OP, do the world a favor and just go to EPCOT the next time you want to experience another country!

Not a lot of love for OP it seems.

Booking.com tells me everything I need to know about your ability to travel. Nobody uses that site.

Pro tips:

1. Stay at a hotel…always.

2. Have your hotel concierge arrange a car service to/from hotel/airport. (They won’t scam the hotel since it’s their source of gigs.)

^^^
Foolproof ways to avoid problems.

Ugh.I had a bad experience with a Swiftie who went around acting like an idiot and then blamed an entire country! I hate Swifties! They are terrible, boycott them!

I traveled through Krakow and loved it. We only had an issue when we were taking the bus and accidentally missed our stop. There were "police" on the bus (which went to a tourist destination so it was an easy target) that charged us money, maybe 35 dollars, I can't remember, for not paying the right ticket fee. I didn't argue. Just paid by credit card and then went online to dispute the charges with my credit card and was given a refund.

When we got to Rome, the cabbie ripped us off (we gave him a 100 and he gave us change for a 50, then claimed we gave him a 50). It was almost charming tbh - I wondered briefly if the tourism board coordinated it!

You sound not ready for international travel OP. Poland is one of the cleanest, safest places in all of Europe. If you can’t handle Poland, then you can’t handle anywhere.

Also I love how Americans come to Europe, snap up Taylor tickets because they are SOOO much cheaper than at home, depriving locals of tickets (and housing in the case of Airbnbs) in the process, and then complain when the red carpet isn’t rolled out for them.

Americans really are a dumb breed.

I’m sorry that this happened to you, OP.

I have spent a lot of time in Poland and LOVE it. Key is booking nice hotels or apartment hotels. Only take public transportation or Uber.

I enjoyed biking around Warsaw, listening to Chopin concerts, strolling in the beautiful Royal Baths Park, elegant little cafes where you can have cake and coffee, and hot chocolate that you can eat with a spoon!

There is a lot to love. I’m sorry that your experience was bad.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. If you are to visit Poland, here is my advice:

- don’t
- if you do, don’t trust anyone/anything. Always be suspicious and verify
- only book in chain hotels
- don’t use guides, DYI it

You do know people got scammed on TS tickets and Abnb right here in ‘Merica too?

I’m truly sorry OP, that sounds awful. It is unfortunate because Poland had a chance to show off its country to new tourists and they should have gone out of their way to impress people so they would return and tell their friends. Tourism is big business.

Come on, people. Some countries can be worse than others when it comes to scams. And sometimes you can also hit a string of bad luck.

For me, it was Vietnam. It really left a bad taste in my mouth even though I know plenty of people who have been there with few issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You booked accommodation on Airbnb, a site with no quality control.

You took a taxi without looking at your destination on a map. (Too cheap to pay for a data plan?)

You booked tickets on Stubhub, a site with no quality control. (Sensing a pattern here.)

Op, POLAND is not your problem. If you’re going through life with a due diligence strategy of “Other people are responsible for giving me what I want,” then what you get is… this. This is all on you, ducky.

Actually,

1. I do have a data plan on my phone. It didn’t occur to me that I needed to micromanage the taxi driver.

2. Stubhub has very good customer service. They issued us another set of tickets after I complained.

We ended up seating in our original seats. They were legit. It was some bs Polish bureaucracy.

Also, forgot to mention, all the guide tours we had were really bad. Don’t hire tours, do it yourself with audio guides.

What?!



If that's your take on taxi drivers it's a wonder you made it home.

Good grief.

DP. I have traveled a lot and also never had a need to map out where a taxi driver is going.

There are plenty of unscrupulous car hire drivers the world over and unless you truly don’t care about cost/travel time it’s always a good practice to independently check google maps to ensure the route you’re taking makes sense.

Just because you’ve always ended up where you wanted to be doesn’t mean you haven’t been taken on a circuitous route.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You booked accommodation on Airbnb, a site with no quality control.

You took a taxi without looking at your destination on a map. (Too cheap to pay for a data plan?)

You booked tickets on Stubhub, a site with no quality control. (Sensing a pattern here.)

Op, POLAND is not your problem. If you’re going through life with a due diligence strategy of “Other people are responsible for giving me what I want,” then what you get is… this. This is all on you, ducky.

Actually,

1. I do have a data plan on my phone. It didn’t occur to me that I needed to micromanage the taxi driver.

2. Stubhub has very good customer service. They issued us another set of tickets after I complained.

We ended up seating in our original seats. They were legit. It was some bs Polish bureaucracy.

Also, forgot to mention, all the guide tours we had were really bad. Don’t hire tours, do it yourself with audio guides.

What?!



If that's your take on taxi drivers it's a wonder you made it home.

Good grief.

DP. I have traveled a lot and also never had a need to map out where a taxi driver is going.

For work, I have lived in both Slovakia and Ukraine, which share proximity and cultural mores with Poland. Yes, there is corruption, and yes, you can be scammed if not careful.

But I also lived in Pakistan and India for a few years, and the lies and scams in THAT region of the world are truly astounding. If someone in India or Pakistan is speaking to you, there is a high chance they are telling a lie/trying tondeceive/scam you, and the lack of shame when they are caught out is disgusting. Poland is squaky-clean honest in comparison. OP, don't ever go there.