BootsnAll Travel Community

This is a new thread of Europe warnings. It is to be used for Europe specific warnings only. Warnings include instances of robbery in a certain part of a city, bad hostel experiences, etc. As a content-rich thread, we do not want any back-and-forth or questions. Please direct all questions via Private Messages (Click on "Go" in the left hand corner, select "My Space" and then "Private Messages") to the poster. You can also issue a PM by clicker on the poster's name and selecting "Private Message". Any post that does not contribute relevant information will be deleted. Examples include: responses to previous posts in the thread and questions. The information can be on any city, region or country in Europe. When reading these experiences, please remember that there are two sides to every story and warnings should be issued sparingly.

Bad Youth Hostels:

Wake Up! London - like its infamous sister in Sydney, this is the ultimate anti-backpacker hostel. After taking a little tour I found it to be dirty (no hot water, kitchen looked as if it had never been cleaned), unsafe (people being given keys to rooms they were not staying in) and the place to come to if you don't actually want to travel: i.e. expensive pub in the basement where you can hit on your fellow travellers until 3am, that is if you can see through the smoke. I found the staff to be rude and accusative and the management equally so. This is a definite no go!

Camping Fusina Hostel (Venice, Italy)

This hostel is on the mainland, with small trailers as dorms. This may be an okay option during the summer months, but during the winter, the heaters can not keep up. But the biggest warning about this hostel is the bus route. It is the last stop, but it ends at 11 or 12 PM. Not knowing this, my friends and I boarded a bus that ended up leaving us in the middle of nowhere. RyanAir is cheap, but getting to a destination late can be very dangerous. That night we walked 15 miles with two Italians following us, one of which was high on coke and meth. So spend the extra bucks and arrive in the afternoon. At least if you are staying somewhere like Camping Fusina. Oh, and bring toilet paper if you stay here, too.

BEWARE OF PAYING OVER THE ODDS FOR YOUR EUROPEAN TRAVEL

Okay... so I’d like to chip in with a warning for all those non-Europeans who seem dead set on getting some kind of rail pass, bus pass or city pass to smooth their way round this happy continent. Eurailpass and the like may seem like a great deal, but it really is worth taking some time to check out how much the tickets for your proposed trips might cost if purchased locally. And that doesn’t mean just checking the point-to-point fares on one of the big US rail ticket distributors. You need to check what price you might pay for a ticket purchased here in Europe (or via a European website).

Europe bristles with cheap deals, with some especially cheap rail tickets for small groups travelling together, for pre-booked Internet tickets and so on. This is especially true in those western European countries with higher rail tariffs, where discounting of the regular fares on long distance services is very common (€29 from Munich to Rome or Berlin to Vienna for example). On France’s excellent TGV services, there is a great range of discount tickets, and, with a little flexibility, the chances are that you could zoom across France for €40.

Once you move into central and eastern Europe, standard tariffs plummet, and discounting is less common, but in these countries regular fares are often so cheap as just not to justify buying a railpass.

The rail ticket retailers in Oz, Canada and the USA rely, it has always seemed to me, upon visitors’ fears of high European rail fares to market their range of railpasses. They clearly aren’t going to shout about the many cheap deals available if you are prepared to spend the time combing European websites. But take the time to do that research, and you may well find that you can pick up a range of locally purchased tickets that make a rail pass redundant. It is certainly worth checking.

I do hope this comment helps.
Nicky Gardner
_______________________________________
hidden europe magazine - good writing that celebrates Europe's diversity
www.hiddeneurope.info

Avoid RyanAir all together. There are a dozen hidden charges and surprise fees (this is how they recoup for selling seats for 99P). The staff are poorly trained and sour from being yelled at every day by irate travelers who got stung by the hidden fees. Their network is weak. In some cities they fly out of airports that are so out of the way and cost one so much to reach that one could have paid for a First Class regular plane ticket in the end for the same price, particularly after the hidden fees get factored in.

EasyJet is infinitely better. More destinations, less hassle, less sneaky charges, more chipper staff.

Don’t stay at the Modern Hotel in Catania. There is nothing modern about it. I wanted to splurge a little, and figured 60 Euros might get me something nicer than a run down dump. Toilet ran all night, shower leaked, bed was hard, and I was scared for my life trying to find the place.

The hotel I stayed in while I was in Siracusa, was cheap. But spending the night sleeping on what felt like a plywood plank, in a room which felt like a South American prison cell, was not worth it. Add in the fact that every noise made in any other room echoed throughout the hallways- which included the person next door to me coughing and hacking as if he had tuberculosis all night- and there was no way I was staying another night to see the catacombs. I think it was called ‘Central hotel’ or something along those lines. It’s on a dirty street near the train station. I expected to wake up with fleas. Don’t stay there.

do not stay at any of the st christophers hostels they are very dirty and loud they re in the uk

Dont stay at 'generation europe' in brussels, bad location, bad staff, no atmosphere.

When in Rome, stay away from the statzione termini at night, it's kinda sketchy. Especially avoid walking the "piss tunnel" (I gave it that name after walking and smelling it myself at night) next to it.

Never, ever, go to the Youth hostel in Thessaloniki (although i think it was the only hostel i could find in this town). The hostel itself is on the third floor, while the showers are in the basment. basment means, dark and dirty. The beds aren't clean either. Only the location is good.

I agree. I got burned on an Eastern Europe Pass. Although it let me not worry about embarrassing myself at the ticket window with poor Polish, the conductor in Czech Rep. wouldn't accept the pass and I ended up paying the fare between Prague and Krakow anyway. Do not, I repeat DO NOT buy an east pass. The tickets between anywhere in Hungary, Czech, Poland, etc are dirt cheap anyway and it's almost all second class. Besides, I don't think the conductors are used to seeing an East pass and whipping it out shouts "STUPID TOURIST BOUGHT A RIPOFF PASS!" That would have been me... Eastern Europe is a gorgeous, affordable and relatively safe place. Can't wait to get back sans my east pass.... Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by Nicky Gardner (for hiddeneurope):
BEWARE OF PAYING OVER THE ODDS FOR YOUR EUROPEAN TRAVEL

Okay... so I’d like to chip in with a warning for all those non-Europeans who seem dead set on getting some kind of rail pass, bus pass or city pass to smooth their way round this happy continent. Eurailpass and the like may seem like a great deal, but it really is worth taking some time to check out how much the tickets for your proposed trips might cost if purchased locally. And that doesn’t mean just checking the point-to-point fares on one of the big US rail ticket distributors. You need to check what price you might pay for a ticket purchased here in Europe (or via a European website).

Europe bristles with cheap deals, with some especially cheap rail tickets for small groups travelling together, for pre-booked Internet tickets and so on. This is especially true in those western European countries with higher rail tariffs, where discounting of the regular fares on long distance services is very common (€29 from Munich to Rome or Berlin to Vienna for example). On France’s excellent TGV services, there is a great range of discount tickets, and, with a little flexibility, the chances are that you could zoom across France for €40.

Once you move into central and eastern Europe, standard tariffs plummet, and discounting is less common, but in these countries regular fares are often so cheap as just not to justify buying a railpass.

The rail ticket retailers in Oz, Canada and the USA rely, it has always seemed to me, upon visitors’ fears of high European rail fares to market their range of railpasses. They clearly aren’t going to shout about the many cheap deals available if you are prepared to spend the time combing European websites. But take the time to do that research, and you may well find that you can pick up a range of locally purchased tickets that make a rail pass redundant. It is certainly worth checking.

I do hope this comment helps.
Nicky Gardner
_______________________________________
hidden europe magazine - good writing that celebrates Europe's diversity
www.hiddeneurope.info

Here's a tip for Vilnius, Lithuania.
Ignore the funky website of the Baltica Hostel, professing it to be "the newest hostel in town, for sure". It's not. It's a musty collection of long corridors with hundreds of stuffy rooms on the 5th floor of a crumbling concrete block, set in a dodgy area of this otherwise wonderful city.
The reception has no information and can't even show you on a map where you are (it's off most maps).
Unless you want the ex soviet experience, stay away.

The HI affiliated Hostel I moved to now, Filaretai, is easy to get to from the Bus Station, walking distance from town, has nice rooms, free internet, good common room and all the tourist info. They can even book you into your next stay. I am paying significantly less too. (31LT as opposed to 45 at the Baltica)

Robbery in Russia

Don't avoid small towns in Russia because of this post, but do avoid making the same mistakes I did. I was robbed in the small town of Rostov, about three hours north of Moscow, mainly because I ignored common sense and standard advice.

I was out with another American, and we noticed a group of Russian teenagers celebrating their high school graduation. We decided to join them and had a great time doing so. Unfortunately, this put us in an otherwise deserted park at about 2 a.m. It was around the solstice so it wasn't completely dark, but nobody else was about. It was obvious that we were Americans (no real way to hide that without much more fluency in Russian) and we weren't on our guard and let slip the names of the places we were staying. The majority of the people there were kids who were just out to drink and have a good time, but there were a few hoodlums in the mix as well. I was wearing a backpack and felt people trying to get into it and unzip it in the confusion. When they started to pick us up as if in a mosh pit at a rock concert, I knew it was probably a good idea to get out of there. The other American was staying at a closer hotel. Once he left it was about 10 minutes to where I was staying. I noticed three of the kids from the park following me. They got closer, and stupidly I stopped to let them pass. One of them came up, grabbed my jacket, and knocked my glasses off. In the confusion the others grabbed my glasses, jacket, and the backpack I was wearing.

Although I lost a few things, on the whole I was quite lucky. There was no violence, for starters, and my passport and all of my money were elsewhere on me. I think they thought my wallet was in my jacket. I had the good luck to be carrying my camera in my pocket instead of the backpack as well. My main losses were my glasses, my journal in my backpack, and a digital memory card with some photos. I told my tale to the desk clerk at the hotel, who explained that there's enough poverty in rural Russia (if I may generalize a bit) that you should really watch out.

This happened because I was out late, walking alone, and had previously announced where I was going and implicitly what valuables I was carrying to a large group of people. The fact that the majority of the Russians I met in the park were really cool to hang out with helped to mitigate the loss somewhat. The important lessons are to be discreet about where you're staying, carry extra glasses or contacts if you wear them, don't take lots of stuff with you if you go out drinking, don't carry anything important in your jacket, and report losses to the police. I neglected to do the latter and later found that my glasses could have been replaced for much less with a report of the theft. Above all, use common sense and don't let this scare you away from having interesting conversations with locals.

Take care of your passport, i have been keeping my passport in a belt worn under my t-shirt which i admit has kept it fairly safe but it has also made it hot and sweaty. Only once on the hugarian border with ukraine, on the hungarian side, did the guard think that the bit of wear and tear on the passport was evidence of forgery which is a problem. I had to talk my way in to staying on the train, there was no problem on the ukranian side but every border now i get a little anxious. Ive bought a leather case to put it in before i put it in my money belt. Its bulkier now, that is stands out under a t-shirt, but it is a must to keep your passport in good nick.

" That night we walked 15 miles with two Italians following us, one of which was high on coke and meth. "

How do you know that?

thanks so much for the good tips. finally made it to the UK and have been loving it, but i'll be going into eastern europe in a few weeks and will definitely keep these warnings and advice in mind.

incidentally, for anyone curious: London has been very safe. at nottinghill carnival we actually saw more police and cops ready with gear bags for anything... than costumed dancers definitely keep your id with you if you're going to be in congested areas, and don't leave anything lying around as we've seen the police efficiently and promptly seal off one underground station and take away an abandoned back pack since arriving.

Apologies ahead of time for anyone who reads LP's Thorntree too: my boyfriend posted this over there, but I'm more of a Bootsnall gal so I'm posting it for you folks too:

So after spending 6 months in South America without incident, someone attempted to rob us on our first day in Madrid. Murphy’s Law, I suppose.

A word of warning: be very wary of Hostal Orly, the first hostal listed in the Madrid section of the March 2005 LP book, located at Calle de la Montera 47, 7th floor.

We checked in to Hostal Orly at 11am yesterday. The owner told us the room still needed to be cleaned, but would be ready by 12pm and that we could leave our bags there during that time. Thinking nothing of it (after all, our bags would be in our room while it was being cleaned on other days too), we gratefully left our bags in the closet and closed its doors.

We returned at 12:15pm and the cleaning lady told us the room wasn't ready yet. When the cleaning lady left, I joked that it was probably because they had been going through our bags. Unfortunately it turned out I was right. When we were allowed to enter our room at 12:30pm, we discovered my bag had been opened and its contents were in disarray.

We spent the next few minutes in shock and discussed our options. Given we were jet-lagged and exhausted (having had only 8 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours), we actually debated just staying for one night in order to get some much needed sleep. We really didn't have the energy for the argument we figured would ensue to get back the 45 Euros we had already paid for the first night.

But that idea flew out the window when, while we were talking about what to do, someone tried to open our door. And a few minutes after that, we realized that someone was standing outside our door and listening to us talk. Needless to say, we were now feeling violated and officially creeped out.

Gathering our bags and any remaining strength we had, we left our room only to be confronted immediately by the owner who "just happened" to be standing in the hall by our door. She asked us where we were going with our bags and we explained what happened. When we asked for our money back (given we had been in the room for a whopping 10 minutes), she said that was impossible. Next, she proceeded to talk to the cleaning lady to ask her if she had gone into our backpacks (big surprise, she said she hadn't), and then we proceeded to be yelled at by the cleaning lady.

The owner led us to the front door where a 10 minute argument ensued between us and her. (This was interrupted for a few minutes when the owner ran back to the cleaning lady and started yelling at her, leading us to believe this is not the first time something like this has happened there.) Anyway, I think after she saw we weren't going to leave without our money, she finally relented and brought us 40 of the 45 Euros we had paid her. When we asked her for the other 5 Euros, she said she was charging us for the 10 minutes we were in the room. And when we pointed out we were only in the room for those 10 minutes because we were momentarily shocked at discovering our bag had been rifled through, she started yelling at us again. At that point, we decided to cut our losses and left, but not before she cursed at us repeatedly. (Frankly we would have cursed at her too, if only we could have remembered some good Spanish curse words. The best we could do was to say she was a horrible person - although not the most sophisticated insult, saying it proved to be oddly satisfying. And we would have said she had cooties or her mama dresses her funny, but we just wanted to leave at that point. Heh.)

So, to get the point: while what happened to us may not happen to everyone at Hostal Orly, with so many places to stay in Madrid, it's probably not worth the risk. (As for us, we found one of those other places and are quite pleased again...although still steaming over those damn 5 Euros. Grrr!)

- Jessica
www.HedgehogsWithoutBorders.com

WARSAW WARNING (originally posted by gonefishin)

There is an Irish Pub located in Warsaw near the Centrum Shopping Center. It's almost directly across the main boulovard....the one that leads to the train station.

I stopped in one night, was enjoying a shot of vodka at the bar and a Polish english speaking guy sat next to me and began to chat. He was freindly enough and insisted on buying me another and welcoming me to Poland. I drank it and almost immediatly completly blacked out.
I woke up in the Warsaw jails drunk tank with blood stains on my legs, which had apparently drained down from my nose. That's a sign of poisoning.
Later that morning I was released and my wallet returned less about $200.
I made it back to my hostel (Nathan's Villa) and was told that wasn't the first time that that had happened with this Pub.

Chatlet Metro Station, Paris
Its a very busy metro station in Paris, and very notorious for its robbing. I got robbed there of my wallet - unfortunately my wallet even had my passport. I am still ruining part of my europe trip dealing with the issue and for now am stuck in France!
A couple of weeks later, another person I know got robbed at the same station and lost her passport! I believe it is a racket they have!
Hang your bags in the front in stead of at the back and keep the money safely tucked in front pockets. I have heard there is some mugging in the night - so I would say - Stay Clear!

Praha Warning

Be careful in crawded subway in Praha. I just got my wallet stolen by a pick pocketer, on my way to hostel after I got off of the airport. She distracted me by asking where to get off and she pulled my wallet right out of my bag I was carrying. When me and my friend were trying to make a police report, all the policemen we ran into kept on giving us running arounds, finally I said, "fuck it." As if that wasn't enough, as we continued our way to our hostel, I caught a guy digging into my bag again in subway. I thought this time he was after my camera, and after I confirmed the camera was still there, and turned around, he smacked me at the back of my head and preteded nothing happened. Although I'm eternally greatful for not loosing my passport, once I'm home I'll have to deal with all the headaches from replacing my debit card, credit card, driver's license, ID card, etc, etc...

Nic