Has anyone else found Europe to not be very tourist friendly in terms of accommodation standards and overall organization and logistics?

[KostasKouvalis]

Compared to other regions I've traveled to, I found Europe to be quite chaotic and disorganized in terms of the logistics of getting around, and the accommodation standards quite low. Europe seems to geared more towards Europeans who want to relax or for young people who want to backpack and sleep in hostels or apartments.

[desidoll]

I only been to Italy and Greece, so I can’t speak about other Europe countries. The only thing I like about them is the accomodation is so much cheaper than the US. Like you can get a spacious, beautiful place to stay with private pool for only $500-600. Regarding getting around in the town, you are right. It is sooooo disorganized and everything is not put together lol. Not to mention their public transportation system sucks. I remember during our honeymoon trip, every single day when we were going to visit their tourist spots, we would be in the survival race! People didn’t speak good English so it made things worse. Many times we were given the wrong information.

[KostasKouvalis]

Are you talking about an apartment or a hotel?
Yeah, the public transportation does suck and is inconsistent and unreliable.
The airport in Rome didn't show our gate 'til 20 min before boarding and no one announced when boarding had begun.

Also, don't ever book a tour with an Eastern European company.

[desidoll]

In Rome, Milan and Florence we took apartment. In Bari (I went to Matera and Alberobello), Cinque Terre, we took like private properties. Speaking about the apartments, I notice they have so many doors with multiple keys and they got no elevators lol. This is another inconvenience for us. You are right about the airport. Not only that, even the trains. No number, no reference, no code no nothing. People around were not helpful so it made things more difficult and challenging. The ticket machines some of them didn’t work. The roads have very few signboards. Their buses stop at random spots that if you are not alert enough, you gonna end up stranded in some unknown towns. It was a nightmare but I got a lot of beautiful pictures and videos lol so not sure if I am gonna say I regret it.

[KostasKouvalis]

That's what I thought, because the American style hotels cost a fortune. We rented an apartment and we had to wait 40 min for the owner to show up with the key and it was nothing like described online. It was supposed to have breakfast and a shared kitchen area, maid service and front desk staff. It had NONE of that.
But or hotel in Venice and Malta was nice.

The high speed trains were a little better organized, but the commuter trains were a mess. We bought our tickets at the counter. Even locals were struggling with the machines. And in the counters, the sign was directing people to one counter that didn't exist. 😂
And we wanted the fast train to Pisa, he sold us the slow train and sold us the wrong date, so we had to go to Pisa right after Malta.
Then we missed one train to Tivoli, because we slept in after our Pompeii tour, and they told us there's no set time on it, but the next direct train didn't leave 'til 1:00. But we only lost like 7 Euros, so we ended up just buying a new ticket for another day.
Don't even get me started on the metro system

I swear, Rome was the most disorganized city I've ever been to.

In Venice, we ended up booking a last minute cruise to the islands, they threw us on a boat that was supposed to leave at 11, it left at 10:30 and one of the workers kept thinking she was on UK time.

[KostasKouvalis]

Yeah, , in Greece we had to take 2 different busses from 2 different stations and the ticket was in Greek and the schedule wasn't accurate.

But my favorite was in Poland when we reserved seats, which didn't mean ANYTHING as everyone bum rushed the bus as soon as it pulled up😂

But the best was in Barcelona when the taxis and ubers went on strike and the bus stopped running to the airport😂

Yeah, when were in Slovakia there were no signs to any of the attractions😂

I won't say they were unhelpful, but I've never seen as many liars, robbers and con artists as I did in Rome😂

Me too, I loved all the sites, but I don't have anything nice to say about Romans and I wouldn't recommend that city to anyone.

[IslaTheWitch]

oh, stop whining lol. Europe is very accommodating. Never experienced any problems

[KostasKouvalis]

Because you're European. I think it's good for Europeans who travel with their own car to some small village. Also, Europeans are used to cramped living quarters.

[IslaTheWitch]

I don't own the car. I rent it if I need it... but I mostly enjoy trains and planes.

[KostasKouvalis]

I supposed if you live there and know the drill it's easier. I remember this post from a Roman girl, "Everytime I'm at our train station, I'm always tempted to help tourists who are confused and lost."

I traveled one time to Greece with a Polish tour company and wasn't pleased with the way it was organized. Same with a Russian company in Turkey.

I actually wrote a whole rant about all this, but it was too big to post, but you can read my responses to DesiDoll if you're curious. I'm especially curious what you think of Polish people bum rushing the bus. LOL

[Pohjolan]

The further north you go in Europe the better service you get as a thumb rule.

[alice55]

Oh it's just a big mess here even for us

[KostasKouvalis]

I missed you SO MUCH! How've you been? What have you been doing? Boy have I had a lot happened since we last talked.

[strateguy632]

friendly.