Martin Dunford’s World Worsts
Name Martin Dunford
Who? Publisher, Rough Guides More at roughguides.com
Age 49.
Countries Visited About 40.
Titanic Nominations
1. Worst Line in a Guidebook Our Provence author wrote bitterly about the number of “dollar-dripping dickheads” that she came across on the Côte d’Azur. Not sure who else she expected to come across in Cannes but in the old days we used to cherish such lines; nowadays people get offended by stuff like that.
2. Worst Drivers Definitely the Belgians, who also aspire to the worst roads in Europe. But
then everything in Belgium looks like it’s falling apart, which is part of the country’s charm.
3. Worst Menu Translation A restaurant in Greece offered “vagina” as one of the chef’s specialities. I declined to try it.
4. Worst Tourist Attraction This has to be the London Eye. Incredibly expensive, and not even a building but a fairground attraction. Other cities have more class. And better views.
5. Worst Hotel I have fond memories of the hotel in Hong Kong where I ended up locked in my own bathroom when the door handle came off in my hand. Or the hotel in Cairo where the beers our group ordered were served to us by prostitutes who fed us crisps – well, the guys anyway; they ignored the girls.
6. Worst Airline The service on most American Airlines makes Ryanair look like Concorde.
7. Worst Airport Well, it used to be JFK but that seems to have improved a bit so I guess I’d have to say Heathrow.
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Worst Airline is definitely United Airlines/US Airways. They have the gall to charge luggage fees for domestic flights, which is unheard of in Asia. They managed to put my luggage on the next flight (4 hours later) for a very short trip across California. Their customer [dis]service representative, that Japanese lady manning the counter in Terminal 7 of LAX, is the most unhelpful and rudest airline employee I’ve ever encountered!