So I am currently sitting at a bus stop in Göteborg after making my way back home from a dance party, since I may eventually have bought tickets to a dance festival for this weekend… Just maybe though…
Anyway, that’s not that important for the story, what is important however is the way I got to the party . 7.5 km roughly, around 50 minutes by bus and tram. Easy right?
Well I am probably not fooling anyone anymore with that phrase right? So I went on Google Maps to find the best route here, since I wanted to arrive at around 9pm. Easy, said Google. Take the bus to the tram stop, then the tram to the bus stop and then the bus to the hotel. Fair enough, sounds pretty straight forward. So I hopped onto my bus, got off at the right stop and after a quick panic I luckily found the right tram stop (yeah there were a bunch there, as usual). So I got into the tram and to the right stop. Okay good, 5 more minutes to go until my bus leaves. And I pretty quickly found the right stop too. Hurray. And well, that’s where the bus stop revealed, that the bus I wanted to take had just left and the next one would arrive in 30 minutes. Well, crap. 30 minutes wait time for one bus? That’s almost as bad as in my hometown! 5 minutes time to change my ass! Well no point in complaining. Fire up Google again and find an alternative route. And of course, Google delivered, so time to keep on going in the same direction I went before, just a few more stops. From there take another bus and walk like a kilometre. Easy. However, when I got off at the next stop the desired bus once again was nowhere to be found. In fact the entire line that was told by Google apparently only drives in the opposite direction from where I wanted to go. Well shit.
Okay Google, third time is the charm, give me another route. Hmm, this time walk 300 metres and take the bus there. Fair enough there is a bus from that line going in that desired direction. However it doesn’t stop where I want to exit. In fact, even though the line and name of the bus are correct it is gonna go in the exact opposite direction from where I want to go. Thanks Google. Very heckin helpful. So I started doing what I should have done in the first place. Embrace my inner medieval spirit and start reading signs on the bus stop. You know, analog sings on paper that tell at which time which bus will go where. Crazy right? Well at least I found a bus, that would take me to where I wanted to be that way. And it would arrive in 15 minutes. Lovely. Oh by the way did I mention the permanent wind and rain that had been there since I left the house?
Anyway, I finally reached my destination like 45 minutes to late, but whatever. And after some dancing it was time for my way home, which was actually quite easy, compared with the first journey… Since this time I actually relied on the Göteborg public transportation app to get my info about my busses and trams. And that proofed to be a very good decision…
So anyway, lesson learnt, let’s hope the last 2 kilometres won’t cause any more trouble and with that I am looking forward to my bed…
Adventures of a travelling Julius 