Long Live Mass Travel (not)

I blogged a few days ago that I'd be leaving on the 14th to Cáceres, for a slated arrival on the 15th. However, as it turned out, I misread my tickets, and apparently they were valid for leaving on the 15th, arrival on the 16th.

So, my trip to DebConf was supposed to be:

  • 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
  • 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 17:36
  • 2009-07-15 19:45 Paris Austerlitz - Madrid Chamartin 2009-07-16 09:10
  • 2009-07-15 some time Madrid - Cáceres

Unfortunately, though, something in the neighbourhood of the Paris Nord trainstation caught fire, and the fire department required that, for safety reasons, the electricity be shut down in the Paris Nord trainstation (which is understandable). As such, my train was delayed for approximately two hours, and I missed my connecting train to Madrid. So they offered me another ticket to Irún, where I was to take the 8:25 (or some such) train to Madrid:

  • 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
  • 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 19:30
  • 2009-07-15 19:50ish Paris Nord (subway) - Paris Austerlitz 20:05
  • 2009-07-15 23:10 Paris Austerlitz - Irún 2009-07-16 07:32
  • 2009-07-16 8:25 Irún - Madrid Chamartin

But then in Paris Austerlitz, the 23:10 train to Irún was delayed too, by about an hour. This meant that I just missed the train to Madrid as well. Additionally, I was smart enough to actually forget my Paris-Madrid ticket on the train at Irún station, so I had to go back to Habaye right across the French/Spanish border (a four minute tram ride) to fetch it. When I got back to Irún, I had 15 minutes left before the train to Pamplona:

  • 2009-07-15 15:00 Mechelen - Brussels ~15:30
  • 2009-07-15 16:13 Brussels - Paris Nord 19:30
  • 2009-07-15 19:50ish Paris Nord - Paris Austerlitz 20:05
  • 2009-07-16 00:10 Paris Austerlitz - Irún 08:30something
  • 2009-07-16 09:17 Irún Colón - Hadaye 09:23
  • 2009-07-16 10:03 Hadaye - Irún Colón 10:07
  • 2009-07-16 10:30 Irún - Pamplona 13:...
  • 2009-07-16 14:35 Pamplona - Madrid Puerta de Atocha 17:38

Originally, my arrival was to be 09:10 in Madrid Chamartin. With the train Madrid-Cáceres leaving at 16:something, I had not bothered to buy a ticket yet, instead planning to see whether a bus was leaving sooner than that (and if not, I was going to be buying a ticket in Madrid, rather than at home). But now, with all these delays, I couldn't even take that 16:something train. Goody.

Anyway, turned out that there was still a train from Puerta de Atocha at 19:09, which got me in Cáceres at 23:00. Plenty late, but at least I got here now.

Whee!