN]

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering. 

Something I have learned about traffic is that in many cases you have to manage it in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic instead of beat it.

I am pretty sure that I deal with much worse traffic concerns (I-81 and I-95) when going to visit my parents than you do, but I will never beat it by being strict and being unable to adjust on the fly.  (And of course, paying up for the HOT lanes in Northern VA is always an option now for me too.)

[1995hoo]

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering.

Something I have learned about traffic is that in many cases you have to manage it in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic instead of beat it.

I am pretty sure that I deal with much worse traffic concerns (I-81 and I-95) when going to visit my parents than you do, but I will never beat it by being strict and being unable to adjust on the fly.  (And of course, paying up for the HOT lanes in Northern VA is always an option now for me too.)

The Washington Post's now-retired second Dr. Gridlock columnist (Robert Thomson) wisely commented that on a trip of any distance up or down the East Coast, unless it's a weekend you're going to hit someone's rush hour and it's just a question of whose rush hour it is and how you manage that (e.g., adjusting the timing of your departure and stops, taking a different route, just sticking it out, etc.). Sooner or later you're going to encounter traffic somewhere.

[74/171FAN]

The Washington Post's now-retired second Dr. Gridlock columnist (Robert Thomson) wisely commented that on a trip of any distance up or down the East Coast, unless it's a weekend you're going to hit someone's rush hour and it's just a question of whose rush hour it is and how you manage that (e.g., adjusting the timing of your departure and stops, taking a different route, just sticking it out, etc.). Sooner or later you're going to encounter traffic somewhere.

Even the Sunday after Thanksgiving is not much of an issue for me mainly because I spend the day roadgeeking (AKA more secondary routes in Northern VA) instead of trying to slog home quickly on the interstates.

[webny99]

The Washington Post's now-retired second Dr. Gridlock columnist (Robert Thomson) wisely commented that on a trip of any distance up or down the East Coast, unless it's a weekend you're going to hit someone's rush hour

... and on the weekends, you're going to hit everyone's rush hour.

[CoreySamson]

I'll posit my dislikes of both the Tulsa area and the Houston area:

Tulsa
- Once you get outside of town, there's literally not that much to do or sights to see. Sure, there are a lot of random hidden gems, but the Oklahoma countryside is literally just a grid of modestly hilly farmsteads. And if I'm a little honest, Tulsa can feel like that as well, only urban instead of rural.
- From what I understand schools and hospitals are not very good around here. Well, primary and secondary schools. I like my university.
- I wish we had a UFL/XFL football team.
- I like that the weather changes often to keep it interesting, but the extremes sometimes get annoying.

Houston
- Weather is absolutely atrocious. I don't like it. It's too hot and humid and for too long each year. It rains so much it floods. And when it isn't hot, it's usually either hurricane season or mosquito season. And even when none of those things are present, the nice days only last for a week usually before grosser weather takes over.
- Traffic and road construction are sometimes very annoying in Houston, but I guess they aren't bad compared to other major US cities.
- Houston is very far away from any interesting vacation destinations (except for maybe the beach, but would you want to swim in the brown chemical plant water in Galveston?). Also, its location makes it far away from many roadgeeking destinations in the US.
- Along those lines, the scenery is probaly the worst in the US. Road infrastructure, while impressive, is ugly, and new construction gets moldy and gross quickly due to the weather. And it's flatter than a pancake.
- Also along those aforementioned lines, there are no theme parks nearby, which is almost inexcusable for a city Houston's size. The closest things it has to a proper theme park are Pleasure Pier in Galveston and the Kemah Boardwalk.
- Walking infrastructure is almost completely nonexistent. To a lesser extent, this is also true of rail infrastructure in Houston.

[gonealookin]

- Houston is very far away from any interesting vacation destinations (except for maybe the beach, but would you want to swim in the brown chemical plant water in Galveston?).

Seems to echo Charles Barkley's opinion.

[plain]

- Houston is very far away from any interesting vacation destinations (except for maybe the beach, but would you want to swim in the brown chemical plant water in Galveston?).

Seems to echo Charles Barkley's opinion.

   

[Rothman]

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering.  It takes what is, for most of the family, a relatively simple matter of doing something on a weekend and turns it into a roadtrip that requires me to take a day or two off work, and no matter how much I try to make said trips relaxing, I seem to always be extra tired the following week until I can have a low-key weekend to sleep in and "crash".  In many ways, life would be much easier if I lived in Rochester or even Syracuse or Buffalo.  Especially as once every month or two is about the limit between number of times I can take that 200 mile trip on the Thruway without it dragging too much.  Even then, I generally find the driving to be most enjoyable when after one of the longer gaps (so, Thanksgiving and Easter, usually), even if I'm usually going stir-crazy from missing my parents at that point.

Could always put in for a transfer.

[vdeane]

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering.

Something I have learned about traffic is that in many cases you have to manage it in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic instead of beat it.

I am pretty sure that I deal with much worse traffic concerns (I-81 and I-95) when going to visit my parents than you do, but I will never beat it by being strict and being unable to adjust on the fly.  (And of course, paying up for the HOT lanes in Northern VA is always an option now for me too.)

In this case, I wasn't thinking of traffic (although I have gotten sick enough of it to avoid travel on Labor Day and the end of a July 4 long weekend, and also Memorial Day and the Sunday after Thanksgiving if I have time) per se, more just the length, boredom, and time of driving 202 miles of Thruway each way.  If I sleep in, do my usual morning routine, pack, get something to eat, drive, grab dinner, unpack, and do my usual evening routine, that's a full day.  So for a three day weekend, it's two days devoted to travel, and one devoted to a family gathering.  If I want a day to relax or do something else, it needs to be a four day weekend (one reason why it's not about traffic per se - I've gotten in the habit of extending all trips like this, though I might have to curtail that next year; this also lets me get laundry done without either jamming it in on one side or skipping a week).  Plus the traffic is less than on the Northeast Corridor - the Thruway doesn't get congestion-related delays on I-90 between Rochester and Albany, but it can grind to a halt in the event of an incident, which is not uncommon on peak travel days.

Since it's a (close to) 3.5 hour drive each way, that does leave me tired afterwards.  After an 8 hour drive from a daytrip or roadmeet, I try to have a day off afterwards to sleep in and "crash", but even that doesn't fully help, and I can't justify doing that after all family gatherings anyways.  I did at least have success with only taking two hours off after the Maine trip (I think - we had a field trip at work that week, so the data is skewed), so I might experiment with that next year, at least for meets, but it would still add up too much to do for family gatherings.  There's a reason why I try to avoid going on trips two weekends in a row - I find that I'm extremely tired and irritable the week after if I do.

Another negative of the Albany area I forgot to mention, though this one is fairly me-specific: the 225 mile drive each way I have to take to attend every family gathering.  It takes what is, for most of the family, a relatively simple matter of doing something on a weekend and turns it into a roadtrip that requires me to take a day or two off work, and no matter how much I try to make said trips relaxing, I seem to always be extra tired the following week until I can have a low-key weekend to sleep in and "crash".  In many ways, life would be much easier if I lived in Rochester or even Syracuse or Buffalo.  Especially as once every month or two is about the limit between number of times I can take that 200 mile trip on the Thruway without it dragging too much.  Even then, I generally find the driving to be most enjoyable when after one of the longer gaps (so, Thanksgiving and Easter, usually), even if I'm usually going stir-crazy from missing my parents at that point.

Could always put in for a transfer.

I might have to keep an eye on the postings.  Region 3 in particularly might be a good compromise between how centralness to driving different places and proximity to Rochester.  I've also been thinking it might come down to a hardship transfer once my parents are at the point where they can't live independently anymore.

[1995hoo]

The Washington Post's now-retired second Dr. Gridlock columnist (Robert Thomson) wisely commented that on a trip of any distance up or down the East Coast, unless it's a weekend you're going to hit someone's rush hour and it's just a question of whose rush hour it is and how you manage that (e.g., adjusting the timing of your departure and stops, taking a different route, just sticking it out, etc.). Sooner or later you're going to encounter traffic somewhere.

Even the Sunday after Thanksgiving is not much of an issue for me mainly because I spend the day roadgeeking (AKA more secondary routes in Northern VA) instead of trying to slog home quickly on the interstates.

I haven't gone further than my mother's house in Fairfax for Thanksgiving since 2018. We used to go to Florida some years, but since my father died it doesn't feel right to leave my mom alone for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

[webny99]

Plus the traffic is less than on the Northeast Corridor - the Thruway doesn't get congestion-related delays on I-90 between Rochester and Albany, but it can grind to a halt in the event of an incident, which is not uncommon on peak travel days.

We can't complain about traffic, I'll definitely give you that. However the long-term lane closures on the Thruway between exits 44 and 45 have been problematic on major travel days. Labor Day in particular was so bad that westbound was backed up almost to Exit 43 from the merge at Exit 44. And it does seem like more often than not there are slowdowns on the major post-holiday travel days, as it's busy enough that even minor incidents can slow traffic for miles, especially between Rochester and Syracuse. The Exit 42 merge westbound can also cause issues, as it's situated at the bottom of a significant grade which slows truck traffic. I recall last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving which was also a Bills game day, there was an incident near Exit 41 and after it was cleared, the ensuing slowdown at Exit 42 persisted for hours.

[Scott5114]

I'm in favor of legal prostitution, as it would decrease rape. It's legal in New Zealand, some Australian states, and Washtenaw County MI has simply said they're not enforcing the law as long as it's consensual. Massachusetts hasn't legalized it yet.

I am surprised you overlooked a rather large and well-known example for this list.

[kphoger]

If I sleep in, do my usual morning routine, pack, get something to eat, drive, grab dinner, unpack, and do my usual evening routine, that's a full day.

You're doing it wrong, then, I see.

1.  Don't sleep in.  Duh.

2.  Pack the night before.  Seriously, I never pack the day of.

3.  Pack breakfast and/or lunch the night before too.  Cereal bars, squeezable yogurt, sandwiches, string cheese, dried fruit, etc:  all easy to pack in a sack or lunchbox.

[bugo]

Rednecks, the politics, draconian religion, racism, intolerance, terrible roads, low average intelligence and a ton of other things.

[kphoger]

terrible roads

See, I knew you were from Oklahoma!

[vdeane]

We can't complain about traffic, I'll definitely give you that. However the long-term lane closures on the Thruway between exits 44 and 45 have been problematic on major travel days. Labor Day in particular was so bad that westbound was backed up almost to Exit 43 from the merge at Exit 44. And it does seem like more often than not there are slowdowns on the major post-holiday travel days, as it's busy enough that even minor incidents can slow traffic for miles, especially between Rochester and Syracuse. The Exit 42 merge westbound can also cause issues, as it's situated at the bottom of a significant grade which slows truck traffic. I recall last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving which was also a Bills game day, there was an incident near Exit 41 and after it was cleared, the ensuing slowdown at Exit 42 persisted for hours.

Yes, that's why I try to avoid driving the Thruway on those days.  And these days I-490 is an issue to plan around too, with that lane closure.  Yuck on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Fortunately I extended Thanksgiving by a day last year to drive back Monday, but this year I'll be stuck doing that because I didn't want to take the extra day on top of all my other days off.

If I sleep in, do my usual morning routine, pack, get something to eat, drive, grab dinner, unpack, and do my usual evening routine, that's a full day.

You're doing it wrong, then, I see.

1.  Don't sleep in.  Duh.

2.  Pack the night before.  Seriously, I never pack the day of.

3.  Pack breakfast and/or lunch the night before too.  Cereal bars, squeezable yogurt, sandwiches, string cheese, dried fruit, etc:  all easy to pack in a sack or lunchbox.

This actually brings up a question I've had for a while.  I can see how one can pack (or at least set aside) clothes ahead of time (although I usually don't bother, since this takes the least amount of time), but how does that work with things that get used in the morning, like my shampoo, conditioner, and the tweezers I use to pluck my eyebrows every day?

Don't sleep in (actually, often getting up early) is my MO for longer drives (which also lack "get something to eat" at that point as I get lunch on the road; in this case, it's because I stop at Stewart's for whatever's in the warmer before I head out, since I like having all my dishes put away when I'm gone), though for Rochester this is how I manage to preserve my sanity while not taking a day off after I get back.  Honestly, I wish I knew why I need to sleep in so much to function.  It's very limiting.  I think it might have something to do with the nasty insomnia I've had my whole life, although my inability to get to bed on time on top of that doesn't help (I need to be in bed by 9:45 to get 8 hours before my alarm goes off at 5:45, but in practice it's usually more like 11:30).

[Max Rockatansky]

I keep duplicates of basic toiletries for travel usage.  They never leave my travel bag and thusly are ready to be thrown in the car at a moments notice. 

I usually keep a change of warm clothes, a hiking bag and a case of water in my car at all times.  It hasn't happened in a long time but there has been occasion I've had to hike out of places because of mechanical failures (mostly when I lived in Arizona).

[kphoger]

I can see how one can pack (or at least set aside) clothes ahead of time (although I usually don't bother, since this takes the least amount of time), but how does that work with things that get used in the morning, like my shampoo, conditioner, and the tweezers I use to pluck my eyebrows every day?

Packing one's toiletries and pajamas into already-packed luggage takes, like, what? two minutes, tops.

[gonealookin]

I can see how one can pack (or at least set aside) clothes ahead of time (although I usually don't bother, since this takes the least amount of time), but how does that work with things that get used in the morning, like my shampoo, conditioner, and the tweezers I use to pluck my eyebrows every day?

Packing one's toiletries and pajamas into already-packed luggage takes, like, what? two minutes, tops.

Or, pack your toiletry bag the day before and set it in the bathroom and grab the stuff out of it that morning, just as you will do on the trip.

I have to do that, or something inevitably gets forgotten ("How the f did I forget a toothbrush?").

[JayhawkCO]

I'll summarize my two least favorite things about each place I've lived.

Minneapolis
Mosquitoes
Short daylight in the winter

Denver
Cost of living
Traffic

Jacksonville
No seasons
Political climate

Kansas City
Weather in general (winters icy and windy, summers hot and humid)
Lack of activities other than just going to the bars with your friends

Seattle
Cost of living
Unfriendly populace (at least to me)
(Also short daylight in the winter, but that was less of an issue than the other two)

[1995hoo]

This actually brings up a question I've had for a while.  I can see how one can pack (or at least set aside) clothes ahead of time (although I usually don't bother, since this takes the least amount of time), but how does that work with things that get used in the morning, like my shampoo, conditioner, and the tweezers I use to pluck my eyebrows every day?

....

Even though I don't usually fly (and I know you've said you don't), I keep a small TSA-compliant plastic bag of liquid toiletries ready to go, including small-sized toothpaste and shampoo, although the latter is usually unnecessary because the hotel will almost always have some provided. Keeping the liquids in the plastic bag is useful to ensure that if something bursts or leaks, the leakage will be confined instead of getting all over the place. Toothpaste, deodorant, razor, hairbrush, and comb simply have to get packed on the morning of departure. (I've used an electric toothbrush since the 1990s, so I don't have a spare one packed and ready to go.)