Why Romania was the worst place my fiance and I visited ?

We planned a short trip to three European countries, the flights were extremely cheap as compared to both or even one of us deciding to visit home (Trinidad). Also planning a life together requires budgeting and some sacrifices. We both agreed although we don’t visit home , at least we would be together and exploring countries we’ve never been. Who doesn’t love an adventure? We planned a 7 day trip to Bucharest Romania, Milan Italy and Paris France.

When we arrived to Romania, the passport control were extremely intimidating, they had guns on their side, they took our passports and multiple agents came and gave us these blank stares, they asked our purpose, where we were staying , I mean most of us have all been through immigration and passport controls before but this one was different.

When they took our passports they asked us to wait at the counters whilst one of the officers came out from the booth and shadowed us. Meanwhile the entire flight which was full have all gone through passport control besides us. Twenty minutes in and we are the last two standing there at 2:00 a.m in the morning. The officer comes back, asks some more questions, for paper work and proof of payment for our hotel reservation. At this point his superior is in the booth with him now trying to inquire what's taking this long. He looked at our passports shrugged his shoulders, and told the officer “stamp it” and we were through.

After the whole ordeal we get to the hotel, the driver and the receptionist at the hotel were all excellent, very helpful and very accommodating. We got in bed had a quick discussion and agreed they were just doing their jobs.

The following morning, we got up ate and were off to a private tour with ‘Bike the City’ (whom I highly recommend). The tour guide was extremely kind and very knowledgeable about Romania’s history. This has to be the best part of our entire Romania visit (my fiance may disagree if you ask him). During the twelve hour tour, we had about three stops in between, one bathroom break , Bran castle (also known as Dracula’s castle) and Peles Castle (including lunch) which are in their own right extremely beautiful and rich with history and filled with extraordinary stories of the people associated.

This time of year in Romania is considered high season, so the castles were filled and the lines were long, but having the guide was extremely convenient, as he got us through the lines quite quickly. Every room in the castle the tour guide described, he even knew about secret rooms and showed us little quirks of the infrastructure (which no one was providing for other visitors).

As it’s only three of us, the boldness in our guides voice, was very much drawing attention, some people were stopping to listen but the majority were giving us looks, I mean uncomfortable and dirty looks. Our tour guide was not bothered and he continued with his job explaining all the history.

Walking through the streets people were slowing down, crossing on the next side of the streets, even for us to go into the grocery, our guide emphasized him coming in with us.

(Let me just say this now, I feel strongly about the saying “ the people make a place “ when it comes to visiting new places.)

The next day (final day) we didn’t do anything outside of our hotel besides go for a walk by a lake which the hotel oversees. I felt so uncomfortable walking around and my fiance felt the same way, so we ordered wine, food and had a great catch up for the entire day inside our hotel till our next flight.

At the airport, we’ve made it past the 'checking-in' counters and security and the stares are lessening. We finally get to passport control again, there are three lines ‘citizens’, ‘EU countries’ and ‘all other passports’. We get to the counter of ‘all other passports’ and there are two officers, one female officer whose line is closed and the other, a male officer who immediately asks for our boarding passes.

The female officer is making remarks in Romanian to the male officer and giving us uncomfortable looks. Then the male officer asks, “why did you come to Romania?” I answered, he asked a few more questions, then took our passports and again asked us to wait by the counter (at this point I’d really just like to get onto our next flight). After ten minutes the line is piling up, the male officer is walking up and down with our passports, whilst the female officer is overseeing. Eventually he comes back and sits down, with his superior and asked the same questions we were asked ten minutes prior. The female officer makes a statement in Romanian and then the superior officer tells us come into the interrogation area.

This has never happened to me nor my fiance, and at that point I’m embarrassed, annoyed and frustrated at the process. They took my fiance in first with our hand luggage whilst I’m sitting in a waiting area . After 20 minutes, they call me inside, (in my head I’m like okay it’s over, time to get on the plane and leave). They’ve searched him, emptied all our belongings onto a desk and then asked us to repack, whilst we are repacking there is a female officer shadowing the both of us. Completed repacking our things and they request him outside and take my handbag and starts searching through it.

In my handbag there is a leather case where I keep all our important documents, money etc. Fortunately, our tour guide took pictures of us on our tour and printed them as a gift. She stumbles upon them and calls the superior officer over. At this point they stopped unpacking my handbag and starts repacking it, the superior hands me back our passports and under the softest breath says “sorry... you can leave”.

I’ve never felt more uncomfortable in a place in my life, to even go into a shop, walk on the street and even walking through the airport. Personally, I would recommend, the hotel and our tour guide however, in another situation I’m not too sure if I’d be saying the same thing.

I’m never a person to judge or be critical but our experience really was a bit of a shock to me. I’m grateful for the experience and learning about the history but it’s not a place I would return to or tell anyone sharing my cultural and ethnic background to visit.