Leaving Montenegro

We enjoyed our time in Montenegro with its spectacular scenery, mostly friendly people, interesting history and delicious Mediterranean cuisine. However, as I complained about in previous posts, the cruise ship crowds were quite intense, which added some stress to our visit. I never wanted my blog to include complaining or to be used as a place for airing dirty laundry, so I apologize for my rants in previous posts about the cruise ships crowds. Finding balance is often difficult, and it seems to be desperately needed in some popular destinations around the globe.

Here are some final photos of Kotor.

In Piazza of the Cinema stands this centuries old poplar; planted in 1667.

There are many street cats in towns in Montenegro, thankfully, they are cared for by locals and a veterinarian who checks on them regularly.

We had a nice chat with our driver as we left Kotor for the airport in Podgorica, and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery along the way. We arrived relaxed and ready to head to France. We were quite shocked, however, once we arrived at the airport; I’m sharing this as a warning if you plan on visiting Montenegro.

A chaotic scene unfolded before us including a huge mob of travelers crowded into the check-in area. Even though it was just over an hour before our flight’s scheduled departure to Orly, the check-in counters were closed. While we waited, we chatted with a charming Parisian man who was traveling with his elderly mother, a very proper looking French woman, nicely dressed with a lovely scarf. We waited for at least 20 minutes, and chatted with him the entire time. As we waited our turn at the the check-in counter (once it was finally open) the agent barked out “next” as we were approaching, passports in hand. We were met with an extremely hostile woman who didn’t even say hello, or offer any greeting whatsoever. After printing our boarding passes, she slammed them down on the counter along with our passports, and barked out again “next”. I was quite snarky and looked directly at her and said “thanks so much. I hope you have a lovely day”, to which she completely ignored.

As we hurried to the security check point, we were met with another huge crowd, all waiting behind a roped off entry. The Parisian man and his mother approached shortly after us, and commented about the very rude agent at the check-in counter. Once a security agent finally arrived to let us in, it was a mad rush to get through the security and to the departure gates. But if we thought the check-in agent was rude, we had no idea what was in store for us at security.

We carefully followed the instructions, taking out our laptops and iPads and placing them in separate bins as directed. On the other side of the machine was when the real fun happened. I always travel with this little pouch of charging cords and other items.

I keep the pouch in my carry-on bag, and have never been asked to empty the pouch, or even take it out of my carry-on. As I approached the security agent she was rummaging through my bag. She glared at me as she picked up the pouch, held it at least 12 inches (30 cm) above an empty bin, proceeded to carelessly dump the contents into the bin as she glared and at me saying “electronics OUT!” She then sent it back through the x-ray machine.

Next she proceeded to rummage through theTravelsketcher’s bag, digging randomly, pulling out random things asking “what’s this?!” But barely listening to his answers.

Finally, after our interrogation ended and we had re-packed our things, we noticed the Parisian man standing to the side, without his mother. He said that they had taken his mother into a private room. We waited with him until his mother finally arrived looking very distraught. It was obvious they needed some privacy, so we wished them well and moved on.

I have traveled to 38 countries, and theTravelsketcher has been to 46, and we have never experienced such hostility or careless disrespect for our belongings. At first I thought it was due to our US citizenship, but noticed that the agents treated all the passengers this way, not just us.

After our experience, I checked the reviews of the Podgorica Airport and found many comments addressing similar experiences and rude airport employees. I think this hostility is a direct result of tourist fatigue. Tourists have a responsibility to be respectful of the place they’re visiting. Unfortunately, many of us have witnessed bad behavior by tourists, so it’s no wonder locals are fed-up with them. But the blatant disregard for our property and rude behavior was over the top. If you plan on visiting Montenegro, I suggest avoiding this airport if at all possible.

We left Montenegro with mixed emotions, feeling despondent and guilty for having added to the hoards of tourists, but also thankful to have witnessed some of the most spectacular scenery we’ve ever seen. Would we return? Probably not until local officials make changes to control the flow of visitors.

We’ll do our best to focus on the positive experiences we had in Montenegro like the taxi drive to Kotor, the stunning scenery and the lovely people we met along the way. Hopefully, someday changes will be made so the locals have a say in how their country manages tourists.

As always, I would love to hear from you.

All the best,

Tricia