Do you really want to go to Albania? Well I tell you that if you do, you really won't be able to see many landmarks, but a lot of refugees or destroyed homes.

I went there last week on a business meeting and we had a local tour around the capital and villages around it. I saw a load of children looking starved from the neck downwards, no proper sanitation and no sense of hygiene whatsoever. The roads were mud swollen where there wasn't tarmac, and most of the buildings were in a dysfunctional state of repair. It just so happens that I was staying in a hotel that night, which was actually quite welcoming.

I saw a shop called something really rude in English, yet the stuff over there is really cheap in what we call 'supermarkets', yet every corner I turned in my suit there was a beggar wanting money or someone trying to sell me something - like postcards or sex. I'm all for charities that help, but I don't feel charitable around these people.

Word of advice if you are visiting Albania - go in a group, and have you stay structured. It isn't really an area to relax in, so keep your guard at all times.

Advantages:

Cheap flights
Cheap food

Disadvantages:

The villages around the capital
The price of the top hotels
Areas of redundance around the city
The homeless people asking for money, making hand signals as if they want to throttle you


IJC