Police once apprehended a man at a train station in Kyjov (Kiyov), Czech Republic. He was reported to be drunk but they only found him terribly confused. Turns out, he was a Ukrainian trying to return to Kyjev (Kyiv) but a cashier in another town misunderstood and showed him the wrong train.
At least that's the same continent and not literally on the other side of the world.
He only had a 150km detour. You can’t blame him for thinking “Kyjov” is the Czech spelling of “Київ” as he might not even have known the alphabet.
Kyjov is 1000 km from Kyiv.
He started his journey in Zlín, 75 km from Kyjov.
In fact, the detour could be less than double that. The way to get to Kyiv from Czechia is to get on a train to Przemysl, Poland near Ukrainian borders, from where wide-gauge trains to Ukraine are available. From Zlín, a trolleybus or local train will take you 15 km to Otrokovice where direct trains to Przemysl are available. From Kyjov, the easiest way to get to the Przemysl train is 45 minutes on an express to Staré Město u Uherského Hradiště.
As a Pole i can relate being confused by sudden exposure to Czech language.
The whole thing is an advertisement on a baggage carousel in Austria for a company called Commend that offers intercom systems.
Salzburg airport's website has no mention of a special desk for those trying to reach Australia. If there were 100 errors per year, that would be 1 every 3 days, providing limited need for a desk.
I think they ment a counter like 1..2..3.. Not a counter you approach that seats an employee.
Well now you ruined my day. Thanks.
I don't know if this is true, but it does make me feel better!
The giveaway here is that it's Salzburg, not Vienna. International flyers into Austria are almost universally going to end up in Vienna by default. Vienna's airport sees ~20x the annual passenger count.
Well, I rarely downvote, but disinformation gets it every time. Thanks for clearing that up.
I'm not having a better day, but it pleases me that there are some that are.
Most wholesome comment today, thank you for your service.
o7
Thanks. It's gotten a lot better since I got home. Lol.
Let's just say retail has a way of absolutely shattering any semblence of peace one can feel...
Maybe if your muffins weren't encrypted you could eat them to lighten up!!
Huh..? Salzburg is pretty small and so is its airport. What route would you have to take that you end up in a small, barely international airport and not realize at your last transfer that you were in the wrong part of the world?
Stupid people who put literally no effort or attention to anything they do, ever. Same kind of people that don’t bother to reserve a rental car ahead of time.
It's not like reserving a car ahead of time actually does anything, except maybe get you a discount. Not once has the rental company actually had the right car available for me. Usually I get "upgraded" to an SUV or something that costs me 1.5x in gas over the trip.
They know how to take a reservation, they just don't know how to keep a reservation.
You'd better give me the insurance because I'm going to beat the hell out of that thing.
I got "upgraded" to a Hummer H2. Fuck the fuel consumption on that thing. It was a work trip so I didn't pay, but still.
Most people know of Vienna so there are probably less mistakes
Mangers daughter and a friend of hers where about to go for season work in Australia and do a bit of travel around and found a very cheap ticket to Sidney, bought it and went off.
Sidney, Canada....
Lolol I live in Canada. I have never heard of that. Sidney, BC, population 11,000.
You fly to cities/airports, not countries. There's no way people are screwing that up.
How would you even get on a plane without a corresponding ticket?
You would buy a ticket to Austria not realizing it was the wrong place. I have a very, very stupid cousin who did exactly that.
So where are you going in Australia?
“No idea mate. Figure I’ll sort it out when i get there.”
I can't believe that there's never been anyone that didn't make that mistake. Probably not enough to justify keeping a counter dedicated to it though...
I once almost accidentally flew to Puerto Rico rather than my city on the way back from a Thanksgiving trip because they unexpectedly delayed the flight and switched the gates
Ahh yes "Salzburg, New South Wales"
Is there a Salzburg Australia?
The people who fly into Austria don't know that...
At least Austrasia isn't a thing anymore.
the territory that hasn't existed since the middle ages?
australasia is still a term people use for the asia-pacific region that includes australia though
In Austria they have these nifty stickers that they sell to tourists: "Warning! No kangaroos in Austria"
Who would want to go to Australia?
... Guess I'm Austrian now.
It's a step up from everybody thinking I'm from New York for some reason.