Things People Believe About Albania... But Are They Actually True?

[00:00:01]Hello and welcome back to the channel.

[00:00:03]Today we're going to go over some myths and some truths that people say about Albania. And I'll let you know whether it's true or not true or maybe something in the middle. As you can see, it's another beautiful day here in Vor Albania in the middle of the summer.

[00:00:20]It's hot right now. The feels like is 100° which is somewhere around 40 41 in Celsius. So, it's a very, very hot day.

[00:00:31]A little hazy, but nice. And it's like this almost every day during the summer. It's ridiculous. Sometimes you just pray for rain. But in this part of Albania, doesn't come very often. So, the first thing on our list is a lot of people say that Albania is the cheapest c country in Europe or it's just a cheap country in general. Now, when we say cheap, that's kind of a harsh word. Let's just say affordable. And I would say it is an affordable country. It really depends on what you are gauging it against. If you're gauging it against like the United States or Canada or other parts of Europe, like northern Italy, then yes, it is absolutely a more affordable place. Is this a place that your retirement can go further? Or if you're a digital nomad or you're a slow traveler, is this a place where your money will go farther? I think so. There are a few places around Europe, I'm sure, that are cheaper or more affordable than it is here in Albania, but not many. And Albania is so awesome anyway. Why wouldn't you want to come here? So, we're going to say that it is true that Albania is a very affordable country for now here in Europe and in the whole world for that matter.

[00:01:54]The next one, let's just go over that the myth. Nobody speaks English. That is not true whatsoever. I don't know why some people think that. Maybe they're in the mountains somewhere. It's the only part they've ever been to. I don't know.

[00:02:08]But when you go to the cities here in Albania, for the most part, you're going to have very little issues with English, of course, there's going to be plenty of people who don't speak it. And that's great because really, we should all be speaking Albanian, not be not speaking English. That being said, yes, I know it is a difficult language to learn. And the only program that I know of right now that has it is Ling, L I N G. If anyone knows anything else, put it in the description. We'd love to share all the resources for learning this awesome language, this old language that they speak here in Albania. But there are plenty of places that speak English, especially if you stick with the more touristy parts of the city. You shouldn't do too bad. And if you do need to use a translator, I would suggest using chat GPT. It is a lot more organized, [music] a lot more easier in my opinion to use back and forth than Google Translate. I would use Google Translate as a last resort. So, nobody speaks English. I'm going to say that is a that's false. Not true at all. Don't believe that. Now, the other one is that Albania is dangerous.

[00:03:28]I really say a hardcore that is false on that one. It is not dangerous. It is a very safe country overall. This is a very familyfriendly country. All you do need to do is just get out at night and see all the families doing stuff as the sun goes down and the temperature gets better out playing, dining. They love kids. It is the most f family, if I could say it, familyfriendly place that I have ever seen. It is very safe. I know many experts who are single [music] women travelers. They have no issues and that's a of all ages, no issues, walk around freely without any worry of getting hurt. Now, is it 100% safe? No. Things do happen. And I would say that if crime does happen, more than likely it's going to happen during tourist season. It may be the tourists that come here that actually are the ones that bring crime to this country.

[00:04:29]But overall, this is a very, very safe country. The next one, let's talk about the bureaucracy being a nightmare here.

[00:04:39]I don't know who even started that one.

[00:04:41]I got a lot of people that ask me, "What's it like with a bureaucracy? How hard is it to get a residence permit?

[00:04:48]How hard is it to start a business?" I'm going to tell you after living in Thailand, which is an absolute nightmare in this field, it is incredibly easy here in Albania, that should never be an issue for you. I would say get the right people to help you. So, for your residency and for starting a business, I would definitely use an attorney. Don't get scared by the word attorney, especially if you're from the US. When you think of attorney, you think of gigantic fees and it being this big process. Now over here, the lawyers are down to earth people. There's one that I refer to everyone, Alvaro. He speaks English. He's great. Most of the experts here in Vlora use him. He can help you no matter what part of Albania you're moving to. There's a link down in the description for his information if you want it. You can ask him questions for free. Matter of fact, he doesn't even charge you until after you get your residency card. So he is a valuable source. Use it. Next thing I would let's go over. How about healthc care is terrible. Well this one might be true.

[00:05:58]Now granted I myself have not been in the hospital so I cannot speak for this firsthand but what I do hear about are many other expats that have had nightmares and some that did not have nightmares and it went very well for them. But I would say I've heard more severe complaints and worries about the health care system than I have compliments. I can count on two fingers how many compliments I've ever heard for the health care and many for being against it. Hopefully it will get better over time. But let's just say for right now that rumor is true. Health care has some improvement to do in the country.

[00:06:41]Next one, let's say is you don't need a car. Well, I guess that really depends on where you live here in Albania. If you're in Glora, if you're in Toronto, if you're in some of the other scot, some of the other bigger cities, maybe you do, maybe you don't. It I guess it just all depends on where you need to go on a daily basis for your daily needs.

[00:07:04]the things that you're going to want to do like go to the grocery store, go to the pharmacy, go to whatever, fill in the blank, the things you're normally going to do that items that you need on a regular basis, go to eat to a restaurant, whatever. I would think that most people in a city could get to all those things easily just by walking.

[00:07:25]Now, there's going to be places obviously you would need a car to get to. So, rent one. What I'm saying is you can just rent a cab, have them take you over there or rent a car. There's a website called rent from locals.

[00:07:43]And that's where I would tell you to get a rental car. At least there's a buffer between you and the person you're renting it from. And you can purchase insurance in case something happens and they don't play games with you. I've had expats that went straight to a car rental place to rent straight from and they love to play some games. They'll say you scratched the car when you didn't. So, make sure you take a video of the whole outside of the car. They made one person I know he went and brought the car back after using it for a day and they made him go get the car washed and bring it back and the car was not even dirty. But then he had to go and find some place to get the car washed, wait for it to get washed, and bring it back. You don't really have those games if you use something like rent from locals.

[00:08:34]So, you don't need a car. I would say that is correct. I just sold my car just the other day, so I don't have a car. I do have a motorcycle, though. So, that brings us to Albanian drivers are crazy.

[00:08:49]Is this a myth? Is this true?

[00:08:52]Yes, this is true. They're crazy.

[00:08:54]They're absolutely the most impatient drivers I've ever seen in my whole life.

[00:08:58]And I've been some places, man. These are some impatient I will do whatever it takes to get my car in front of yours type of people, which means they're kind of like my people cuz I drive not the best in the world either. Got that bad habit from Thailand. Thank you, Thailand. However, I'm going to assume that most of you will think that the driving is crazy here. It is something you need to get used to. My best advice if you are driving over here is take everything slow. When you least expect it, somebody will come out in front of you. Whether it be a pedestrian, a bicyclist, a car, a motorcycle, just fill in the blank. Expect the unexpected and don't expect cars to do what you would normally think they're going to do. people do some asinine maneuvers in this country that will just blow you away. So, Albanians are drivers of the crazy. Yeah, we're going to say that one's true.

[00:09:56]Another one a lot of people ask if this is a myth. You can live in Albania for like €1,000 a month. Well, sure you could. I'm not sure you would want to, but I'm sure you could make it work. So, if that's something you really want to try to do, knock yourself out. I'm sure you could do it. I'm pretty sure I know some expats that come in our coffee shop that their budgets around that. But it just depends on how much uh luxury you want to give up in order to do it. But I'm going to say that is true. For one person, it is doable. Again, it's going to depend on what you can put up with.

[00:10:37]Uh let's see what else can I think of.

[00:10:39]How about Albanians don't like foreigners? That's one I hear a lot.

[00:10:44]That is true and not true. What I mean by that is they they have nothing against foreigners. But I can tell you whenever all the foreigners come to Albania all at the same time in June, July, and August, I haven't heard this from Albanians themselves. I'm assuming this that it gets a little taxing because there's all these people in the city now. All the places Albanians would want to go are packed full of tourists everywhere. And remember, not everybody's making money off the tourist season. So, I would imagine it gets a little aggravating for them. But let's just say Albanians have nothing against foreigners. I have never felt like people scoffed at me because I'm a foreigner anywhere I've been. So, I'm pretty happy about that. They're very welcoming here. And I don't think that's much of an issue. And the other one uh people ask is everything does everything close in winter. Is that a myth or is that true? Well, it's it's sort of in between. It depends on what city you're in. If you're in Sonda, and I've heard this from other people. I've not been there myself. In the winter, we've had a lot of people come to where where I'm at, and then they go to Sonda to visit.

[00:12:01]come immediately back to floor because they say everything is shut down. Very few things are open. It's like a ghost town. So, I'm going to say it really depends on where you're at. A lot of the places that are smaller communities on the water that depend on tourism money.

[00:12:20]Those are the ones that going to be bustling in the summer and probably dead in the winter. And if you're looking for people to talk to, other expats, a community, I would suggest you to pick a place that has people year round. And the best time to look at places in Albania, I would say, is the winter.

[00:12:43]Let's go on to another couple that I'm aware of that I'm asked all the time. Is is the internet bad? I have the fastest internet I've ever had in the US or in Asia right now with a company. I think it's either One Fiber or Fiber One, whatever it is here in Albania. Man, it is extremely fast. So, there are no issues with that.

[00:13:11]I had a slower service that I had through Vodafone. There are better plans than the one I was on, but it was decent. And that was the lowest cost one around. Right now, I pay 2,200 le a month, which is around $25 a month for blistering fast internet speeds. So, don't let anyone tell you that nonsense.

[00:13:36]And if you're somebody who lives out and away from civilization here, Starlink is available here in Albania. I think the monthly fee for that is around €50 a month. So all that stuff is here. Now other thing that I hear, is this a myth or is this true? Is that you can't find American products. Well, okay.

[00:14:01]most things you're correct, but you can find things that are compatible. You can find some American products. It's just like an Easter egg hunt. You got to find it. The best way I could tell you, if you're looking for something specific and you're having difficulty, find an expat that's lived here for a while and ask around and find somebody else who already knows where to get that stuff.

[00:14:26]It's taken me a year of living here, but I have found just about everything that I have look could want to look for. It's taken me a year to find it, but I have found it. And they they're good quality products. Usually got to pay a little bit more something imported into the country. That's to be expected.

[00:14:51]And the last one, let's just say I get is once you move here, you'll never want to leave the country. Well, that's that's false. We've had a lot of people come into the coffee shop who were just so excited about moving here to Albania only to have a little thing go wrong.

[00:15:10]And I I said little thing go wrong. And they took it the wrong way. And now everything's just awful. and they can't wait to get out of this country. And what the problem is, the problem was in Albania, the problem was them. I can tell you the the kind of people that have moved here and then they say, "I just can't do this. I got to leave."

[00:15:30]Most of them aren't going to be happy anywhere they go. That I can assure you after hearing them whine and gro and what they were talking about was absolutely ridiculous. They didn't even give the country a chance. So, just take any sort of negativity you hear from people like that with a grain of salt.

[00:15:52]Yeah, I've always said Albania isn't for everybody. That's for sure. However, the kind of complaints I get where people say they just can't take it anymore usually very minuscule. It's either things they need to get over with themsel or they just got themselves in a really bad situation which again goes back on them and they're just running from their problems as soon as they get them. So, I know that's a lot to talk about here as I'm riding around on a on a scooter here, but if you are someone who is planning on moving here to Albania, we do have an online community of people who are looking to move here to Albania and you can find out answers to all your questions about moving here to Albania on it. We have posts about all the subjects. You don't need to hunt around for it anymore. You can talk to other people on this community site that are looking forward to moving to this country. I'm on there. You can message me directly. If you've got a question anytime, come straight to my phone. I'll know that the that somebody has asked me something and I will respond. The attorney Alvaro is on there as well. You could message him directly. So, there is a community for you if you are looking to move here. The link is down in the description below. I've named it the Albania launch pad because what we're it's designed to do is get you over here with the knowledge you need so you don't lose your mind or give up on it when you get over here. And it just will help you acclimatize to Albania better. Well, that's all I have for right now. Thank you for watching. I really do appreciate it. I will see you in the next video.

[00:17:41]And I'm going to close this as usual by saying thank you in Albanian which is phalamande.