A stag do were forced to make a 839 mile journey home using "planes, trains, and automobiles," after their easyJet flight to Bristol was cancelled. Lloyd Davies, 35, from Porth had been on a stag do with five friends, including groom-to-be Mike Smith, in Berlin for the weekend.
But when the group of five were due to get a flight home on their final morning, they received an email from EasyJet at 5am to say that their flight later that afternoon had been cancelled.
"Many of us had work commitments and family commitments we needed to return for, so getting back as soon as possible was very important.," Mike said. "We decided to make our way to the airport to see what assistance easyJet could offer, we were handed a leaflet that said visit the website and they will deal with your travel issue there.
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"When we tried to speak to the staff, we were told there are no easyJet staff at the airport, only Berlin Airport staff, and tried to phone the number on the leaflet, after an hour of calling and holding on multiple phones, we gave up, the website said booking error and we were left to our own devices and finances to get us home."
“Then it went into a mad sort of rush," Lloyd said. He added: "At 11.30 when they said you’re not going home and we have no means of getting you there, everyone sobered up quite quickly.” Lloyd said that the group looked into hiring a car to drive back home, but were told by the company that they couldn't take it out of the country.
Trying to find an alternative mode of transport, the five friends looked at getting a ferry and even cycling back to the UK to make it home in time for work the next day. Eventually, the group decided to go by train from Berlin to Brussels, which would leave them with about ten minutes spare to get the last Eurostar home.
"This was the route we accepted because on the train, we could shut our eyes and relax for an hour – or so we thought," Mike said. "The seven connections on the train journey had mere minutes between arriving and departing – this meant that if one train was late, or one connection missed – we would be stranded even further, with even less money, and even less will to go on."
Starting their journey with a train from Berlin Airport to central Berlin, the stag do then got onto a high speed train to Hanover. But with time being tight, Lloyd said the group got onto the train without buying tickets beforehand.
"We saw the train, jumped on it and within a minute we were off," Mike said. "After a few stern words from the train manager about wearing masks on the train, we each bought a mask and then sat down, and looked at the ticket prices. The only seats available were at £200 each, in first class.
"We were already on the train, so had no option but to pay the price, only we couldn’t pay the price – as the train had left the station we could not buy that journey, so had to wait until the next stop to purchase the tickets – only then to find out that by the time we arrived at the next stop, the train had indeed sold out."
“We kind of had to hide on the train for about 90 minutes,” Lloyd said of the remaining three friends who weren't able to buy tickets. The group then got tickets for a train from Hanover to Cologne - but Lloyd said that the train "was held up", giving them just five minutes to catch the train to Brussels - a 136 mile journey.
But when the group got into Brussels approximately two minutes to spare to get the Eurostar, they were told that the next train they could catch wasn't until 4pm the next day. " We were broken, hungry, tired and absolutely sick of travelling at this point. We admitted defeat, we weren’t going home tonight," Mike said.
After trying to get back on time for work the next day, the group ended up having to spend the night at a hotel in Brussels, having to take yet another mode of transport - this time an Uber - to a hotel.
The next morning, the group was able to get a flight to Heathrow the next day, taking an Uber back to Bristol which cost the group of £220 between them. However, Lloyd said that the group spent "a good hour" trying to find a diver who would take them so far.
"The two hour and thirty minute journey flew, some slept, some went on their mobiles, some looked out the window thinking, 'I'm never leaving Treorchy again.' Needless to say, when we arrived at Bristol Silver Car Park, we praised the driver, left him an excellent review and a nice tip to match," Mike said.
In total, their journey from their Berlin hotel back to Bristol Airport involved trams, buses, trains, planes and Ubers - and that's without the drive home back to Wales.
“It was very tense. We were travelling on a train in a foreign country," Lloyd said of the journey. “It was quite an anxious trip with no tickets so realistically we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
But Lloyd said the group took it in their stride, adding: “The one thing I will say for all the guys is everyone was chipper about it. We all knew we were going to miss work, but we quickly realised that it was a bit of a laugh.”
Along their journey Lloyd said that the friends took pictures showing the different steps of their journey that they posted to social media with the hashtag #thankyoueasyjet. Lloyd described the journey as "an endeavour" - "We'd been travelling for 26 hours straight," he said.
Lloyd says that the group had emailed EasyJet about receiving compensation for the cancelled flight, which was due to fly from Berlin at 1.30pm on Monday, June 6, but that he hasn't yet received a response.
He said it was estimated that the journey home cost each member of the stag do around £600, including food, with the Uber from Heathrow to Bristol costing £220 between them, the trains costing approximately £230, the night in the hotel in Brussels costing £100 each, and the flight to Heathrow costing £130 each.
A spokesperson from EasyJet said: "We are very sorry that the group’s flight EZY6238 from Berlin to Bristol was cancelled. While we provide customers with information on rebooking options including flying with alternative carriers, we know options are limited on some routes at this time. We fully understand the difficulty this will have caused and we are very sorry. Our team will be reaching out to the group to apologise for their experience, reimburse them for their alternative travel expenses and provide compensation for their cancelled flight."
