Thursday, 23.01., return journey (Bergen - Oslo - Gothenburg - Copenhagen - Hamburg - Basel - Freiburg)

Planning my return journey was extremely complicated as I only had one travel day left on my Interrail pass. I was able to combine the return journey from Bergen to Oslo with the previous travel day as the journey started before midnight. However, from Oslo to Freiburg, it still takes longer than a day. My goal was to catch the night train from Hamburg to Freiburg, as I would then have the whole following night from the previous travel day to complete the journey.

Problem: The train from Bergen arrived in Oslo 20 minutes after the departure of the train that I would have had to take for a timely arrival in Hamburg. I had already considered how to cheat with the ticket, looked for a Flixbus from Hamburg to Freiburg, etc. But then the idea struck: I'll take the bus to Gothenburg and there I'll catch the train to Copenhagen in time to continue to Hamburg. The story gets a bit confusing here, I realize. So long story short: I was very lucky and managed everything on time. On the journey from Copenhagen to Hamburg, I even met a young German couple who also did Interrail in the far north, and I had a nice chat with them and played Wizard the whole journey. Greetings to them, if they're reading this!

The last drama of my trip was the night train. I had a place in a sleeping compartment. In the sleeper carriage, there is a train attendant who writes down where everyone is going and wakes up the guests in time. Well, after I had relied on that and embarked on the dreamland of tritrat, I was woken up the next morning by a shame-filled train attendant who stammered apologies and told me that the next station was Basel. Flop. I even had to pay for the return ticket myself as the night trains are operated by the ÖBB. Well, at least I can cross off Switzerland from my list too.