The Post flew Indigo Airlines, India’s largest budget airline, from Dubai to Bangkok on a money-saving journey from London, destination Hong Kong.It’s been a chaotic summer at airports across Europe. Staff shortages have resulted in the cancellation of thousands of flights; baggage has gone missing on an industrial scale; and strikes by air traffic controllers and airline workers have caused further disruption.
I decide instead to book only my first flight and improvise thereafter, but soon discover asking prices for tickets to European destinations are what I usually pay for a one-way to Hong Kong. Renowned for its 8th-century cathedral, resting place of that cultural revivalist Emperor Charlemagne, it’s also a spa town prized for its curative waters. Instead of soaking up the sights, however, I make a beeline for the Hauptbahnhof , or central station.
Having left Aachen at 6.50am, I reach Dusseldorf by 8.30am, Cologne half an hour later, and spend the rest of a sweltering day in a soporific daze as a succession of crowded trains whisk me from Bad Oeynhausen to Braunschweig, Berlin and beyond. But my favourite snippet of Poznan trivia is that the city straddles the appropriately named River Warta – though the locals don’t pronounce it “wa-ter”.
I’ve visited Krakow before, but on this occasion there’s only time for a Phileas Fogg-like dash around the photogenic city. Fortunately there are still drivers willing to head out to an animal husbandry research centre in a forest as a hurricane approaches. My cabby drops me off at 9am as the skies darken. Problem is, my plane doesn’t leave until 7pm.
I load up with bottled water, don a wide-brimmed hat, apply sunblock and lip balm, and set off. At one point I spot the travel agency but it turns out to be a mirage. I eventually arrive soaked in sweat, prompting the sales manager to ask whether I swam over.