Travel Missteps: Ripped Off

Budget travel means that you are trying to stretch your money as far as you can. Which means in my case, I often choose the cheapest flights, even if they aren’t ideal. Which is why I found myself at DIA late at night getting ready to catch a late night flight. But what I hadn’t counted on was my flight to Costa Rica to be delayed. Which meant I arrived in San Jose after 1AM, and found that that my hotel was completely full for the night.

They kept speaking Spanish, and it sounded like they wanted me just to leave. I was tired and upset because I had already paid for the hotel. After a bit of this back and forth, someone who spoke a little English explained that their hotel was full but I was upgraded to a 5 Star Hotel “just a little down the street.” Well half an hour of wandering in the dark later, I found the hotel they moved me in to. On the plus side, it was an amazing hotel, on the negative side it was 2AM and I was stressed that I didn’t know where my tour group would be meeting the next day. At this new hotel? Or the old one?

I found the answer at 6AM when I was awaken and told I needed to be moved into a different room in that nice hotel. I packed everything up, left it at their luggage room, and in a sleep deprived state decided to explore the city. I hailed a cab, who was very confused on where I wanted to go.

I tried to explain that I wanted to go to the National History Museum (not the Historic Theater, not the Historic Gold Museum, or all the other things named Museum, History, or Historic that he tried to take me to.) After again, much back and forth, we eventually headed to the right museum.

When I finally got there he grunted at me “TIP!” and as I was trying to figure out the exchange rate I noticed that the meter kept going. In my sleep deprived state this really stressed me out. It kept going up and up and my mental math at the exchange rate was quickly confusing me. So I handed him some cash, vaguely thinking it was a little too much and I asked “Is this enough?” which he quickly swiped it out of my hands and jumped in the car and drove off.

It was then I realized two things. First, the museum wouldn’t open for another hour or so…and secondly….that I had given him the equivalent of $80 USD in local currency for what should have been a USD $4 cab ride…

So after that I ended up paying for everything mostly in USD instead of local currency. At first I was upset, being on a budget this was a bit of a setback so early in the trip. But I consoled myself by realizing that this was my first time of being ripped off after many travels and that likely, the cabbie needed the money more than I did.