Escaping Omonia: My First Airbnb in Athens
I haven't mentioned this in my posts, but while traveling alone, I've been hunting for the cheapest rooms in town. It was okay up through Russia, but since arriving in Athens, I've found that places are more expensive and the rooms are worse (though they do have the perk of being private). Still, I needed a place to sleep, so I booked one in a hurry. The room itself was whatever, but the neighborhood was way too dangerous.
I didn't come to Athens with any specific plan; I just booked it purely based on flight times, so I arrived without knowing anything about the local neighborhoods or what to watch out for. I only realized after arriving that Athens has worse security than Moscow or St. Petersburg. And it wasn't until I went to bed that I found out the area near Omonia Square, where I was staying, is one of the crime-ridden areas symbolizing Greece's economic downfall.
I couldn't understand why the usually incredibly friendly Mediterranean locals looked so tense when they saw me. When I looked it up later and saw it was one of the places you should absolutely never walk around at night, I finally realized I was in trouble. Honestly, I figured nothing bad could happen as long as I stayed inside my room, but after midnight, hearing intermittent screams and fighting echoing from the streets made me decide I needed to move immediately.
All the cheap rooms were near Omonia, so I even looked into Airbnb, which is super popular these days. I found a cheap room a bit far from the city center and booked it in a heartbeat. Just as I packed all my bags and was about to head over, the host emailed asking if I was coming today, saying they thought I was arriving tomorrow—maximizing my anxiety.
'Ah... I already paid for everything, what am I supposed to do...'
After exchanging a few emails in broken English, I just told them I'd go tomorrow. That was the story up until yesterday.
The host told me to take a bus, but I didn't have any money, and since I can easily walk up to 20km with a 75-liter backpack now, I just walked. I might write a summary of my Athens trip later, but you really should avoid walking around during the day here as much as possible. You get to experience the rare phenomenon of spending more on bottled water than you would have on bus fare.
I arrived at the Airbnb. I was a bit excited at the thought of living briefly in a Greek home, which has a slightly different living environment than Korea. Back home, we have some space between buildings, but in Europe, they are stuck together, practically sharing walls. What's even more fascinating is that for a first-timer, it's incredibly hard to tell if a building is commercial or residential unless there's laundry hanging up top. Even with the address in hand, I wasn't sure if it was a house or an office building, so I hovered around before ringing the bell. Thankfully, someone answered.
It was a guy named Haris's house. Unlike our frustrating email exchange, he spoke incredibly fast English and was super friendly, so he passed the test! I don't know if it's fixed now, but the drainage wasn't great, so it backed up a bit when I showered. Still, he let me borrow detergent and shampoo, all for just under 50,000 KRW a day. Of course, true to the original Airbnb ethos, he's renting out a "spare room" in the house he actually lives in, so it might be slightly inconvenient, but I think it would be fine even for families renting a room. Oh! There are two dogs that are absolutely crazy about people, so if you hate dogs, you shouldn't stay here.
Expenses
- Laundry detergent €1
- Lunch €3.3
- Goody's burger set €5.7
Total Expenses €10.0
Total Travel Expenses 525,936 KRW + 47,999 RUB + $639.96 + €547.07