I recently visited Germany. Unfortunately, I became extremely ill during the trip and had to quickly change my travel plans to go home early. I was alone and barely capable of standing, never mind deciphering transit in a foreign language. As such, I was at… probably… the right boarding platform with a ticket I didn’t really understand, except that it had Frankfurt as the destination.
I approached another traveller who looked like he knew what he was doing.
Me: “Excuse me, do you speak English?”
Traveller: “Yes.”
Me: “Great, could you please help me? I’m not familiar with the transit here.”
Traveller: “Um, okay, what do you need?”
Me: “Just two things. First, this is my ticket. Am I at the right platform?”
Traveller: “Yes, this is the train to Frankfurt.”
Me: “Thanks. And the other thing, I think this ticket is second class, where should I board?”
Traveller: “Just board anywhere.”
Me: “Are there not first and second class on this train? Doesn’t it matter what end I board at?”
Traveller: “No, just sit anywhere, it’s fine.”
Me: “Awesome, thank you very much.”
A little while later, the train came, and I boarded in the middle. As I was walking, looking for a seat, it quickly became clear to me that I was in first class. I wound up walking from the middle of the train to one end, concluded that second class must be at the other end, and doubled back.
As I was still moving back through first class, I saw two transit police escorting the traveller off the train. I inferred from this that when he said “just sit anywhere,” he meant “I am a fare jumper, and I don’t even have a ticket, so what are you worrying about?” To this day, I wonder if I drew attention to him or broke his flow or something.
