Just one of those days ...
My recent trip to Sweden was filled with so much excitement and curiosity both because I had never been to Sweden, and the other because I was going to go to Dreamhack for the first time, something I had always “dreamed” of doing as a youngster.
Well Sweden is really (really, really) expensive and there wasn't too much to do in the small town we were visiting, and Dreamhack was an opportunity missed 20 years ago for me. This however is not the story of the trip I went on but rather the journey back home.
Let’s start with some context, upon arriving at Dreamhack we discovered the show was in fact shorter than we were initially led to believe. This was somewhat of an irritation but it is what it is, so Dan and I then set out to adjust our travel plans ...
After finally getting our flights, and trains changed, we were ready to leave so we thought. Only the night before and the morning of leaving we could not get hold of the taxi service, it would seem that they just let the phones ring and ring. We managed to get hold of a service eventually who explained due to Dreamhack and the amount of people leaving on the day (25,000+) the taxi’s were running amok trying to deal with all the clientèle.
We were told that we would get a taxi at the earliest 30 - 40 min from the time of booking(9:00am), keep in mind that we had to reach our train station to board the train for 10:06. Once the 40min period was up (which was our last opportunity to get onto the train) we called again and they couldn't give us a time at all. I think this came down mostly to our location being 25km out of the town center it wasn’t the easiest of places to reach. 10:06 ... still no taxi, we gave them a call to which they respond of course a taxi will be with you in 10min! Seriously ...
Having missed our train we now had to catch a bus (see image above) to get to the next town to catch the train we needed. However once we arrived at the station we found out that most of the trains were now delayed by 30-45min. Which meant that we’d now be arriving at the airport as our flight gate was closing. A kind conductor at the station gave us a “lift” to the station we needed in order to catch the next train, however we were going to have to stand as the train was full.
This was not an issue so Dan and I obliged happily. Eventually reaching our station we got off to ask the “station assistance” on hand where we should go to board our train? She seemed puzzled and couldn’t find the train we were looking for but we were indeed at the correct station, I checked on the platform we were on and noticed that the train we JUST got off of was in-fact headed for the airport.
We didn’t have time to ask for confirmation so we just winged it jumped on board and hoped for the best. We then quizzed the passengers as to the destination of this train, hoping that our intuitions were correct and we were going to finally reach the airport. Sadly our fellow passengers didn't know English so they looked as confused as we did.
Thankfully the train conductor came down the isle (the same one that allowed us onto the train) to which he gave us a good ‘ol fashioned “I have good news and bad news” the good news was that the train was indeed going to the airport. The bad news you ask? Well our tickets were for a competitor train line and he was going to have to drop us off at the next station or fine us.
We followed up with plea’s and explained our story and day (so far) to which he sympathised or just got tired of us moaning (hey whatever works right) and allowed us to stay for the journey till we reached the airport.
WE MADE IT! We finally arrived at the airport and all was good in the world. Having accomplished our mission we set out to enjoy a meal at Burger King, cause well why not. I loaded my app so that I could check-in as I usually do, only to find more news ... (not good)
The first thing I noticed is that our flight was, yeah you guessed it ... delayed by an hour. Although a nuisance it didn’t bother us too much cause at least we were still going home! You said news Devon, Plural. Ah indeed I did my avid reader! It seems that when our flights were changed we were put onto a flight that didn’t include checked in luggage and we were going to have to pay extra to check-in our bags, WTF!
Fortunately it seems that being from South Africa and my good looks and immediate charms swayed the check-in lady to allow us to check-in for free. The day is not over yet, but I’d like to think that the worst is behind us. As I kept telling Dan this will make a hell of a story and although we seemed to hit hiccup after hiccup we were constantly greeted with silver lining of generosity from willing people, even if it wasn’t obvious at the time.
Keep being rad people! You never know when you’re helping someone just having a shit day.










