scarface

Thanks Christina. I don't know the girls names, didn't care to remember them and was keeping the account patchy on exact details as I'm still here.

Apologies if, it reads like a bit of story telling but I had to get the whole account off my chest to make sense of it and to inform others.

I read a few similar accounts now and realize I was pretty damn naive, but I've had drinks with people I've met traveling loads of times before, I'm friendly and outgoing and my description of myself was honest just so you got the picture that the approach wasn't exactly something out of the ordinary for me back home.

I didn't meet them by a dark river, but on the main brightly lit lively
thoroughfare. And for the record I'm in my twenties.

SloJan

My DH travels to Budapest weekly for business. The girls are Hello Girls and they are everywhere. When he goes out to dinner, he is regularly accosted. I can see how a young guy in his 20's would fall for it. We have sat in a bar outside on the Danube and watched the girls in action. They are beautiful.

Best advice---if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

Aocla

This info is meant for US citizens, but useful for anybody. Hotels should post this info for turists:

http://budapest.usembassy.gov/tourist_advisory.html

whyruupset

Dear upset tourists...

there is absolutely no reason for you to be upset...men are the same no matter where they come from...and scams are the same it happens in every city...the one in Budapest actually u cant call it a scam because

- you dont have to go to those places ,you follow the girls ...its normal...as usual men follow their dick
-all the prices are shown in the shop windows as well-and all the prices are on the menus on each and every table (cant get away with saying 'oh they changed my menu') no stupid why would they do that?
-in Hungary there are no categorized prices,it's a free priced country if i wanna sell a pair of jeans for 3000000HUF i can do that
-theres no point yelling for police not because of they are corrupt because they are after these places as well but because this is not a poloce problem they absolutely have nothing to do with this
-so basically if you are not so fucking stupid to forget to check the prices (just like you do it everywhere unless you wanna be super generous and proud to show that you are with 2 pretty girls) you are not in trouble
-otherwise once you drank and ate you MUST pay no matter where you are or who you are

nc

RufusTFirefly

Christina--almost all men rate pretty much every woman they encounter. Some use a strict numerical system, others use less precise systems. But they all rate.

The only exceptions are gay men. They rate other men instead of woman.

Avoid almost any man who denies this--he is a liar hoping to get "close to you" by appearing to be a sensitive male. The only exception to this rule is a married man who denies it to his wife--this is called self-preservation, not lieing.

Intrepid1

Rufus, what does make you such an expert on what "gay men" do???

david_west

This happpens all over the world. We have joints like this in London - we call them "clip joints" and, remarkably, they are legal, so if you are stupid enough to get caught out - tough! Think of it as a tax on stupidity.

Another variation on the theme in Easter Europe is where the girl gets "friendly" and comes back to your hotel room. They will be drinking something dark coloured and opaque like red wine. They will give you some of this. Needless to say it's a micky finn and you hit the floor. The girl then robs you.

They basicallly rely on the embarassment factor - and the fact that you are on holday and don't want to spend all day in a police station, to assume that you will write off the few hundred quid (or whatever) you have in your wallet - they don't steal cards they're not stupid.

Even if the mug does go to the police and they catch the girl- she simply says she is a prostitute and the money was for "services rendered".

Sadly chaps, thete is very little stupider than a randy bloke who thinks he's pulled a cracker. Some of us hhave to find out the hard way

David - Naturally cynical, so has never fallen for this.

neejas

I just returned last Thursday from a month long trip which included three days in Budapest. I was with three other family members. We felt safe for the most part but always used caution and made sure two of us were together at all times. On our last day in Budapest, we decided to take a walk on the Buda side near the river during daytime. I had three cameras in a bag with the bag unzipped (not smart on my part) and hanging from my shoulder taking photos along the way. My brother noticed a guy following us and then a second guy joined in. Stopping outside a market and a store. Then when we exited one of the markets, another guy joined in with the other two around the corner and continued to follow us. My brother and I went into a church and came back out a few minutes and noticed one or two of them still outside. We were staying on a Danube riverboat which was not far from where we were and walked pretty fast to the boat without any incident. We lost them crossing a busy roadway on the Danube to the boat. For the most part, I felt safer in Europe than in Dallas or some other U.S. cities. Not really concerned about violent crimes. But Budapest raised some hairs on our heads and made us aware of using caution and safety. I've encountered less brazen pickpockets in London and Rome, but never experienced such an obvious chase. This happened in a less touristy area of Buda.

RufusTFirefly

Hi, Intrepid--I have numerous friends; some straight, some gay, some bi, some I don't know what they are. We do talk to one another.

Though my original response was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Somewhat.

verynaiveirishgirl

We spent Christmas in Budapest. We thought it would be a lovely, magical experience. We stayed in a lovely 5 star hotel.

I am not going to get angry here - as I did on a previous forum!.. Not Fodors by the way.

Our overall impression and experience of the City of Budapest was one of the worst ever. I was especially upset and felt very unsafe from my experience. I came away from the city feeling suspicious and frightened. I was afraid to interact with anyone, because sure enough when I did interact I was met by gruff, cold and unfriendly people and I was constantly afraid that I might in some way be breaking their laws and be fined on the spot, and then the police would come and escort me to jail (which almost happened on Christmas Day as I failed to validate my metro ticket).

Some people may say I am naive and should have done my homework and that all the ticket checkers are doing is just making sure people don't try to ride around for free. It costs about euro 1.20 for the trip I took outside my 5 star hotel to the Szecheny Bath and another euro 1.20 for the return. I was so shocked that the two women (who I thought were beggers by the way and I tried to avoid them as I had not been received well previously when I tried to interact with the locals) zoned in on me and stopped me physically to see my ticket when I was getting off the train at Deak Ferenc Ter. I went to walk away as I thought they were begging. When I realised they wanted my tickets I handed them over and was told that I had to pay a fine on the spot. I still thought they were beggers. I could not believe that the City of Budapest employs people on Christmas day and accosts very obvious looking tourists to make sure they don't take advantage of the City to the tune of a couple of euro. Of course like any normal person I tried to explain that we did not know what to do with our tickets, I thought maybe there might be ticket checkers on the train to collect the tickets. I had no idea you had to validate it before travelling. I had no idea there was no date stamped on the ticket to prove my innocence that I had only just bought the ticket. I had no idea it was an honour type system they have. When I went to walk away I was prevented physically and of course I lost my temper (I am just a very naive person and had no idea what was going on). I wished them both a very merry (expletive) Christmas and tapped her on the arm and was barked back with don't touch me. The police were being called (so they said) and my partner pulled out his wallet to pay them. She then let me walk away and I could honestly see the glint of corrupted greed in her eyes when she saw the money coming out of the wallet. My partner was scared that we would go to jail and had screamed to me that we really don't want to go to jail in a country in eastern europe.....

Unfortunate, bad events happened just a few too many times to be a once-off bad experience - that I was unlucky and that I drew it all upon myself.

On our initial arrival to the airport one of our bags was missing (they were checked in together). Also about 30 other passengers' bags were missing (they all had part of their luggage I noticed). No problem - ok so we go to the desk to do the paperwork, etc. It was a fairly awful scene that unfolded. The girl at the desk started screaming at everyone, she was hyperventilating and crying and was unable to handle the situation. Ok - so again no problem, she was only in her third day on the job and still in training, and her supervisor would come to help her or relieve her for the time being and they might get some other desk people to handle the volume of missing luggage from our flight. No - absolutely no-one came. I could see some other airport workers looking at her like she was some kind of idiot and freak. This was the first impression I had of Budapest - that you are on your own and it is dog eat dog out there - no matter what. And that really is the feeling I grew to feel more and more in Budapest.

Oh and the taxi driver who took us to our lovely 5 star hotel was another story. I was very warm in the taxi (after all our excitement I suppose) and asked him if he could turn down the heat please. Silence. I asked again as maybe he did not hear me and of course he speaks a different language to me. Silence. I'm not sure if I asked again - I was quite surprised that there was not even a bit of body language expression from him to say he may have heard something from his passenger but did not understand. He did not twitch one solitary muscle and we may as well not even have been in his taxi. Again, I found this to be very strange and not very nice or amicable behaviour. So that was one of the times when I tried to engage with some people in Budapest.....

When I went to tell the people at the 5 star hotel about how awful the experience with the ticket checkers was I was again met with a look of - oh well that's the way it is here.

I'm sure there will be many replies to say how stupid I am. So be it. I am glad to be home from Budapest. It was the worst experience of my life.

Clifton

naiveirishgirl,

Sorry you had such a bad experience with Budapest, the expectations of how they'd run the metro not withstanding. My experience in Budapest was quite different and I truly enjoyed many exchanges we had with local people - even in cases when there wasn't a shared language. But I understand that not everyone might during their stay. Something like that is purely accidental.

I do admit I am less understanding of your expectation of their metro system and laws. Plainclothes officers checking tickets aren't terribly unusual around the world and if ever there was a case to be made for not judging people based on appearances... Nor expecting the laws that bind locals would be overlooked for visitors. Where does that happen? The validation thing is also very common across many public transport systems worldwide. Best to check what one buys if it's in hand anyway. Well, no best is to read up a bit before traveling, but second best is to look for logical clues when on the ground. Validation is what separates the immediate use ticket from the advance purchase. If you didn't stamp it some way, you could just keep using it indefinitely. That there is an honor system is pretty clear - no turnstyles. Also the machine there that says to validate.

In all fairness, however, it sounds much like my first experience arriving in Dublin. Missing luggage, inept response to that.... ripped off by an aggressive taxi driver, disinterested service here and there. It happens or can happen anywhere. Part of the experience is what we bring with us, as it is driven by what we're familiar with, including whether or not we're used to having a public transport system, or living around very chatty people, etc. None of which is a reflection on Dublin, of course. Nor is it a reflection of Budapest, IMO.

nytraveler

Oy got - girly - this was all your fault. And no matter how much you rant and rave you will not convince others not to visit Budapest - a wonderful city in many respcts.

Just give it up.

grrr

Ah, irishgirlie discovered how to copy and paste. Good girl, good girl. And now go back and take your medicine, will you?

alanRow

Especially when you dig up a posting that last had an entry in 2006.

justretired

I'm the OP, and since that daughter went to Eastern Euope ( she had a ball), my daughters have continued to travel. In the past few years, they have visited Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El savador, Mexico, Madagascar, and Ethiopia. Currently, my oldest is in Guatemala at a yoga retreat. I'm much less anxious these days and appreciate all your support and patience with a nervous parent.

Dukey1

I just read the original post. This kind of thing has been happened for EONS mand not just in Budapest as I am certain you already know.

IMO the "concern" should be with the thought processes of the people involved..they were thinking with the wrong organ for sure.

nausikaaltdbvi

When I was between 25 to 32 I travelled and worked in many african countries, including conflict areas. I was shot at, locked up and arrested on several occasions by treatening soldiers. I had probably had every trick and scam possible thrown in my path but soon learnt how to out manoever in even the trickiest of situations. So learning by experience when you are young is a necessary part of life.
However the funny irony today (at mid life) is that I am constantly surprised how easily I now fall into the most obvious of everyday scams like having recently had my laptop stolen from under my nose. My point is that I realise I didn t fall for scams when I was living on a very high state of alert, when I knew my life depended on it. Since I don t have that pressure I fall into any old trick. It is not about being nieve because the simple truth is that anyone can fall for a scam when travelling or within the comfort of your own home.
The best thing you can do is let your daughter know that you have confidence in her and that if anything happens you will be behind her and ready to help or support her.
Personally I am yet to meet a nieve woman. In my experience it is always the men that fall into stupid situations. There are tourist overland travel operators who offer tours in africa on specially prepared overland trucks. This is quite a hard job for the driver of the truck who is responsible for the safety of the tourists and has often to negotiate some very difficult situations. If you ask the travel companies who the best drivers are for driving trucks across africa they will tell you that women are best at this job. If you have a big deep mud filled hole in the middle of an african road you can bet the bloke will try to drive through the middle of it while the woman will take more time to work a way around it !

justretired

I started this thread in 2004, so maybe if folks want to talk about curent scams, they can start a new thread. Thanks, anyhow, for the cute and interesting responses.