FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ALBANIA | Be careful in Tirana!! Our worst travel experience yet :(

Рет қаралды 60,480

Күн бұрын

Location: Tirana, Albania
Recorded: April 24, 2022
Vlog 136
In this vlog we headed from Budva in Montenegro to Tirana in Albania!
We started off by taking a bus from Budva to Podgorica, which is the capital of Montenegro. From there, we caught a bus that crossed the Albanian border and dropped us off in the city center of Tirana!
We then took a taxi to the airport, because we wanted to rent a car, and then drove finally to our Airbnb.
Our Airbnb in Tirana was great! We hung out for a few hours before picking up our friend from college Davina in the middle of the night.
The next day, we explored Tirana. We got some breakfast in the morning at Skanderberg square, toured the bunker museum and went to all the major monuments and places to see in Tirana.
We were planning on staying a few hours longer in Tirana, however, we almost got robbed, and certainly got verbally assaulted. Watch near the end of the video to see what we mean!
After this traumatic experience, we immediately left Tirana, and did a cool 4 hour drive down to Sarande in the south!
We hope you enjoy the vlog, and we are excited to show you more of Albania over the next few days!
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#travel #backpacking #budgettravel #fulltimetravel #travellife #patriciaandmatt #travelvlog #albania #albaniatravel #tirana #backpackingtravel #vlog
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:30 Bus from Budva to Tirana, Albania!
1:25 Making it to Tirana
1:57 Matt pulled a dumb
2:45 Amazing Airbnb in Tirana!
5:01 Our friend Davina joined us in Albania!
5:28 Exploring Tirana
10:08 Almost got robbed in Tirana, Albania!!!
14:27 Roadtrip to Sarande!
15:10 Thanks for watching!

Пікірлер: 150

@srbinbrate88 Жыл бұрын

Im Serbian, i have been to Albania. We lost in the middle of night outside of Durres. Some local guys all young, patriots even some ultras helped us even if i say im Serbian with my mother and our friends are waiting us in Durres. We talk about toursim, guys trying to read translate and speak my langauge. After car stopped (rented car good one but we didnt have luck) we end up in some pizzeria, to help us find the way we stay for dinner, they even had one guy who was in war and he didnt care about us begin Serbs. They took us with their cars to the hotel and friends, our phone dead car dead, oh and the 1 time when our car stopped some older guy 70 helped us too. The funny thing in pizzeria i forgot to say we said where we re from we were about to sit and dude turned on TV there was Vucic president of Serbia i was like oh God he is hunting us everywhere, everyone was laughing. So stop saying Albania is bad, the most kind and beautiful place with amazing people.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

We never said Albania was bad. We shared an experience that we had in Tirana. This is our place to share our travel stories. These situations could happen in any city, but it was scary that no one was willing to help then. Anyways, we made videos about the rest of our Albanian travels sharing the kind people and beautiful places that we visited.

@ellensandor741 6 ай бұрын

@@morenatirana4539 Where was the honor as these three young people were put in a dangerous situation and no one was willing to help them? There is no honor in that.

@Sarit473 4 ай бұрын

Albania is the best!!

@emgodas 3 ай бұрын

As an Albanian I don't hate you civilians, I hate the evil government ruled by the devil

@ndricimcakallozi7483 3 ай бұрын

you are more than welcome to come again my friend .🙂

@TheIntentionalMan Жыл бұрын

So odd that you got this experience. I just moved here and all the expats I’ve been meeting agree on the same things; super friendly, safe, fun, and hidden gem-esque.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

We believe it was an incredibly unlucky situation! We had a great morning in Tirana and enjoyed the rest of our time in Albania. We’ll come back with better luck haha

@richardhutton4924 Жыл бұрын

We spent 3 nights in Tirana last year and it is probably the friendliest city we have visited in Europe, and being from England with access to cheap airlines we have been to many! I would strongly recommend giving Tirana a 2nd chance and exploring places such as blloku with its amazing restaurant and bar scene. While your experience does sound scary not everyone speaks English and most people would not be aware of what was going on.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

We had a lovely time in Tirana before this happened. Totally agree that there are amazing restaurants. We’ll come back and bring better luck with us haha

@user-sr1xv3hw3z 4 ай бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt Greece is the big Nato allie

@labolabo3620 Жыл бұрын

Albania is one of the most friendliest place I’ve been . little things happen everywhere but I guess you have to post it so you can get more viewers same on you

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Lol if you noticed, we don’t get many views and don’t create videos for views. We’re documenting our year of travel. We shared many positive things about Albania in other videos. We hope you have a good day. ☺️

@aqiftyta31 Жыл бұрын

I lived there almost all my life and this is really rare. Sorry this happened to you guys.

@patriciaandmatt 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words! We loved Albania!!

@2011endi Жыл бұрын

i do not understand the reason of this video title' 'Be careful in Tirana''🤔 it is really nosense to share with the world that a stupid guy in Tirana disturbed you, to be careful for what? these things are common in America more than every other place, but we do not say be careful in U.S.A. anyway guys the only good thing in this video is that, you guys both have a beautiful apparence. that's all

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! It was alarming to us that no one was phased or willing to help in this situation. We share the highs and lows of a year of travel on our channel. We shared many wonderful things about Albania in our other videos. Hope you have a good day!

@floramucaj6050 Жыл бұрын

Hey guys I was mugged in US, bad experience on Miami Beach. But I don't go a make a whole video about it as I still think America is a great country

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Hello, we never said Albania was a bad country we said be careful in Tirana specifically. We are from Florida and we don’t go to certain areas of Miami.

@user-ic4ce8xb5v 3 ай бұрын

If you made a video called "bad first impressions" that's fair game. Why is Albania some special country that these people should lie about their experiences? They didn't say this is common, and they didn't bash the whole country or generalize.

@roshiroshi1240 Жыл бұрын

You're literally the first tourists to have this kind of experience in Tirana or Albania in general. The strange thing is not that a mentally ill guy harassed you, because that can happen anywhere. The strange thing is that people didn't even care to help you out, when you asked for help. Albanians are some of the friendliest people in Europe, if not the friendliest, and the police generally come pretty fast when needed. Anyway, i wish it was the only case you had trouble during your stay in Albania, and hopefully you had a better time in Saranda.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

We truly felt like it was an unfortunate incident and didn't represent a true image of Albania as a whole. It was scary that no one was willing to help. Nevertheless, this was our experience in Tirana and we always like to share everything! We stayed in the South of Albania the week after and we have a vlog coming up to show the beautiful landscape and kind people that we met. Again, I think this could happen anywhere and we are happy that our Albanian travels took a turn for the best. Thanks for watching and sharing. :)

@roshiroshi1240 Жыл бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt Glad to hear that you had a better experience in Saranda. Thank you guys, for sharing your experience 🙏

@katerpese Жыл бұрын

They're making it up for views, guaranteed.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

@@katerpese yeah we made it up to get our 200 views 😂😂

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

@@katerpese watch our other videos! We always keep it authentic. Travel isn’t always fun

@ToxicVaccines_HivHoax 8 ай бұрын

You should have called major "Bull Shit" on his claim that police are not going to do anything, and called the police! That waitress probably didn't speak English so she didn't know how to help. 🤷‍♂️ The police would have 100% nailed his ass! Few years ago something similar happened with some spanish tourists. Long story short he was arrested and within one or two weeks while he was still in jail, government sent bulldozers to his nice restaurant near the beach, and demolished it. True story! His name is "Mihal Kokdhima". Look it up. You see Albania really appreciates tourists to support the economy so the authorities will not allow mad people like that to ruin it for everyone. Guaranteed.

@homelesspodcast 17 күн бұрын

Usually police don't do anything. Because there's no reason too.

@Anatidaephobe 4 күн бұрын

An American here…I appreciate you sharing your experience here, that’s good to know. And to be fair, every city on earth has their share of criminals and crazies, even in the safest of countries. I’d wager something like this would likely occur quite frequently in a US city like New York or San Francisco. Good video!

@Spiritualwarfare587 Жыл бұрын

Clickbait👎🏻

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Just sharing our travel experiences on our channel. Watch the end of the video. ☺️☺️

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

It’s not clickbait if it actually happens 😂

@katerpese Жыл бұрын

Things like that don't happen in Albania though. Can happen with Gypsies but not extreme like that.

@briantravelman Жыл бұрын

@@katerpese I wouldn't be surprised if it WAS a gypsie. I had a gypsie follow me for like 10 city blocks in Thessaloniki, but thankfully I WAS able to shake her by ducking into a restaurant. But NO WAY is Albania worse than Egypt and Morocco. NO WAY!

@Hajde_budalla 3 ай бұрын

Your thumbnail is titled “TRAVEL NIGHTMARE”. That is clickbait and you are liars for denying it.

@RyanandSaz-TravelLife 3 күн бұрын

Heading to Albania on Saturday! Can’t wait

@tony232cool Жыл бұрын

It is good that you reported on this, with date and time and proximity where this happened. There are cameras everywhere and this incident sound very serious. I really urge the albanian police to catch the guy, this type of incidents can really destroy any tourism prospects in the country.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Totally agree! Also, this situation could happen anywhere, but we were just shocked that no one was phased or willing to help. Regardless, we had a positive and beautiful experience on the rest of our trip in Albania!☺️

@khalidalmuallem4769 13 күн бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt You are talking as if it happened in New York or Miami Americans will rush to help. Every visitor or resident in US will know that this is not the case

@khalidalmuallem4769 13 күн бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt You will not believe how many times I was approached by a disheveled unkempt young man asking me for a dollar in Miami (when I was there on a holiday a few years ago). The difference I did not make a fuss of it to collect more views and likes as you did, I just gave him his dollar and he would thank me and that is it. Tourists like your attitude had better stay in their beloved America

@taulantrama8331 9 ай бұрын

I love Albania Albania is my country and it’s a very gorgeous country for a visit and it’s a really safety your welcome!

@patriciaandmatt 9 ай бұрын

Thanks so much :-). We enjoyed Albania!!

@user-bs3dy9dg1k 4 ай бұрын

FUCK 😅your country albania

@mrp5169 Жыл бұрын

Wayyyyy toooo much draaaaaaama!

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

If only you saw it in person!

@user-ou2lw8ed5t 22 күн бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt Only if u filmed it right

@letmemotivateyou528 11 ай бұрын

Sorry this happened to you in albania is rare to see crazy ppl on streets but i hope u got a good experience the remaining days.

@patriciaandmatt 11 ай бұрын

We did have a great experience! Check out our next vlogs in the south of Albania!

@briantravelman Жыл бұрын

The creepy guy story is fine, but messing up the currency exchange, is something I'd keep to myself. Foreigners see that kind of stuff then view Americans as stupid and naiive people who are easy to scam. I have a hard time believing you didn't have problems in Egypt or Morocco, when I've seen even experienced travelers and professional film crews have problems in those countries.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Well we always like to keep it authentic on our channel! We have traveled around for 10 months straight now and that’s the first mistake I’ve had on that part 😂. Egypt and Morocco both were sketchy, but never did we have people come up to us like that, and even when someone would come and try to sell us stuff, police would pop up and tell them to leave us alone haha

@arroarro6825 5 ай бұрын

Sorry for your experience, unfortunately such things can happen in many countries🙁Anyway, Davina is such an incredibly beautiful and charming young lady with a great sense of humour and a lot of energy😍😍I am just impressed

@patriciaandmatt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for the kind words :)

@albania8982 4 күн бұрын

Hi guys sorry to hear about your bad experience with that guy in Albania. 🇦🇱🇦🇱 it must of been something wrong with the guy definitely coz usually in Albania we don't trouble tourists..But of course it's always will be one to spoil it wherever you go.....Hopefully you will come back and have a better experience..Respect. 🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱

@CManipulatedCouch 11 ай бұрын

I'm planning on doing the same route in October from Budva to Tirana with my fiancée. Where did you book your tickets to Tirana? The only tickets I can find are for a 12 hour bus ride, and we're trying to find anything shorter.

@patriciaandmatt 9 ай бұрын

We booked them on 12go!! Definitely a great app for this stuff. Try even just looking the route up on google, and it may help. It was really hard to find and we had to stay in Budva longer because they only run it on certain days 😂

@erisasllani Ай бұрын

either its a 100 Euro Taxi drive

@Its_Boki 4 ай бұрын

Budva looks beautifull!

@patriciaandmatt 19 күн бұрын

It really is!

@bartstewart8644 3 ай бұрын

The takeaway from the crazy guy story is to go ahead and call the police. The cashier said they weren't going to show up, but I'm thinking she was wrong. They were never called so we don't know. Also this was a really rare case in Albania. Sorry it happened.

@raynaguadalupe3185 Жыл бұрын

Hey, I am traveling to Albania . What is the name of the cafe? I want to try to pistachio croissant very badly.

@tupisamba211 Жыл бұрын

Cafe Botanica

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Correct haha. Cafe botanica!!

@klidispiro6779 Жыл бұрын

In the cafe ppl look at u like u the crazy ones cuz situations like this are not common, sorry this happened to u

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it’s not common, we never said we don’t like all of Albania, we just posted about our experience in Tirana. Others could have different ones, but that was ours.

@i-Lucifer Жыл бұрын

Sounds like USA

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Not where we live :). The USA is huge

@Hajde_budalla 3 ай бұрын

Thats a lie. In most of the US except for truly wealthy areas of the 1%, you are always approx only 6 blocks from a bad part of town.

@sojournern 3 ай бұрын

@@Hajde_budalla I've lived in the US all my life (I'm an old guy), been to some of the poorest cities, and almost all the big cities and I've never been mugged or assaulted. Not one single time

@shpetimvladi9166 Жыл бұрын

Hi guys, first of all i would like to say that I AM VERY VERY SORRY THAT YOU THAT BAD EXPERIENCE IN MY COUNTRY IN MY CAPITAL CITY TIRANA, ALBANIA, no one should Experience bad things no matter where they go where they are, but unfortunately no matter where you go and no matter where you are you will get some stupid people and ruin your holiday but to say be careful in tirana cos just one person made you feel scared or unhappy or uncomfortable it's not fair cos that one person does not represent one million people that live in TIRANA and and 3.6 million tourists that came just the last few months and never Experienced anything bad but just good things in TIRANA and in ALBANIA, just like would not be fair to you guys if i say that just cos in America you get shot for not wearing a seat belt or get robbed and killed that the whole Americans and the America we should be careful or never to go back to America, again i am truly sorry that you had to have that bad Experience and i can ensure you that we as a country and as Albanians are not like that person that you had bad Experience, if you guys read the history of ALBANIA and watch all the other videos and the amazing experience those other people had in ALBANIA hopefully you will change your mind and your opinion about ALBANIA

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Hi! We document our travels on this channel. We shared another video about the kind people we met and beautiful sights we saw in Albania. This moment was shocking to us because no one was phased or willing to help. Thanks for sharing.

@Juanita-gf4te 12 күн бұрын

The music for your video was nice....

@patriciaandmatt 12 күн бұрын

Thank you :-)

@mendjelire8392 10 ай бұрын

I go every year in Rome. A couple of years ago I was walking through the historical plazas and it was summer and really hot. I was wearing slippers and my feet were really sweaty and the walking got uncomfortable. I saw a faucet and I rinsed my feet, I saw a man walking and yelling in a threatening way towards me saying in Italian (I know some Italian) that was a drinking fountain and was not for washing feet. I gave him a look measuring him up and down and I walked way. He kept on ranting against tourists in general. Clearly a man with mental issues. The faucet was two feet from the ground, I don't know if that was really for drinking but even if it was I did not touch it with my feet. How was I supposed to know that that was for drinking when it was situated so low. Anyway one crazy man is not going to make me not visit Rome anymore. Another time in the center of Amsterdam I stepped one foot for a split second on the bike lane, as the sidewalk was narrow and crowded and this old guy coming on a bike gave me an earful of insults and bitching about tourists in general as well. He had a lot of space on the bike lane but I guess crazy does not make sense. I have a lot of such stories from my travels. So what I am trying to say, that one guy probably had mental issues or was high on something or drunk on your beauty. Don't mind him, or the waitress who was probably scared herself or did not know what to do or busy with her job.

@patriciaandmatt 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the story and the kind words!! We ended up loving Albania, so we appreciate your comment!

@KatK36 Ай бұрын

omg. i even plan on traveling solo.. bt now im thinking otherwise

@patriciaandmatt Ай бұрын

Don’t be afraid to travel solo!! Just be vigilant :)

@commentsdisabled2320 Жыл бұрын

It’s Skanderbeg not Skanderberg

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the correction!

@cidgid3683 3 ай бұрын

Who cares... And is actually a Turkish word Iskander Bei-Skanderbei. His name was Kastrioti... A Greek name!!

@unknown-kn8ft 2 ай бұрын

Hahahhahahah jeah he was greek 🤣🤣🤣😂😂

@captainh3680 Жыл бұрын

I don't know but i think that people there probably didn't understand about your situation and thats it why they don't react. Because i didn't caught it you called the police or no?

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Possibly they didn’t understand, but he was cursing us out very loudly in the middle of a nice sit down restaurant. I hadn’t got a SIM card yet so none of us had data, and we asked like 4 people to call the police but they all turned away when they saw the guy following us.

@GreatCityAttractions 5 ай бұрын

An interesting place.

@razordouble739 Жыл бұрын

Not big of deal that happens to most european countries, even worse i might say, I think you should have asked for help, and that guy would have been sorted out quickly. It must have been some one which begs for money mostly to foreigners...

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Yes, we certainly asked for help and were shocked by the situation because no one helped. Nevertheless, we had a great experience on the rest of our trip in Albania. Thanks for sharing

@SantiBloxy Жыл бұрын

I from albenia

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

:-)

@gvbalajee 5 ай бұрын

LOVE YOU DEAR

@ooooobpbpbpooooo 3 ай бұрын

Ohhhh I thought you were saying Toronto in a Canadian accent

@patriciaandmatt 3 ай бұрын

😂😂

@TimePhoenix 4 ай бұрын

I’m Albanian and in Albania the American accent basically magnetises everyone towards you, including scammers. This doesn’t only happen in Albania though, it happens in all of the Balkans and most of the Middle East. Just be careful with your accent in public and you’ll be fine

@blackeagle7947 Жыл бұрын

Welcome to Albania 🇦🇱

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Thank you :-)

@TreyParkersBitch Жыл бұрын

Maybe that guy was just mentally ill. Bad luck.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Certainly bad luck!

@sidneystott9025 11 ай бұрын

Matt is a lucky man... 😅

@IndustrialMilitia Жыл бұрын

The Balkans are a special kind of scary. I got robbed in Bucharest. The Caucasus as well, although I wasn't robbed but I did witness a man being beaten half to death for being gay.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

That’s horrible! I’m so sorry to hear that.

@Hajde_budalla 3 ай бұрын

I highly doubt that, that sounds like an exaggeration. Unless it was maybe in a Serbian bar and the guy came onto another man. What nation/city was it? What is true is that, especially in south slav & caucasian nations, they dont like PDA in general, and they frown upon homosexuality based on their religion & because they are traditionalists. They wont beat you, they just do not approve of it in public. If youre traveling to another country and you dont brush up on their dos and donts in the culture, youre bound to have problems outside of the West. The Balkans & Eastern Europe is not the West. When in Rome, do as the Romans. And don’t be flagrant or get drunk & inappropriate with people. These are commonsense rules of thumb anywhere you go

@Rc19977 Жыл бұрын

I'm from England and Albania ain't in the eu, don't think it will ever be in the eu to be honest. It's also known for being a very dodgy country and people haven't got the greatest of reputations.

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

Finally one person that believes us 😂. We never said we hate all of Albania but we post about the one bad experience we have had in the last 10 months of full time travel, and no one believes it’s real lol.

@Rc19977 Жыл бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt I believed it of course. Alabania is renowned for organised crime, they have gangs all over Europe main countries causing terror and trouble

@Hajde_budalla 3 ай бұрын

Are you fr?! England is dodgier and the people have a worse reputation, and everyone can see in any of your news programs ! LOL Youre just a bigot, and these people are bigots for agreeing and encouraging your bigotry. Nearly everyone in this thread has said, ‘Things happen everywhere.’ Because they do. I’m from America and youre acting like typical oblivious entitled Americans, who dont care about the little struggling country you visited…even though you say everyone but the one crazy guy treated you well, youve put up a clip thats deliberately damaging for clicks. Deny it all you want, if youhad a conscience you would have changed the title to something less exploitative and damaging. You deserve all the criticism you’ve gotten.

@user-ou2lw8ed5t 22 күн бұрын

Bro in your country u have street stabbers stfu disrespect azz

@georgebililis7516 Жыл бұрын

Beautiful country

@patriciaandmatt Жыл бұрын

We agree!

@xlappart 3 ай бұрын

what is the name orarea for airbnb please thanks

@patriciaandmatt 12 күн бұрын

They are called: “Enjoy Albania Apartment!” Highly recommended!

@roadlover8033 11 ай бұрын

I'm watching your video for the first time ⏲️ 😊its fun... beautiful video

@patriciaandmatt 9 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed!! Thanks so much!!

@roadlover8033 9 ай бұрын

@@patriciaandmatt Come to visit India 🇮🇳 someday... I'm a travel blogger here.. doing it small at my own country 🙏 we can do videos together if you want to 😊