Many folks who spend a fair chunk of their lives travelling will get asked one question more than any other: "What's your favourite place?" We remember the places we instantly fell in love with and which we recommend to all our friends. But what about those other less successful stops on our trips - the towns we couldn't wait to see the back of, where we wiped our feet on the way out and swore we'd never return?

There are many reasons why we might take a strong dislike to a particular place - the fact that we know in most if not all cases that our reasons for hating a place are totally irrational does not make the feelings any less strong or real for us. So what does cause us to get so turned off by a place that we wouldn't wish our worst enemy a stay there? Here are seven things that might make us choose anything ahead of a return visit: 

1. Sickness

Nothing makes a place seem worse than staring at the inside of a bathroom door for most of your time there; the worse the state of the bathroom the more traumatic the experience. If you're feeling rough you can't get out and make the most of your temporary surroundings. If the sickness lasts for the entire length of your stay then the lasting impression of that whole place will not be a good one.

2. Being a victim of crime

Whether you have your bag stolen, your room broken into or worse, falling prey to criminals is likely to be the over-riding memory of the place where the incident happened. Even if crime is not rampant in that place that doesn't help you if you're one of the unlucky ones (I thought San Cristobal de las Casas was a very attractive city, but....) .  

3. Being ripped off (legally)

There are many ways to lose money quickly and most of them are sadly quite legal. Hotels charging more than you expected, a taxi negotiation that gets nasty or a restaurant bill that includes certain extras that weren't mentioned at the start of the meal. Incidents like these get linked to our memories of a whole city (sorry, Bucharest). 

4. Nightmare companions

You know the ones - they say hello as soon as you get on the bus and before you've even sat down you know you're in trouble. Perhaps you even choose to get off at a different stop just to avoid their self-obsessed monologue. But fate tends to have the last laugh, inevitably forcing you into another chance encounter with your hard-to-shake-off companion. An exit from wherever you are can't come quickly enough in these cases.

5. Weather

However lovely a place may be it is hard to appreciate it when looking through sheets of relentless downpours when you spend more time trying to keep at least your valuables dry than you do admiring your surroundings. This is nothing more than bad luck; it does rain pretty much everywhere after all. But think back to a place where you were trapped indoors (or soaked to the skin) and the memories will be somewhat dampened.

6. Closed for the season

Off-season can be a great time to visit some places. Less queuing, less noise and better service are some of the benefits of arriving in a place away from the crowds. This can work the other way however and when EVERYTHING in town is closed (including the restaurants), the place that was a must-see according to the guidebook suddenly becomes an empty dump. 

7. Arguments

All travellers will have occasional disagreements with their companions, whether it be their spouse, friend or insignificant other. Whoever you are with those moments of anger will cloud your memory of the unfortunate place you happened to be in when domestic bliss was shattered. When you get home and the mention of that place instantly brings a flashback of a blazing row, there's not really much likelihood of a return visit. 

What are your reasons for falling out of love with a place on your travels?