This is turning out to be quite an adventure … I should have been arriving in Stockholm at just about now. Instead I am sitting at Malmö Central waiting with a frightening expensive train ticket for the 15:07 to Stockholm. My second, or perhaps more accurately third, attempt at slow travel has not gone well – it has cost me dearly in both time and money.
The train to Berlin was pretty good. My main concern on that journey was my recently expired passport. Thankfully travelling within mainland Europe it caused no more than some anxious hours as we approached the Danish German border – nothing happened.
The same can not be said of the return leg. I arrived at Berlin Central in good time for the 21:10 departure on Monday evening, I was initially concerned that the 21:10 to Mälmo was cancelled but then reassured to see that a 21:10 to Stockholm was still on the departure board. The information was confusing to say the least the Stockholm train has to pass through Malmö … but who was I to question the logics and logistics of international rail travel. The train did not appear … Berlin should have been it’s point of origin … perhaps just a little delayed? … at about 21:25 the train simply disappeared from the departure board. I and several others on the platform started to look around nervously – not staff to be seen anywhere. We asked each other if anyone knew what was happening – no one did. We, six of us, ran to the information desk where my German speaking friend tried to find out what was happening … no everything was in order the train had left at 21:10. Everything was not in order and the train had neither arrived nor left at 21:10 not unless there was a secret platform alternation.
We were advised to run for the fast train to Hamburg where we would make the connection with the train that we should have caught in Berlin. Leaving my friend – and our only German speaker – the five of us travellers jumped on the Hamburg train with barely a minute to spare. My travelling companions: a bright young Finnish (byf) student on her way home from visiting a friend in Toulousse, a Danish mother and teenage daughter heading home after a short trip to Rome, and a reserved international exchange student making his way back to college after a break. They were all on Inter-rail tickets. I was not.
As we pull into Hamburg we are delighted to hear them announce the immanently, but manageable, departure of the Stockholm train. We make our way to the appropriate platform 23:59 comes and goes – no Stockholm train. What now? The byf quickly found a string of seperate trains that would get us to the various stations that we required, but it would be an hour or two on a train here, an hour’s wait there, a nine minute change somewhere else. No chance of ever catching up with the what turned out to be the early departing train from Berlin. Eventually I found a discrete line of text on the train companies website that mentioned that trains departing Berlin 1 – 7 April would depart 19:59 rather than 21:10. I except the train operated by Snälltåget and not the German rail network was beyond the German networks control but surely Snälltåget should have both informed those us with tickets (they have all our contact information including mobile phone numbers), and the German rail network that they are operating a different timetable. Apparently not!
Did I mention that our merry band of travellers picked up about another 15 lost souls on the platform in Hamburg? None aware of any change in timetable. Some decided to find a hotel in Hamburg, others accompanied us along various stages of the route north … we still had a fair portion of Germany and a great deal of Denmark to cross.
So after many changes and a replacement bus service the byf and I arrive in Mälmö. Up till this point we have not been required to purchase any additional tickets or pay any supplements. Things change in Sweden we are both required to by tickets for the Swedish Intercity service – never cheap, especially not last minute. The byf had a night ferry to catch in Stockholm so took the one remaining seat on the 13:07, I took the almost last seat on the 15:07. Of course there is no sign of Snälltåget here, and there phone number just rings. There is a later train to Stockholm operated by them but there is no guarantee that I could get that – my ticket is no longer valid and there is no way to see if it fully booked or not.
In less than three weeks time one of the Supermarket meetings will be about slow travel. I was thinking how relevant this trip would be to the discussion … it certainly will be now though for rath
This is turning out to be quite an adventure … I should have been arriving in Stockholm at just about now. Instead I am sitting at Malmö Central waiting with a frightening expensive train ticket for the 15:07 to Stockholm. My second, or perhaps more accurately third, attempt at slow travel has not gone well – it has cost me dearly in both time and money.
The train to Berlin was pretty good. My main concern on that journey was my recently expired passport. Thankfully travelling within mainland Europe it caused no more than some anxious hours as we approached the Danish German border – nothing happened.
The same can not be said of the return leg. I arrived at Berling Central in good time for the 21:10 departure on Monday evening, I was initially concerned that the 21:10 to Mälmo was cancelled but then reassured to see that a 21:10 to Stockholm was still on the departure board. The information was confusing to say the least the Stockholm train has to pass through Malmö … but who was I to question the logics and logistics of international rail travel. The train did not appear … Berlin should have been it’s point of origin … perhaps just a little delayed? … at about 21:25 the train simply disappeared from the departure board. I and several others on the platform started to look around nervously – not staff to be seen anywhere. We asked each other if anyone knew what was happening – no one did. We, six of us, ran to the information desk where my German speaking friend tried to find out what was happening … no everything was in order the train had left at 21:10. Everything was not in order and the train had neither arrived nor left at 21:10 not unless there was a secret platform alternation.
We were advised to run for the fast train to Hamburg where we would make the connection with the train that we should have caught in Berlin. Leaving my friend – and our only German speaker the five of us travellers jumped on the Hamburg train with barely a minute to spare. My travelling companions: a bright young Finnish student on her way home from visiting a friend in Toulousse, a Danish mother and teenage daughter heading home after a short trip to Rome, and a reserved international exchange student making his way back to college after a break. They were all on Inter-rail tickets. I was not.
As we pull into Hamburg we are delighted to hear them announce the immanently, but manageable, departure of the Stockholm train. We make our way to the appropriate platform 23:59 comes and goes – no Stockholm train. What now? The bright Fin quickly found a string of seperate trains that would get us to the various stations that we required, but it would be an hour or two on a train here, an hour’s wait there, a nine minute change somewhere else. No chance of ever catching up with the what turned out to be the early departing train from Berlin. Eventually I found a discrete line of text on the train companies website that mentioned that trains departing Berlin 1 – 7 April would depart 19:59 rather than 21:10. I except the train operated by Snälltåget and not the German rail network was beyond the German networks control but surely Snälltåget should have both informed those us with tickets (they have all our contact information including mobile phone numbers), and the German rail network that they are operating a different timetable. Apparently not!
Did I mention that our merry band of travellers picked up about another 15 lost souls on the platform in Hamburg? None aware of any change in timetable. Some decided to find a hotel in Hamburg, others accompanied us along various stages of the route north … we still had a fair portion of Germany and a great deal of Denmark to cross.
So after many changes and a replacement bus service the byf (bright young fin) and I arrive in Mälmö. Up till this point we have not been required to purchase any additional tickets or pay any supplements. Things change in Sweden we are both required to by tickets for the Swedish Intercity service – never cheap, especially not last minute. The byf had a night ferry to catch in Stockholm so took the one remaining seat on the 13:07, I took the almost last seat on the 15:07. Of course there is no sign of Snälltåget here, and there phone number just rings. There is a later train to Stockholm operated by them but there is no guarantee that I could get that – my ticket is no valid and there is no way to see if it fully booked or not.
In less than three weeks time one of the Supermarket meetings will be about slow travel. I was thinking how relevant this trip would be to the discussion … it certainly will be now though for rather different reasons. The enitre trip by train has now cost considerably more than double – probably three times – what it would have by air. My trip from Malmö to Stockhollm alone costs 25% more than if I had gone to Hamburg airport and taken a flight early this morning!
For the moment slow travel remains a nice idea but simply isn’t viable economically nor it seems logistically. In a worst case scenario being forced to overnight in an airport is a considerably more attractive option than trying to find somewhere warm to wait an hour in a small German town at 04:30 on a cold April morning.
I am incredibly and undescribably grateful for my travelling companions – without them I would probably be a nervous wreck wandering Hamburg central station.
