Last Day in Budapest....

Last day in Budapest….

Our last day in Budapest was action packed. It started with an evacuation of the top three floors of our hotel after a water pipe burst and set the alarms off. We filed down six flights of stairs and met outside the lobby wondering what happened. When we were allowed to go back in, we discovered water leaking all over the place. Good luck with that!
Then one of our team members got ripped off at the money exchange for about $50, but that wasn’t the worst of it – after dinner one night, the same team member decided to go out for a walk while the other’s returned to the hotel. Within about 5 mins, he was approached by two young women asking for directions. Ever the gentleman, he offered his help. The two women then said, “Why not come for a drink?” and so he did. After a couple cognacs and special coffees in a trendy bar, the two women suddenly declared, “Oh! We only have 1000 forints (about $4).”
He looked at the bill and was rather alarmed as the amount was over 40,000 forints ($160) for 2 coffees and two drinks! While the women uttered threats like, “It’s customary for the man to pay in our country”, he thought about what to do. He knew it was a scam, but didn’t know how to get away. He tried, “I haven’t got enough money – I’ll need to go to my hotel and get more.” To which the reply was, “We’ll come with you,” from the bar staff.
He walked the short distance to the hotel and was relieved when they said they’d wait outside. He ran into the lobby and told the receptionist he was being scammed. She told him not to worry and to continue on to his room - this happened all the time and she’d handle it. In the end, he didn’t have to pay a cent. The moral of the story is – this scam works in your favour…