I had the pleasure of visiting Kraków, Poland during my trip to Europe this summer. Kraków is the former capital of Poland and is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. Many of the buildings are from the medieval period, and the main square is the largest medieval market square in Europe. Although there are many great things to share about Kraków, I will save that for another post. Today, I want to talk about how I was drugged and robbed in this medieval city.
I traveled to Kraków from Budapest by train. I decided to take the train so that I could see the countryside around the Danube River. The train went from Hungary to Slovakia, before moving on to the Czech Republic until finally reaching Poland. The total train ride was about 8 hours long, but it was worth it because I got to see the local villages and towns that most travelers miss because they focus too much on the big cities. Most of the countryside in Hungary and Slovakia is pretty rural and not as developed. The houses tended to be smaller and the roads and infrastructure were not in great condition. However, when I got to the Czech Republic and Poland, I noticed that the buildings were more modern, and the roads and highways were also better developed. The houses also tended to be bigger. I was surprised because I had the preconception that these central European countries were all pretty similar, but my experiences showed me that the Czech Republic and Poland were more advanced. I am still surprised about this because Slovakia and Hungary both have higher GDP per capita than Poland, but the Polish countryside looked the most developed from my train ride. Perhaps the area of Poland I travelled through was one of the more developed parts of Poland.
In any case, Kraków definitely seemed safer and wealthier than Budapest, even though the average Hungarian may be richer than the average Pole. The city was clean and well-maintained, and the people were polite and friendly. It was a relief to me because Budapest was quite chaotic and I had my phone stolen there.
When I was walking through one of the streets coming out of the main square in Kraków’s Old Town, I was approached by a club promoter, a pretty Ukrainian girl. She invited me for drinks at the nightclub she worked at, offering a 50% discount on my first drink and 4 free shots. That sounded like a pretty good deal, and since Kraków had a safe and orderly feel to it, I wasn’t suspicious of what was about to happen. I should have been because the deal sounded too generous to be true, but the promoter was very flirtatious and we were having a great conversation, so I just thought of it as a favor. After all, I just had a long day of sightseeing in the sweltering heat and felt like unwinding with a few drinks.
After we entered the nightclub, the promoter introduced me to her friend, Karolina, a very attractive Polish girl that she’s roommates with in university. The promoter said she had to go back to work, leaving Karolina and I together at one of the club couches. Before she left, she brought me the beer I ordered at 50% off and four free shots of vodka. My memory of what happened next is pretty blurry. I remember drinking the beer and feeling a little strange, and I remember Karolina being extremely flirtatious, putting her arms around me and resting her legs on top of mine. I offered her the shots of vodka I had, but she told me she preferred sweet cocktails, so I bought a mojito for her instead. After drinking two or three shots of the vodka, I felt extremely drowsy. I wasn’t in a drunk state, as I only had some beer and a few shots, but I was becoming sleepy and easily suggestible. I remember trying to get up because the drinks were making me feel strange, but Karolina used her legs to hold me down and playfully told me to finish my drinks with her. After that I blacked out for 3-4 hours and don’t remember what happened.
I woke up on the couch in one of the private rooms at the club, finding myself undressed with my clothes and shoes on the floor. It took me some time to realize where I was, and after getting dressed I noticed that my wallet was in my right pocket, even though I always put my wallet in my left pocket. I checked my wallet and found all my cash gone. I was still in a state of trance so I clumsily strolled back to my hotel. At least I didn’t lose my credit cards or ID, I thought. When I got back to my room and opened up my iPad, I saw notifications stating that the Citi credit card my father gave me got maxed out, and that I had just lost $1,500 USD. I spoke to my father about it over Facetime audio (I didn’t have my phone at the time) and he told me he’s going to challenge the credit card charges and try to get it cancelled because they were fraudulent. Citi also disabled the credit card because they were detecting suspicious activity. Luckily, my other credit card wasn’t used, probably because I put my hotel card right on top of it.
Before I went to bed, I decided to report what happened to the Polish police. I went to the nearby police station and told them what happened. They gave me a breathalyzer test and said I should come back tomorrow when I’m sober. Having found the Hungarian police not very helpful when I lost my phone(I had to wait hours in the police station and didn’t even get my phone back), I decided not to waste my time trying to get the Polish police to help.
I slept-in the next day because the drugs put in my drinks made me feel drowsy and nauseous. I did find on the Internet that incidents like these were very common in Kraków, and that the police seems to turn a blind eye. I read stories where foreigners lose tens of thousands of dollars after being drugged. There was even a British man who died from a drug overdose after his drinks got spiked.
This experience has been quite eye-opening for me. It was the first time someone spiked my drink, and the third time I had been a victim of a crime(the first time was when I dropped my wallet in DC and someone took out all the cash, and the second time was when my phone got stolen in Budapest). These incidents were avoidable, I could have been more careful with my phone and wallet. However, what happened to me in Kraków was much more blatant and premeditated. The two girls were clearly working together and I didn’t have any suspicions until it was too late. The fact that incidents like these happen often in Kraków demonstrates how important it is to be alert when traveling in less developed countries. Bad things happen sometimes, and I’m glad I got out in one piece.