On the way from my place to the center there are advance railway ticket offices. Very convenient: no need to go to Pivdennyi to stand in line; you can just stop by, get the tickets, and leave. Five minutes’ work. So I usually volunteer to buy a stack of tickets if we need to travel as a group. That’s what happened this time, too. My colleagues and I were going to Moscow for a conference. I popped in in the morning and bought the tickets. This evening, saying goodbye to our partners from Moscow, I said: “All the best! See you in Moscow on the 28th!”, to which I got the reply: “Yes, but the meeting is on the 27th”!

I got to the internet, double-checked the dates, and realized I’d screwed up. I had to go to Pivdennyi, because that’s the only place where you can return tickets. The system didn’t punish me too badly. Just 16 hryvnias per ticket.

This is a good example of how an error found and fixed in the early stages costs much less than one found later.