more than
tea and scones
Monday, July 04, 2005
Frauded in Croatia
So we have splendid and terrible news. From Budapest I wanted to hit Graz, Austria. Then while I was waiting for my train, some man offered me his return ticket to Croatia. So I headed to Croatia. Apparently the train to Austria that I was supposed to be on crashed, thankfully I was safe on my way to Croatia. On the platform to my train, I ran into Erik, some nice man from my hostel in Budapest. He lives in Croatia and offered me a place to stay...he is not interested in females, so I felt very much at ease with him and took him up on that offer.So were on this midnight train, and twice this random drunken man walks into our room and tries to jack our baggage. At least Im smart and lock my bag to the rack, and I sleep with my purse. I finally make it to Croatia with all my belongings and since it was friday night, Erik suggested we stay a couple nights in the city before heading to his out-of town home. On the train ride he asked to borrow some cash so we could take the train all the way to Split, Croatia (originally the tickets were only good for Zagreb). So I lend him some cash. Then we head to the hostel, everything is good, whatever. So then we have a good couple days, he just called his aunt and apparently his mom just gave him 400€ but its all back at his place. His aunt was supposed to come take us to his home out of town and when she came to pick him up, she would bring his 400€. So he wanted to buy his aunt a present of perfume, but his VISA failed, so I lent him the money for some perfume. Then we went to buy tickets for the ferry, the booth doesnt accept visa so I needed to take out shitloads of cash because we were going to take a ferry to some town on Sunday.
So I wake up Sunday, my money, ticket and him are all gone. At least he only stole my money, my visa card and bank card are all good, as is my passport. When we stayed at this hostel, he gave the lady his ID card and she wrote down all his details, I had to bring this info to the cops and as it turns out, he lives in some far distant part of Croatia, he has 5 pseudonyms and a mile long record. So Im out 200€, but thats really not bad...its only money, Ill just be forced to eat less for a while and not shop.
However, my lesson has been learned- trust no one.
Anyways, today Im in Rome and really enjoying myself. Im meeting jojo on Wed.
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Location: Rome
Wearing: usual
Day's Activities: take ferry from Croatia to Ancona. Explore Ancona with some awesome Montrealer. Get blisters on my feet. Take train from Ancona to Rome. Put bandaids on feet. Call parents. Shower for the first time in three days.
Thing you miss: Sleep
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jenny at 10:05 PM
1 Comments
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at 10:33 PM
said... Hey Jen!
It's Jody's cousin Tori! anyway! Sorry about the creepy foreign guy! hope you guys are still having fun and having a great time! bye for now!
tori.