Well after promising something along these lines in members news i figured I'd better not leave kat in suspense. Anyway... My Trip Home The conference finished in Verona at 12 noon Saturday. i did some souvenir shopping, had some lunch, got some money from the ATM and I rang Dave to say that I was leaving italy and would be incommunicado until Germany. I go back to my hotel, have a bit of an argument over something thats not important now. i got changed and left. I get to the train station and realise that the hotel still has my passport which they took as security for the keys. So I get back in a taxi go back to the hotel, get the passport and go back to the train station. By this time I've missed the express train and have to get the all stops train that gets into Venice Mestre at 4.40 (my flight from Treviso Airport is at 6.05pm). So I knew it was starting to cut it fine. At Mestre train station I discover that I've missed the bus to the airport by 10 minutes and the next bus will get there to late for my flight. So I'm resigned to spending 70 euros on a taxi to the airport. I open my purse to discover that I've got 45 euros and no credit card. I start freaking out. Ah, I think I've got my back up credit card! but I can't remember the pin number to get money from the ATM. I ring Dave (its 1-2 am Aus time) to see if he can cancel the lost card and find the pin on the back up card. No luck on finding the pin but he cancels the lost card. I think I'm in luck when there's a Western Union Money change at the train station so i go there to get a cash advance. But no, they don't accept Mastercard! What the f!!k is with that? By this time its after 5pm and I'm well and truly freaked. i have to get to Frankfurt to get my connecting flight to Australia. So in desperation I get in a taxi and tell the driver that I need to get to Treviso by this time but we need to go by a money change. Of course his english is not that good, so he ends up on the phone to someone I can explain the situation to and then he translates. it turns out that the only money change they can think of is at Marco Polo Airport. So away we go, with the driver doing nearly 160 km/h in an 80 zone. We get to Marco Polo, the driver runs into the building with me to show the way, we get to the travelex counter to find a sign that says "Back soon". So we wait. A couple of minutes later the lady comes back and i get my cash. We run back to the taxi, we do 160kmh again. Although he did slow down when the cop was in front of us. I get to Treviso Airport at 5.55pm. the taxi costs 100 euros. I run upstairs and run to a Ryan Air employee behind a check in counter and say I've got to get on the Frankfurt flight. The sour-faced bitch barely looks at me and says "Its gone. Go over there", waving vaguely to the ticket counter. So I go to the ticket counter and repeat my request for the Frankfurt flight. Another sour-faced bitch barely looks at me and says "Its closed. You are too late. Next flight tomorrow 70 euros". I'm completely freaked and flabbergasted and try to explain. She says "too bad, next flight tomorrow 70 euros". I sob "But its too late for my connection to Australia. Is there any other option? Trains?..." "I'm not train station. Go downstairs to tourist desk." So I go downstairs. The girl at the tourist desk is very nice and looks up the train timetable and finds an overnight train between Venice and Munchen, with a change to Frankfurt which will get me there with enough time for the plane. I get on the bus back into Venice Mestre, or so I think based on the sign at the front of the bus. I actually end up in central Venice having to cart my 20kgs of luggage up and down the stairs on all those bridges to get to Vebice SL train station, I get through all that eventually and end up back at Mestre. At Mestre I get in the ticket queue for a ticket on this overnight train to Frankfurt. i wait 15 minutes get to see the ticket guy saying i want to get to Frankfurt tonight. He asks "what day?", I'm baffled and say "today", he replies with "Go see information office." I go see the information office with the same request, and there reply is to go to the ticket office. i inform them that I was just there and he told me to come here. She looked as perplexed as I was. She gives my the train timetable for the overnight train and says that if the ticket seller says its full that I should just get on it anyway and buy a ticket on the train. (I'm left with the feeling of what the hell is going on). I go back to the ticket queue, wait for 15 minutes, get told the train is full but to just get on it anyway. So I wait the 4 hours for the 11pm train. Theres some confusion about which platform to be on but I was on the right one and the train turns up and it turns out that it is full to the rafters and I spend the 2 hours on the train BACK TO VERONA, squished in the vestibule sitting on my luggage. At 1am we get into Verona and the train empties, so I get a second class seat that can be turned into an uncomfortable bed. This is fine except that each country you come to you get woken up to buy a new train ticket, so not the most restful sleep as we go from Italy, to Austria, to Germany. This ends up costing about 60 euros. Get into Munchen and ask the information desk for the Frankfurt train and he points to a platform and says that I could go to the ticket hall (which I couldn't find) or buy it on the train. i decide to buy the ticket on the train. Its a 3 hour trip to Frankfurt but to my horror the ticket costs 86 euros (by this stage I've spent AUD300-400 on top of the budget). I get to Frankfurt airport with plenty of time to spare so I decide to get some lunch. I'm sitting there waiting for my meal and scrounge in my bag for some druge because I've had a sore throat and sinusitis this whole time, and i get to the bottom of my bag and lo and behold I find my credit card. The nice Asian couple were shocked as I yelled "You got to be fucking kidding me!" I apologise. I get on my flights after some fun at check in where they couldn't input my passport details, that gets sorted, she goes to staple the ticket to the boarding pass, and runs out of staples. the guy besides her, staples his ticket and passes it over, she goes to staple mine and that runs out of staples too. More delays as staples are sought and loaded but I get on the plane. All is running smoothly until i get into Sydney airport. Too many planes are trying to land so my flights is delayed. We then get on the ground and the airport is so busy that our luggage takes forever, immigration is backed up forever, and customs is even worse. i have to transfer to a domestic flight but 99% of people have missed there flight so the transfer queue takes forever. I get put on standby for a flight that means i have to run like the blazes just to find out if maybe i can get on the plane. I could get on the plane! Yay happy day, my luck is looking up! So i get on the flight, we get in the air, I'm going home and feeling alright after everything. An announcement comes on 5 minutes after takeoff: "we have to return to Sydney ariport as the front wheel won't retract. You may be required to disembark this plane and return to the terminal while we fix this problem." NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! We land, we wait 2 minutes, another announcement: "We will be taking off soon, the problem was that the safety pin from the front wheel wasn't removed. The problem is now fixed and we can takeoff." I finally get into Canberra at 12 noon Tuesday lunch time, with enough time to shower and go into the office to pick up stuff before the postgraduate class. But at least I wasn't mugged.
That sounds a complete nightmare! I would have been freaking out somewhere in Italy. I assume flying via Frankfurt was cheaper than direct to Italy. But was it cheaper than the extra cost (and avoiding Ryan Air)?
Strangely yes it was cheaper. Direct to Rome was a AUD1000 more expensive than Frankfurt and you still have to get to Verona... Thanks to everyone who enjoyed the story. i got sore fingers writing it as its longer than my usual efforts.
Great story. I would have been turned into a gibbering wreck at the point I discovered I'd lost my credit card!
That sounds rough, I think I'll forward that to another PhD I work with who is flying out to Germany on Monday. Consider the 300-400 AUD overbudget cost of the trip the cost of the now having a great story to tell.
