THREE TRAINS, two ferries, two taxis and a hire car took project manager Robert Hackett to Dublin from Munich in a frantic 36 hours.
Aside from the challenge of negotiating jam-packed trains and boats, the Siemens employee was also talking to colleagues in India and Hong Kong along the way, closing off a major work project that was “about to go live”.
He made a first attempt to catch a train out of Munich on Friday. There were 270 people ahead of him, so he returned to the hotel and worked. On Monday morning he caught a train to Cologne and made a connection that took him to Brussels, busy on his phone for much of the time with work or with planning the next leg of the trip.
In Brussels he took a train to Lille, with a planned connection from there to Dunkirk. A good plan – but for the French train strike. He had to take a taxi for a 70km trip, which ended half a mile from port.
“I walked the last bit. There was no time to waste, I had trains already booked in the UK, but everything depended on me making the ferry on time.” Only at this point did he discover that foot passengers were not allowed on board. He persuaded a waiting car driver to take him as a passenger.
Despite all this, the ferry sailed without Hackett and his driver. More frantic calls followed as he tried to rearrange UK train bookings. When he got to Dover on the next ferry, he stuck with his driver, who left him at Heathrow, and he ended up hiring a car.
The drive to Holyhead passed without incident and he got the ferry home. Now, the dauntless Hackett awaits his mobile phone bill – with trepidation.