Mats Nygård and Martine Lundberg have no plans to buy a car. Now the young couple is sitting in their newly bought Toyota Corolla on their way home from a holiday in Finland.
Ten days on an outdoor lifestyle vacation in Luxemburg with his girlfriend, followed by ten days traveling to the same place as the guy. These are the holiday plans for Mats Nygard this year.
However, the SAS strike is a line in the bill for students. First, a return ticket for girlfriend Martin Lundberg was cancelled, followed by a group of friends’ tickets to northern Norway.
With his friends waiting at home in Østfold and a girlfriend unable to come home, Nygård began looking for an alternative solution.
On Friday morning, the couple took a flight from Lakselv to Tromsø, where they planned to fly to Oslo.
– What we didn’t see was that this plane was also SAS, says Nygaard.
– Had to wait till Wednesday to get tickets at regular price. Until then the price was up to 10,000 kroner.
On Finn.no, Nygard found a Toyota Corolla 2001 model for NOK 15,000. When he went to see the owner the same day, the car didn’t show any major damage or defects – so he hit it off.
– It was a gamble. It’s a big financial risk for a student and someone without a permanent job, Nygård tells VG.
Now the couple is sitting in the car on the way home to Fetsund and Indre Ostfold – about 22 hours if you don’t take into account stops and accommodation.
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Not the plan
On Friday, national mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland announced “Probably soon the SAS will call parties for a strike”But according to SAS Norway’s Pilots Association (SNF) president Jan Levy Skogvang on Saturday afternoon, there is still nothing new.
– It is absolutely still. Meeting to talk about the same things is not interesting.
Nygård reports that Nygård’s green Toyota will be back on the market once they get home. Buying a car was never his plan.
A bus to Bodø and a train to Oslo, a journey that takes over 30 hours, or a trip with Hardikruten to Trondheim and a train from there, which takes even longer.
– I try to go home as early as possible so I can go on vacation with my friends anyway, says Nygaard.
– They sit and wait for me at home and have taken a day off from work.
To cover some of the extra costs, the couple set up the spielsen “Mats and Martin on the Wrong Track”, which has already received more than 10,000 kroner as of Saturday afternoon.
Late cancellation
Nygard’s return tickets from Finnmark to Oslo, which should have been a ten-day journey, have not yet been cancelled.
– I’m actually going home in ten days, so my ticket is going down the sink. As I have been prevented from completing the trip and have not yet been cancelled, I hope to get my money back.
Lundberg’s plane tickets were canceled about 30 hours before the flight was scheduled to take off on Friday. So far they haven’t heard anything about the refund or their return.
– Organizing a new trip is a pretty dramatic round for us, says Nygaard.
– Hopefully the car ride home now.
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