That said, it’s not all plain sailing. I had a Kafka-esque interaction while trying to sell a ticket on a German resale platform. After finding a buyer, I was unable to transfer the ticket because, as the official email reply stated, “You cannot offer mobile tickets for sale through fanSALE, as the delivery must be done via a physical ticket through UPS”. The italics are mine to illustrate the absurdity of the situation.
Sometimes, you have to resort to unconventional means to get tickets. When the Nine Inch Nails gig in Milan was sold out, and no good resale tickets were available, I turned to an Italian fan group on Telegram, which I found on Reddit, to scour for tickets. Eventually, one kind soul responded to my plea in English and informed me of a new batch of tickets that had just been released on the official platform, and I promptly snapped one up.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
Even if you are a veteran concertgoer, mishaps are bound to happen if you are gallivanting across many cities and venues on a tight schedule.
Train timings in Europe can be unreliable. When I was travelling in Germany via the Deutsche Bahn, every single train that I booked either got rescheduled or cancelled. Thankfully, I was able to reach the concert venue just as the band was about to play. A similar incident played out when I was travelling up to Manchester from London.
The trick to this is to stay calm, reach the station as early as possible, and hop on to whatever train takes you to your destination. Always, always, always factor in possible delays.
Finally, if you are in a foreign country, do as the locals do. After the Forever Now festival ended, I decided to walk to a bus stop to book a ride via their ride-hailing app, Bolt, thinking I could save some money this way instead of joining the official taxi queue.
Source: CNA
