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Venice....
Lets just say that in my first few hours here I could have wrote a book on the crazy thing that happened to me...and its long, but i’m gonna explain it because I was so furious at the time!!
So I had already spent the majority of the day going back and forth etc on the train in Paris right...I think I caught 10 trains in total that day...then because I had to go drop some stuff off at the place where I was storing my luggage, I had to catch another train and waste approx another hour to get there. I got there, and the ppl weren’t there!! I had been lugging all sorts of stuff around all day, and had to drop it off as my luggage allowance for my flight was only 10kg, and id already checked in online saying i had only 10kg luggage! I ended up having to take it with me, got off the train to take the bus to the airport...which usually takes 1.25 hours, so i was like ok thats cool for my flight...but i forgot that it was 5pm and peak traffic going home!!! I was absolutely positive i was gonna miss my flight and stressing the whole way to the airport. When i got there the lady nearly wouldn’t let me in as i was too late, check in had closed and boarding had already begun, but after a few minutes of begging she let me through, then i ran to security, luckily they didn’t weigh my luggage or make me jam it into the box thing like they did last time, and i was the last person to board my flight...just literally made it to the gate!! Phew!!
Then i got to Venice, and got the bus all fine to the main bus station..took me a while to figure out where i had to get off though. Then I got the water bus down the canal, but because it was late the last stop was about 5 stops from mine, so i was like oh crap!! Then i walked down a pile of tiny deserted streets all on my own, my directions completely messing me up. Luckily a girl i met trying to help me find which water bus to catch said that venice is pretty safe for females at night...i trusted her instincts! I eventually got to the right place...but on the wrong side of the canal!!!! And there was no bridge nearby!! So I had this Italian man call my hostel to ask how to best get there, then spent another hour at least trying to find the hostel, and realised that all along i couldn’t find it because for some dumb reason, the name of the street was written in Spanish instead of Italian!! No wonder i couldn’t find it!!
It took 3 hours from arrival to get to the hostel, so i arrived just on midnight. All seemed fine, i went into the place which was super quiet, then the guy at the reception place was like, oh hang on, i have to ring my boss. He called him, and then was like, ok you have to come with me. I was like huh, but ok...then after walking a few 100 metres down the street, i was like so where are we going and why? He just said oh my boss said to go here so you come with me. As it was late and everything was closed i didn’t really have an option so i followed him. Turns out we literally walked to the other side of Venice!!! No jokes, dead dead serious, we walked from one end of the city to the other. I was so tired and getting annoyed by the time we got to this other hostel. Then the guy spoke in Italian for about 2 mins to the new hostel guy (which wasn’t the 1st ones manager), and left. The new hostel manager was confused and thought i had just asked a random person to show me a hostel and that the guy took me there...i was like no, i thought you were the boss of the other place?? He was like, nope, this is a different hostel!! I explained that i had just literally walked the whole city 2 times and was exhausted, and that i had no idea why the other guy brought me there when i had the reservation at the other place. He didn’t know either but assumed something must have happened so for at least one night they were bringing me to this place. I was like i dunno, but i guess im staying here then. Then 10 mins later, the messenger guy comes back, and says he got the wrong hostel, and that i had to go back with him halfway across the city again to a different hostel!!!! I was like what!!! I had a reservation at ca contarini, and youve planned to take me to 2 different hostels!! And id walked already for over 2hours in venice with my suitcase up and down stairs and over heaps of bridges etc, and this guy didn’t even help me until i was literally so tired i nearly fell trying to get my suitcase up the stairs of one bridge. I was like, no way am i going with you, you have got to be out of your mind! I said, so why on earth aren’t i staying in the place i had the reservation!!! He said he didn’t know and i started to get cross and yelled at him and refused to go with him. All the other guys in the room nearby came out to see what was going on, i really didn’t care that everyone was watching me. Then the guy rings his boss again, says i refused to go with him right. He puts the boss on the phone to me, and asks why i wont go with him...i was like is this a trick question!!! Then he starts getting all rude and tells me to hurry up and to get my things and go with the man, and to stop wasting his minutes on his phone arguing with him...boy did i have a few things to say to him then!! He said he was gonna charge me for the first night in his hostel if i didn’t go with the messenger guy, as id already made the reservation. I was like, ah no, i did turn up, you stuffed up and have been mucking me round, i was at your hostel and if i cant stay there then why on earth are you charging me??? In the end i was just loooosing it, and was like you know what stuff you, charge me for the 1st night then, but theres no way on this planet im coming to your hostel now, and youre not getting the other 4 nights worth of accommodation payments!!! I couldn’t believe him!!! I was so so stressed and angry!!! I could have punched him through the phone if that was possible lol. Only one other time infront of a bunch of random ppl have i ever made such a performance!!
The guy in the hostel i ended up in though was super nice, he even got me some water because he could see i was tired and angry etc. Then even though his hostel costed more, he charged me the same price as the other one, gave me a room for 2 nights on my own (which no-one else had), gave me vouchers for free breakfast at the cafe downstairs which no one else had either, even helped me make my bed, and has let me use his internet as i couldn’t get wifi and internet cafes in venice are so expensive...he’s so nice. So really its a blessing in disguise that i got to stay where i am now, even though i had to pay for the other places 1st night and go through so much crap. The hostel manager is a designer though and tonight has been painting my name in calligraphy and all sorts of things with these fancy paints for me, and he makes Venetian masks too, and has been showing me some of his work. He’s real cool, and the place is really clean, and i have my own room super cheap etc...so im really happy now. Crazy, crazy experience though!! Not one i’ll forget soon...still cannot really believe it though!! The new hostel manager guy is even helping me figure out how to go to the Italian police about this guy trying to charge me!! I was like you know what, they scammed me big time, but i really don’t think its worth that much hassle!!
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