American Travel Blogger Held ‘Hostage’ In Iceland By Guest House Host
Whether your travel skills are rusty after The Cough That Stopped The Globe or whether you are new to the game entirely, there are a lot of mistakes you want to avoid making when checking into foreign abodes.
One of them is not being conned into handing your passport over to anyone.
From the Netflix hit The Serpent (which, based on a true story, shows an international gem smuggler hold backpackers hostage with this exact trick, and has been described as “murder porn in prestige packaging“) to Airbnb’s frequently asked questions page, where users debate, what, exactly, is the norm, when it comes to what hosts can ask you for, this is an issue that has been discussed many times.
But that’s a topic for another day.
What you’re here for is a story that shows why you should think twice before giving your passport to anyone (if you must give details to a reputable company, it’s always best to give them a copy, not the real thing). And TikTok user Sights Of Sara has just the tale.
She took to the video-sharing platform to share a clip about the time she claims she was “held hostage” in Iceland, with her friend, by the lady who ran a guest house they were staying in.
Fortunately, they had not given the lady their passports. But it still goes to show why you always want to be prepared to leave anywhere if need be.
Watch the video below
“We were staying at her guest house for free in exchange for helping her around the house.”
“We did everything she asked us to and after a couple of days started to notice her strange behaviour.”
“The next morning we packed and when we tried to leave she wouldn’t let us.”
“She accused us of stealing her red jumper and demanded to see our passports.”
“Then she stood in front of the door and refused to let us leave.”
Sights Of Sara then takes viewers through the rest of the story. They call someone else at the guest house for help, then a discussion can be heard where they debate what the deal was in the first place with the host.
The host accuses them of simply having changed their mind about wanting to stay there, before the video ends with the phrase “the police came and let us go almost immediately.”
Sights Of Sara wrote in the TikTok comments: “We are going to be calling Booking.com and reporting her so no one has to go through this as well.”
The story goes to show how important it is to keep crucial documents like your passport with you, not your host, so that you can leave a dwelling at any time if you need to.
The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs advises, in the section of its page dedicated to: “What do I do if a travel provider wants to hold my passport?”, the following:
“Cruise companies and hotels in some parts of the international travel industry have a practice of holding the passports of their clients. If you have concerns, raise them if possible before confirming your booking. You may be able to explore options such as providing a copy or scan instead of handing over your Australian passport.”
As for Airbnb, this page is informative.
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The post American Travel Blogger Held ‘Hostage’ In Iceland By Guest House Host appeared first on DMARGE.
