Unsuspecting travellers of the world unite!

The young Austrian police man was kind enough to drive me to the nearest bus station and let me sit with him in his Police jeep to keep myself warm until the bus came. The bus ticket back to Vienna was 8 Euros and I had just 20 pounds remaining in my pocket for my entire trip that should take me through France and Belgium.

Since I had friends kind enough to accommodate me, all I had to take care was the flight tickets. These were also taken care off by the institutions that invited me. This was the kind of risks that I have been taking until then and never did it occur to me that I might end up eating dust (or snow!) like this. Not that I had many options to travel in leisure at that time.

There was no one to alight the bus in that God forsaken bus stand (Believe me, it was such a place!). The driver came out of the bus all smiling and welcomed me with extended arms as if he was the all encompassing Jesus Christ. The Police man explained to him that I have a problem and that I need to be taken back to Vienna. The driver smiled again and told us,"Ha ha, Passport problems? I see this all the time" and winked at me. May be he also thought that I was another desperate South Asian trying to sneak into Europe (irrespective of the fact that I was already in Austria!)

After I thanked the policeman enormously(after my experience earlier in Munich, this guy was an angel!), I turned to the driver who was waiting to load my luggage into the bus.

"Hello ! I have no more Euros with me, so I can pay you only with pounds"
"Oh, I speak no good English"
" Hmm..Sorry No Euro. only English Pounds"
"Oh! No problem, pounds ok"

I wasn't sure what I should make out when he grabbed the twenty pounds and said, "Thank you very much!"

The bus was almost empty. All I had in my mind was how I was going to reach Paris that night or even next day and most of all, whether I was going to get back the change from this driver.
As soon as we arrived in Vienna airport, the driver came down to help me take my luggage and kept on thanking me and wished me Bon voyage!

Uh, now I understood the plot.

"I need my money back"
"Money?"
"Yes, my 20 pounds"
"You pay no ticket"
"Sorry, I gave you my money, charge me for tickets, give me the balance"

This man knew English for sure, but was once again fooling me, similar to some of my country men who pretend to know only local languages ("SoRRy MaaADam, ENglish, .I no understand, but DOUble meter!;))

This really made me think what an unsuspecting foreign tourist might be regularly facing back home! In a role reversal, this guy could be any one of the auto drivers in Chennai or Bangalore who thrive and survive on looting and cheating tourists!

The dialogue went on:

" I beg you, please give my money back, this is all I have"
"Sorry no Euro"
"Well, then give the pounds to me, I will go inside the airport and change it into Euros"
"Ok, you go, I keep your bag!"

Smart ass!

Losing out all money of currency exchange, I went back and give him the bus fare and I was back into my uncertainty again! I just didn't have any idea how I was going to get out of this place as I have missed my flight already!

Bangalore © GP 2007