Tweet
As just about everybody seems in a great mood I thought you might like to read my experience of getting to the pre season gane in Celje which was published in AKUTRS a few months ago :cheers:
With the short notice of the trip and the fact I was so close to getting my fingers burnt booking a flight to the called-off pre-season game in Bahrain, I have to admit that it took me all of... ooooh, 20 seconds to decide that the journey to Celje in Slovenia was worth the time and effort and money to see QPR once again play abroad; though little did I know at the time how much time effort and money it would actually involve.
A quick call followed to my wife, who was at work, to see if she wanted to go and get the time off (which she did and could) and I set about looking for flights and seeing where Celje was in Slovenia - which on the maps I found did not look too bad from Ljubljana, the capital and main airport of the country, and so far all seemed fine.
Cutting it fine
Now, not many airlines fly direct to Ljubljana - though Easyjet do, as well as the National carrier, Adria. So I set about looking at the flight times - and, of course, prices - and soon discovered that, although Easyjet were far cheaper at the time, it would mean getting to Stanstead at either 6.05am or catching the later flight at 2.00pm, which arrived at 5.00pm. That would be cutting it fine to get halfway across a foreign country to make the kick-off at 8.00pm!
Also adding to the equation was the fact that I had a ticket for Lords on the Saturday, so after finding out that Adria had a flight arriving back at 8.45am that day, I duly chose them and tried to book online only to find out they were fully booked for a Wednesday departure and a Saturday morning return! I then tried other travel sites and eventually found a company called Terminal1.co.uk who had these flights on sale for about £250 return, so duly booked and then set about looking for a hotel and how to get from Ljubljana to Celje after we landed.
After discovering that the train network seemed to close down at 7.00pm each evening, we looked at staying in Celje after the game. That search was quite easy, as basically the town only has one hotel. So we booked it for about £90 for the night and things were going nice and smoothly.
In Ljubljana, it was very easy to find a hotel, so we also booked up for the Thursday and Friday nights and after printing off all our confirmations and double-checking our passports had not expired (it did happen once!), we relaxed and looked forward to the trip.
Wednesday morning arrived and we set off to Gatwick in plenty of time, with a holdall and a large QPR flag in tow. We got to the check-in desk with plenty of time to spare and I was looking forward to a nice coffee or even a beer once we had checked-in but then disaster struck.
“I'm sorry, sir,” said the girl at the check-in, without an ounce of sincerity, “but you don’t appear to be booked on this flight.” With a hint of a small smile, she then told us that the flight was full and she doubted we could get on, even if we somehow re-booked. After she double-checked and then checked a third time at our request, she suggested we go to the ticket stand to see if they knew what the problem was. So we went to discuss our dilemma, as it turns out with the most ignorant and uninterested female working in a customer service role you could wish to encounter.
Under no circumstances could she check if there were any seats available, as that would involved her writing out tickets manually, and it would take her at least 20 minutes, and then she would have to see how much to charge us... and any other excuse she could think of, rather then helping out. At this stage, I asked for her supervisor, who (to be fair) managed to pull out all the stops.
He informed us that the travel company had, in theory, sold us flights that were sold out. Although the airline had informed them of this, they had not so far bothered telling us. But he would see if there was any way he could get us on that day, but this would mean standing there until half an hour before the flight was due to leave. And so we waited - and at last were informed we could fly, though we could only buy single tickets and these would be £190 each, and mean we would have to find a flight home once we were in Slovenia.
The surly bitch then started writing out manual tickets as slowly as she possibly could - and even though we were given boarding passes, she insisted we still had to wait for these worthless tickets, even though the flight was due to leave in 20 minutes and we still had to go through security. Boy, did she enjoy making us wait and worry.
When she had at last finished, we sprinted through the fast track at security. Of course the departure gate was the furthest away - and all the time we were running, we could hear our names being announced over the tannoy, telling us the gate was closing. But we just made it and stepped on to the plane to a chorus of boos from passengers, oblivious to what turmoil we had been through just to get on the bloody thing!
For a big fat lad, I was quite impressed with the speed I travelled through Gatwick - though the exertion had taken its toll. I was now sweating like a pig, but did not dare ask the stewardess for a cup of water as she looked to have gone to the same charm school as the earlier girl behind the desk.
Anyway, the flight went smoothly and we landed about 1.15pm. We also managed to buy two singles home for only another £200 each (!) and then, as it was baking sunshine, decided to have a couple of beers in a lovely little bar just outside the airport. The plan was to get the 3.00pm bus to the main train station, which would leave plenty of time for the train at 4.00pm to Celje... or at least it would have done if the bus had turned up on time - but it came half an hour late, so we missed the train to Celje.
We then re-booked on the 5.00pm train, which we were assured would get us to Celje about 6.50pm, and then looked to see where the train actually went from - as the station had about eight platforms and you just walked across the lines to the one you needed. At last we found the correct train (after nearly heading for Croatia) and settled down with an ice cold beer, which was served in our seat.
Shower
We arrived in Celje (which time had forgotten) at 6.50pm and saw our hotel just outside, with Pete Davies of We Are The Rangers Boys enjoying a beer. After checking-in and having a two-minute shower, we rushed down to join him and then got a cab to the ground, which only cost us about four Euros.
There was a small ticket booth when we arrived and we bought tickets for only five Euros each and entered what was quite a smart little ground, with bars and food outlets all around - and all open, even for a friendly. We spread out the flag, which created a lot of interest from the local media and the locals themselves, who were all extremely friendly. The President of the club even called us over at the final whistle and gave us an ice cold beer each and took us on a small tour the stadium, which was clearly his pride and joy, and something he had apparently built and financed himself.
Only a couple of the players acknowledged us at the end of the game or even before it, which was a bit of a shame considering the effort we had made. But I guess that’s the way of the modern player these days and I cannot see it ever really changing.
We stayed the night in Celje and, after a look around in the morning, headed back to Ljubljana for a couple of days, which I have to say was absolutely stunning. If anyone visits, then I highly recommend the Best Western Hotel, who could not have done more for us. And on the Saturday morning, we flew home and I went straight from Gatwick to Lords.
Would I do it all again to watch QPR? You bet I would!
With the short notice of the trip and the fact I was so close to getting my fingers burnt booking a flight to the called-off pre-season game in Bahrain, I have to admit that it took me all of... ooooh, 20 seconds to decide that the journey to Celje in Slovenia was worth the time and effort and money to see QPR once again play abroad; though little did I know at the time how much time effort and money it would actually involve.
A quick call followed to my wife, who was at work, to see if she wanted to go and get the time off (which she did and could) and I set about looking for flights and seeing where Celje was in Slovenia - which on the maps I found did not look too bad from Ljubljana, the capital and main airport of the country, and so far all seemed fine.
Cutting it fine
Now, not many airlines fly direct to Ljubljana - though Easyjet do, as well as the National carrier, Adria. So I set about looking at the flight times - and, of course, prices - and soon discovered that, although Easyjet were far cheaper at the time, it would mean getting to Stanstead at either 6.05am or catching the later flight at 2.00pm, which arrived at 5.00pm. That would be cutting it fine to get halfway across a foreign country to make the kick-off at 8.00pm!
Also adding to the equation was the fact that I had a ticket for Lords on the Saturday, so after finding out that Adria had a flight arriving back at 8.45am that day, I duly chose them and tried to book online only to find out they were fully booked for a Wednesday departure and a Saturday morning return! I then tried other travel sites and eventually found a company called Terminal1.co.uk who had these flights on sale for about £250 return, so duly booked and then set about looking for a hotel and how to get from Ljubljana to Celje after we landed.
After discovering that the train network seemed to close down at 7.00pm each evening, we looked at staying in Celje after the game. That search was quite easy, as basically the town only has one hotel. So we booked it for about £90 for the night and things were going nice and smoothly.
In Ljubljana, it was very easy to find a hotel, so we also booked up for the Thursday and Friday nights and after printing off all our confirmations and double-checking our passports had not expired (it did happen once!), we relaxed and looked forward to the trip.
Wednesday morning arrived and we set off to Gatwick in plenty of time, with a holdall and a large QPR flag in tow. We got to the check-in desk with plenty of time to spare and I was looking forward to a nice coffee or even a beer once we had checked-in but then disaster struck.
“I'm sorry, sir,” said the girl at the check-in, without an ounce of sincerity, “but you don’t appear to be booked on this flight.” With a hint of a small smile, she then told us that the flight was full and she doubted we could get on, even if we somehow re-booked. After she double-checked and then checked a third time at our request, she suggested we go to the ticket stand to see if they knew what the problem was. So we went to discuss our dilemma, as it turns out with the most ignorant and uninterested female working in a customer service role you could wish to encounter.
Under no circumstances could she check if there were any seats available, as that would involved her writing out tickets manually, and it would take her at least 20 minutes, and then she would have to see how much to charge us... and any other excuse she could think of, rather then helping out. At this stage, I asked for her supervisor, who (to be fair) managed to pull out all the stops.
He informed us that the travel company had, in theory, sold us flights that were sold out. Although the airline had informed them of this, they had not so far bothered telling us. But he would see if there was any way he could get us on that day, but this would mean standing there until half an hour before the flight was due to leave. And so we waited - and at last were informed we could fly, though we could only buy single tickets and these would be £190 each, and mean we would have to find a flight home once we were in Slovenia.
The surly bitch then started writing out manual tickets as slowly as she possibly could - and even though we were given boarding passes, she insisted we still had to wait for these worthless tickets, even though the flight was due to leave in 20 minutes and we still had to go through security. Boy, did she enjoy making us wait and worry.
When she had at last finished, we sprinted through the fast track at security. Of course the departure gate was the furthest away - and all the time we were running, we could hear our names being announced over the tannoy, telling us the gate was closing. But we just made it and stepped on to the plane to a chorus of boos from passengers, oblivious to what turmoil we had been through just to get on the bloody thing!
For a big fat lad, I was quite impressed with the speed I travelled through Gatwick - though the exertion had taken its toll. I was now sweating like a pig, but did not dare ask the stewardess for a cup of water as she looked to have gone to the same charm school as the earlier girl behind the desk.
Anyway, the flight went smoothly and we landed about 1.15pm. We also managed to buy two singles home for only another £200 each (!) and then, as it was baking sunshine, decided to have a couple of beers in a lovely little bar just outside the airport. The plan was to get the 3.00pm bus to the main train station, which would leave plenty of time for the train at 4.00pm to Celje... or at least it would have done if the bus had turned up on time - but it came half an hour late, so we missed the train to Celje.
We then re-booked on the 5.00pm train, which we were assured would get us to Celje about 6.50pm, and then looked to see where the train actually went from - as the station had about eight platforms and you just walked across the lines to the one you needed. At last we found the correct train (after nearly heading for Croatia) and settled down with an ice cold beer, which was served in our seat.
Shower
We arrived in Celje (which time had forgotten) at 6.50pm and saw our hotel just outside, with Pete Davies of We Are The Rangers Boys enjoying a beer. After checking-in and having a two-minute shower, we rushed down to join him and then got a cab to the ground, which only cost us about four Euros.
There was a small ticket booth when we arrived and we bought tickets for only five Euros each and entered what was quite a smart little ground, with bars and food outlets all around - and all open, even for a friendly. We spread out the flag, which created a lot of interest from the local media and the locals themselves, who were all extremely friendly. The President of the club even called us over at the final whistle and gave us an ice cold beer each and took us on a small tour the stadium, which was clearly his pride and joy, and something he had apparently built and financed himself.
Only a couple of the players acknowledged us at the end of the game or even before it, which was a bit of a shame considering the effort we had made. But I guess that’s the way of the modern player these days and I cannot see it ever really changing.
We stayed the night in Celje and, after a look around in the morning, headed back to Ljubljana for a couple of days, which I have to say was absolutely stunning. If anyone visits, then I highly recommend the Best Western Hotel, who could not have done more for us. And on the Saturday morning, we flew home and I went straight from Gatwick to Lords.
Would I do it all again to watch QPR? You bet I would!
Comment