For many, a trip to Europe is a bucket list item that we hope to check off at least once during our lifetime.
While one Singaporean man has been lucky enough to visit Europe multiple times, his trips have not exactly been the fairytale getaway one envisions.
On the contrary, he has faced a series of increasingly severe setbacks, ranging from falsely advertised hotel rooms to pickpockets, and lost money.
Source: TikTok
As a result, he took to TikTok to share his experiences with the hopes of raising awareness for future travellers.
User @pwseetheworld recently uploaded a series of photos on TikTok documenting everything that went wrong during his trips to several European countries.
The troubles he faced seemed to go from bad to worse, starting with awkwardly taken photos by strangers and culminating in the loss of his phone.
During his time at the French commune of Avignon, he also had the misfortune of dressing in overly thick clothes when the temperature wound up being higher than what was forecast.
Source: TikTok
In the city of Lyon, the OP also had two close brushes with theft. The first was when he decided to drink wine by the river, which he later found put him at a high risk of crime according to Google.
Fortunately, nothing happened to him while he was there.
However, he almost fell victim to pickpockets while taking the bus. While the perpetrators appeared to be ‘innocent’ Romanian students at first, the OP went on alert after seeing one of them reaching into his bag.
Source: TikTok
Upon stepping away, he realised that the ‘students’ actually belonged to a whopping group of six people who had surrounded him.
The incident spooked him to the extent that he resolved to only take Uber for the remainder of his trip.
Accommodation was another constant source of trouble during the OP’s trips to Europe.
While he had underestimated how hot it would be in Avignon, he was not able to escape the heat back at his hotel either.
During his stay at the Hotel Kyriad, the air conditioner broke down and was not repaired for three days.
Source: TikTok
The OP decided to check out and ask for a refund, but the hotel staff rejected him, saying that the air conditioning, or lack thereof, was part of their efforts to “save energy”.
“Don’t stay there ever,” he warned.
Moving on to Paris, the OP stayed at the Hotel Claude Bernard after seeing promising photos of its rooms online.
By contrast, the actual room he got was sparsely furnished and featured just two single beds pushed together.
To make matters worse, the hotel had what the OP called the “smallest lift” he had ever seen in his life, so much so that he could smell the breath of his travel companion whenever they were in it.
Source: TikTok
On top of it all, the room allegedly cost a hefty S$250 per night.
The OP’s hotel headaches did not end there.
On a separate trip he took to Ghent in Belgium with his company, he decided to store some money in an e-safe at his hotel due to a broken luggage lock.
Upon his return, he found the locker open and all his euros missing, which amounted to 900 euros (S$1,326). However, his Singapore dollar notes were still there.
Source: TikTok
Lodging a police report would prove to be futile, as authorities were purportedly unable to access CCTV footage to find the culprit due to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Hence, they could only write a report on his behalf.
Accommodation troubles aside, the OP shared that he experienced food poisoning from eating seafood pasta in Nice, another French city.
It ruined his hopes of viewing the sunset on the beach, as he ended up vomiting his lunch and confining himself to the hotel.
Arguably the greatest loss of all came from the OP’s time at Barcelona. While on a train en route to Magic Fountain, someone pushed him and ran off with his phone.
Source: TikTok
Remarking sarcastically, the OP opined that it was not the fountain he found magical, but the loss of his phone.
Being an experienced traveller at this point, the OP had some tips for those looking to visit Europe in the future.
Speaking to MS News, he advised would-be tourists to get a good travel insurance premium and lodge a police report immediately in the event of an incident.
He also encouraged the use of only one credit card and multi-currency debit cards from the likes of amaze and YouTrip.
Besides that, it is best to bring less cash and lock one’s valuables away in a piece of luggage instead of a locker, the OP said.
In regards to staying safe on public transport, he warned against taking it during peak hours, squeezing in with big crowds, and refraining from responding to strangers who behave unusually.
When asked whether he would visit Europe again, the OP revealed that he has had enough of the continent for now.
Instead, he currently has his sights set on Japan instead.
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Featured image adapted from TikTok.
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