This summer, we seized the opportunity to fly from Vienna to explore Romania, a destination that had long beckoned from our bucket list. After some research on Trip Advisor, we discovered Ride2Ro, a company offering private tours. We booked two expeditions—one exploring the neighboring regions of Bulgaria and a second focusing on Dracula's Castle, Peles Castle, and Brasov. Our Bulgaria tour, led by a gentleman named Alim, went off without a hitch. Everything from the pick-up time to the journey through Bulgarian villages adhered to the schedule.
Two days later, our tour to Dracula's Castle was on the calendar. The previous day had seen sudden and severe weather changes punctuated by torrential rains. Our phones buzzed with national weather advisories, prompting us to contact the tour operator immediately. Reassurance was swift; we were told there was nothing to worry about for the following day.
Our journey commenced at 8 AM, but the skies seemed increasingly menacing. Concerned, we questioned our driver, Alim, who admitted that he had already raised safety issues with his boss—also named Alim. Despite his wife's imploring him to cancel, the owner insisted the tour would proceed as planned. Roughly 90 minutes into our journey, our phones once again buzzed with a weather advisory. The car began to drift; the windshield wipers struggled to cope with the intensifying rain. When asked about the situation's safety, our driver hesitated before acknowledging that it was, in fact, hazardous. It became clear: the company was willing to risk our lives simply to secure their fee.
After contacting the operator, he dismissed our concerns, stating he had no control over the weather. His attitude revealed no trace of remorse—either for our safety or that of his employee. Throughout the day, we received persistent emails from Alim, reiterating that the weather was not his concern.
In retrospect, we shouldn't have taken his word and entered that car. Yet the blame rests squarely on Ride2Ro, whose primary objective was to collect their fee at the expense of customer safety. I strongly recommend avoiding this company; they proved to be wholly untrustworthy, tainting our experience of Romania while wasting both our time and money.