Scam

My travels continued, and I arrived in Sri Lanka for a 2-day layover on my way to Australia. It’s funny—I actually had no idea about traveling, didn’t speak good English, and my way of handling it was simply not being confident. Before the trip, I read a little about Sri Lanka, so when I got out of the airport, I tried to find the best and cheapest way to get to the hotel I had booked for the night.

I found a tuk-tuk that took me to a hostel near the beach, where I checked in. The room was simple but clean. It was extremely hot and humid. Dubai had been hot, but it was dry. Here, I was sweating like crazy. I went to the restaurant and ordered some chicken curry, which turned out to be very spicy.

Afterward, I decided I wanted to explore the island, so I stepped outside the hotel to see what I could do. On the street, I spotted a travel agency and thought it would be an easy way to explore my options. The agent was friendly and asked me how much I was willing to spend on the trip. When I told him how much money I had, he said he had the perfect trip for me, took the money from my hand, and told me to wait.

Soon, a tuk-tuk driver arrived to pick me up. We went to see a lagoon, a Buddhist temple, and some other random sights. While chatting with the driver, he asked how much I had paid for the trip. That was the moment I realized I had been totally scammed.

Sri Lanka, 2014