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I had a bad experience in Albania, in 2012.

My ex-girlfriend and I wanted to go to Montenegro by car, passing through Albania.

We started off from Naples to Bari and there we took an overnight ferry. During the sea navigation somebody tried to steal our GPS, but fortunately, we managed to keep it safe for the rest of the trip. We got to Durres the next day in the morning and, at the customs, we were treated like drug dealers! The inspectors accurately checked our car (a FIAT Punto '03), making us lose a lot of time. After about 2 hours, we were finally out of the port and immediately we got surrounded by kids trying to sell us some fake "temporary -censured- certificates". We headed for Tirane, in order to have a quick, general overview on the capital city, but the local police tried to extort money from us when they stopped our car with a really stupid excuse. We already knew that something like that could happen, so we brought a "hidden wallet", with the money we needed for the holiday, but we showed the policemen only the "5€ wallet". They took the little money we could show them, so we were let go. As we were free to move again, we directly moved towards the northern border and left Albania.

Even though that was absolutely an "uncomfortable situation", I think that I'll come back to Albania, one day, because I'm sure it is a wonderful country, which is worthy to be visited.

I agree with you about reading the reviews before booking any accomodation. Even when the pictures of the place look nice, sometimes they don't match with the reality. So in my opinion the best way to know if it's comfortable and safe to stay there, it's to read the latest reviews of other guests.

When my eldest daughter was 3 months old, we decided to stay at the island for our holiday as we wanted to have some resting and quite time without too much complications.
I booked one week accommodation in a bungalow in Maspalomas through a holiday booking web page. I have tried to remember the name of the resort but I have completely forgotten it. I think it is because I wanted to get that memory out of mi mind forever.
I still remember when we first step into the bungalow...There was a terrible and intensive bad smell. It looked dirty and old. My little baby didn't stop crying. I think she felt something was going wrong. The bungalow was very small...The stairs to the bedrooms was located just over the kitchen. There was a big strange stain on the ceiling which seemed to be a filtering from the toilet...
After a very short time, me and my husband immediately decided to leave the bungalow and present a complaint at the Reception.
Since we had that bad experience, I check all comments and opinions from guests of the resorts I want to stay in. Thanks God we were near home and could go back and forget that nightmare.