I’ve been to 100 countries and there’s one I’d never go back to’ | Travel News | Travel

A seasoned traveller who has explored over 90 countries across six continents has named one particular region as his least favourite destination.

Gabriel Morris, a globe-trotting YouTube content creator, has spent more than three decades journeying around the world.

To be exact, Gabriel has ticked off “97 United Nations member states plus the three disputed countries of Kosovo, Northern Cyprus, and Taiwan which do not have UN member status.”

However, there’s one ‘soulless spot’ from his extensive travels that he has vowed never to revisit.

Boasting 613,000 subscribers on YouTube, Gabriel’s travel videos consistently attract significant attention and interaction from fellow adventurers and enthusiasts eager to hear about his journeys.

In his most recent upload entitled ‘I’ve Been to 100 Countries – Which Place is the Worst? ‘, the YouTuber disclosed that the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf) stands as the most underwhelming location he’s encountered.

Addressing his audience, Gabriel revealed: “I’ve seen a fair amount of the world and many of those countries I’ve been to over and over and travelled around a lot. I’ll just tell you at the beginning here, my least favourite part of the world is the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf).”

It’s worth noting Iran refers to it as the Persian Gulf, whilst the nations situated on the southern and western shores of the Gulf call it the Arabian Gulf. So, why does Gabriel find the Persian Gulf region less appealing?

The content creator explains: “Now, I haven’t been to Iran, and Iran looks absolutely incredible. And so I’m not including Iran in this. I don’t know that along the Persian Gulf there is anything especially nice to see there.”

Gabriel has explored numerous locations in and around the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Jeddah, where he hired a car for a day to venture beyond the city boundaries, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, featuring Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, none of these places particularly captivated him.

He added: “There’s a little bit more to see in the desert outside of the cities, but not very much. Mostly it’s just flat desert. Basically, I am thinking of the main cities on the Persian Gulf, and then including the cities of Saudi Arabia, which aren’t near the Persian Gulf but do border it. I just find these cities to be devoid of anything particularly interesting as a traveller. I find them to be very boring and stale.

“The streets are practically empty of people other than those in their cars. You don’t get the bustling, busy marketplace experience. All of those cities are built in a very similar style of massive skyscrapers. It makes for an impressive skyline, but then you get there on the ground and it’s big, wide streets that can be almost impossible to cross. There’s lots of traffic, massive distances, and not really anything that I want to do there. You can go in malls, you can go to some restaurants. Alcohol is banned for the most part, so that’s another drawback.”

Describing them as “soulless”, Gabriel went on to say: “I just find them to be kind of soulless and not unique in any way. You could drop me in any one of those cities and not tell me which one it is, and unless you had a view of, say, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai or some particular landmark, if you were in a typical neighbourhood you couldn’t distinguish it from any of the others. They’re all built exactly the same and just super boring. Now, they aren’t bad places to live necessarily or to raise a family. They are safe, they’re clean, and they’re hassle-free. There’s no hustling, scams, or anything really to worry about.”

Apart from Qatar and Dubai, which Gabriel places in his number one and two positions respectively, Gabriel believes that of all the destinations across the globe, he has “no desire to go back to that part of the world”, though he acknowledges the culture is “certainly fine”. However, Gabriel believes there’s another issue at play.

He said: “Most of the people you’re going to interact with aren’t even the local Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, Kuwaitis, or Bahrainis, because the local populations in all those countries are actually a minority. The majority of people you’ll encounter are workers from South Asia – Indians, Pakistanis, lots of Bangladeshis – who are working in restaurants, malls, hotels, and other service positions.

“The locals, as I understand it, receive paychecks from oil revenue and don’t really have to work, at least not in the typical service jobs. Maybe that’s not true in every country, but in general, if they are working, it’s more likely to be in business or professional roles, so you’re unlikely to interact with them as a visitor. That’s just one more thing that makes the experience feel kind of watered down – you don’t really get much of a local cultural experience. So, it’s nothing personal against the people,” Gabriel concludes.

In fact, the digital creator had a rather unsettling experience in Kuwait City when he was stopped and questioned for filming. Recounting the incident, Gabriel said: “I think it was in Kuwait City where I got questioned for filming. I was filming near one of the palaces – or something like that – and I had made a point of not filming one particular place that I thought could be a problem.

“But then I started filming something else, and a security guard waved me over. At that point, you definitely don’t want to run or try to avoid them, because that just makes things worse. So I walked over, and I believe he spoke English. He asked me what I was filming for, asked a few questions, and then let me go. But despite the relatively harmless outcome, it was still a very harrowing experience in the moment – being questioned by an authority figure without knowing how it’s going to play out.”

Reflecting on all the potential ways the encounter could have unfolded, Gabriel said: “They could easily say, “I want you to talk to my superior,” and then you’re being taken into some office where they’re suspicious of you and start asking more questions. It’s always a pretty traumatic experience, and it basically makes you want to leave. That’s exactly how I felt afterward-I just hoped I could get out of there without any more hassle. So that was one more drawback.”