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bed to sleep I can't remember where it was in Hungary, but there was a part in the Globe Trekker episode where Ian was almost assaulted by an eager hostel worker trying to make a sale. She was young, attractive, energetic and very determined. She knew that he was looking for a place to stay and from the expression on his face I could tell that he would rather not have dealt with her, but in the end he decided to go with her. Then once he gets to the promised destination he learns that the hostel is in what used to be an asylum. Ian was not impressed and neither was I. Now I've never stayed in a hostel that was once an asylum, but I have experienced a hostel worker trying to make a sale. As soon as they see someone wearing a backpack at a train station, bus stop or other point of entry to a city, these people assume that said travelers need a place to stay and are right there to pitch whatever place they are offering. It doesn't matter if you tell them that you already have a place to sleep, because in their mind what they have is better. I've only had this happen to me twice, but I remember both times clearly. The first time this happened to me was when I was in London. My brother and I had just exited the Tube having come from Belgium and we were trying to get our bearings. While my brother was on the phone with the hostel to get better directions, a middle age man with a small brochure in his hand approached me. As soon as I saw him coming, I wished that there were some place that I could hide. I had no idea desire to speak with this person and I never do well trying to get people to leave me alone and this man was no exception. Since I was a visitor to his country I didn't want to be rude, but we started to argue as to why I wasn't interested in his hostel. From my point of view I found him to be very suspicious and asked him why I should trust him. His reply was that Americans need to be more accepting or something to that effect. Eventually he walked away and left me alone. The entire time that my brother and I were there, I kept the pest in my vision and saw him approach a few other people with the same result that he got from me. The second time that this happened to me was in Sweden and it was the same kind of person that gave me his pitch. Now I have no idea what kind of wage these people make for trying to drum up business for hostels, but I see it as being one of the negatives to traveling. |