“Albania 🇦🇱 ~Our Plans Have Taken a Turn”

• July 2, 2020
• By Pen n Daryl
• 0 Comment

UPDATE

The status for our 2-week stay at Tirana Resort in Radhime, Albania has taken a dramatic turn. We had such high hopes with this property when we arrived, as we really needed a place to rest up. But it was not meant to be.

We arrived at the Tirana Resort, full of excitement, after we left Vlore for our a one night stay. We were so happy to “land” at our reserved location, after three very busy weeks, where we could finally relax and workout in a pool, again. The apartment was so-so, but the complex around the pool was nice. BUT, instead of relaxing, it was three days of misery. It was one of our biggest let downs in our 2.5 years of full-time travel. 

After we arrived on-site, unpacked and enjoyed a part of a day, the price for our confirmed booking went from $555 for two weeks, to $1395, with no explanation. The apartment owner chimed in and demanded $50 a night, instead of our booking rate of $35 a night. She actually wrote she did not know why Booking would rent her place so us for such a low price! After three days of fighting with Booking and hearing them tell me (on the phone), I was correct with my confirmed booking of $555 for 14 days, I would get a follow-up email, stating they are taking the owners side! We were stuck and my nerves were raw! I had spent $20 on phone calls to booking at this point, and getting nowhere!

The final straw came when we were told to get out of the pool on day three; being told by the manager that there was a new COVID19 restoration for its use. After we got our refund for the money we paid (advance for five days of pool use) we got out. I had my doubts about what the manager said, so I called the US Embassy in Albania. A nice woman told me there was no new rule implemented on public pool uses. It got a little uncomfortable for us, when the half a dozen locals on vacation at this resort began hounding the manager about him closing the pool. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The pool had been open since May, when the Albanian borders opened; when the Government was determined to have a full on summer tourist season. I did my research. The manager and the staff seemed afraid of us being from American, and probably thought we carried the virus. (we were told by restaurant staff, Americans never come here). Nobody knew we had not just arrived from America, and instead sheltered in Greece, during the lockdown.

We were very surprised we had to pay $10 a day to use the pool, which was not stated in our booking agreement, and though the booking said WIFI was available in all areas, it only worked at the pool area (barely); which we had to pay $10 a day to use as well. In the 11 days we had left, that total would be: $107. Did everybody have to pay this fee, or just us? We had no idea. Looking back, it may have been the first ruse, to get us to go away.

Finally, I got a message from Booking one last time, and we were actually relieved to see the options. “Meet the demands of the owner, or checkout.” It sounded like a threat from the Mafia or something. We became even more uncomfortable by this point, and since we wanted to keep all our fingers and toes, it was an easy decision to leave. But, without this final decree, from Booking, of the new terms, our departure would have been considered a cancelled booking, and we could have been charged the full amount of up to $1395, which is an erroneous amount stated by Booking, though they claim they don’t know how that happened 🙄. In addition the dates of arrival have been consistently wrong on Bookings part, no matter how many times I told them the actual dates. We did not arrive on the 27th We arrived on the 28th of June.

Daryl went into reception to check out, and was told they could not help us. We left the apartment keys on the table with $107 for our three night, and in 30 minutes, we were packed-up and on the road again, watching Tirana Resort fade away in our rear view mirror, with real mixed emotions; Happy to be done with the huge disappointment and drama, and sad we were treated so poorly.

We drove north and tried stops at Durres, and Tirana, but we just didn’t care for this part of Albania, The look of this region is of the post-communism era, which it truly was at one time. There was nothing but blah, worn out building, abandoned buildings and all the towns were sad and unkept. We stopped at several hotels and inquired, (noticing the swimming pools full of activity). Nothing appealed to us with A/C option, (A/C is important; and a must-have for us, this time of the year in Europe). We also had 80 dollars worth of groceries we were trying to salvage, and this, in the end, was a bust! (we tried). 

We considered going back down south, but it was almost dark by this point and we were exhausted. We found a roadside hotel for the night, and honestly, we have no idea where we stopped 🤣🤣🤣 and don’t really care. This morning, I took a picture out the window. We paid $27 for the night with A/C. The staff was actually nice here at the hotel.

We are very close to Macedonia and it’s looking like that might be our new direction. OR, we might go back to Greece to finish our Visa days, there. We felt very welcomed in Greece.

Obviously, we do not have a plan, yet, but Albania has not been an overall good experience for us. The prettiest part of our driving adventure, after we left Athens, Greece 🇬🇷, was Central, and Northern Greece, and a small part of Southern Albania, through the mountain range along the coast. 

We will post, eventually, but it might not be till we reach our next country! We have very poor WIFI in Albania, which happens a lot, in other third-world countries too.

Just Know, we are good, and keeping our spirits up. We are, after all, “adventuring,” in one form or another, and this makes us very happy. We are also together and there is immense comfort in this, which we never take for granted!!

Know this as well; we are in no way putting any humans at risk; young or old with the virus, because we already had the yucky COVID19 back in January, while in Egypt. We survived without medical intervention.

Life is an adventure, as well as traveling full-time, and must take the good, the bad, and the ugly! Lately it’s been pretty bad, but it will get better, as it always does. Joy is right around the corner, we are sure of it!

By The Way: We do not recommend Tirana Resort in Radhime, Albania and we no longer promote Booking dot com.