New Fear Unlocked

This blog is going to be short and sweet but I thought you all deserved to know the horror that I endured during my stay at a hostel here in Sagres, Portugal. Before moving my goal was to find the cheapest accommodation possible for the first month. I was giving up my very stable income in the US and taking a significant pay cut so I wanted something very affordable for the first month while I figured everything out. This idea landed me at Sagres Sun Stay which appeared to be a clean and decently nice hostel. I probably should have read some of the reviews before arriving. Rookie mistake.

After checking all the options online I decided on a room that would be shared with 12 other individuals because it was only 350 euros a month. After emailing with the hostel they informed me that it would be very unlikely that the room would fill up. I figured I would probably be sharing with only 3-4 other people, so not too bad. When I first arrived at the hostel I was very pleased with the conditions. Prior to this experience I had only stayed at one other hostel located in Quito, Ecuador and this one was significantly better. The beds were massive with curtains to provide privacy and the room was also very large. All of the rooms that I walked through were clean and even the bathroom appeared to be clean. The hostel also provided a free breakfast, wifi, and cheaper surf rentals so I honestly thought I hit the jackpot. I was very, very, very wrong. 

The second night is when things began to go poorly. I arrived back at the hostel after work to find that I could not get into my room because my keycard would not work. Thank goodness the front desk was still open for 30 more minutes or who knows what I would of had to do because at this point I had no other roommates to help me get in. After being let in to my room finally the front desk lady assured me the problem would be fixed by the next day. Well, fast forward one whole day and I finished work, hung out with some friends, and then arrived back at my hostel pretty late. Guess what? My keycard didn’t work and this time the office was closed. I wandered around the hostel looking for anyone to help and finally found some girls in the kitchen. One of them had the manager's number so we called and figured out a plan to get the door open with a different keycard. During this entire interaction the manager of the hostel acted like this was the biggest annoyance she had ever had to deal with. I still do not understand her issue considering I was the one locked out of my room with none of my belongings and work the next day. This was annoying but don’t worry… it gets worse. 

Fast forward 3 more days and I have now been living at the hostel for about 5 days. I decided to walk to the Laundry Lounge on my day off and get an iced oat milk caramel latte. (My current fav coffee here in Sagres ;) ) While enjoying my latte two girls from the hostel sat with me and dropped the news that I am still traumatized by..one of their rooms in the hostel had bed bugs. Yes, you read that right, freaking bed bugs were living in one of the rooms. The girl then proceeded to show me the bites she had acquired all over her body from them. To say I was extremely stressed would be an understatement. It was too late to move out of the hostel so I was going to have to go back and sleep there. Plus the added stress that I had already paid and did not have a plan to move out anyways. Post coffee I walked back to the hostel and immediately tore my bed apart looking for the scary blood sucking bugs. LUCKILY, there were no signs of them in my bed so they must have only been in one room. However, that did not stop me from making the executive decision to move out the next day with no plan. Bugs can move and I was not taking the chance of them moving into my bed. 

The next morning I packed up my bag and walked to the front desk to report the news I knew they already had and ask for a refund for the disgusting living environment. The manager of the hostel told me there were no bed bugs, even though I told her I had seen the bites on the girl and actual video footage of the bugs on her stuff. The manager also told me it was my "nervous system acting up" and that is why I was upset. At this point I realized the lady was crazy and it was not worth the fight so I simply left. Thank goodness the apartment I had lined up for the next month was empty so with a few messages on Whatsapp I was able to move in.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson, hostel life is not for me and I do very much enjoy the comfort of my own space away from scary bugs. I enjoy budget travel to an extent but not enough to edure situations like that. I would also like to add that I will be checking my bed every night for bed bugs for the foreseeable future. :)