They’re a staple of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, but to people who live in the area, it’s a place to avoid. Functioning well as a tourist hub, it’s the perfect place to grab food or shop at one of the many surrounding stores.
By now it’s little more than fast food and overpriced knick-knacks, with chain stores every mall boasts. It’s also terribly crowded and has lines that go from annoying to frustrating pretty quickly.
We Hope You Like Christmas
Did you know there is a real Santa Claus House at the real-life North Pole? It's been there since 1952 and has plenty to gawk at: a fifty-foot Santa Claus statue, real reindeer, photo ops with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a gift shop – but of course it does – with a huge selection to choose from.
They also have an online site, where you can get personal letters from Santa. But unless you're a year-round Christmas fan, making the trek to the North Pole isn't worth an overpriced gift shop, especially when Santa usually shows up at your local mall.
Bright Colors Don't Mean Interesting
Cars have been on the road for more than a hundred years, and gas company Shell has been around for almost as long. The Shell Service Station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was made to get people talking, and the bright yellow and red shell-shaped service station is the only remaining one – it's part of the National Register of Historic Places.
You can't gas up here though, and it may be worth a few minutes to stop, but there isn't anything else to do there. It's used as a satellite office for Shell, as well as a museum for Preservation North Carolina.
They're Not Even Real Italians
Las Vegas is basically one large tourist trap, but one piece sticks out as a specifically bad choice to make for the visitor. The Venetian gondolas are based on the famous and romantic gondolas from Venice, featuring costumed paddlers taking people to and from.
Previous visitors describe it as floating through dyed water for up to fifteen minutes, and there's little to look at besides other gondolas and surrounding buildings. And the price is steep – the cost of a private ride for two reaches above a hundred dollars.
Have You Ever Heard of the Middle of Nowhere?
We've all wanted to be in four states at once. It's on my bucket list, that's for sure. Luckily, the Four Corners Monument, stationed right at the meeting of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, means it can really be done. It's the only place in the United States where four pieces of the union get to meet.
Unfortunately, there's literally nothing else to see there. You can take photos, but guess what? There's no cell service or wi-fi. There are even suspicions that the monument doesn't accurately display the proper borders, which takes the thrill away even more.