[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by saXon

Let me tell you a story:

I just had a family reunion this weekend. My grandfather is having his 90th birthday this week and he’s not doing so well, so the whole family of 50+ strong of aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins children, etc all showed up. My grandpa just happens to live in Edmonton...

Let’s just say this trip was somewhat Jekyll and Hyde for me.

The good: Seeing family I haven’t seen for eons and all old enough to have a few drinks, and see our teenage children hang out together. Saying our last goodbyes to a man who started it all and living a full life of 90 years.

The bad: $2600 out of pocket. (Only worth it for family, otherwise not worth it at all.)
4 days of hell in the worst city on earth. We flew from lower main and my Fiancé had never been to Edmonton. She was excited to go, but I warned her before we went. It was an eye opening experience for her:
-angry rude drivers (no word of a lie, cut off every 10 minutes).
-traffic never stops
-gps for 8 of our family’s phones and a car rental gps wouldn’t work properly, including mine. It took us on a few wild goose chases and circling a few residential blocks even though our destination was main road locations. Looks like google, garmin, and apple don’t give a crap about mapping Edmonton properly
-beer somehow costs more there than in BC.
-West Ed mall hasn’t changed from the dingy 80’s decor. If you reno a building, do the whole thing, don’t pick a hallway or two...
-love me some abused seals
-sweatpants and dress shoes is a real thing
-showers are not a real thing
-my first ever uber driver was a nice guy, but porn stache, camo woods jacket, sweatpants, dess shoes with a gold buckle, aviator glasses, mullet, unshowered, and driving a beautiful brand new cadillac SRX. Retired rigger.
-people cutting in line for everything
-delusional Oilers fans is a reality. Went into the sports memorabilia store and overheard the conversation between 3 middle aged oulers fans. “Oh, there’s a new framed setup eh? Don’t you have that one yet, eh? I don’t! I’m buying it, live the Nuge, top 10 center in the NHL!”
-No trees, Fiance’ asked if there was anything somewhat scenic in Edmonton. I just chuckled
-The airport is horrible, rude security staff to our kids. Yelling orders, made one of our kids cry, and just robotic. I told them off.
-Cold as eff. -30c with no cover.
-nothing to do but shop and spend money
-don’t stay at Sawridge if you have to travel there. Worst staff, rude, breakfast gave my Fiancé and another cousin food poisoning, threaten to charge for everything even though it’s included in the room’s price. Theft from one of the maids turning down an uncle’s room. Front desk night staff won’t answer their supposed 24/7 phone. It just never ended.
-Service at every restaurant is slow as molasses, and always a slurry of “sorry we’re out, or we don’t have that.”

Edmonton is a horrible place

There are 2 or 3 really scenic places in edmonton, you just have to drive through the 20 minutes of industrial zones/ endless strip malls that surround these places from every side.
I've lived here for 11 years now, always thought I would come back but life happens. I actually really love certain parts about edmonton. I think your critique of the food scene here is actually unfair, as I find it is well priced and has great quality and variety compared to other major cities.
The weather, drivers, and about 50% of the population are as bad or worse than you claim. The city planning and infrastructure (and all subsequent repairs/construction) are comically- a toddler has a better chance of having designed usable infrastructure.
However, there is a subset of the population here that are some of the warmest, most optimistic and caring people I have ever met anywhere. It's a weird juxtaposition.
They are still all delusional about the Oilers.