Hospitality in the Face of Prejudice
The country whose people surprised me the most
Last summer, I secured my first work for accommodation assignment via Worldpackers. I was excited and terrified at the same time, especially as I had chosen a country which had only recently entered the radar of international tourism.
Albania.
Due to my own ignorance, I had not heard much of the country before, but a friend of mine had gone earlier in the year and her Instagram Stories looked straight out of paradise. I had also read about Albania a few times in the travel community around that time and it sounded safe, beautiful and very budget-friendly.
Yet, when I told those around me about this upcoming trip, I was met with A LOT of preconceived notions. It’s not safe, especially not for women. It’s extremely difficult to travel there. No one speaks English. There is a lot of corruption ongoing.
So as you can imagine, I started my trip feeling even more conflicted about volunteering there. I still went — overcoming challenges has been something I have actively done all throughout my travels.
I arrived at Tirana airport and immediately it was chaos. I was unable to get a local phone plan and hence had no data, I couldn’t find my bus that would get me to my host town Vlore and…
