I guess everyone knows those days when everything goes wrong. Last Thursday - when I wanted to travel to FOSDEM was one of those.
I first thought about doing online check-in for my flight, I actually already logged in but for some reason I thought it was easier to do check-in at the airport. This was my first mistake. Arriving at the train station there was already the train standing at the platform and I tried to quickly get a ticket out of the ticket machine. The machine wasn’t accepting my money and the train left. Normally this is no big deal, since the public transportation system in Berlin is quite good. The next train was cancelled, due to a police operation.
Finally I was 5 minutes late at the airport. All my persuasion did not help to get on the plain - even so I did only have hand baggage. Damn, why didn’t I finish my online check-in?
Another 52 Euros and I had my ticket rebooked for the next day. I met a Belgian couple which faced the same fate. We agreed that a drink would be appropriate now. They wanted to deposit their baggage in a locker to not have to carry it around. The locker was a strange place, outside the airport next to a parking garage, accessible to everyone. We were hesitant to put the baggages there but in the end the laziness crow over. Seconds after closing the locker another guy arrived to get his items out of his locker. He plugged in his key, turned it, opened the lid - and guess what? The locker was empty as an Icelandic bank.
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Our new member in the club of the failed told us that he had left his bag in there for only 4 hours - and this was during the day. The poor guy left for getting some help and returned with a security inspector who was to my surprise quite calm. He inspected the locker, which did not show any damage. Then opened the locker right next to the one in question. And of course the bag was in there. So our friend locked the wrong locker and his belongings were in an open one! The inspector told us that this mistake was quite common. Good news for once!
After agreeing that leaving the bags was save we took the train to the city. The Belgian girl laughed at me why I bought a train ticket as they haven’t been controlled during all the days in Berlin and had a weekly ticket. A few stops later inspectors arrived to control our tickets. They both had their week tickets but they did not stamp it. As the inspectors gets paid by provision for each fare dodger they find they are hard to convince. The ticket got a date when it was bought and as the couple wanted to leave that day anyhow it was quite clear that they did not want to screw the Berlin alley. No luck - they were charged 40 Euros each and they already paid 33 for their week ticket.
What an exciting day! The only thing that helps here is a good meal. I took the couple out to the Voland where they did serve a Russian Buffet that day which was a quite good compensation for all that excitement.