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The Selfish Years

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Tag Archives: Downton Abbey

The Selfish’s Top 10 Biggest Letdowns

07 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Africa, Asia, Best Of, Europe, Oceania, Rant

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Angkor Wat, China, Downton Abbey, Great Barrier Reef, Highclere Castle, New Zealand, Nha Trang, Russian Tourists, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Terracotta Warriors, Yellow Eyed Penguins

Mrs. Selfish and I were very fortunate to be able to travel the world (safely!) for a year, seeing and doing things we would otherwise never do. While the majority of the trip was amazing, we had more than our fair shares of letdowns.

Whether we went in with inflated expectations, or the experience really wasn’t that worth doing, there were things that just didn’t live up to their reputations.

For your consideration, I present you our 10 biggest letdowns (in no particular order). The first image is what I imagined the experience would be (thanks to the magic of the internet) and the second is reality.

Enjoy!

The not-so Sanguine Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat Sunrise

Imagination: Sunrise over mystical Angkor Wat. Peaceful. Tranquil.

Angkor Wat 02

Reality: Shoving your way through throngs of tourists to catch a shot of overcast ruins at 5:00am in the morning.

Siem Reap, and Angkor Wat are awe-inspiringly awesome and totally worth doing. That being said, catching the sunrise was one of the most touristy experiences of our entire trip. We woke up at 4:30am to hit Angkor Wat along with what seemed like 1000 other people. Totally packed, and not that sanguine – definitely not what I was picturing.

 

Definitely not Downton: Highclere Castle

Highclere Imagination

Imagination: Strolling the grounds of Downton Abbey with Maggie Smith on a perfect day.

Reality: Rainy weather most of the time. Plus they rent it out for weddings. Wha-wha.

While we still had a blast at “Downton Abbey,” Highclere Castle is actually quite different from what you’d hope. The Castle is used to shoot the show mostly during the summer, and is open to the public for a few (hotly visited) months. The inside is peppered with familiar rooms, but it’s full of family skiing photos from the 80’s. Plus the duchess of Highclere will try and sell you her book on the REAL Downton Abbey in the gift shop. Classy.

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Downton Abbey

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by mrsselfish in Europe, London, United Kingdom

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Tags

Day Trip, Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle, London

Mr. Selfish and I adore Downton Abbey so when we learned that the exterior and interior shots were filmed at Highclere Castle, we knew we had to take a day trip there.  Unfortunately, we used up all of good weather karma in Ireland and London. It was raining the entire time and extremely chilly.

Highclere Castle was still magnificent.  It was built in the 1830’s in the same style as the Houses of Parliament in London.  The Earl of Carnarvon and his wife currently reside in Highclere Castle.

We weren’t allowed to take photographs inside but I snuck a couple of Lady Edith’s room and the servant’s board.  As we toured the other many rooms, such as the saloon and the dining room, we could imagine the Dowager Countess of Grantham, as played by Maggie Smith, making snippy and disparaging remarks.

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Mr. and Mrs. Selfish are an obsessively organized couple who sold all their junk to travel abroad for a year. Now settled in San Francisco, they have since visited over 200 cities in 44 countries over 6 continents. This site chronicles their travels.

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